How to create and use feeds for App campaigns

• Education
• Flights
• Hotel and rentals
• Jobs
• Local deals
• Real estate
• Travel
• Custom

Business data supports UTF-8, UTF-16 and UTF-32 (it's best to use UTF-8). The data transformation between these formats is lossless. Business data doesn't support UTF7, UTF1, UTF-EBCDIC, SCSU, BOCU, GB-18030, Latin 1 or ISO 8859-1.

Upload your data file

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon .
2. Click Business data.
3. Click the plus button to add your data feed.
4. Select Dynamic display ad feed.
5. Select from any of the following verticals with templates supported by App campaigns (Download the template and include required data attributes and any additional data you would like to include).
   • Education: Template required data for feed creation includes Program ID, Location ID , Program name, final URL , Image URL and Area of study. Recommended data (see table above) includes program description and school name.
   • Flights: Template required data for feed creation includes Image URL, Final URL, Destination ID and Flight description. Recommended data (see table above) includes Destination name and description.
   • Hotel and rentals: Template required data for feed creation includes Image URL, Final URL, Property ID, and Property name. Recommended data (see table above) includes Destination name and description.
   • Jobs: Template required data for feed creation includes Job ID, Location ID, Title, Final URL, Image URL, Subtitles. Recommended data (see table above) Description and Category.
   • Local deals: Template required data for feed creation includes Image URL, Final URL, Deal ID and Deal name.
   • Real estate: Template required data for feed creation includes Listing ID, Listing name, Final URL, Image URL, City name, Description, Price. Recommended data (see table above) Property type and Listing type.
   • Travel: Template required data for feed creation includes Image URL, Final URL, Destination ID and Title.
   • Custom: Template required data for feed creation includes Image URL, Final URL, ID and Item title.
6. Name your new data source.
   • It's best to use a short name without any spaces.
   • Make sure not to re-use the name of an old data set or feed that you've removed. Google Ads can only recognize new names.
7. Click Select source and select the file of the saved feed template to upload. Keep in mind that the size limit for .csv and .tsv files is 500MB and 50MB for other file types.
8. Click Apply.

In the page menu on the left, click Upload history to see your recent uploads. Under the "Actions" column, you can Download results if the upload was successful, or Download errors to see what you can fix.

Your existing Google Merchant Center feeds can work as feeds for App campaigns. If you haven't created a feed, follow all steps below. If you have, follow steps 2 through 3.

1. Create a feed in Google Merchant Center (Sign up for Merchant Center, if you haven't signed up yet).
2. Link your Google Merchant Center account with your Google Ads account.
3. Add a Merchant Center data feed to a specific campaign:

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon .
2. Click the Campaigns drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Campaigns.
4. In the filter bar, click "All campaigns," then select the campaign type to “App campaigns”.
5. On this page click “Settings”, scroll down and click Data Feed.
   1. Select the option -” Attach a feed to improve targeting and enable ads that feature your feed items”.
   2. Select Google Merchant Center feed and select a Google Merchant Center account with the products featured in your app from the dropdown.
6. Click Save.

Requirements

If you’re using a Google Merchant Center feed, there are a few steps to take in Merchant Center in order to use the feed for App campaigns.

1. Make Shopping ads “Active” and “Enable” dynamic remarketing in Merchant Center
   1. Sign into Merchant Center.
   2. Click Growth in the left main navigation and then Manage Programs
   3. You’ll see the “Shopping ads” and “Dynamic Remarketing” program cards. If Shopping ads are not active, click on the settings icon and update the “Shopping ads” status by clicking the down arrow to open the status menu. If Dynamic remarketing is not enabled, click Enable in blue at the bottom left.
2. Review your feed to ensure that it includes Shopping ads. Learn about managing multiple destinations for your products. If you see the excluded destination attribute for “Shopping ads” remove it.

1. Ensure that the feed attached to your App campaign has at least 10 items (ideally more).
   • If you're using a Merchant Center feed, you'll want to ensure that enough feed items are available to serve in the country of the App campaign. To do this, check to see that the country column values in the Merchant Center feed match the country being targeted by your App campaign.
2. Ensure that the feed item content quality is high
   • Item title language should match the language targeted by the App campaign.
   • The feed should consist entirely of high quality, square (300 x 300) images that ensure consistent ad format appearance and minimal white space.
   • Images should clearly show the item.
   • Each feed item should be unique. Don't use the same images for different feed items.
     • If you're using a Merchant Center feed, set the item_group_ID and follow Merchant center product data specifications.
3. If you update your feed to make helpful improvements, try to add new items instead of replacing items (note that Merchant Center requires refreshing a feed refresh every 30 days). Helpful improvements include:
   • Add new high-quality items that are most likely to meet the needs of potential customers.
   • Replace low-quality images with better ones.
4. Apply insights from smart pixel tag performance tracking to improve your feed performance.
   • For accounts with feeds attached to App Campaigns, join them to the same Google Ads manager account as the smart pixel owner account and enable list sharing in the manager account:
     1. In your Google Ads manager account , click the Tools icon .
     2. Click the Shared library drop down in the section menu.
     3. Click Audience manager.
     4. Move the dial besides "Share your remarketing lists" to start list sharing. Learn more about setting up remarketing list sharing
5. Ensure that your deep links are implemented correctly. Learn more about deep links and setting up deep links
   1. Android App Links or iOS Universal Links: Add deep links as regular URLs.
      • Merchant Center feeds: Use the link or mobile_link fields.
      • Business Data feeds: Use the Final URL or Final Mobile URL fields.
   2. Custom Scheme deep links: Add your custom scheme deep links in their designated fields.
      1. Android:
         • Merchant Center feeds: Add mobile_android_app_link as an attribute in your Merchant Center feed. Input Android custom scheme deep links for each feed item there.
         • Business Data feeds: Input your Android custom scheme deep links in the Android app link field.
      2. iOS
         • Merchant Center feeds:
           • Add mobile_ios_app_link as an attribute in your Merchant Center feed, and input your iOS custom scheme deep links for each feed item there.
           • Add mobile_ios_app_store_id as an attribute in your Merchant Center feed. Input your iOS app’s app store ID, which you can find in the app store web URL for your app as “/id[store id].
         • Business Data feeds:
           • Input your iOS custom scheme deep links in the iOS app link field.
           • You’ll need to fill in the iOS app store ID field as well for each feed item. You can find your app’s store ID in the app store web URL for your app as “/id[store id].