What Is Custom Label?
Also written as custom labels, custom_label, custom_label_0.
Definition
A custom label is a free-text field on your product feed that you fill with values you choose, such as margin tier or performance bucket. Google Shopping gives you five of them, named custom_label_0 to custom_label_4. For an ecommerce store, labels let you split campaigns and bids by how a product actually behaves.
Written by Christopher Krassnig, Founder & CEO of ZenoX Media. Written by the ZenoX team from the accounts we run. Definitions are general; the numbers in examples are maths, not client results.
Custom Label, Explained
Custom labels do not change who sees your ads. Titles, descriptions and category still decide the match. A label is a handle you use later in Google Ads. You filter listing groups on it. You send champion products into one campaign and waster products into another.
The common mistake is filling all five fields with messy values, then never using them in a campaign. High, HIGH, and high margin look like three products to Merchant Center. Another mistake is treating labels as a one-time upload. Performance changes, so a champion last month can be a waster now.
Pick one scheme and keep the spelling identical. A simple pair is performance (champion, potential, sleeper, waster) in custom_label_0 and newness in custom_label_1. Write the values through a supplemental feed so you do not edit Shopify titles to tag products. Then actually filter the listing groups on those values. A label that never hits a campaign is just a column.
How We Use It at ZenoX
We write custom labels from the Labelizer, not by hand. Every product lands in champions, potentials, sleepers or wasters, plus a new-product flag. Those values go into the supplemental feed, then into listing groups. We split Performance Max on the high-performer label early. The waster campaign waits until there is real wasted spend.
Questions People Ask About Custom Label
How Many Custom Labels Can I Use in Google Shopping?
Google Shopping gives you five fields: custom_label_0 through custom_label_4. Each field holds one value per product, and you choose what that value means. Five fields is not five campaigns. Most stores get more from two clean fields they actually filter on than from five messy ones.
Do Custom Labels Change Which Searches My Products Match?
They do not. Google matches searches to your title, description, product type and category. Custom labels do not target people. They only let you group products inside Google Ads so you can bid or exclude by that group. If a product is not showing, fix the title and the Merchant Center status first, not the label.
Related terms
- Listing GroupA listing group is a filter that says which products in your Merchant Center feed can serve inside a campaign or asset group.
- Supplemental FeedA supplemental feed is a second data source in Merchant Center that overlays fields on your primary product feed, matched by id.
- Champions and WastersChampions and wasters are product labels.
- Product FeedA product feed is the data file that tells Google Merchant Center what you sell, item by item.
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