How to automatically update my feeds (on-the-fly output or CRON task)?

If your catalog has less than 30 000 products, in your Google Merchant Center (Google Shopping) account, you can indicate, for each feed, an "on-the-fly" output URL (i.e for a real time recovery).

These URLs are in the module's back office. To retrieve them, go to "My feeds" tab in the module and click "Use this solution" on the "On the fly output" method (moreover, if your catalog is compatible with real-time data recovery, the module will show you that this is the recommended method thanks to a badge):

For each different Langage/Country/Currency combination, the module generates a different URL (for example : one URL for french/France/Euro, another one for french/Belgium/Euro, etc...). To view the feed (i.e view it as it is at the time you execute the URL) click on the eye icon. The URL will be executed in another tab and you will just have to do a right click and select "view the source code of the page" to view your data feed. To copy this URL, click on the green framed icon below:

For each different Langage/Country/Currency combination, copy the corresponding URL and paste it into the interface of your Google Merchant Center account (to know how to do, visit our "How to import my feed in Google Shopping ?" FAQ).

Test and see if that works. If not, it's possible that your catalog is too large : the "on-the-fly" output takes too long and the script times out before it can entirely generate the feed. In that case, you rather have to use a physical XML file (installed in your server) that will already contain all feed data and that will be updated regularly by a "CRON task". Then, go to the next section.

If your catalog has more than 30 000 products, your server may not be so powerful to support an "on-the-fly" output. You indeed need, before Google retreives your product data, to copy them in a XML file, that is "physically" on your server. This file will then be retrieved by Google.

Of course this file has to be updated regularly, to make any changes you may have made in the meantime. So, the first thing to do is to intall an automated task that will update this file, at a frequency you'll decide on : it's what is called a CRON task.

To technically set a CRON task, read our dedicated FAQ by clicking here. Note that if you don't have any technical skill, you can ask your webmaster for help.

Moreover, to install a CRON task you will need to get its URL. To retrieve it, go to "My feeds" tab in the module and click "Use this solution" on the "Physical file updated by CRON task" method (moreover, if your catalog is large, the module will show you that this is the recommended method thanks to a badge):

In "Your XML files" subtab, check the files that correspond to the feeds you want to update by a CRON task, and click on "Save":

Then, click on "Your CRON URL's" subtab:

• If you want to set a single general CRON task to update all your feeds in the same time: in this case, configure your CRON task by using the general CRON URL that is above the table: 

   

  

   

  Then, when the task CRON is executed, if you note that all your files have not been properly completed (the data number is too large to execute several feeds at the same time), then prefer to use a different CRON URL for each feed (see next bullet point).

• If you want to set a different CRON task for each of your feeds, in order to update them one by one, in a time-shifted manner (to avoid a servor time-out): in this case, for each CRON task to be installed, corresponding to a different "Country/Language/Currency" feed, click on the corresponding "Copy" icon to copy the URL to be used:

Whether you use the general CRON URL or different URLs for each "Country/Language/Currency" combination, once you have installed and configured your CRON task(s), return to the "Your XML files" subtab.

For each "Country/Language/Currency" feed, the URL to be copied and pasted into your Google Merchant Center account, is the one of the corresponding XML file which will be regularly updated thanks to the CRON task you've just configured. 

To copy the URL of the XML file corresponding to a given "Country/Language/Currency" feed, you will have to click on the "copy" icon of the corresponding line. You will have to do the same for each XML file:

To learn how to configure your data import in Google Merchant Center online interface, click here.