Thursday, June 19, 2014

2014 update to Google Shopping Products Feed Specification

Over the past year the Google Shopping team has made improvements to help merchants sell their products with new ad formats and a new campaign type. These improvements would not have been possible without great product data from merchants to help build better experiences for shoppers. Today, to provide merchants with more flexibility when organizing product data and reach more shoppers, we’re announcing an update to the Google Shopping Feed Specification:

  • Mobile landing page links should be submitted separately to direct mobile shoppers to the right experience
  • Merchant-defined custom bundles, such as a camera with additional case and lens, must now be identified as such in order to be displayed appropriately on Shopping
  • Apparel attributes are added to allow more detailed descriptions of your apparel products
  • Item availability now simplified to allow a clearer distinction between different availability states
  • Mandatory character limits clearly stated for each attribute to help the right product information being displayed

Along with attribute updates, we are also revising image quality recommendations and creating a new landing page policy as part of the feed specification update.

Beginning September 30, we will start enforcing the updated feed specification globally, but merchants can submit the new attributes immediately. We encourage all merchants to review the new feed specification as some of the updates will require changes to your current product data. To find a list of all changes, view the updated feed specification in the Merchant Center Help Center.

Merchants should always make sure to comply with our Google Shopping policies and legal requirements while participating in Google Shopping to avoid any product or feed disapprovals. For more help with data requirements, please visit the Merchant Center Help Center.

Posted by Angelika Rohrer and Patrik Reali, Google Shopping Team