Guide

Google Merchant Center Required Attributes: Feed Checklist

The Google Merchant Center required attributes and product data specification every Google Shopping feed needs, with sample rows and common errors.

Last verified · 16 min read

Google Merchant Center's product data specification — the Google Shopping feed requirements — lists seven attributes every product must have: id, title (or structured_title), description (or structured_description), link, image_link, price and availability. Further attributes become required by product type and country: unique identifiers (brand, gtin, mpn), apparel fields (gender, age_group, color, size), item_group_id for variants, sale_price, and shipping. As of October 2026, these rules come from Google's product data specification (Google Merchant Center Help, Product data specification).

The seven attributes every product needs

Google's product data specification marks these attributes as required for all products (Google Merchant Center Help, Product data specification):

Attribute What it holds Key limit or format
id Your unique identifier for the product Max 50 characters; keep it stable when you update the product
title or structured_title The product's name Max 150 characters; use structured_title when the title is AI-generated
description or structured_description What the product is Max 5,000 characters; use structured_description when the text is AI-generated
link The product's landing page URL Starts with http or https, 1–2,000 characters, on your verified domain
image_link URL of the main product image See image minimums below
price The product's price and currency Number plus ISO 4217 currency code, for example 15.00 USD
availability Whether the product is in stock One of in_stock, out_of_stock, preorder, backorder

For titles and descriptions created with generative AI, submit structured_title and structured_description instead of (or as the AI-labelled form of) the plain attributes (Google Merchant Center Help, 2024 Merchant Center product data specification update). Google still requires a title and a description for every product; you provide them through one of the two pairs (Google Merchant Center Help, Free listings for products).

A product feed missing any of these attributes cannot be listed. In Product Feed Master, each of them is a field in the canonical product schema, so you map your source columns to them once and every Google output channel reuses that mapping.

Conditional attributes: identifiers, apparel, variants, sale price, shipping and tax

Some Google Merchant Center attributes are required only for certain products, countries or programmes. As of October 2026, the specification groups them as follows (Google Merchant Center Help, Product data specification).

Condition, brand, GTIN and MPN

  • condition is required for each used or refurbished product. Allowed values are new, refurbished and used.
  • brand is required for new products except movies, books and musical recordings, and for any other product with a clearly associated brand or manufacturer. Brand is capped at 70 characters. Do not submit placeholders such as "N/A", "Generic", "No brand" or "Does not exist"; if the product truly has no brand, leave the attribute empty.
  • gtin is required for products that have a manufacturer-assigned GTIN (Global Trade Item Number, the number behind a barcode). Submit only a GTIN you are sure is valid; Google disapproves incorrect values.
  • mpn (manufacturer part number) is required for products that do not have a manufacturer-assigned GTIN. MPN is capped at 70 alphanumeric characters.

Products with no GTIN, MPN or brand at all, such as handmade or vintage goods, are handled with the identifier_exists attribute set to no. The rules for identifiers are detailed in GTIN, MPN and identifier_exists explained.

Apparel: gender, age_group, color and size

For Apparel & Accessories (Google product category ID 166), Google requires extra attributes so shoppers see the right size charts and filters (Google Merchant Center Help, Product data specification):

Attribute When it is required Supported values / limits
gender Apparel & Accessories for free listings; also Shopping ads for apparel targeted to Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US male, female, unisex
age_group Same countries and free listings for Apparel & Accessories newborn, infant, toddler, kids, adult
color Same countries and free listings for Apparel & Accessories; also any product sold in different colours Max 100 characters (max 40 per colour); separate multiple colours with /
size Clothing (ID 1604) and Shoes (ID 187) for free listings, and for those categories in the countries above Max 100 characters; one-size items may use one_size, OS, OSFA or OSFM

gender is recommended rather than required for a few accessories that are not gender-specific, such as shoelaces (ID 1856). Do not submit non-colours such as "multicolor", "various" or "N/A" in color.

Variants: item_group_id

item_group_id groups variants of the same product (for example a shirt in several colours and sizes). Submit each variant as its own item with a unique id, and give every variant in the group the same item_group_id (max 50 characters). The attribute is required for free listings whenever the product is a variant, and for Shopping ads in Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US (Google Merchant Center Help, Item group ID [item_group_id]).

Do not submit item_group_id for products that are not variants. Google also asks you to submit item_group_title with the same value on every variant in the group, and to include the distinguishing attributes (color, size, gender, age_group, material, pattern) plus variant_option.

Sale price

Submit sale_price in addition to price, with price set to the non-sale amount. The sale price must match the landing page and checkout. Use sale_price_effective_date (an ISO 8601 start and end separated by /) when the sale is time-limited; if you omit that date, the sale price always applies (Google Merchant Center Help, Product data specification). Do not put loyalty-member prices in sale_price in countries where Google's loyalty programme attribute is supported; use loyalty_program instead.

