To run Microsoft Shopping campaigns, you must create a feed and upload a catalog feed file. A feed file contains a list of your products and attributes that define how they will display on the Microsoft Advertising Network. Whenever you want to update your feed, you upload an updated feed file. Each store can have more than one feed, but the products in each file must be unique per market.
After you verify that you own your URL and your newly created store is approved, you create your feed. Note that you will need your feed file ready for feed creation. For more information, see Create a feed file.
From the navigation menu on the left, select Tools > Merchant Center > Feeds.
Here is how you create a feed file using a spreadsheet program. If you want to use a text editor, make sure to use the required attributes. You can also take a look at this short example of a feed file.
Your feed file must be tab-delimited plain text with extensions: TXT, ZIP, GZ, GZIP, TAR.GZ, TGZ. We only support XML files if it is an existing Google-formatted XML file.
The feed name is used for identification in Feeds and in Feed reports. It can be modified at a later time.
Be sure to include all required attributes.
Remember, if you added additional countries to your feed, you need to add their currency by listing their currency symbols (per ISO 4217). To learn more about this option, see Show your products in multiple countries.
Each item's attribute values should be listed in the same column as the corresponding header attribute name. This means a product's ID must be in the column with header attribute “id”.
Feed file submission methods specify how you will transfer the product offer information files to Microsoft Merchant Center. After you have created and perhaps also tested a corresponding feed file, it can be submitted to the associated feed. Once submitted, the feed file should finish processing within a few minutes; however, depending on the size of the file it can take up to several hours. The editorial review process can take up to 24 hours. If it doesn't pass the initial review, it'll undergo an additional review that may take up to three business days. If you still see an error after that time, please contact Support.
There are a couple different ways to submit a feed file:
Manually uploadYou may use this option if the feed file is smaller than 4MB.
From the navigation menu on the left, select Tools > Merchant Center > Feeds.
You may use this option if the feed file is smaller than 1GB. We recommend this option if the feed file is larger than 4MB.
If uploading via FTP/SFTP, the file name of TXT or XML files must match the file name specified for a feed’s settings. For compressed text format, the compressed TXT file inside the archive and the archive file (ZIP, GZ, GZIP) must have the matching file name. Any feed file that is archived needs to have a single compressed file inside. The max file size should be no more than 3GB (after the file is uncompressed, if the file is compressed).
From the navigation menu on the left, select Tools > Merchant Center > Feeds.
You can now upload the file via the FTP/SFTP tool of your choice using the file name you specified.
FTP/SFTP server requirements:
The recommended FTP/SFTP upload mechanism is via an FTP/SFTP program. It is, however, possible to do so via the command line or custom scripts (such as Python's ftplib.FTP module). The FileZilla FTP client is recommended for all platforms.
Use the following settings for file transfer with your FTP/SFTP client:
Learn more about FTP/SFTP upload.
Automatically download file from URLYou may use this option if the feed file is smaller than 1GB and on a publicly accessible server. The feed file will be downloaded once every 24 hours.
From the navigation menu on the left, select Tools > Merchant Center.
You may also download your feed file from Google Docs. Keep in mind that we only accept CSV or TSV formats for feed files from Google.
You can use the Google Merchant Center import tool, if you already have Product ads in your Google Merchant Center. Learn how to use the Google Merchant Center import tool.
Your feed expires after 30 days, which causes the products to stop publishing; so, you need to update your feed file. To keep your product information fresh, it is good practice to upload your feed daily.
From the navigation menu on the left, select Tools > Merchant Center > Feeds.
From the navigation menu on the left, select Tools > Merchant Center > Feeds.
Not everyone has this feature yet. If you don't, don't worry—it's coming soon!
You can sell your products from a single feed to multiple countries. As you create your feed, the Country of sale specifies which market (country and language) the feed targets. Another option is to select the Use Feed Label checkbox and specify multiple target countries/regions. After indicating one country of sale, you have the option to add more countries.
Your feed can target countries with the same language within your region (for example, the US and Canada or France and Belgium).
For the purposes of eligibility, when you create a Shopping campaign, be sure to select the same countries under Campaign targets that are indicated in your feed (using Let me choose specific locations) or you can also select the worldwide option (All available countries/regions). This is because it’s important that the added countries included in your feed align with those in your campaign location targets. In other words, the information—including details such as product filters—in your feed must align with that in your campaign. See What are the benefits of Shopping campaigns for more information.
Real-time currency conversionIf the ad is shown outside the country of sale, we take care of ensuring that the real-time currency appears. This means that as long as you submit currency codes in your feed file, we make sure your ads show the relevant, converted currency with the country of sale’s currency in parentheses. For example, let’s say that the country of sale is the United States and that Canada is the additional country. As depicted below, an ad shown in Canada will include the Canadian Dollar amount and then the US dollar amount in parentheses.
If you are creating a multi-market feed, the product(s) need to have currency details either in the price field or in the feed setting.
When enabled, this setting allows you to upload a feed for testing potential validation errors, but it won't serve or be published. Products uploaded to a feed enabled for testing will be validated for errors. However, they won't remove or prevent existing products from serving if there are validation errors.
If you enable your feed for testing only, all previously submitted products will stop serving.
Note: You can always edit your test feed to change its settings.