If you’re running Google Shopping campaigns or Performance Max campaigns in Switzerland for your e-commerce store, you’re going to need product feeds with titles in different languages.
A product feed, what is it ?
It is simply a structured file (CSV, XML, or via API) that lists all your products and their attributes.
It usually includes:
- Product title & description
- Price & stock availability
- Unique identifiers (GTIN, SKU, etc.)
- And additional meta data like colors, weight, brand.
The Google Merchant Center (GMC) reads this feed to know what you’re selling. Then GMC sends this data to Google Ads, where you can the advertise it across various channels.
Why localization matters
A multilingual Google product feed is a must in order :
- Target the right keywords: A French shopper searches “nourriture pour bébé,” while a German one types “Babynahrung” Without localized titles, you’ll miss both.
- Help Google’s algo: Clear, localized titles tell Google exactly what your product is.
- Get your products approved: Mismatched titles or wrong-language descriptions will get your product flagged or disapproved.
Boost CTR: People are far more likely to click when the ad is in their own language.
Practical setup
How to make this work you may ask?
Note: Below is the explanation for Shopify, but for a WordPress/WooCommerce website. The situation is quite similar, you can use the CTX Feed plug-in instead of the Shopify app.
Shopify’s Google & YouTube App
If you’re using Shopify with the Google & YouTube app, it will sync your product feed directly to Google Merchant Center. Without any hurdle.
The issue? It only syncs one language: the main language of your shop. That becomes a problem if your store is in English, but you actually need product titles and descriptions in French or German for your campaigns.
You will probably still want to use the Google & YouTube app, but only for the tracking aspect, not for syncing the product data.
To sync the products you have 2 options.
1. Manual product feeds with Google Sheets
A simple alternative is to create manual feeds. Basically a Google Sheet.
You could have one sheet for German, and one for French. Each would include columns like:
- Title
- Description
- Price
- Stock availability
This works fine for a small shop with just a few products. It’s cheap and flexible. But as soon as your shop grows, managing everything in Google Sheets gets tedious.
But it’s free and simple.
2. Feed management tools (Channable or DataFeedWatch)
For larger or more complex shops, you’ll want to use a feed management tool. The two main ones are Channable (link) and DataFeedWatch (link).
Each has pros and cons depending on your setup:
- How many channels you need, or shops you have
- How much customization you require
Both allow you to:
- Import data from Shopify
- Extend that data with additional feeds (like a Google Sheet)
- Create multiple export feeds for Merchant Center (different languages or currencies)
- And later when needed, it easily provides datafeeds for platforms like Galaxus or Manor.
- And they then gladly accept your monthly donations 😉 – Yes, you will need to pay.
Here’s a step by step with DataFeedWatch (DFW):
- Add a your shop (main feed)
- Import your Shopify product data (maybe in English).
- Import a secondary feed (with translated titles and descriptions for example),
- Merge and extend the main data from the main feed.
- Then finally create two export channels in DataFeedWatch:
- One for French Google Shopping feed (Switzerland), in CHF
- One for German Google Shopping feed (Switzerland), in CHF
In DFW, you can do things like the following.
If the “French title” is not available (from the Google Sheet for example), then revert to the original English one (from Shopify). Very handy.
The result: two clean, localized feeds with perfectly customized titles and descriptions.
That way, you’re not limited to Shopify’s default language handling, and you can optimize titles specifically for Google Shopping campaigns.
Best practices for product titles & descriptions
At this point, it’s important to follow Google’s recommendations for Merchant Center feeds:
- Titles: Include brand, product type, and main attributes (size, color, material).
- Descriptions: Highlight unique selling points and use natural language.
- Length: Most of the time only around 70 characters are shown.
Wrap-Up
So, to summarize:
- Shopify’s built-in app is fine for tracking, but not for multi-language feeds.
- Google Sheets work for small shops.
- For larger setups, tools like Channable or DataFeedWatch are the way to go.
A clean, localized product titles and descriptions aren’t just nice to have, they are a must-have for visibility and conversion in Swiss Shopping campaigns.
Ps: The situation for advertising on Meta is quite similar. I