Marpipe can add your enriched treatment images to Google Shopping through a supplemental feed in Google Merchant Center. Google works differently from Meta and other catalog channels, so this article covers how the setup works, how to design for Google's placements, and the limitations to plan around.
Important Note: Google's written Shopping policy still prohibits promotional overlays (text, badges, price callouts, logos) on product images. In practice, enriched images added as additional images through a supplemental feed are not being flagged or removed, and Google's own Asset Studio now generates images with similar overlays. Because the policy hasn't formally changed, treat this as observed behavior rather than a guarantee.
How it works
Marpipe doesn't replace your existing Google feed. Your primary feed in Merchant Center stays the source of truth for titles, prices, availability and all other product data. Marpipe provides a supplemental feed that matches your products by id and adds your treatment images to them.
The treatment image is sent in the additional_image_link field. This adds it to the pool of images Google can use for that product in Shopping, while your main image_link stays clean and unchanged.
Setting up your Google output feed
Create a Google output feed in Marpipe from your existing source feed.
Set up your fields. In the output feed's manage fields settings, the feed only needs:
id(must match the product IDs in your primary Google feed),additional_image_link(remapped to your treatment image), and optionallylifestyle_image_link.Assign your treatments and publish. Output feeds start in draft mode, and the feed URL only becomes available after you publish.
Add the feed to Google Merchant Center. Log in to Google Merchant Center, click the settings gear and choose "Data Sources", add a new supplemental data source, paste your Marpipe feed URL where it asks for a link to your file, and link it to your existing primary feed.
Schedule updates if needed. Update scheduling works on Google output feeds the same way it does on Meta.
Designing for Google Shopping
Use 1:1 designs. Unlike Meta, Google doesn't let you assign different images to different placements, so vertical formats like 9:16 won't add anything. You can duplicate your existing 1:1 social designs as a starting point.
Keep elements close to the product. Google decides how images are cropped and sized, and it usually auto crops tight to the product. Anything placed near the edges of the frame, like corner badges, logos or offer banners, is likely to get cut off. Place design elements close to the product image instead. A badge overlapping the edge of the product or a price tag sitting right beside it will hold up much better than the same element pinned to a corner.
Expect size variation. Google sizes a whole carousel based on one of the images in it, which may belong to a different brand, so the same image can appear at different sizes from one serve to the next.
Limitations to plan around
You can't choose which image serves. Google, especially in Performance Max, picks from all available images on a product. There's no equivalent of Meta's preferred image tags. Your treatment enters the image pool but isn't guaranteed to be the one shown.
No separate treatment products. The supplemental feed adds images to your existing product IDs. It doesn't create duplicate products for your treatments.
Automatic Image Improvements. If this setting is enabled in Merchant Center, Google may strip overlays from your images. Check that it's turned off.
Testing treatments on Google
Since treatments are added to the same products as your existing images and Google controls which image serves, a clean control vs. treatment split on the same SKUs isn't possible. We recommend one of these approaches instead:
SKU split: Use a filter in Marpipe to apply the treatment to part of your product set, and leave the rest untouched as the control.
Pre/post comparison: Run the treatment against the same listings, budget and product set, then compare results against the prior period.