Targeting local and non local listings with same feed

[Adam Goldman]

when I create a feed of type "products" targeting "shopping", in the UI I have a toggle to have it targeting local listings as well (see img)

Is there a way to achieve that functionality through API? Have one feed targeting both local and non local listings?

I believe that's better since that way I'll use half the products' quota to cover both use cases, right?

Once I manually do that, and call GET on the feed, I see "LocalSurfacesAcrossGoogle" added to the includedDestinations, but trying to update a feed with that value throws an error (also it doesn't appear on the docs as a valid value. 

[Shopping API Forum Advisor]

Hi Adam,

Are you planning to include multiple destinations via API? Please add more details about the error:

I see "LocalSurfacesAcrossGoogle" added to the includedDestinations, but trying to update a feed with that value throws an error (also it doesn't appear on the docs as a valid value. 

Please use 'Reply privately to author' option for sharing the logs, Merchant Center id and screenshots.

Best practices document: https://developers.google.com/shopping-content/guides/best-practices#use-destination-attributes

Thanks,

Lakshmi Prathipati Content API for Shopping Team

 

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[Adam Goldman]

I want the same feed to target free listings, shoppings ads, local free listings, local inventory ads.

When I try to update LocalSurfacesAcrossGoogle value in includedDestinations I get an error that the value LocalSurfacesAcrossGoogle is invalid, which makes sense since it doesn't appear as a valid value in the docs.

But as I said, if I manually through the UI go to the feed's settings and toggle "include local free listings and local inventory ads", and then through the API call GET on that feed, I do see LocalSurfacesAcrossGoogle in the includedDestinations.

So basically, I'm asking how through the API I can replace the manual process of toggling a feed to target local listings and local inventory ads as well.

[Shopping API Forum Advisor]

Hello Adam,

 

I’m James from the Content API Team as well. Thank you for your response.

 

I would like to clarify that since you’re using Content API feed, technically you’re already using only 1 primary feed, as there would be only one Content API feed per merchant account. However, in the merchant center interface, the online and local products are just separated so that it’s much easier for you to manage the destination programs on where you’re going to advertise your products.

 

I said this because some destination programs are not applicable for online or local products. As an example,  if you set the channel of your products to `Online`, you can only advertise those products to online destination programs such as Shopping ads, free listings etc. While, if you set the channel of your products to `Local`, then you can only advertise those products to local destination programs such as Local inventory ads and free local product listings.

 

Also, the LocalSurfacesAcrossGoogle(free local product listings) value is acceptable and valid for the includedDestinations attribute. Having said that, for us to check what causes the said value to be invalid on your end, kindly provide us your merchant account ID and some screenshots via 'Reply privately to author' option so that we can further investigate. If the private option is not available on your end, then please send it over through this email <shopping-a...@google.com> instead.

 

Lastly, as a replacement for the manual process of toggling a specific destination program within the Content API feed, you just need to add either includedDestination or excludedDestination attributes to your product data feed via API. 

 

Let me know if you have any further questions.

 

Regards,

James Howell Abarsoza

Content API for Shopping Team

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[Adam Goldman]

Thanks for the detailed response James.

About what you said, few things I don't understand:

since you’re using Content API feed, technically you’re already using only 1 primary feed, as there would be only one Content API feed per merchant account

So if I call the API to create a feed twice, once with "products" and once with "local products", it will actually be just one feed targeting all destinations? And the products won't count twice for our account's quota?

 in the merchant center interface, the online and local products are just separated

It's not only in the UI. For one of our accounts I created two feeds through the API, one "products" and one "local products", and when I call GET feeds on that account I get two resources in the response.

if you set the channel of your products to `Online`

What do you mean by that? When I create a feed, I don't set a channel, just the "contentType" to either "products" or "local products"

Also, the LocalSurfacesAcrossGoogle(free local product listings) value is acceptable and valid for the includedDestinations attribute

Are you sure? It doesn't appear in the docs:
https://developers.google.com/shopping-content/reference/rest/v2.1/datafeeds#DatafeedTarget

for us to check what causes the said value to be invalid on your end, kindly provide us your merchant account ID and some screenshots via 'Reply privately to author' option so that we can further investigate. If the private option is not available on your end, then please send it over through this email <shopping-a...@google.com> instead.

I don't have the option to reply privately to author in this conversation, and I can't see the email address you posted, and clicking on it opens a new window with captcha, which after I confirm I'm not a robot, nothing happens.

Can you maybe email me directly? or post here the full email address for me to send the details you asked?

Thanks again!

[Shopping API Forum Advisor]

Hi Adam,

My colleague James responded in the context of uploading products using Products.insert call. Yes for Datafeeds you need to use Content Type to distinguish local and online products: https://developers.google.com/shopping-content/reference/rest/v2.1/datafeeds#Datafeed
The supported destinations for Datafeeds service are:

• DisplayAds
• Shopping
• ShoppingActions i.e. Buy_on_Google_listings
• SurfacesAcrossGoogle i.e. Free_listings

https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/7501026?hl=en

You can share the sensitive information to 'shopping-a...@google.com'.  The Content API feed (inserted via Products.insert call) for local products is distinguished with a subheading local products: https://developers.google.com/shopping-content/guides/best-practices#dont-delete-api-feed

Thanks,

Lakshmi Prathipati

Content API for Shopping Team

 

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