What is a primary feed? 

Google has recently refreshed the Merchant Center feeds and introduced two new feed types: Primary feeds to submit core product data and supplemental feeds to allow you to submit supplementary information to enrich their primary feed.

Primary feeds are the required data sources that you must create to show your products with Google through feeds. Supplementary feeds can only be used in addition to the primary feed, and it cannot be accepted as the main data source. 

As long as your data in your primary feed adheres to all specifications and rules, creating and uploading your primary feed is the only thing you need to do. 

How to create a primary feed

To get started, go to the "Feeds" section under the "Products" section in Merchant Center. Click the blue plus button in the primary feed section to create a new primary feed. Follow the prompts and provide the following information about your data:

• Country of sale: The country of sale is the main country in which products from this feed are sold. Product data in this feed must meet the requirements for the country you submit, including the feed specifications and policies. You can add additional countries for Shopping ads when you select destinations during the feed creation process.
  
• Language: The language in which your product data is written. Please note that you may be able to select a language that is not yet supported in your selected country of sale. 
  
• Destination: Choose one or many feed destinations in Merchant Center to allow you to determine which Google programs can use the items in your data feed. 
  
• Primary feed name: Enter a descriptive name that helps you identify the primary feed. The feed name doesn’t need to match the name of the file you’re submitting.
  
• Add multiple countries (Shopping ads only): Click “Add multiple countries” to specify additional countries in which you’d like to show Shopping ads. Note that your country of sale will remain the default country for products included in the feed. You may only add available countries for the given language of the feed, and may want to consider which countries will be most relevant for the language. 
  
• Input method: Select the one that fits your needs best:
  • Google Sheets: You can upload your data using a generated Google Sheets template, or with an existing Google Sheet with your product data. 
  • Scheduled fetch: Google can fetch your feed directly from your server. Upload files directly to Merchant Center via SFTP, FTP, Google Cloud Storage, or manually.
  • Website crawl: If there are no feeds currently in your account, and you have the appropriate structured data on your website, Google can crawl your website to retrieve your product data.
• File name: Depending on what input method you select, you may be prompted to enter the name of the file you'll be submitting. This name should exactly match the name of the file you created and include a valid extension.