The Special Features of Our Google CSS: From Product Data to Concrete Decisions

1. Product Health: Find out which products Google isn't displaying – and why

Missing colors, unreachable landing pages, or policy violations: Google regularly flags products in Shopping feeds. While you can find the corresponding messages in the Merchant Center, they often appear there as technical error codes, English terms, and individual entries in extensive reports.

The actual problem, therefore, isn't necessarily that the information is missing. For many retailers in their day-to-day work, it's simply too difficult to access. The consequence: Rejected products are not displayed, without it being clear which part of the assortment is affected.

Our "Product Health" section processes precisely these complaints in an understandable way. You see:

• which errors and warnings Google reports,
• what the respective message specifically means,
• how many products are affected,
• which example products are affected, and
• which problems are likely to have the biggest impact on your visibility.

This allows you to see at a glance whether it's an individual item or a structural problem affecting a large part of your catalog.

The clear distinction here is important: We do not create a second Merchant Center, nor do we evaluate your products according to our own rules. We show Google's judgment – but in a way that you can understand, categorize, and act upon it.

2. Fix Center: Supplement thousands of product attributes with a single decision

A typical error report, for example, states: The color is missing for 3,400 products. Technically, the problem can be solved. In practice, however, for many retailers, this means adapting the shop system, involving a developer, or having an agency rebuild the feed.

The effort is initially pending, while the affected products remain incomplete.

The Fix Center therefore checks whether a missing value can be reliably derived from the already existing product data. If this is possible, you receive a bundled suggestion for all affected products. You see the number of changes and concrete examples – and make one decision instead of editing thousands of items individually.

Your existing feed remains unchanged

The crucial advantage: We change neither your original feed nor your shop system. Approved additions are written to a separate data source that Google layers over your existing product data.

This means your existing processes are maintained:

• Your shop system does not need to be rebuilt.
• Your agency can continue to work as usual.
• The original feed remains completely under your control.
• Every addition can be removed again without changing the source data.

The Fix Center can, for example, generate suggestions for color, age group, gender, size, or condition – but only if the information can be unequivocally derived from the available data.

Information that cannot be reliably derived is consciously excluded. A missing GTIN cannot be invented, just as a missing product image or a description that is too short in content cannot be automatically filled with reliable facts. If in doubt, a gap remains. A guessed value would be riskier for data quality and the merchant account than a missing entry.

3. Custom Labels: Control Shopping campaigns based on the actual price position

Google Shopping is a price comparison. Nevertheless, many retailers control their bids without knowing which products they are actually the cheapest provider for.

This creates a fundamental problem: Products with a very good price position may be advertised too cautiously, while high bids continue to be placed for offers significantly above the competition.

Our Google CSS can make a product's price position available directly for campaign control as a Custom Label. Depending on the defined logic, a product can, for example, be assigned to one of these groups:

• cheapest provider,
• up to 5 percent above the cheapest offer,
• significantly above the cheapest offer.

Based on this, you can build different campaigns, product groups, or bidding rules in Google Ads. Products with a competitive price can be promoted more effectively, while for less competitive offers, you make more conscious decisions about bids, margin, and campaign assignment.

The special value of this label lies in the data basis. You can provide information such as margin, season, product type, or price range yourself from your shop. However, you only receive your specific position compared to other retailers through the price comparison.

The total price including shipping is decisive

For classification, not only the item price but the total price including shipping costs counts. Because precisely this price determines the position at which an offer appears in the price comparison.

A retailer may be ahead on the pure product price but still be behind a competitor due to higher shipping costs. Labeling such an offer as "cheapest" would be misleading. Therefore, our assignment is based on the price that is actually relevant to the customer.

Existing labels are not overwritten

Custom Labels are an important control instrument in Google Ads. Overwriting an already used label without asking could affect existing campaign structures and bidding logics.

Therefore, we only write the price position into a free label column. If no suitable column is available in the entire catalog, no suggestion is implemented. We prefer to forego the additional label rather than damage an existing campaign logic.

4. Price Comparison: See which provider is actually cheaper

The Merchant Center can show you that your price is above a market benchmark. However, for a concrete decision, this information is often not sufficient.

Because it does not immediately reveal:

• which retailer offers it cheaper,
• how big the actual price difference is,
• whether only one provider or an entire group is ahead of you, and
• whether the difference arises from the product price or the shipping costs.

Our Google CSS therefore combines the available weekly benchmark for the respective country with a product-specific comparison page. There you see the specific providers and their prices for precisely this product.

The general statement "Your offer is above market level" thus becomes a reliable basis for decision-making: You recognize, for example, that your tire's total price is 4.20 Euro above the cheapest retailer – and who that provider is.

Only with this information can you make an economical decision:

• adjust the price,
• consciously defend the existing margin,
• reduce the bid, or
• remove the product from a specific campaign.

Here too, the rule applies: Without the necessary report access, we do not show supposedly precise values. If reliable data is missing, the corresponding view remains empty and transparently indicates this. We do not generate numbers just to make an interface look complete.

The Common Principle: Every piece of information must lead to a decision

All four functions follow the same idea: We don't just show additional data. We help you make a concrete decision based on it.

Every area therefore ends in a possible action:

• approve a correction,
• control bids based on price position,
• check or adjust a price,
• specifically correct a product, or
• advertise a non-competitive offer differently.

A metric without understandable context and without a next step has no place in our Google CSS.

Three clear principles apply here:

Nothing happens without your approval: We never write changes to your account without asking. You see the suggestion, check examples, and decide yourself whether it should be implemented.

Nothing is guessed: If the available data does not allow for a reliable statement, we do not make a suggestion. Reliability is more important than a high number of automatic changes.

Your feed remains your feed: All information we add is in a separate data source. You can remove it at any time without having to revert your original feed or shop system.

What our Google CSS consciously does not want to be

These functions neither replace the Google Merchant Center nor professional management of your Google Ads campaigns. Nor do they take over the economic decision of what price or bid you should set for a product.

Instead, they answer four questions whose answers Google generally provides, but often not processed in a way that retailers can immediately work with:

• Which products have a problem?
• Which missing details can be reliably added without feed reconstruction?
• How can I control my bids based on my price position?
• Who actually offers the same product cheaper?

Only a real price comparison can concretely answer the last question. This is precisely the biggest difference to a pure Merchant Center analysis: You not only see that your offer may be too expensive, but where you actually stand compared to other retailers.

Thus, a collection of technical product data becomes a tool for better decisions in Google Shopping.