Google lets you switch a product off in four different ways, and they do not behave alike. pause expires after 14 days, according to Merchant Center Help. A product excluded from all destinations for more than 7 days is deleted automatically. availability set to out_of_stock is the wrong tool for both jobs. This guide is for feed managers and PPC leads who need to stop a product, a country or a destination from serving without wrecking the product's history. By the end you will know which attribute to write, what value to give it, how long it can stay, and which Merchant Center message tells you it went wrong.
The four controls at a glance
Each control answers a different question: which Google surface, which country, for how long, and whether the product keeps its record. Pick from this table before you touch the feed.
| Attribute | Controls | Accepted values | Time limit | Can stop free listings? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
pause | Temporary stop on a group of surfaces | ads or all | 14 days or less | Only with all |
excluded_destination | Stop on named surfaces | Nine fixed values, listed below | None stated, but see the 7-day deletion rule | Yes, with Free_listings |
included_destination | Add a product to named surfaces | Same nine values | None | Not applicable |
shopping_ads_excluded_country | Stop Shopping ads in named countries | Two-letter ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes | None | No, Shopping ads only |
All four are optional, and all are specified in the Merchant Center product data specification. Their Merchant API counterparts are the pause, excludedDestinations, includedDestinations and shoppingAdsExcludedCountries fields in the Products v1 client reference.
excluded_destination: stop a product on specific surfaces
Use excluded_destination when a product should stay in your data but not appear on named Google surfaces. Per Google's definition, the accepted values are exactly:
Shopping_adsDisplay_adsLocal_inventory_adsFree_listingsFree_local_listingsCloud_retailLocal_cloud_retailYoutube_affiliateYoutube_merchandise
The attribute is repeated. Google recommends submitting it once per destination, one value per row or element, rather than a comma-separated list, although both forms are documented. In XML that is <g:excluded_destination>Display_ads</g:excluded_destination>, repeated for each destination.
Three details cause most mistakes:
- Display exclusion needs the add-on.
Display_adsonly works when the Dynamic Remarketing add-on is enabled in Merchant Center. - It does not stop every Display surface. Google states that excluding
Display_adsdoes not stop a product appearing in Dynamic Remarketing ads created with Performance Max campaigns. - Excluding Shopping ads removes the product from selectors. The product also disappears from the product and listing group selectors in Google Ads, which matters if a campaign structure depends on it. Our guide on splitting Performance Max listing groups covers how those groups are built.
The Cloud retail values only take effect if you have an active link to a Cloud retail project, and Google notes they are not yet available in the Merchant API.
included_destination: the other half, and who wins a conflict
included_destination takes the same nine values and adds a product to surfaces beyond what your data source settings already cover. If a product carries conflicting values, the excluded value always takes precedence, as both Google pages state. In practice this means a stale excluded_destination row cannot be rescued by adding an include. You have to remove the exclusion.
Google's page also still accepts the legacy values "Shopping Actions", "Surfaces across Google" and "Local surfaces across Google", but recommends Free_listings and Free_local_listings instead. If an old feed template still emits the legacy names, replace them.
pause: a short stop with a hard clock
pause accepts two values. ads pauses the product on all ads locations: Shopping ads, Display ads and local inventory ads. all pauses it on all Shopping locations, free listings included. Google says to pause "for 14 days or less" and to use excluded_destination for anything longer.
The clock is enforced. If a product stays paused with all past 14 days, Google archives it automatically. Merchant Center also raises an issue titled "Product pause expired" once more than two weeks have passed. The fix Google gives is to remove the attribute, either per product from the Needs attention tab or in bulk by matching the downloaded CSV against your data source and re-uploading. Expect the product to take one or more days to reappear in Shopping ads.
Two things Google says not to do: set availability to out_of_stock to pause a product, and delete the product to pause it. Re-adding a deleted offer takes a significant amount of time before it can show again.
shopping_ads_excluded_country: stop one market, keep the rest
This attribute overrides the country targeting of your data source for a single product. Its value is a two-character ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code, repeated up to 100 times per product, per Google's definition. Google's own example is a feed targeting Germany, Austria and Switzerland where a dress carries AT and CH, which leaves it live in Germany only.
It affects Shopping ads only. A product excluded from a country this way can still appear in free listings there unless you also use excluded_destination. If you use unsupported codes, Google warns the product may show in countries where you do not want it.
It suits one catalog targeting several countries where a few products cannot be shipped or sold into one of them. The product stays live in the other markets without a second data source.
