Before you start
You need four things in place before you connect the feed:
- Inventory Ads with the Google vehicle ads feed switched on for your account, and your feed URL from Phyron. If you don't have the URL yet, contact your Customer Success Manager on success@phyron.com
- A Google Merchant Center account with vehicle ads enabled. In the US, Canada and Australia you can turn on the vehicle ads add-on yourself. In the UK and EEA, Google must approve (allowlist) the account first.
- A Google Ads account to run your Performance Max campaigns.
- A Google Business Profile for each dealership location, linked to Google Ads and Merchant Center.
In the UK or EEA? Google's allowlisting rules matter here:
- Use a dedicated Merchant Center account for vehicle ads. Google switches off Shopping ads and free listings on that account, and allowlisting can't be undone.
- Your business needs a valid address in the country you're advertising in.
- Don't link the Merchant Center account to Google Ads until allowlisting is complete.
Google lists the full rules in Prerequisites for vehicle ads in the EEA and the UK.
Connect your Phyron feed to Google
Setup takes a few minutes in Merchant Center, then Google needs time to run its first fetch and review your vehicles.
- Add a new data source. In Merchant Center, go to Settings → Data sources and click Add product source.
- Choose a file link. Select Add products from a file, then Enter a link to your file.
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Add the Phyron feed URL. Paste the feed URL from Phyron, set the fetch frequency to Daily, and save.
- Make sure the data source targets Vehicle ads only. Google doesn't support Shopping ads or free listings for vehicles, and targeting them can get your cars disapproved.
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Check for errors. Once the first fetch has run, open the data source and fix any errors it lists.
- You can also see issues by vehicle under Products → Diagnostics, filtered to Vehicle ads.
- If an error relates to images or data supplied by Phyron, contact Phyron Support with the vehicle ID and the error message.
- Start advertising. Link Merchant Center to Google Ads and enable vehicle ads in your Performance Max campaigns. Google explains how in Enable vehicle ads in your Performance Max campaigns.