Google Product Data Specification 2026: Full Guide

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Ishant

Published : September 22, 2026 at 11:30 am

Updated : September 18, 2026 at 4:28 pm

Ishant

Ishant Sharma is the Founder and CEO of Hustle Marketers, a Google Partner digital marketing agency. With 12+ years of experience in Google Ads, Meta Ads, SEO, and e-commerce PPC, he has helped 2,500+ brands generate $780M+ in trackable sales. Upwork Top Rated Plus with 100% Job Success Score. Ishant Sharma is the digital marketing specialist, not the Indian cricketer of the same name.

The Google product data specification is the rulebook your Google Shopping feed is graded against. Get it right and your products are eligible everywhere Google shows products: Shopping ads, free listings, Performance Max, and now the AI shopping surfaces built on the Shopping Graph.

2026 has been an unusually busy year for the spec. Four new attributes went live in April, video became eligible to serve in June, a new group of attributes aimed at AI shopping was formalised in May, and an image requirement that affects nearly every catalogue starts being enforced in January 2027.

This is the full reference, current as of September 2026, with every attribute grouped by what it does and flagged by whether you actually need it.

Short answer: The Google product data specification defines every attribute your Google Shopping feed can carry. Seven are required for every product: id, title, description, link, image_link, availability and price. 2026 added handling_cutoff_time, minimum_order_value and two loyalty shipping labels in April, opened video_link for serving in June, and set a 500×500 minimum image resolution that becomes mandatory on 31 January 2027.

What changed in the Google Shopping feed spec in 2026

Start here, because these are the changes most Google Shopping feeds have not caught up with.

Date	Change	Action needed
14 April 2026	`[handling_cutoff_time]` added, to set a daily deadline for processing online orders	Optional, but improves delivery estimates
14 April 2026	`[minimum_order_value]` added, to specify the minimum spend required to purchase and ship an order	Add if you enforce a minimum order
14 April 2026	`[loyalty_program_label]` and `[loyalty_tier_label]` added as sub-attributes of `[shipping]`	Add if you offer loyalty shipping benefits
14 April 2026	`[video_link]` introduced, submission open	Start submitting videos
14 April 2026	Warnings begin for images below 500×500 pixels	Start your image remediation now
May 2026	Six conversational attributes documented for AI-driven surfaces	Prioritise your highest-revenue products
30 June 2026	`[video_link]` becomes eligible to serve, with policy and quality validation	Check submitted videos meet policy
30 September 2026	Pickup cost attribute becomes required in the UK and EEA for products with in-store pickup enabled	Act now if you sell in the UK or EEA
31 January 2027	Minimum image resolution rises to 500×500 across all categories and marketing methods	Audit and replace undersized images

The one with a hard date on the horizon is the image rule. Google has said it will begin optimising smaller images automatically, but relying on that is a poor plan when product imagery is the main thing a shopper judges you on.

Required for every product

These seven are the backbone of any Google Shopping feed. If any are missing, the product is disapproved.

Attribute	What it does	Watch out for
`[id]`	Your unique identifier for the offer	Must be stable. Changing it creates a new product and loses performance history
`[title]`	The product name shown to shoppers	The single highest-impact field. 150 character limit, but the visible portion is far shorter
`[description]`	The product description	5,000 character limit. Do not repeat the title. Avoid promotional text, which is not allowed here
`[link]`	The landing page URL	Must be the product page, verified and claimed domain, and must resolve without a redirect chain
`[image_link]`	The main product image	500×500 minimum from 31 January 2027. No promotional overlays, watermarks or borders
`[availability]`	in_stock, out_of_stock, preorder or backorder	Must match the landing page. This is a top cause of disapprovals
`[price]`	The product price	Must match the landing page price, including currency, for the country being targeted

