Shopify ↔ Google Merchant Center Sync Disaster – 191 SKUs Wiped, Attributes Overwritten, Nothing Updating (Losing My Mind)

Technical Q&A
1

I genuinely need help from someone who has actually solved this — not generic “disconnect and reconnect” advice.

For the last 3–4 months I’ve been fighting nonstop sync issues between Shopify and Google Merchant Center. I’m not exaggerating when I say I’ve probably invested 300+ hours trying to stabilize this.

Here’s what’s happening:

• Titles randomly revert to old versions that don’t exist in Shopify
• Descriptions get deleted or replaced
• Product types and categories get overwritten by Google AI
• Attributes disappear
• MPN is the only thing that seems to stick
• 191 SKUs basically collapsed 4 days ago
• 95% of my perfected feed data is gone

It’s now showing outdated titles that I cannot even find inside my Shopify backend. I update in Shopify → nothing changes in GMC. I wait 24 hours → nothing. 48 hours → nothing. 72 hours → nothing. Then I tweak again and the cycle repeats.

I currently have 5–6 open tickets with Google support. No real answers. Just scripted responses about “automatic feed updates.”

Here’s the part that’s driving me insane:

With Shopify’s Google & YouTube app, you can’t manually force push individual products.

With Merchant Center, you can’t override Shopify data.

So you’re stuck in this loop where:
You change → you wait → nothing happens → you try again → something else breaks.

In 2026, why are we waiting days to see if a feed updates?

Questions for anyone who has actually stabilized this:

  1. Is the Shopify Google app fundamentally unstable for larger catalogs (150+ SKUs)?

  2. Has anyone switched to a third-party feed app and fixed this permanently?

  3. Is Google’s “automatic product data improvements” overwriting feed data?

  4. Could there be a hidden secondary feed source causing conflicts?

  5. Has anyone experienced full SKU data wipes like this?

  6. Is Merchant API transition breaking things behind the scenes?

I’m not new to this. My titles, descriptions, attributes were optimized and consistent. Now it’s like Google is pulling phantom data from somewhere.

If someone has actually fixed a similar sync collapse, I would seriously appreciate insight.

Right now it feels like I’m gambling with my entire catalog every time I hit “update.”

Any real-world advice would help.

1 Like
2

Have you thought about giving it a rest for a bit? Sounds like you need to disconnect and leave it disconnected for at least a week. Go on vacation or something.

3

You mention you can’t override Shopify data with Google Merchant Center. You can overwrite data, but maybe you meant not in the way you want. Just to clarify here is how data is processed and how you can edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9neaNemcws

Data feed updates are slow when using Merchant API, because it is rate limited. If you want faster processing, like in half an hour, you should be using a TSV file, it’s much faster. People often get confused in assuming API, means fast.

Large data sets, if you make lots of changes, yes takes time to process. Even TSV might take an hour or so to process. For content API you might need to wait a few days due to the rate limit, yes even with the official app.

But with TSV you usually only have to wait 1 hour or so.

For my client, I use multifeeds, no rate limits, when you use TSV.

Google’s automatic product data improvements is only for specific attributes such as availability and pricing,

Yes, if you have multiple data feed apps, this can cause issues, check you app list to see you have no other data feed app.

Full data wipes, are only a known issue with the google and youtube app.

4
  1. not about large or small catalogs, but the app fundamentally has issues. i have used it. it works fine sometimes, but many a times it doesn’t. even from a conversion tracking aspect, i have faced problems with it.
  2. yeah, which is why, i use adnabu for my shopify store. it allows manual as well as instant push of product data updates from shopify to gmc.
  3. no, automatic item updates are only for pricing, condition, and availability. moreover, these updates are good for temporaty updates and google itself says they aren’t a permanent “replacement” for regular updates in gmc or at your source file.
  4. there are many possible scenarios. check if in the past you have used any other data feed solution and is it still connected to your store syncing products to merchant center? or is there anyone else from your team who can access your store, gmc, etc., (and if they synced products without your knowledge?) because yes, with multiple source files or apps, conflicts can come up.
  5. personally, i haven’t, but i am not saying it is not possible. i have read about many merchants who have faced such situations especially using the sales channel.
  6. i don’t think so. as others have also mentioned and i too did, the problem can be due to multiple factors, with the app you are currently using being the most likely reason.
5

If only this was an option.