Integrating your Growave product reviews with Google Merchant Center allows your reviews to appear in Google Shopping listings, helping boost product visibility, trust, and click-through rates.
This guide walks you through everything you need to know — from eligibility and setup to best practices and troubleshooting.
What are Google Shopping product ratings?
Product ratings are the star ratings that appear on your product listings in Google Shopping. These are not seller ratings (which reflect your store overall), but individual product reviews submitted by customers.
When properly configured, Google will pull reviews from Growave and display them alongside product listings.
Eligibility requirements
Growave automatically structures review data to align with Google’s specifications, but it’s your responsibility to ensure the content itself follows Google’s policies.
Before setting up the integration, ensure you meet Google’s Product Ratings requirements:
A product catalog is uploaded to Google Merchant Center.
Minimum 50 product reviews across all your products.
At least 3 reviews per product (recommended for consistent visibility)
Reviews must be product-focused — not about customer service, shipping, pricing, etc.
Content must have correct grammar and no typos.
Blank/star-only reviews are not counted.
Reviews must comply with Google’s Product Ratings policies.
How Google matches reviews to products
Google matches product reviews from Growave to your product listings based on unique product identifiers (UPIs). The most reliable identifiers include:
Matching Method | Best Practice in Shopify |
GTIN (UPC/EAN/ISBN) | Add in the product’s Barcode (ISBN, UPC, GTIN) field |
MPN + Brand | Add MPN to SKU or custom field, and Brand |
SKU + Brand | Ensure both are accurate and consistent |
Product URL | Used only as a fallback (least reliable) |
⚠️ Important
If you're selling custom or vintage products that lack GTINs or MPNs, make sure to use consistent product titles and URLs.
Set up Growave review feed in Google Merchant Center
Step 1: Request access to Google’s Product Ratings program
Sign in to your Google Merchant Center account.
Click the Settings (gear icon) in the upper-right menu and select Add-ons.
Select Product Ratings from the list of available add-ons.
If prompted, fill out Google’s Product Ratings Interest Form to request access.
Wait for Google to review your submission — this usually takes 1–2 business days.
Once approved, you’ll receive an email confirming your account is enabled for Product Ratings, and the option to add a product reviews feed will become available.
Step 2. Configure GTIN and MPN and get your Growave XML feed link
In the Growave admin panel under Integrations → Google Shopping Integration, you can:
Include GTIN in the feed (enabled by default)
This pulls the barcode (UPC, EAN, or ISBN) from your Shopify product’s Barcode field.
Include MPN in the feed
If enabled, Growave uses the value in your product’s SKU field as the MPN (Manufacturer Part Number). To ensure accurate matching in Google Merchant Center, make sure your SKU values represent valid MPNs if using this option.
Copy the auto-generated XML feed link
This links contains your product review data in Google’s required format. The file is updated automatically once per day.
Step 3. Submit the feed to Google Merchant Center
In Google Merchant Center, go to Analytics → Reviews.
Click the Product reviews tab.
Select Product review data sources in the top-right corner.
Click Add product reviews.
Choose the option to schedule a fetch.
In the feed setup form, provide basic information about your reviews feed.
Paste the Growave XML feed link you copied earlier.
Set the update frequency to Weekly.
Click Continue and complete the setup.
Your reviews will now be submitted to Google on the schedule you defined. The integration setup is complete at this point.
What happens next?
Once Google receives your feed, their team will review it for data quality and policy compliance.
You may see a status of “Inactive” — this is normal during the approval process.
If successful, your product reviews will begin appearing in Google Shopping listings in 1–4 weeks.
Troubleshooting
Reviews not appearing?
Reviews not appearing?
Check the following:
You’ve met the 50-review minimum.
Reviews meet Google’s content quality guidelines.
Products in your Google feed aren’t flagged as low-performance (due to missing GTINs, for example).
GTIN is missing, what now?
GTIN is missing, what now?
If your product does not have a GTIN, Google will attempt to match your reviews using alternative identifiers, in this rough order of reliability:
MPN + Brand
SKU + Brand
Product Title + Product URL
If you have any questions or need assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact our support team at [email protected] or via the chat icon in the bottom-right corner. We're here to help! 🤗