Is your product feed ready for Managed CSS?

Start with the feed your affiliate programme makes available

GMVLY’s managed pipeline ingests product feeds from affiliate networks, processes the product data and exports eligible changes to Merchant Center. Start by telling us which network your programme uses and which catalogue feed is available. We will confirm the route for your account.

Bring a sample and an owner who can answer questions about the source. A feed that downloads successfully still needs commercial review and product checks before it is ready for a managed campaign.

• Identify the affiliate programme, network and available product feed.
• Confirm who maintains the source and who can fix missing or incorrect fields.
• List the countries, languages and currencies covered by each feed.

Make products and variants easy to identify

Check a small sample across your best sellers, long-tail products and variants. Use it to find systematic issues before reviewing the entire catalogue. A good title should help a shopper distinguish the exact item, not just the product family.

• Keep a stable, unique product ID for each item.
• Supply genuine GTINs where applicable; check brand and MPN requirements.
• Group related variants consistently and give each its correct size and colour.
• Use accurate titles, descriptions and images that identify the advertised product.

Check the offer against the buying journey

Follow a sample product from feed to landing page to checkout. Include a discounted item, a variant and a low-stock item. Record mismatches with the team responsible for the source rather than assuming they will disappear during processing.

• Match feed price, currency, sale price and availability to the website.
• Open the correct product or variant page and confirm the item is purchasable.
• Check product and image URLs are accessible to Google.
• Verify delivery charges, delivery coverage and returns information are accurate.

Agree how changes and eligibility issues will be handled

Stock and promotions can move faster than a catalogue export. Tell us how often the source updates and who owns urgent corrections. We can discuss the feed processing setup with you; this checklist does not promise real-time stock updates.

Use existing Merchant Center issues as a starting point for the conversation. Share unresolved problems and recent fixes. Being technically able to read a feed does not guarantee that Google will approve every product.

• Agree the update cadence and a contact for urgent stock or price changes.
• Review Google’s product data requirements and Shopping policies.
• Flag existing disapprovals, restricted products and account-level issues.

Give the feed a commercial brief

A complete catalogue is a starting point, not an instruction to advertise every product. Agree where a GMVLY-funded route should fit your Shopping target and existing activity. Include the PPC owner and affiliate programme owner in that decision.

Make the commission and validation process part of the brief. Correct product data cannot compensate for a sale that leaves too little contribution after commission, fulfilment and returns.

• Agree eligible products, markets and any brand or campaign restrictions.
• Highlight margin constraints, seasonal stock and products to exclude.
• Your affiliate manager confirms programme tracking, commission and validation terms; GMVLY confirms the campaign route and commercial scope.
• Set a review window and distinguish attributed sales from incremental growth.