Platform guides
How /tools works: Optimise feed enrichment, BidSmart bid recommendations, and CSS savings. Setup, workflows and troubleshooting.
Everything you need to get the most out of /tools. Start with the basics (connecting a store and running your first enrichment) then go deeper into how each module thinks about your product data.
If you're brand new, read What is /tools? first.
Getting started
Connect a feed URL to /tools
How to point /tools at an existing XML or CSV product feed from any platform, covering supported formats, how the scheduled fetch works, and when a live feed URL beats Shopify or a CSV upload.
Read guide →How-toConnect a Shopify store to /tools
Step-by-step guide to connecting your Shopify store to /tools, covering what access is requested, what gets read, and what happens on first sync.
Read guide →How-toYour first enrichment run
What happens on your first /tools enrichment run, how to read the Feed Health Score and per-field results, and how to get your new feed URL into Google Merchant Center.
Read guide →GuideManaging multiple stores
How multiple stores work under one /tools account: switching the active store, keeping feeds and Feed Health Scores separate, and how per-store billing works.
Read guide →How-toUpload a product CSV to /tools
How to bring a product catalogue into /tools from a spreadsheet, including which columns matter, how the upload is mapped and enriched, and when a one-off upload beats a live connection.
Read guide →GuideWhat is /tools?
/tools rebuilds messy product data into Merchant Center-ready feeds. An overview of the three modules, Optimise, BidSmart and CSS, and how they fit together.
Read guide →Optimise
Change monitoring and disapproval prediction
How Optimise watches your feed around the clock, logs what changed and when, and predicts which products are at risk of disapproval before Google acts, so you fix the feed pre-emptively.
Read guide →GuideColour and size normalisation
How Optimise turns messy, inconsistent colour and size values into the consistent Google-friendly ones that win attribute-filtered searches, all in a supplemental layer, never overwriting your store.
Read guide →GuideCustom labels in Optimise
What custom_label_0-4 are, how Optimise can populate them from margin, price and lifecycle signals, and how they feed campaign segmentation in Google Ads, written to a supplemental layer, not your store.
Read guide →GuideFeed Health Score explained
What the /tools Feed Health Score measures, why feeds above 90 outperform, and exactly which product data problems drag your score down.
Read guide →GuideGoogle Product Category mapping
Why a specific google_product_category beats a vague one, how depth affects which auctions you enter, and how it differs from product_type, with Optimise mapping every product without touching your store.
Read guide →GuideGTIN enrichment with GTINNER
How GTINNER fills missing barcodes by matching your products against external databases only where a confident match exists, never inventing numbers, and flagging the rest for you.
Read guide →GuideHow enrichment works
The non-destructive model behind Optimise, how your source data flows into a supplemental enriched layer and out through a stable feed URL, and exactly what gets touched versus what never does.
Read guide →GuideProduct titles that win Shopping searches
How to structure Google Shopping titles, attribute ordering, keyword position, length limits and the common mistakes, and how Optimise rebuilds titles to that structure without touching your store.
Read guide →ReferenceThe 20 enriched fields
A reference to every product field Optimise can enrich, what each attribute is for, what Google expects in it, and where it affects your Shopping performance.
Read guide →GuideVariant relationships and Variant Builder
How broken item_group_id fragments your Shopping performance, and how Variant Builder reconstructs the correct variant relationships at the feed layer without touching your Shopify data.
Read guide →BidSmart
Using the approval queue
A step-by-step guide to reviewing, batching, approving and rejecting queued BidSmart changes, reading the audit trail, and reverting an executed change to its previous state.
Read guide →GuideBudget pacing signals
How BidSmart spots under-pacing, over-pacing and budget-capped Shopping campaigns before a throttled budget quietly costs you impressions and momentum.
Read guide →How-toConnecting Google Ads
How to link your Google Ads account to BidSmart, exactly what access the connection grants, and why BidSmart stays read-only until you approve a change.
Read guide →GuideHow BidSmart works
The end-to-end BidSmart model, how it analyses your account product by product, proposes bid changes, queues them for your sign-off, and executes only what you approve, with a full before/after audit trail.
Read guide →GuideIncubator campaigns
How BidSmart's incubator, a separate Maximise Clicks campaign, ramps new and thin-data products cheaply, and the criteria by which they graduate to your main tROAS campaign, always via your approval.
Read guide →GuideReading your bid recommendations
What each BidSmart recommendation shows, why it was proposed, how to judge whether to trust it, and how to action or dismiss it, all before anything executes against your ad account.
Read guide →GuideProduct-level tROAS analysis
How BidSmart works backwards from each product's history, price and margin to the target it can individually bear, and finds where one campaign-wide average is starving winners or overfeeding losers.
Read guide →CSS
Activating RPCSS
Step-by-step guide to switching on RPCSS in /tools, what happens to your campaigns and Merchant Center, why there's no migration risk, and how long until you see the CPC saving.
Read guide →FAQCSS: FAQs and myths
Straight answers to the most common questions and misconceptions about Comparison Shopping Services, ranking, whether you leave Google Shopping, coverage outside Europe, campaign disruption, cost, and running multiple CSSs.
Read guide →How-toHow to switch CSS partner (without breaking anything)
Switching CSS partner takes minutes, keeps your campaigns and history intact, and starts saving on CPC straight away. What changes, what doesn't, and how.
Read guide →GuideWhat a CSS is, and the ~20% CPC saving
A plain explanation of Comparison Shopping Services, why running Shopping ads through a CSS cuts your cost-per-click by roughly 20%, and what it does and doesn't change.
Read guide →Account & troubleshooting
Common sync errors and how to fix them
Diagnose and fix failed or partial catalogue syncs in /tools: unreachable feed URLs, expired Shopify connections, changed feed structure, rate limiting and partial fetches.
Read guide →ReferenceYour feed serving URL (CSV and XML)
Reference for the stable feed URL /tools gives each store, covering the CSV and XML variants, what Google Merchant Center fetches and how often, and how to keep the URL private and stable.
Read guide →GuideSubscription and billing
How /tools billing works: £89 per month per store via Stripe, the per-store subscription model, what's included, and what happens to your feed if a subscription lapses.
Read guide →GuideTeam members and roles
How access works in /tools: the owner and member roles, inviting people to a store, transferring ownership, and deleting a store (which also cancels its subscription).
Read guide →