Use the matching ID [webitemid] attribute to match a product:
- Between two primary feeds (one with local inventory ads destination only and the other one with shopping ads destination only).
- In a local product feed to a product in a primary product feed.
In this article
When to use
Optional for each product.
The matching ID [webitemid] attribute is recommended for all items with different IDs/SKUs for online versus local products.
Format
| Type | Text (string) |
| Repeated field | No |
| File format | Example value |
| Text feeds | WB1011 |
| XML feeds | <g:webitemid>WB1011</g:webitemid> |
To learn how to format your data for Content API, visit the Content API for Shopping resource.
Minimum requirements
These are the requirements you need to meet to show your product. If you don't follow these requirements, we'll disapprove your product and let you know in your Merchant Center account.
- Submit the matching ID
[webitemid]that matches your online product ID. This should always match the ID of the corresponding variant in your products feed, if one exists.
Note: Since matching ID is only used for matching, multiple items may share the same matching ID if they map to the same item in your products feed.
- Remove starting and trailing whitespaces and carriage returns (0x0D).
- Replace each sequence of carriage return (0x0D) and whitespace characters (Unicode characters with the whitespace property) with a single whitespace (0x20).
- Only valid unicode characters are accepted, with the exception of the following characters:
- Control characters (except carriage return 0x0D)
- Function characters
- Private area characters
- Surrogate pairs
- Non-assigned code points (in particular, any code point larger than 0x10FFFF)
Once a product is submitted, the value for the matching ID [webitemid] attribute can't be changed, even if you update your data feed. It also can’t be used for a different product at a later point in time.