Your products show as "Approved" in Merchant Center, yet you are not running any ads, or a product appears in one place on Google but not another. That usually comes down to the difference between free listings and Shopping ads. This guide explains how the two compare, why a product can qualify for one and not the other, and how to control each.
Two ways to show the same products
Free listings and Shopping ads draw on the same Merchant Center product data. Google calls them marketing methods. Free listings cost nothing, while Shopping ads are paid placements you run from Google Ads.
| Free listings | Shopping ads | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | No cost | Paid, from a Google Ads budget |
| Visibility | Depends on offer quality and Google's algorithm | More control and visibility, per Google |
| Setup | Usually on by default | Needs a linked Google Ads account and a campaign |
Where free listings appear
Google lists the Shopping tab, Search rich results, Google Images and Google Lens, with some placements limited to certain countries. Google says free listings only help product pages appear, not homepages or category pages. Shopify's help adds that products synced through the Google & YouTube channel can show in free listings for eligible stores.
Why a product shows in one and not the other
Approval for free listings does not mean an ad is running. Shopping ads only serve when a campaign includes the product. Some rules also differ between the two.
- No campaign: Approved products will not appear as ads until a Shopping or Performance Max campaign includes them
- eBooks: Google's unsupported content policy bars them from Shopping ads but says this does not apply to free listings
- Excluded destination: A product can be excluded from one method and not the other
- Opt out: Free listings can be turned off on the Free listings page in Merchant Center, which needs Admin access
Check your setup
Start with the product status, then the destinations. In Shopify, Google & YouTube channel settings show the account status. In Merchant Center, check the Free listings page and any excluded destination values on the product. See Merchant Center product statuses explained for what each status means.
- To run ads: Link Google Ads to Merchant Center, then create a campaign. Shopify's help says you can create Performance Max campaigns in Merchant Center, reached from the Google & YouTube channel
- To skip ads for one product: Use excluded_destination with Shopping_ads
- To pause ads briefly: Google's pause attribute stops ads for up to 14 days
Use both, fix data once
Because both methods read the same data, a fix to a title, image or price helps both. Google also notes that turning free listings off does not fully stop it showing content it has crawled from your store.
- ✅ Fix product data issues before spending on ads
- ✅ Keep free listings on while ads run, as Google intends them to work alongside paid campaigns
- ❌ Assuming approval means a product is being advertised
Doing this at scale
FeedFix checks every product against Google Merchant Center and Meta Catalog rules and scores each one from 0 to 100 per channel, so you can clean up data before it feeds free listings or ads. It drafts compliant title and description rewrites you review as before/after diffs, apply in bulk, with every change audit-logged. See FeedFix.