Set up custom data source matching

Use custom data source matching to join a supplemental data source to your primary data source using an attribute other than the ID [id] attribute. For example, if you'd like to add additional attributes based on your products' brand or product type rather than based on their id, you may use a custom matching supplemental data source.

Note: If a column in your supplemental data source contains ID values but has a different attribute header (for example, "SKU"), you may want to map the SKU column to the ID [id] attribute using the ID rule setting.

This article explains how to use a custom matching data source.

How it works

When creating a supplemental data source, you'll change your selection to indicate you'd like to join your data sources using an attribute other than ID. For example:

Primary data source:

ID `[id]`	Title `[title]`	Price `[price]`	Brand `[brand]`
1	shirt	34 USD	Brand A
2	shoes	55 USD	Brand B
3	hiking boots	100 USD	Brand C
4	pants	75 USD	Brand A

Supplemental data source that uses the brand [brand] attribute rather than the ID [id] attribute to match to the primary data source:

Brand `[brand]`	Custom label 0-4 `[custom_label_0-4]`
Brand A	SALE

Resulting data source:

ID `[id]`	Title `[title]`	Price `[price]`	Brand `[brand]`	Custom label 0-4 `[custom_label_0-4]`
1	shirt	34 USD	Brand A	SALE
2	shoes	55 USD	Brand B
3	hiking boots	100 USD	Brand C
4	pants	75 USD	Brand A	SALE

Note: There’s a limit of 30,000 rows for the supplemental data sources that you’d like to join to your primary data source.

Instructions

To create a supplemental data source:

Step 1 In your Merchant Center account, click on the Settings & tools icon Tools and setting menu icon [Gear] .

Step 2 Select Data sources.

Step 3 Select the Supplemental data sources tab.

Step 4 Click Add supplemental data source to create a new supplemental data source.

Step 5 Give a name to your supplemental data source and choose how to set up your data source and connect your data to Merchant Center. You can choose one of the following:

Add products from a file
Use a Google Sheets template
Add products using API

Step 5 Click Continue.

Step 5 After you have uploaded the data source, select a common attribute between your data sources to join them together and then select another attribute from the drop-down menu. You can also type in the attribute.