Required in specific situations

Attribute	Required when	Notes
`[brand]`	The product is clearly associated with a brand	Do not use your store name on branded goods you resell
`[gtin]`	A GTIN exists for the product	GTIN is the Global Trade Item Number, the barcode number that identifies a product worldwide. Validate the check digit. Correctly matched identifiers improve matching and enable aggregate reviews. See our full guide to GTINs and product identifiers
`[mpn]`	No GTIN exists but a manufacturer part number does	Set at variant level, not only on the parent
`[identifier_exists]`	The product genuinely has no GTIN, MPN or brand	Set to false only for handmade, custom or truly unbranded items. Not a way to clear a warning
`[condition]`	The product is used or refurbished	new, refurbished or used
`[google_product_category]`	Certain categories, and strongly recommended everywhere	Use the deepest accurate node, not the top-level one
`[adult]`	The product contains adult content	Required where applicable
`[multipack]`	You define a custom multipack	Number of items in the pack
`[is_bundle]`	The product is a merchant-defined bundle	Different from a multipack
`[certification]`	Required in some categories and regions	Energy labelling in the EU, for example
`[energy_efficiency_class]`	Energy-rated products	Restructured in April 2025 to align with EU standards

Categorisation: google_product_category versus product_type

These two attributes get confused constantly, and getting them wrong limits both matching and campaign structure.

	`[google_product_category]`	`[product_type]`
Whose taxonomy	Google’s, fixed. You pick a node from Google’s published product taxonomy	Yours, free text. You define it
What it affects	How Google understands and matches the product, plus category-specific requirements	How you can segment campaigns in listing groups
How many values	One per product	One per product, but you can use a path with several levels
Common mistake	Choosing a top-level node such as Apparel & Accessories instead of the deepest accurate one	Leaving it blank, or mirroring the website menu rather than building a useful structure

Depth matters on both. “Apparel & Accessories” tells Google almost nothing. “Apparel & Accessories > Clothing > Outerwear > Coats & Jackets” tells it what the product is, which queries it belongs to, and which category-specific attributes apply.

For [product_type], build the path around how you want to bid and report, not around your navigation. A useful pattern is Category > Sub-category > Attribute that changes margin or performance, for example Outerwear > Winter Coats > Premium. That gives you a segmentation lever without touching custom labels.

Variants

Variants cause more Google Shopping feed problems than any other single area, and the fix is nearly always the same attribute.

Attribute	Purpose
`[item_group_id]`	Groups all variants of the same product. Must be identical across every variant and stable over time
`[color]`	Required for apparel, and a variant differentiator everywhere else
`[size]`	Required for apparel and shoes
`[size_type]`	regular, petite, plus, tall, big, maternity
`[size_system]`	The sizing standard, for example US, UK, EU
`[material]`	Variant differentiator and a useful matching signal
`[pattern]`	Variant differentiator
`[age_group]`	newborn, infant, toddler, kids, adult. Required for apparel
`[gender]`	male, female, unisex. Required for apparel

If you see the same product appearing eight times in Merchant Center instead of once with variants, [item_group_id] is missing or inconsistent. Our guide to Shopify feed setup covers how this behaves on variant-heavy stores.

Where your real variant axes are not on that list, use variant_option with item_group_title and item_group_id instead of bending an existing attribute. Pet is the clearest example: flavour, bag weight and life stage are the axes that matter, and forcing life stage into age_group puts human demographic data in a field Google uses for something else. Our guide to pet products and Google Shopping works through that example in full.

Price, promotions and availability

Attribute	Purpose	Notes
`[sale_price]`	The discounted price	Needed for the strikethrough price annotation to be considered
`[sale_price_effective_date]`	The window the sale price applies to	Set it, or the sale runs until you remove it manually
`[unit_pricing_measure]`	Price per unit, for example per 100g	Required in some categories and regions
`[unit_pricing_base_measure]`	The base for unit pricing	Pairs with the above
`[installment]`	Installment payment terms	Restructured in April 2025
`[subscription_cost]`	Subscription pricing terms	Physical goods subscriptions opened to all eligible US Shopping merchants in October 2025
`[loyalty_program]`	Member pricing and benefits	Distinct from the loyalty shipping sub-attributes added in April 2026
`[cost_of_goods_sold]`	Your cost price	Not shown to shoppers. Enables margin reporting, and margin-based custom labels
`[availability_date]`	When a preorder or backorder becomes available	Required for preorder and backorder
`[expiration_date]`	When the offer should stop showing	Useful for time-limited products
`[promotion_id]`	Links the product to a Merchant Center promotion	Must match the promotion exactly

[cost_of_goods_sold] is the most underused attribute in the entire spec. Populate it and you can segment campaigns by margin rather than by price, which is a completely different and usually better strategy, and it is the attribute that makes contribution margin reporting possible. We walk through that in custom labels by margin tier.

