A Google Merchant Center scheduled fetch fails when Google cannot download your product file from the URL in the data source settings. Google lists the common reasons: the URL isn't working or redirects to a page that doesn't contain the data, or the URL is blocked to Google or lacks the right permissions (Google Merchant Center Help, Troubleshoot my data source). Open the data source's Latest update report to see the exact error, fix the URL or the file, and fetch again.
Where to see why the fetch failed
In Merchant Center, the data source's Latest update shows the status of your last upload of product data, and its Your product file section explains the issue and how to fix it (Google Merchant Center Help, Troubleshoot my data source).
Common causes
As of October 2026, Google's troubleshooting and scheduling pages list these causes (Google Merchant Center Help, Troubleshoot my data source; Google Merchant Center Help, Update your product data source on a schedule):
| Cause | What to check |
|---|---|
| The URL doesn't work or redirects elsewhere | Open the URL in a private browser window. It must download the file itself, not redirect to a page without the data. |
| The URL points to a web page | The URL must point directly to the data file; pointing to an HTML page makes processing fail. |
| Google is blocked | Don't block the Googlebot and AdsBot-Google user agents from the directory that holds the file. |
| A login is required | For a password-protected file, add the login details in the data source's scheduled update settings. |
| Wrong protocol | The URL must begin with http://, https://, ftp:// or sftp://. |
| File too large | Files for scheduled fetch must be less than 4 GB. |
| Compression | A compressed file must be smaller than 500 MB and contain exactly one file. |
Google also advises editing the schedule only after your data is final, because scheduling before you make changes can delay updates appearing in Merchant Center (Google Merchant Center Help, Update your product data source on a schedule).
If the file downloads but processing fails
A file that downloads but can't be read shows up as a processing problem rather than a fetch problem. The most common one is text encoding: see invalid UTF-8 encoding. Individual products with bad values appear on the Needs attention tab; the Merchant Center error lookup finds the guide for each issue.
Hosted feed URLs from Product Feed Master
A Google feed published by Product Feed Master is a direct file URL: it serves the XML or CSV file itself, needs no login, and keeps the same address on every sync, so Merchant Center can fetch it on a schedule (how to create a Google Merchant Center feed URL). Before the first sync it holds an empty placeholder, so run a sync before you register the URL. Set the Product Feed Master sync schedule to finish before Google's fetch time, so each fetch picks up fresh data.
Frequently asked questions
What is the maximum file size for a Merchant Center scheduled fetch?
Less than 4 GB. Compressed files must be smaller than 500 MB and contain exactly one file.
Can Merchant Center fetch a password-protected feed?
Yes. Add the login details in the data source's scheduled update settings so Google can access the file.
Which user agents must be able to reach my feed file?
Google says not to block Googlebot and AdsBot-Google from the directory that contains your product data source.