Are you looking for a reliable way to confirm when Google updates your product feed? If yes, then adding a feed publication timestamp to your data stream is a smart move. By doing this, you ensure that you always know how fresh your product information is in Google Merchant Center. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps clearly.
Step-by-Step Guide
- Go to WP Admin → Product Feed Pro (or Elite) → Manage Feeds.
- Find the feed you want to update and click Edit.
- Navigate to the Field Mapping step of the feed setup.
- Scroll down and click + Add Field Mapping to insert a new row in the mapping table.
- Choose a field in your Google Merchant Center feed to hold the timestamp. A common choice is custom_label_0, but you can use any available field.
If you’re not sure how Google handles custom labels, see their official guide on custom labels in Merchant Center. - Select the Feed publication date and time from the attribute values dropdown. This automatically records the exact date and time of the last feed update.
- Save your changes and regenerate the feed. There’s no need to enter a manual value; the timestamp will be added dynamically.
- After Google processes the updated feed, the field you selected (e.g., custom_label_0) will display the timestamp. This confirms how fresh your feed data is at a glance.
Why Use Custom Labels
Google allows you to include up to five custom labels, custom_label_0 to custom_label_4, for grouping products in Performance Max or Shopping campaigns. These labels don’t appear to customers but are powerful tools for reporting, bidding, and internal organization.
Conclusion
Embedding your feed’s publication timestamp into a Merchant Center field adds clarity and control to your product management. It’s straightforward, low-risk, and gives immediate insight into data freshness.
Need Further Assistance?
If you require any additional assistance, please don’t hesitate to create a new ticket to contact our support team.
Please note that the ticket support system is exclusive to Product Feed ELITE users.
If you’re using only the Product Feed Pro plugin, feel free to open a new topic in the WordPress.org forum.