Shipping and tax

Shipping. Shipping costs are required for Shopping ads and free listings in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US (Google Merchant Center Help, Shipping [shipping]). You can meet that requirement in Merchant Center account settings, or override them per product with the shipping attribute (country, optional region or postal code, service and price). Do not include government-imposed fees such as import duties in the shipping cost.

Tax in price. For the United States and Canada, do not include sales tax, VAT, GST or import tax in price. Display tax on checkout instead. For other countries, include VAT or GST in price (Google Merchant Center Help, About tax information for your products). The separate tax attribute, when present, only covers US sales-tax overrides; do not use it for VAT, GST or import tax (Google Merchant Center Help, Product data specification).

Formatting rules Google enforces

Google Merchant Center rejects values that are present but badly formatted. As of October 2026:

  • price is a number with a three-letter ISO 4217 currency code, for example 15.00 USD in a text (CSV or TSV) feed, with no currency symbols or thousand separators. The price must match the price on your landing page, in structured data and at checkout (Google Merchant Center Help, Price [price]). For the US and Canada, omit tax from price; elsewhere, include VAT or GST.
  • link must start with http or https, use the domain you verified in Merchant Center, and be 1–2,000 characters, with symbols URL-encoded. Google must be able to load the page without a sign-in (Google Merchant Center Help, Link [link]).
  • availability uses only in_stock, out_of_stock, preorder and backorder. Values such as "pending" are invalid. Preorder and backorder also need availability_date, and the value must match the landing page (Google Merchant Center Help, Availability [availability]).
  • brand and gtin must not be placeholders. Values such as "N/A", "Generic", "No brand" or "Does not exist" are not allowed, and Google advises leaving gtin out when you are not sure a GTIN is valid (Google Merchant Center Help, Product data specification).
  • image_link images must use a crawlable http or https URL (max 2,000 characters) in JPEG, WebP, PNG, non-animated GIF, BMP or TIFF. As of October 2026, images of at least 100 × 100 pixels (250 × 250 for clothing) still meet the current diagnostic threshold, but Google warns on images below 500 × 500 and will require 500 × 500 for all products from 31 January 2027. No image may exceed 64 megapixels or 16 MB. Do not scale up a thumbnail (Google Merchant Center Help, Image link [image_link]; Google Merchant Center Help, How to fix: Image too small).

Formatting problems like a stray currency symbol or trailing whitespace are easiest to fix as the data flows into the feed. Product Feed Master's transformation rules can trim, replace and reformat values on every sync; see how to clean product data with transformation rules.

The title attribute is required, but Google also sets content rules for it. Titles should accurately describe the product and match the landing page, avoid promotional text such as "free shipping", all-capital letters and gimmicky characters, and include distinguishing features such as colour or size for variants (Google Merchant Center Help, Product data specification).

Common Merchant Center errors

These diagnostics show up often on Merchant Center's Needs attention tab; Google Merchant Center disapprovals lists a guide for every common issue. Each one is a feed or landing-page mismatch you can fix in the source, the field mapping, or a transformation rule, then resync. If a Product Feed Master sync itself fails or only some products go through, start with sync troubleshooting.

Missing or incorrect GTIN

Cause. Google expected a unique product identifier and did not get a valid one. Depending on the country and Google product category, that means a manufacturer GTIN, or else mpn plus brand (Google Merchant Center Help, How to fix: Missing or incorrect GTIN).

Fix. Submit the manufacturer's GTIN when one exists. If the product has no GTIN, submit brand and mpn. If it is one-of-a-kind, handmade or vintage and has no identifiers, set identifier_exists to no rather than inventing a number. See GTIN, MPN and identifier_exists explained.

Price mismatch

Cause. Googlebot crawled the landing page (or its structured data) and the price there did not match price in the feed. Common reasons are a stale feed after a site price change, sale dates in the wrong timezone, JavaScript-only prices that never appear in the HTML, or a variant URL that loads a different default price (Google Merchant Center Help, How to fix: Mismatched product price).

Fix. Put the same amount and currency in the feed, on the landing page, in structured data and at checkout. If you use sale_price, set sale_price_effective_date so Google shows the sale only while it is actually on. Schedule the Product Feed Master output to run after your store prices update so the hosted feed is not behind the page.

Invalid availability

Cause. The availability value is not one of Google's supported values (for example pending instead of in_stock / out_of_stock), or it does not match the landing page (Google Merchant Center Help, How to fix: Invalid product availability; Google Merchant Center Help, How to fix: Mismatched product availability).