Shipping, tax and returns

Attribute	Purpose
`[shipping]`	Shipping cost by country, region and service
`[shipping_label]`	Groups products for shipping rules in account settings
`[shipping_weight]`, `[shipping_length]`, `[shipping_width]`, `[shipping_height]`	Dimensional data for carrier-calculated rates
`[min_handling_time]`, `[max_handling_time]`	How long before dispatch
`[handling_cutoff_time]`	New April 2026. Daily deadline for processing online orders
`[minimum_order_value]`	New April 2026. Minimum spend required to purchase and ship
`[loyalty_program_label]`, `[loyalty_tier_label]`	New April 2026. Sub-attributes of shipping, for loyalty shipping benefits
`[transit_time_label]`	Groups products for transit time rules
`[free_shipping_threshold]`	Spend level at which shipping becomes free
`[tax]`, `[tax_category]`	Tax handling, mainly for the US
`[return_policy_label]`	Links products to a return policy defined in account settings

Accurate handling times and cutoff times feed the delivery estimates shown next to your listing, and delivery speed is one of the few things a shopper compares before clicking.

The six conversational attributes

This group was formalised in May 2026. Google describes them as helping customers “discover information about your products across AI-driven surfaces, like AI Mode in Search”. Importantly, they have no effect on approval status, so nothing breaks if you skip them. They simply give the AI surfaces more to work with.

Attribute	What it holds	Limits
`[question_and_answer]`	Product FAQs as question and answer pairs	Up to 1,000 characters per pair, up to 30 pairs per product
`[document_link]`	Manuals, spec sheets, care guides, sizing documents	HTTPS, up to 2,000 characters in the URL, 50MB per file, 5 per product
`[related_product]`	Relationships between products	Six types: part_of_set, required_part, often_bought_with, substitute, different_brand, accessory
`[item_group_title]`	A shared title for a variant family	Up to 150 characters
`[variant_option]`	The properties that distinguish one variant from another	Name and value, up to 250 characters each
`[popularity_rank]`	How popular a product is within your inventory	0 to 100, one decimal place

These can be submitted through a primary data source, a supplemental data source or the Merchant API. Start with your top revenue products rather than the whole catalogue, and source your question and answer pairs from real support tickets and product page reviews rather than inventing them.

Images and the January 2027 deadline

Rule	Detail
Minimum resolution from 31 January 2027	500×500 pixels, across all product categories and marketing methods, for `[image_link]` and `[additional_image_link]`
Warnings	Have been issued since 14 April 2026
Google’s fallback	It will begin optimising smaller images to meet the requirement
No promotional overlays	Text, badges, watermarks and borders on the main image cause disapproval
No placeholders	Generic, missing or “image coming soon” images are disapproved
`[additional_image_link]`	Up to 10 additional images. Lifestyle and detail shots belong here

Practical advice: do not aim for 500×500. Submit the largest clean image you have, ideally 1,500×1,500 or above on a plain background, so you are not repeating this exercise when the threshold moves again.

Video

[video_link] opened for submission on 14 April 2026 with technical validation only. From 30 June 2026 it became eligible to serve, and policy and quality validation began at that point.

Very few catalogues use it yet, which makes it a genuine early-mover opportunity in visual categories like furniture, apparel, tools and anything with an assembly or demonstration element. The same applies on Microsoft, where our Bing Shopping feed guide covers the differences.

Segmentation and control attributes

Attribute	Purpose
`[custom_label_0]` to `[custom_label_4]`	Your own segmentation values. Five slots, used for campaign structure and bidding
`[product_type]`	Your own category taxonomy. Depth here affects how campaigns can be segmented
`[product_highlight]`	Short benefit statements, 1 to 150 characters. Four to six recommended
`[product_detail]`	Structured specifications as section, attribute and value
`[excluded_destination]`, `[included_destination]`	Control which surfaces a product appears on
`[shopping_ads_excluded_country]`	Exclude specific countries
`[pause]`	Temporarily stop a product serving without removing it
`[ads_redirect]`	A different URL for ad clicks, usually for tracking

Custom labels deserve attention because they are one of the few remaining levers you have inside Performance Max. Segment by margin, stock depth, seasonality or performance tier rather than mirroring your site categories. Our guide to Performance Max asset group structure for ecommerce shows how these feed into campaign build.

