If you change one thing about your product feed, change the titles. It is the field with the most influence over whether your products are shown, and it is the field small shops get wrong most consistently, because they write it for the wrong audience.
You named your product to look good on your own website, where it sits next to a photograph and a description and a price. In a shopping feed it has none of that support. It is a line of text being matched against what somebody typed. Those are different jobs, and one name cannot always do both.
The problem, in one example
A candle called "The Orangery". On your own site, sitting under a beautiful photograph, that is a lovely name. In a shopping feed it is a disaster, because nobody on earth searches for "the orangery". They search for "neroli soy candle" or "large scented candle gift".
Your title contains none of those words, so your product is not considered. It is not ranked badly. It is simply not in the running.
The version that works: "Bramble & Co Neroli Soy Candle, Large 30cl Amber Jar, 50 Hour Burn". Still yours, still specific, and now made of words people actually type.
A formula that works
Not a rule, but a reliable starting point:
Brand + what it is + key attributes + size or quantity
Attributes vary by category, and the ones that matter are the ones people search with:
| Category | Attributes worth including |
|---|---|
| Clothing | Brand, gender, product type, colour, size, material |
| Homeware | Brand, product type, material, colour, dimensions |
| Food and drink | Brand, product type, flavour, weight or volume, pack size |
| Jewellery | Brand, product type, metal, stone, size |
| Beauty | Brand, product type, variant or shade, volume |
| Tools and parts | Brand, product type, model or fit, size, part number |
The first 70 characters are what matter
Titles can run to 150 characters, and they get visually truncated well before that in most placements. Treat roughly the first 70 characters as the part that has to work on its own.
Front-load accordingly. Brand and product type first, distinguishing attributes next, nice-to-haves last. If a shopper reads only the beginning, they should still know exactly what it is.
What to cut
Promotional text. "SALE", "FREE UK DELIVERY", "BEST SELLER", exclamation marks. These are not merely ineffective, they get products rejected. It is one of the more common self-inflicted disapprovals.
ALL CAPS. Reads as shouting, and is against the guidelines.
Your internal codes. Nobody searches your SKU. That belongs in the identifier fields.
Poetry. "Handcrafted with love in the Cotswolds" is lovely and belongs in the description, where it can do its job. In the title it displaces words that would have got you found.
Keyword stuffing. The opposite failure. Cramming in every related term produces something unreadable that performs worse, because a human still has to want to click it.
Two titles, one product
The tension people feel is real: the feed title that gets found is often not the title you want on your own site.
You do not have to choose. Nothing requires your feed title to be identical to your on-site product name, only that it accurately describes the same product on the same page. So keep "The Orangery" as the display name on your website, where the photography carries it, and send the descriptive version in the feed.
The practical way to manage that is a separate feed title stored against each product, which is exactly the sort of thing a properly generated feed can pick up automatically rather than you maintaining a parallel spreadsheet.
How to find the words people actually use
Your own site search. The most underrated source you have. What people type into your search box is exactly what they call your products, in their words.
Search terms reports. If you run any paid search, the queries that triggered your ads are real, current and specific to your products.
Google's own suggestions. Type your product type and watch what autocomplete offers.
Your emails. How customers describe things when asking questions is how they describe them when searching.
Note what these have in common: they are all things people actually typed, rather than what you assume they type.
Doing it without losing a week
- Start with your top 20 products by revenue. Titles are a long job at scale and the top of your catalogue is most of your money.
- Apply the formula and check the first 70 characters make sense alone.
- Strip promotional words and caps across the whole catalogue in bulk. Quick, and it clears real disapprovals.
- Leave it a month and compare impressions on the products you changed against the ones you did not. That is your evidence for whether to continue.
- Then work down the catalogue in revenue order.
Questions people ask about product titles
How long should a Google Shopping product title be?
The limit is 150 characters, but titles are visually truncated well before that in most placements, so treat the first 70 characters as the part that has to work on its own. Front-load brand and product type, then the attributes that distinguish it, then anything optional. If a shopper reads only the beginning, they should still know exactly what the product is.
Should my feed title match my website product name?
It does not have to, and often it should not. The requirement is that the title accurately describes the product on the page it links to, not that it is character-for-character identical to your display name. Keep the evocative name on your site, where photography and description support it, and send a descriptive, searchable version in the feed. Storing a separate feed title per product is the tidy way to manage that.
What words should I avoid in product titles?
Promotional text of any kind, including SALE, free delivery claims, best seller and exclamation marks, because these get products rejected rather than merely ignored. Also avoid all-capitals, your internal SKUs, and brand poetry such as handcrafted with love, which belongs in the description. Do not overcorrect into keyword stuffing either, because a human still has to want to click.
How do I find the words customers actually search for?
Four free sources, all of them real rather than assumed. Your own site search log, which shows exactly what people call your products. The search terms report from any paid search you run. Google's autocomplete suggestions for your product type. And the language customers use in emails when they ask you questions.
The short version
Write titles for the search box, not the shelf. Brand, then what it is, then the attributes people search on, then size, with the first 70 characters working alone. Cut promotional words and capitals because they get you rejected. Keep your pretty product name on your own site and send the descriptive one in the feed. Start with your top twenty products, measure after a month, then keep going.