Fix. Map store statuses onto in_stock, out_of_stock, preorder or backorder with a transformation rule. Add availability_date for preorder and backorder. Keep the feed in sync with the site; do not set out_of_stock merely to hide a product — use Google's pause or excluded_destination attributes for that.

Image too small

Cause. The file at image_link is below Google's size threshold, is a scaled-up thumbnail, or exceeds 64 megapixels / 16 MB (Google Merchant Center Help, How to fix: Image too small).

Fix. Point image_link at a larger original, not a resized thumbnail. As of October 2026, 100 × 100 pixels (250 × 250 for clothing) still avoids the current "image too small" disapproval, but Google already warns below 500 × 500 and will require 500 × 500 for all products from 31 January 2027. Changing the image URL (not only the file behind the same URL) helps Google recrawl faster.

Placeholder brand

Cause. brand is missing for a new product that needs one, or it contains a dummy value such as "N/A", "Generic", "No brand" or "Does not exist" (Google Merchant Center Help, Product data specification).

Fix. Submit the brand shoppers recognise. If you manufacture the product or sell a private-label item, your own brand name is acceptable. If there is genuinely no brand, leave brand empty and, when the product also has no GTIN or MPN, set identifier_exists to no. Do not fill the gap with a placeholder.

Sample Google Shopping feed row

The same product can be submitted as a text (CSV or TSV) row or as an XML item in RSS 2.0 with the Google Merchant Center namespace xmlns:g="http://base.google.com/ns/1.0" (Google Merchant Center Help, RSS 2.0 specification). Attribute names in text files use underscores (image_link); in XML they take the g: prefix except for the RSS 2.0 elements title, link and description.

CSV:

id,title,description,link,image_link,availability,price,sale_price,brand,gtin,condition,color,size,gender,age_group,item_group_id
12345-S-RED,Men's Pique Polo Shirt - Small - Red,"Made from 100% organic cotton, this classic red men's polo has a slim fit.",https://www.example.com/polo?color=red&size=S,https://www.example.com/images/polo-red-s.jpg,in_stock,29.99 USD,24.99 USD,ExampleBrand,3234567890126,new,Red,S,male,adult,12345

XML (RSS 2.0, g: namespace):

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:g="http://base.google.com/ns/1.0">
  <channel>
    <title>Example Store</title>
    <link>https://www.example.com</link>
    <description>Example Google Shopping product data source</description>
    <item>
      <title>Men's Pique Polo Shirt - Small - Red</title>
      <link>https://www.example.com/polo?color=red&amp;size=S</link>
      <description>Made from 100% organic cotton, this classic red men's polo has a slim fit.</description>
      <g:id>12345-S-RED</g:id>
      <g:image_link>https://www.example.com/images/polo-red-s.jpg</g:image_link>
      <g:availability>in_stock</g:availability>
      <g:price>29.99 USD</g:price>
      <g:sale_price>24.99 USD</g:sale_price>
      <g:condition>new</g:condition>
      <g:brand>ExampleBrand</g:brand>
      <g:gtin>3234567890126</g:gtin>
      <g:color>Red</g:color>
      <g:size>S</g:size>
      <g:gender>male</g:gender>
      <g:age_group>adult</g:age_group>
      <g:item_group_id>12345</g:item_group_id>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

The GTIN 3234567890126 is Google's own example value from the specification, not a live product. To publish a hosted CSV that Merchant Center can fetch on a schedule, follow how to create a Google Merchant Center feed URL.

Requirements differ by programme

The required set above applies to products in Google's free listings and Shopping ads. Other Merchant Center programmes have their own specifications; for example, local inventory uses a separate local product data specification with its own required fields (Google Merchant Center Help, Local product data specification). Check the specification for each programme you submit to.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if a required attribute is missing?

A product missing a required attribute is not eligible to show in Google's listings until the attribute is added. Merchant Center reports the problem against the affected products so you can fix the feed and resubmit.

Is the description attribute required for Google Shopping?

Yes. Google requires a description for every product, up to 5,000 characters, submitted in either the description attribute or the structured_description attribute for AI-generated text.

Do I need both GTIN and MPN?

No. Google requires gtin when the manufacturer assigned one, and mpn only for products without a manufacturer-assigned GTIN. Providing both when you have them is allowed.

Can I use "N/A" for brand?

No. Google does not allow placeholder values such as "N/A", "Generic" or "No brand" in the brand attribute. Leave it out, or use identifier_exists if the product genuinely has no brand, GTIN or MPN.

Are gender, color and size required for clothing?

For Apparel & Accessories, yes in free listings, and for Shopping ads when you target Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, the UK or the US. size is required specifically for Clothing and Shoes. Submit item_group_id as well when the garment comes in variants.

Sources