Connect your Shopify store to Google Shopping — the right way
Shopify's native Google integration gets you live but leaves performance on the table. Trajekt pulls your complete Shopify catalogue via GraphQL — metafields, variants, collections — and generates an optimised feed that Merchant Center actually rewards.
How to connect Shopify to Google Shopping with Trajekt
Five steps from zero to a live, optimised Google Shopping feed pulling from your Shopify store.
1
Create your Shopify API credentials
In Shopify admin: Settings → Apps and sales channels → Develop apps → Create an app. Name it “Trajekt Feed”. Under API credentials, configure Admin API access scopes: read_products, read_inventory, read_content. Install the app and copy the Admin API access token — shown once only.
2
Connect your store in Trajekt
In Trajekt: Add Store → Shopify. Enter your myshopify.com store URL and paste your Admin API access token. Trajekt fetches your first full catalogue sync — including all variants, metafields, collections, and images — within 2–15 minutes depending on catalogue size.
3
Set up your Google Shopping feed rules
In Trajekt’s rules engine, create rules to optimise your feed: prepend the Shopify vendor field (brand) to titles, append colour and size variant attributes, map your Shopify product type to google_product_category, and set custom labels based on price or collection membership. Rules run automatically on every feed refresh.
4
Copy your Trajekt feed URL
Trajekt generates a stable, authenticated feed URL for your Google Shopping output. This URL always returns your latest feed data. Copy it from your Trajekt dashboard — you’ll paste it into Google Merchant Center in the next step.
5
Configure scheduled fetch in Merchant Center
In Google Merchant Center Next: Products → Data sources → Add data source → Scheduled fetch. Paste your Trajekt feed URL. Set fetch frequency to Daily or Twice Daily. Merchant Center will automatically pull your updated Shopify data on schedule — no manual uploads ever needed.
Why Trajekt outperforms the native Shopify Google app
Shopify’s built-in Google integration gets you listed. Trajekt gets you performing.
Capability
Trajekt
Shopify native app
Shopify Admin GraphQL API (full data)
✓
Partial
Metafield access for GTIN, brand, material
✓
✗
Visual rules engine for title optimisation
✓
✗
Custom label automation
✓
✗
ChatGPT Shopping from same connection
✓
✗
Meta, TikTok, Awin, Pinterest from same data
✓
✗
AI description enrichment
✓
✗
Free plan (permanent)
✓
✗
Frequently asked questions
Connect Shopify to Google Shopping by creating a Google Merchant Center account, verifying your domain, then either using the native Google & YouTube app or a dedicated feed management tool like Trajekt. The native app works for basic setups; Trajekt gives you title optimisation rules, custom labels, and access to channels beyond Google.
Shopify's native Google & YouTube sales channel syncs products automatically, but with limitations — no rules engine, no custom label management, no metafield access, and no support for ChatGPT Shopping or other channels. Trajekt uses Shopify's Admin GraphQL API to pull a more complete data set and gives you full control over what goes into each channel's feed.
After connecting your feed to Merchant Center, initial processing takes 24-72 hours for catalogues under 5,000 products. New products added after the initial sync appear within 24 hours of your next scheduled feed refresh. Price and availability changes can take up to 24 hours to propagate if you're on daily updates; twice-daily updates halve this.
The most common causes: products disapproved in Merchant Center (check Diagnostics tab), your Shopping campaign paused or budget exhausted, products excluded from the feed by a filter rule, or your Merchant Center account not linked to your Google Ads account. Check Merchant Center Diagnostics first — it shows exactly which products have issues and why.
Trajekt pulls: product title, description (HTML-stripped), all variants with individual prices and inventory, images (all images, not just the featured image), collections (up to 5), metafields (including brand, GTIN, material if stored there), tags, SEO title and description, vendor, product type, and published status.
Yes — this is one of Trajekt's primary differentiators. The same Shopify store connection generates both Google Shopping XML (for Merchant Center) and ChatGPT Shopping JSONL (delivered via SFTP to OpenAI). No second connection or setup needed.
No. Trajekt uses a direct Admin API connection — you create API credentials in your Shopify admin, copy them into Trajekt, and the connection is established. No app store listing, no partner account, no ongoing Shopify app fees on top of Trajekt's own pricing.
Don't change your Shopify product titles on-site — use feed rules to restructure them specifically for Shopping. A Trajekt rule can prepend the vendor (brand), append colour and size variant attributes, and remove promotional language — all without touching your Shopify store. Your website titles stay as written; your Shopping titles are optimised automatically.
With daily or twice-daily feed refreshes, out-of-stock products are automatically marked availability: out_of_stock in your feed, preventing them from showing in Shopping. Trajekt also supports filtering rules that completely exclude out-of-stock products from the feed if you prefer they don't appear at all.
Trajekt's Growth plan handles up to 25,000 products; the Pro plan up to 75,000. For larger catalogues, Agency pricing is available on request. All plans use Shopify's Admin GraphQL API with cursor-based pagination, so very large catalogues are fetched completely without timeout issues.