Operations
Part of Plan shopping feeds operations before peak season
Nine checks that keep shopping feeds quality in shape
A shopping feeds quality checklist for catalogue teams: titles, identifiers, security, ownership and the audit trail that keeps multichannel orders flowing.
What to take away
- Most teams audit a feed only when disapprovals spike, so faults sit live for weeks before anyone sees them.
- A checklist works when it is short, owned and run on a fixed timetable rather than during a panic.
- The highest-value checks are the dull onestitles, identifiers, prices, stock, images and destination URLS.
- Security and staff competence belong on the list too, because feed access is a live route into your product data.
- Every check needs a named owner and a record of what was found, so the next run starts from evidence.
Nine checks to run in order
Work through these in sequence. Each one takes minutes on a healthy catalogue and exposes the faults that quietly cost sales.
Nine checks in order
- 1. Title and structured title
- 2. IdentifiersGTIN, brand, MPN
- 3. Price and availability
- 4. Imagessize, background, no watermarks
- 5. Destination URLsredirects, 404s, mobile
1. Title and structured title
The title is what shoppers see and what the platform matches against. Google's guidance on title and structured title explains how the two fields interact, including the 150-character limit on structured title. Check for keyword stuffing, all-caps, promotional text and mismatches between the fields.
2. Identifiers
Confirm GTIN, brand and MPN are present, valid and consistent with the manufacturer's record. Missing identifiers push products into a weaker matching pool, which shows up as lower impressions rather than a clean error.
3. Price and availability
Compare feed price against the landing page, then against your order system. Mismatches trigger disapprovals and cancelled orders. Check currency formatting and sale price windows, especially where a promotion ends at midnight.
4. Images
Look for the primary image at the required size, on a white background where the category demands it, with no watermarks or overlaid text. Broken image URLS are common after a site migration.
5. Destination URLS
Test a sample of links for redirects, 404s and mobile rendering. A redirect chain slows the crawler and can drop a product from the feed entirely.
6. Shipping and tax settings
Check that the values in the feed match what the checkout charges. Divergence here produces complaints that never appear in the feed diagnostics.
7. Account access and security
Feed accounts hold commercial data and, in some setups, write access to your catalogue. The ICO's security guidance including cyber security is the reference point for access control, staff training and breach handling. Remove leavers the same day.
8. Ownership and cover
Name a primary owner and a deputy for each channel. A checklist with no owner is a document, not a control. Where a role sits vacant, the shopping feeds service standards in England page explains what good cover looks like across a trading week.
9. Record and review
Log what you checked, what failed and what changed. Review the log monthly and adjust the checklist when the same fault appears twice. The wider operations and delivery guide covers how these checks slot into a seasonal calendar.
Where people management fits
Data quality is a people problem as much as a technical one. Someone has to own the feed, chase the fixes and hold the line when a trading team wants a rushed promotion loaded on a Friday afternoon.
Feed ownership essentials
- Job descriptions mention feed responsibility
- Induction covers platform rules
- Cover arranged for holidays
- Hold the line on rushed promotions
That means job descriptions that mention feed responsibility, induction that covers platform rules, and cover for holidays. The CIPD's HR role resources set out the general ground on role design and people management. Apply that thinking to the analyst who touches the feed each week.
Glossary
- Feed
- the structured file of product data sent to a shopping platform.
- GTIN
- the global trade item number, usually the barcode.
- Disapproval
- a platform's rejection of an item, with a stated reason.
- Structured title
- a separate title field that can carry variants and attributes.
- Audit log
- the dated record of checks, findings and fixes.
Common questions
How often should the checklist run?
Daily for price, stock and availability, since those change fastest. Weekly for titles, images and URLS. Monthly for access reviews and the audit log.
Who should own the checklist?
One named person in the catalogue or ecommerce team, with a deputy. Ownership should sit where the fixes can be made, not in a committee.
What is the most common failure?
Price and stock drift between the feed and the website. It is boring, frequent and directly linked to cancelled orders.
Do small catalogues need all nine checks?
Yes, though the sample sizes can be small. A shop with 200 SKUs can check every URL in an afternoon.
