Category metafields not included in google merchant center

Shopify Discussion
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1

  • Category metafields are not included in Shopify’s product webhook payload

  • This prevents third-party feed apps (e.g. google app or Simprosys) from syncing category metafield values to Google Merchant Center

  • Workarounds require duplicating data across 3,000+ products, which is not scalable

  • Request: include category metafield data in the products/update webhook payload

2

Valid pain point @Kekti, this is a known gap. Category metafields being excluded from the products/update webhook payload makes it impossible for feed apps like Google or Simprosys to sync that data without a messy workaround.

A couple of things worth trying in the meantime:

  • Metafield sync via Bulk Operations Use Shopify’s GraphQL Bulk Operations API to pull category metafield data and push it to Google Merchant Center directly, bypassing the webhook limitation.
  • Custom webhook solution Set up a backend listener that fetches metafields separately on product update, then forwards the full payload to your feed app.

For a long term fix, best to raise this on community.shopify.dev where the product team actually engages. There are already open threads about webhook payload gaps, so your use case adds weight to the request.

3

Hey @Kekti ,
Shopify currently does not include category metafields in the products/update webhook payload.

This is a platform level limitation, which is why third party feed apps like Google Shopping or Simprosys are unable to sync those values in real time using webhooks alone.

To work around this merchants typically need to either:

Use Shopify’s GraphQL Bulk Operations API to fetch complete product data including category metafields or
Implement a secondary sync process where product updates trigger an additional API call to retrieve and push the missing metafield data to the feed system.

Until Shopify includes category metafields in webhook payloads these additional steps are necessary for accurate and scalable feed syncing.
Thank You !

4

The part I’d avoid is relying on the product update webhook as the only trigger here. If category metafields aren’t in that payload, a safer workaround is a scheduled sync that re-reads those values and compares them against what was last pushed to the Merchant Center feed, so missed category changes don’t quietly stay stale.

5

Hello @Kekti
You are correct in that Shopify’s default product webhooks don’t include category metafield values at this time, which makes it impossible for third party feed app to automatically sync. A practical workaround using Shopify Flow or by bulk updating products is to copy the category metafield value into a regular product field that your feed app can read. This eliminates having countless manual updating on thousands of products and keeping the data in sync until such time as webhook payloads are enhanced in the future.