How to Set Up the Simprosys Google Shopping Feed on Shopify

Your Google Shopping feed is not just a list of products. It is your targeting.

With Shopping and Performance Max, there are no keywords. There is no audience targeting like you have on Facebook. The feed is what tells Google who to show your ads to - so if the feed is off, the targeting is off, and no amount of budget will fix it.

That is why the first step for any new ecommerce account at ZenoX is getting the feed set up properly. And the tool we use for Shopify stores is Simprosys.

Why the feed matters more than most people think

Most store owners focus on campaigns first and treat the feed as an afterthought. That is backwards.

With Shopping ads, Google reads your product titles, descriptions, categories, and attributes, then decides which searches to show your products for. If your title is vague or your category is wrong, Google guesses - and it usually guesses badly.

A clean, well-structured feed is what separates a Shopping campaign that finds buyers from one that burns budget on irrelevant traffic. It is not the sexy part of Google Ads, but it is one of the highest-leverage things you can do. Read the full guide to Google Shopping feed optimization for the deep dive on title and description structure - this post covers the setup first.

Installing Simprosys and connecting Merchant Center

Start in the Shopify app store. Search for Simprosys and install it. Note that it is not free - the cost depends on how many products you have - but it is not expensive either. Make sure you do not miss the free trial period. If you skip the trial and your feed stops updating later, that is a problem. Your products fall out of sync with Merchant Center and your Shopping ads start serving outdated data.

One important thing before you connect: use the same email for Simprosys that already has access to your Merchant Center. That way the connection is clean and you will not run into permission issues later. If you manage multiple Merchant Centers from one account, that is fine - just confirm which one you are connecting to.

Once you are in Simprosys, you will need your Merchant Center ID. Copy that from your Merchant Center account, paste it into Simprosys, and confirm. The app will take a few minutes to process the initial connection.

Check that the store currency and language are correct on that first screen. For the store in the walkthrough this was United Kingdom and English - straightforward, but worth confirming before moving on. If these are wrong, your prices will be submitted in the wrong currency and your ads will show incorrect numbers.

The settings that actually matter during setup

Once the app loads, there are a few settings you need to get right. Do not just click through them.

Product ID format - Stick with the default Shopify product ID format. There is no good reason to use a custom format, and changing it can create mismatches later when products are already in your Merchant Center.

All variants - Make sure all variants are included. If you sell shoes in multiple sizes, you want every size in the feed. Missing variants means missing impressions.

Product category - This one matters. For a clothing store, the category is different from a shoe store. In the walkthrough, the store turned out to sell only shoes, so the correct Google product category was set accordingly. Google uses this to understand what you sell, so pick the right one. Do not leave it as a broad guess if you can be specific.

Default attributes - Set condition to "New" for a standard dropshipping or retail store. For gender and age group, if your store is mixed (men and women, multiple age ranges), leave those blank rather than forcing a single value that does not fit everything. If your store is clearly one niche, set it.

The one setting most stores leave off

This is the part worth paying attention to.

Inside the Google Shopping settings in Simprosys, there is a checkbox for submitting your comparison price (the "crossed out" original price next to the sale price). It is disabled by default. That makes no sense, and you should always turn it on.

Here is what happens if you leave it off. Say you have a product that normally costs 190 and is on sale for 133. With the setting disabled, your ad just shows 133. No context. It looks like a regular price.

With it enabled, the ad shows the original 190 crossed out next to the 133. There is a sale badge. The shopper can see at a glance that this is a deal. That stands out in the results - especially compared to competitors showing a flat price with no context.

If you have a sale on the store but that setting is off, you are not advertising the sale. You are just showing a price. That is pointless.

The sale price will only be submitted if the discount is between 5% and 90%. Anything outside that range and Google will not show it as a sale anyway. But for normal promotions, that window covers everything.

Also in the sync settings - disable the UTM text field. Unless you have a specific reason to need UTM parameters on your Shopping feed URLs, it just adds noise.

Syncing products and checking the feed in Merchant Center

After you save your settings, run a manual resync. The initial sync takes longer because Simprosys is processing every product. For a small store it goes fast. For a large catalog it takes a bit more time.

One thing worth knowing: you do not need to manually resync every time you add a new product. Simprosys updates the feed automatically. The manual resync is there for when you change settings and want to push those changes through immediately, or when you want to double check that everything is current.

Once the sync is done, go to your Merchant Center and check that the products are showing up. They will likely say "Under Review" at first - that is normal and expected. Google reviews new products before they go live. What you want to confirm is that the products are there and the attributes look right.

Check the product titles in Merchant Center while you are there. A good title includes the product name, key attributes like gender, color, and size. If the titles look vague or cut off important details, that is a feed optimization job for later. Getting the feed live and structured correctly is the first step. See the guide to fixing Google Merchant Center disapprovals if any products come back with issues.

After the feed is live - what comes next

A working Simprosys feed is the foundation, not the finish line.

At ZenoX, once a feed is live and campaigns have been running for a while, we invest a lot of time into optimizing product titles and descriptions further. That means using the right keywords in the title, making sure the product type field is filled out properly, and auditing the feed regularly for any products that have drifted out of compliance. Chris mentions there is a separate video on how to optimize product types and descriptions using AI - that is the natural next step after setup.

The feed you start with is a basic one. It gets your products into Merchant Center and into Google Shopping. But you can already do a lot inside Simprosys to improve quality before you even look at campaign structure. The faster you clean up the feed, the faster your campaigns start matching the right searches.

A store doing 1,000 to 2,000 dollars a day from ecommerce can often move the needle just by optimizing a few things in the feed - product category, titles, attributes. You do not always need a bigger budget. Sometimes you need better data.

The reason this matters: Google Shopping campaigns and Performance Max both rely on the feed to match your products to search queries. A basic feed gets you live. An optimized feed gets you the right traffic at the right cost.

Product category

Specific

Comparison price setting

Enabled

All variants included

Yes

Feed auto-syncs on new products

Yes

If you are not sure how your current feed stacks up, that is a good place to start when you think about how we approach account setup. And if your products are coming back disapproved in Merchant Center, the disapproval fix guide covers the most common reasons and how to resolve them fast.

Frequently asked questions

Is Simprosys free to install on Shopify?

No. The cost depends on how many products you have, but it is not expensive. There is a free trial - make sure you do not miss it. If the trial runs out unnoticed, your feed stops updating and your Shopping ads start serving outdated product data.

What email should I use to connect Simprosys to Merchant Center?

Use the same email that already has access to your Merchant Center. That keeps the connection clean and avoids permission issues. If you manage multiple Merchant Centers from one account, confirm which one you are connecting to before you paste in the ID.

What happens if I leave the comparison price setting disabled in Simprosys?

Your sale price just shows as the regular price. Shoppers see no crossed-out original price, no sale badge, and no signal that there is a deal. You have a sale but you are not advertising it. That is why Christopher Krassnig calls it out - it is off by default and it should not be.

Do I need to manually resync Simprosys every time I add a new product?

No. Simprosys updates the feed automatically when you add products. The manual resync is there for when you change settings and want to push those changes through immediately, or when you want to double-check that everything is current.

What product category should I choose in Simprosys?

Pick the most specific Google product category that matches what your store actually sells. Shoes and clothing are different categories in Google's taxonomy. Getting this right helps Google understand your products and show them to the right people.

What does "Under Review" mean in Merchant Center after syncing?

It means Google is reviewing your products before approving them for ads. It is normal and expected for new products. Give it a few hours. What you want to confirm is that the products are there and the attributes look right.

Set up the feed right once. Then spend your time optimizing it - that is where the real gains are.