A worked example: one catalog, four situations
These rows are constructed for illustration and are not client data. They show the attribute choice for four common situations.
| id | Situation | Attribute written | Why this one |
|---|---|---|---|
| TR-1001 | Warehouse inventory count this week | pause = ads | Short, ads only, free listings keep showing, expires on its own limit |
| TR-1002 | Site closed for 3 weeks for relocation | excluded_destination = Shopping_ads and Free_listings | Longer than 14 days, so pause is wrong |
| TR-1003 | Cannot ship to Switzerland | shopping_ads_excluded_country = CH | Other countries keep serving |
| TR-1004 | Discontinued, will not return | Remove from the feed | Not out_of_stock, per Google's outage guidance |
In a text feed, TR-1002 needs two rows or two columns, one per destination:
id excluded_destination excluded_destinationTR-1002 Shopping_ads Free_listings
When TR-1002's site reopens, the exclusion has to be removed and the feed re-uploaded. Google's outage guidance adds two points that apply here: turn off automatic item updates at least 24 hours before the landing page goes offline, and pause the campaign first, because exclusions can take time to take effect and ads may keep serving meanwhile. Our note on automatic item updates explains why that toggle matters.
Decision checklist before you write the attribute
- Is the stop shorter than 14 days? If yes and only ads should stop, use
pause=ads. - Does it need to cover free listings for a short stop? Use
pause=alland set a calendar reminder at day 10. - Is it longer than 14 days or aimed at one surface, such as Display or YouTube? Use
excluded_destination. - Is it one country only, and only for Shopping ads? Use
shopping_ads_excluded_country. - Is the product gone for good? Remove it.
- Will the exclusion last near 7 days or more across every destination? Plan the removal, because Google deletes such products automatically.
Where the work happens in your feed stack
These attributes can be set in a Merchant Center supplemental source, in your platform export, or in a feed tool that writes rules. Any of these works, and for a single seasonal exclusion a supplemental file is often enough without extra software. A rules layer pays off when exclusions follow data, for example stock level, margin band or country restrictions on a large catalog.
A related distinction: filtering a product out of a channel export before it leaves your feed is not the same as telling Google to hold it and hide it. Our feed product filters page describes the first approach, with filters set per channel and evaluated before each export. Filtering removes the product from what Google receives. excluded_destination keeps the product in Merchant Center. Which one you want depends on whether you need its history, issues and data source status to persist. When you push these attributes to Merchant Center through our Google Merchant Center integration, Merchant Center's fetch schedule decides when Google reads the change.
What this guide doesn't cover, and where it breaks down
- It covers Google's attributes only. Meta, TikTok Shop and the Turkish marketplaces control visibility differently.
- We have no first-party before and after numbers on revenue effects of these attributes, so we make no performance claims.
- Google does not state how long an exclusion takes to take effect, only that it can take time. We cannot give you a number.
- The documented conflict rule covers
excluded_destinationagainstincluded_destination. Google's pages do not spell out every interaction with data source level settings, so test a small batch first. - Budget, bid and campaign pausing happen in Google Ads and are outside what a feed does. Feedance does not manage bids.
- Google's
included_destinationpage contains wording that describes the attribute as an exclusion tool in places, which conflicts with its stated purpose. We follow the accepted values and the stated purpose, and recommend you verify behavior on a test product.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between pause and excluded_destination?
pause is for stops of 14 days or less and affects ads locations, or all Shopping locations with all. excluded_destination has no stated duration cap and can target single surfaces such as free listings or Display.
Can I pause only free listings?
Not with pause. Google says pause applies to ads destinations, or to everything with all. To stop only free listings, use excluded_destination with Free_listings.
What happens if a pause runs past 14 days?
Google raises a "Product pause expired" issue, and a product paused with all is archived automatically. Remove the attribute to restore it, and allow one or more days for it to reappear.
Which wins if included_destination and excluded_destination conflict?
The excluded value always takes precedence. Remove the exclusion rather than adding an include.
Does excluding Display_ads stop Performance Max?
Not completely. Google states that excluding Display_ads does not stop the product appearing in Dynamic Remarketing ads created with Performance Max campaigns. Excluding Shopping_ads removes it from the Google Ads product and listing group selectors.
How many countries can I exclude per product?
Up to 100 values of shopping_ads_excluded_country, each a two-letter ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code.
Should I set availability to out_of_stock to hide a product?
No, for pausing Google says not to. For discontinued products it says to remove them from the data instead. Use out_of_stock only when the product is genuinely out of stock.
What happens to a product excluded from every destination?
Google states that products excluded from all destinations for more than 7 days are deleted automatically. Plan removals of the exclusion before that point.
Check which products your feed is hiding
Before you add any of these attributes, see what your current feed already tells Google. Run your feed through the free product feed audit tool to get a score for completeness, quality and technical health.
Sources
- Product data specification, Google Merchant Center Help
- Excluded destination [excluded_destination], Google Merchant Center Help
- Included destination [included_destination], Google Merchant Center Help
- Pause [pause], Google Merchant Center Help
- How to fix: Product pause expired, Google Merchant Center Help
- Excluded countries for Shopping ads [shopping_ads_excluded_country], Google Merchant Center Help
- Best practices for landing page maintenance or a planned site outage, Google Merchant Center Help
- ProductAttributes, Merchant API Products v1 client reference
- Pause enum, Merchant API Products v1 client reference
Kardelen Yılmaz works on growth at Feedance, where she helps e-commerce brands and agencies get more return from every product they advertise. She writes about product feed quality, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns, creative automation, and how AI-driven shopping is changing product visibility.
LinkedIn
