CSV to Google Shopping XML

CSV columns to Google Shopping XML elements

Each CSV header becomes one g: element inside an <item>. The names on the right are Google's and must be spelled exactly; the names on the left are what a typical store export calls them. The third column is the fix that usually has to happen during the conversion.

sku,name,description,url,image,stock,price,brand,condition,parent_sku
TEE-ORG-NAVY-M,Organic Tee,"<p>Mid-weight organic cotton tee.</p>",/products/organic-tee,/img/tee-navy.jpg,14,29,Northway,New,TEE-ORG
MUG-STONE-BLUE,Stoneware Mug,"<p>Hand-thrown stoneware mug.<br>Dishwasher safe.</p>",/products/stoneware-mug-blue,/img/mug-blue.jpg,0,24,Hearth,New,

What the Google Shopping XML looks like

The file is an RSS 2.0 document with the Google namespace declared on the root. The channel needs a title, link and description, and each item carries the g: elements. Attributes without the g: prefix are ignored during processing, which is the single most common reason a hand-built XML feed imports zero products.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss xmlns:g="http://base.google.com/ns/1.0" version="2.0">
<channel>
  <title>Example store</title>
  <link>https://store.example</link>
  <description>Product feed</description>
  <item>
    <g:id>MUG-STONE-BLUE</g:id>
    <g:title>Hearth Stoneware Mug, Blue, 350 ml</g:title>
    <g:description>Hand-thrown stoneware mug. Dishwasher safe.</g:description>
    <g:link>https://store.example/products/stoneware-mug-blue</g:link>
    <g:image_link>https://cdn.example/mug-blue.jpg</g:image_link>
    <g:availability>in_stock</g:availability>
    <g:price>24.00 USD</g:price>
    <g:brand>Hearth</g:brand>
    <g:condition>new</g:condition>
  </item>
</channel>
</rss>

The shortcut: you probably do not need XML

Merchant Center fetches product files on a schedule once the URL is added as a product source in its data sources settings; the URL must point at the file and can be up to 4 GB. Google's formats page lists tab-delimited text and XML by extension, and a text file whose header row uses Google's attribute names is processed the same way as the XML above; in practice Merchant Center also fetches comma-delimited CSV, which is what Textfinity's feeds are in production. XML earns its place when a downstream system demands RSS, when descriptions carry characters that break delimited files, or when a partner's importer only reads XML.

That is how Textfinity approaches the conversion: it reads the CSV by URL, we map each column to Google's attribute name with a rename or a rule, and it publishes the result on a stable URL as CSV (or TSV), rebuilt on your shop's schedule. We register that URL with you in Merchant Center as a scheduled fetch. Textfinity never writes XML: if a destination specifically needs an RSS file, the sample download above has the structure to script against, and a short script with a real XML library can write it from Textfinity's CSV.

Five fixes a CSV needs before it is Google Shopping format

• Price: 24 becomes 24.00 USD. In Textfinity we set price with add suffix " USD", after a replace from regexp to normalize decimals first if the source uses commas.
• Availability: 0 / 12 / true become out_of_stock / in_stock. We map availability with the advanced expression if [stock] equals "0" then "out_of_stock" else "in_stock".
• Description: HTML becomes text. We map description with remove from regexp <[^>]+>. In XML, remaining & and < must be escaped.
• Links and images: relative paths become absolute. We map link with add prefix https://store.example/.
• Identifiers: an empty gtin stays empty, a parent SKU becomes item_group_id. We map gtin as a rename and item_group_id as a rename from parent_sku.