Custom Labels for Facebook & Google Ads (Shopify Product Feed)
Custom labels are the field that lets you slice your catalog into groups your ad team can actually bid and report on — bestsellers, high-margin lines, seasonal ranges, clearance. The advanced feed editor gives you five of them (custom_label_0 through custom_label_4), and each one can pull a different value from your products. This guide is a deep dive: what custom labels are on the Facebook and Google side, every source option in the dropdown, how to drive a label from a metafield, how to keep featured products in every label, and how internal labels feed Facebook product sets. The [Advanced editor guide](/docs/create-a-product-feed-advanced) covers this in one section — here's the whole picture.
1 Open the Advanced editor
Custom labels only live in the Advanced editor, so start there. On your dashboard, click Edit (basic) on the feed you want, then use Switch to advanced at the top — or pick Edit (advanced) from the feed's Actions menu. Both editors change the same feed, so nothing is lost. Once you're in, scroll down to the Custom labels section.
2 Meet the five custom label slots
You get five slots — Custom label 0 to Custom label 4 — and each is set completely independently. In the feed they're exported as `custom_label_0` through `custom_label_4`, the same fields Facebook and Google Ads read for segmentation. A common setup is one slot for margin tier, one for a bestseller flag, one for season, and one for clearance, so a single feed can drive several campaign breakdowns at once.
3 Choose what each label reports
Each slot is a dropdown of ready-made sources. Product tags (comma separated) and Collection ids (comma separated) are the workhorses for grouping. There are pricing signals — Price divided by 4 (handy for buy-now-pay-later messaging), Price with VAT (19%), Price with VAT (22%) and Price without currency — plus status flags like Product on sale (exports 1 if it is, 0 if it's not) and Product on clearance (exports 1 if it is, 0 if it's not). You'll also find identifiers (SKU, Barcode (ISBN, UPC, GTIN, etc.), Shopify product ID, Shopify variant ID), inventory signals (Inventory quantity, Number of variants with stock) and even Product on sale + product type for combined bucketing. Set the ones you need and leave the rest on Empty.
4 Drive a label straight from a metafield
To pull a value that's unique per product, set the slot to Export metafield value (enter namespace.key below) and type the reference into the Metafield namespace.key field right underneath it (placeholder e.g. google.gender). This exports that metafield's value straight into the custom label, so you can segment on anything you already store on your products — supplier, launch season, promo tier. There are also preset metafield sources in the dropdown (Style, Color, Material, Finish and more) if your data lives under those keys.
5 Keep featured collections in every label
Facebook caps a custom label at 100 characters, so a tag- or collection-driven label with lots of values gets truncated — and the values you care about might be the ones cut off. Featured collections solves this: the collections you pick here are always included in the custom label, pushed to the front so they survive truncation. Start typing to search and add the collections that matter most to your bidding.
6 Push featured product tags to the front
Featured product tags works the same way for tag-driven labels: any tag you list here is always included and moved to the front of the custom label, so a "bestseller" or "clearance" tag never falls off the end when a product carries dozens of tags. This is the reliable way to make sure the segment your campaigns filter on is actually present in every product's label.
7 Export internal labels for Facebook product sets
Internal labels are a separate, Facebook-specific field: they're used to filter products into Facebook product sets. Leave this on Do export internal labels (default) and the feed automatically exports each product's Product tags, Collection names and Collection IDs as internal labels — so you can build product sets in Commerce Manager without touching your public custom labels. Turn it off only if you specifically don't want that data in the feed. Save the feed when you're done and it regenerates automatically.
Frequently asked questions
What are custom labels in a Facebook product feed?
Custom labels are five extra fields (custom_label_0 to custom_label_4) you can attach to every product in your feed. They don't change how a product looks in your catalog — they're grouping tags that Facebook and Google Ads use so you can bid and report on segments like bestsellers, margins, season or clearance.
How do I segment my Shopify products for Facebook ads?
Open the Advanced feed editor, go to the Custom labels section, and set one or more of the five slots to a source such as Product tags, Collection ids, or a sale/clearance flag. Save the feed, and once Facebook re-fetches it you can build product sets that filter on those custom_label values — in Commerce Manager, open your catalog's Sets tab and create a set with a custom label filter — then point campaigns at those sets.
What custom labels can I use for Google Shopping?
The same five custom_label_0–4 fields flow into Google Shopping. In Google Ads you can subdivide the product groups of a Shopping or Performance Max campaign by any of the five labels, then bid and report on each segment — margin tier, price band, bestseller status. Google reads one value per label per product, up to 100 characters.
Can I set a custom label from a Shopify metafield?
Yes. Set the slot to 'Export metafield value (enter namespace.key below)' and enter the metafield reference (for example google.gender) in the Metafield namespace.key field beneath it. The metafield's value is exported straight into that custom label, per product.
How many custom labels can I use?
Five per feed — custom_label_0 through custom_label_4 — and each is configured independently. You can mix sources: a tag-based label in one slot, a metafield in another, a sale flag in a third.
Why is my custom label getting cut off?
Facebook limits custom labels to 100 characters, so a label built from many tags or collections can be truncated. Add the collections you care about under Featured collections, and the tags under Featured product tags — those are always included and pushed to the front of the label so they survive the limit.
What's the difference between custom labels and internal labels?
Custom labels (custom_label_0–4) are for segmenting campaigns in Facebook and Google Ads. Internal labels are a separate Facebook-only field used to filter products into Facebook product sets, and the feed exports them automatically from your product tags, collection names and collection IDs.
Do I need custom labels to run a product feed?
No. They're optional. If you're not segmenting campaigns yet, leave every slot on Empty — your feed still works. Add custom labels later when your ad account is ready to bid or report by group.
Does the feed export numbers I can bid on, like price or inventory?
Yes. Sources like Price divided by 4, Inventory quantity and Number of variants with stock produce numeric values. When a custom label value is numeric, the app also exports it as a custom_number field alongside the custom_label — Meta's catalog reads those as whole-number fields you can use for numeric filters when building product sets (Google Shopping uses only the custom_label values).
Will my custom labels update when products change?
Yes. Custom labels are recalculated every time the feed regenerates, so a product that goes on sale, sells out, or gains a tag has its labels refreshed automatically — no manual editing.
