Feed refresh frequency what instant sync actually changes

Instant sync sounds like the obvious upgrade over a nightly feed. In practice, the value depends entirely on how volatile your catalogue is and how quickly the ad platform reprocesses updates. Slower than most people think.

How the ad platforms actually process updates

• Google Merchant Center scheduled fetch, once every 24 hours by default, up to hourly with the API
• Google Content API push, minutes to reflect in Shopping, up to an hour for ad delivery
• Meta Catalog scheduled fetch, once per day, up to every hour on Advantage+
• Meta Batch API push, minutes for catalogue update, longer for ad delivery
• Bing Merchant Center, once per day for scheduled fetch, the API supports more but few advertisers use it

When instant sync earns its keep

• You sell fast-moving inventory (single stock units, drops, flash sales)
• You run large promotional swings and cannot afford to advertise the wrong price for even an hour
• You have thousands of price changes a day (repricing tools, dynamic yield)
• Your out-of-stock rate is above 5%, mismatched availability is your top disapproval reason

When once a day is fine

Slow catalogue, seasonal price changes, dropshipping from a supplier who updates once a night. Instant sync gives you no measurable revenue lift, and you pay for a feature you do not use.

The middle option nobody talks about

Scheduled fetch every 6 hours plus webhook-triggered snapshot invalidation on stock and price changes. Ad platforms still pull on their own cadence, but the URL they hit is always fresh. This is AiFeedOptimiser's default and hits the price-freshness sweet spot for almost every catalogue under 50,000 SKUs.

How to test what you actually need

1. Log every product update from your store for two weeks
2. Count the median time between an update and the next scheduled fetch
3. Cross-reference with Merchant Center disapprovals in the same window, filter by Mismatched availability or price
4. If disapprovals are rare (<1% of catalogue) daily is enough, otherwise move to 6 hourly plus webhooks