The twelve spec mistakes we see most often

Titles passed straight from the catalogue, written for people already on the site
[identifier_exists] set to false on branded goods to clear a warning
[item_group_id] missing, so variants compete against each other
[google_product_category] set to a top-level node instead of the deepest accurate one
[product_type] left blank or mirroring the site menu rather than a useful taxonomy
Descriptions that repeat the title, or contain promotional text that is not permitted
Price mismatches caused by geo-pricing, currency switching or subscription “from” pricing
[sale_price_effective_date] never set, so sales run indefinitely
[cost_of_goods_sold] empty, making margin-based segmentation impossible
Images under 500×500, or main images carrying promotional overlays
Apparel feeds missing colour, size, age group and gender
Handling and transit times left at defaults, producing inaccurate delivery estimates

How to audit your Google Shopping feed against the spec

Export your current feed and open it in a spreadsheet. Work from the data, not from the Merchant Center interface.
Calculate fill rate per attribute. What percentage of products have a value for each one? Anything below 100% on a required field is a problem, and anything at 0% on a recommended field is an opportunity.
Sample ten products end to end. Compare every value against the live product page.
Check image dimensions in bulk against the 500×500 threshold.
Check identifier validity, not just presence.
Review your titles against how customers actually search, category by category.
List the attributes you are not using at all and decide which are worth adding.

Our Merchant Center audit template covers this alongside the account settings that sit outside the feed itself.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between google_product_category and product_type?

google_product_category is Google’s own fixed taxonomy and affects how your product is understood and matched. product_type is your own free-text category path and affects how you can segment campaigns. You should populate both, and both should be as deep as the product allows.

Which feed attributes matter most for Google Shopping performance?

Title first, by a wide margin. Then valid product identifiers, a deep and accurate google_product_category, complete variant attributes, and price and availability that match the landing page exactly.

What are the new Google Merchant Center attributes for 2026?

handling_cutoff_time, minimum_order_value, loyalty_program_label and loyalty_tier_label all went live on 14 April 2026, along with video_link, which became eligible to serve on 30 June 2026. Six conversational attributes for AI-driven surfaces were documented in May 2026.

Which attributes are genuinely required?

id, title, description, link, image_link, availability and price for every product. Then brand and identifiers where they apply, condition for used or refurbished items, and colour, size, age group and gender for apparel.

How long can a Google Shopping feed title be?

The limit is 150 characters, but far less is displayed depending on the surface and device. Put the elements a shopper would search at the front.

Do I have to add the conversational attributes?

No. Google states they have no effect on approval status. They exist to give AI-driven surfaces more information about your products, so treat them as an opportunity rather than a requirement, and start with your best sellers.

What happens if my images are below 500×500 after 31 January 2027?

Google has said it will begin optimising smaller images to meet the requirement. That is a safety net, not a strategy. Upscaled images look worse, and image quality is one of the few things a shopper judges before clicking.

Can I submit attributes through a supplemental feed?

Yes, and it is usually the cleanest approach when your primary source is a platform app you cannot easily change. Match on id and add or override only the attributes you need.

Does the spec differ between Shopping ads and free listings?

The attribute requirements are the same. Google consolidated the Shopping ads and free listings policies into unified guidelines in July 2026, which it stated did not make enforcement stricter.

How often should I review my feed against the spec?

Quarterly at minimum, and whenever Google publishes a spec update. 2026 alone brought four new attributes, a serving change and an image requirement with a hard deadline.

Next steps

If you do three things to your Google Shopping feed after reading this page, make them these: fix your titles, validate your identifiers, and start the image audit now rather than in January 2027.

If you would like the feed audited against the current spec and the findings prioritised by revenue impact, that is work we do for ecommerce clients every week. See our Google Shopping ads agency page.