Local product data specification

The identifier for each item is unique across all shops, and cannot be reused between data sources of the same type for the same country in the same language.

When to include: Required for all of the items in your data source.

Important:

• Starting and trailing whitespaces and carriage returns (0x0D) are removed.
• Each sequence of carriage return (0x0D) and whitespace characters (Unicode characters with the whitespace property) is replaced by a single whitespace (0x20).
• Only valid unicode characters are accepted, excluding 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)
• When an item has been submitted, the ID can't change when you update your data source or be used for a different product at a later time.
• If you're using ID for Shopping campaigns, we recommend that you only use lowercase or case-insensitive characters

The name of your item. Google recommends that you include characteristics (such as colour or brand) in the title that differentiate the item from other products. If there's a match, Google may serve your online item or Google Catalogue data instead.

When to include: Required for all of the items in your data source.

Important:

• Follow our editorial guidelines closely. For example, do not include any promotional text such as 'Free delivery' and do not use BLOCK CAPITALS.
• For variant products, you're required to include the common title of the variant items. For example, if 'Men's Pique Polo Shirt' is available in red and blue colours, you can have one of the following titles:
  • Men's Pique Polo Shirt (can be used for both variants)
  • Men's Pique Polo Shirt – Red (for the red shirt)
  • Men's Pique Polo Shirt – Blue (for the blue shirt)

Include only information relevant to the product. Describe its most relevant attributes, such as size, material, intended age range, special features or other technical specifications. You should also include details about the product's visual attributes (e.g. shape, pattern, texture and design), since we may use this text to find your item.

We recommend that you enter around 500–1,000 characters, but you can submit up to 5,000 characters. Descriptions should follow standard grammar rules and end with a punctuation mark.

When to include: Required for all of the items in your data source.

Content API v2 (JSON): 'description': 'Solid red, queen-sized bed sheets made from 100% woven polyester, 300 thread count fabric. Set includes one fitted sheet, one flat sheet and two standard pillowcases. Machine washable; extra-deep fitted pockets'.

Content API v2 (XML): <description>Solid red, queen-sized bed sheets made from 100% woven polyester 300-thread-count fabric. Set includes one fitted sheet, one flat sheet and two standard pillowcases. Machine washable; extra-deep fitted pockets.</description>

Important:

• Make sure that you follow Google's editorial guidelines closely. For example, do not include any promotional text such as 'Free delivery', do not use BLOCK CAPITALS and do not include a description of your brand or company.
• Additionally, the following information should not be included in descriptions:
  • Links to your shop or other websites
  • Billing, payment or sales information
  • References to internal categorisation systems, for example: 'Toys & Games > Toys > Baby Dolls'
  • Comparisons to other products beyond the item that you're selling, for example: 'even better/faster/larger than X'
  • Details about other products, accessories or similar items available

This is the URL of the main image for a product and is the first image that customers see on product detail pages.

If you have multiple different images of the product, submit the main image using this attribute and include all other images in the additional image link [additional_image_link] attribute.

Image size:

• Submit the largest, highest-resolution, full-size image that you have for the product, up to 16 MB file size.
• Recommended image size is at least 800 x 800 pixels.
• For clothing products, images must be at least 250 x 250 pixels and can't be larger than 64 megapixels. For all other products, images must be at least 100 x 100 pixels and can't be larger than 64 megapixels.
• Do not scale up images or submit thumbnails. We recommend the product to take between 75–90% of the full image.

When to include: Required for all of the items in your data source.

Content API v2 (JSON): 'imageLink': 'http://www.example.com/image1.jpg'

Content API v2 (XML): <image_link>http://www.example.com/image1.jpg</image_link>

By meeting the requirements and recommendations below, you can improve the shopping experience for customers.

Requirements:

• You must have an image of an item in order to submit it
• The following types of images are also not allowed:
  • Placeholder or incorrect product images
  • Generic images, graphics or illustrations that are not the actual product images, except for products in the 'Hardware' (632) or 'Vehicles and parts' (888) categories, which allow graphics and/or illustrations of the actual product
  • Single colour images that are only a square of colour, except for products in the 'Vehicle Paint' (3812), 'Craft Paint, Ink & Glaze' (505378) and 'Painting Consumables' (503740) categories
  • Images containing promotional elements (for example: calls to action such as 'buy', service-related information such as extended warranty, free delivery, price information, promotional adjectives such as 'best', 'cheap', condition or compatibility such as new, 2-piece, adaptable) or names and/or logos of merchants regardless of whether the above-mentioned elements overlay the product. This also applies to watermarks with promotional elements or names and/or logos of merchants
  • Images containing obstructing content (for example: watermarks, brand names and/or logos) that overlay the product being sold
  • Images that include borders
  • Images of a bundle that do not show the entire bundle
  • Images of multipacks that do not display a single unit of the product
  • Landing pages with no image or placeholder images that do not show the actual product are also not allowed

• Make sure that the image you provide for each item matches the values provided in the colour [color], pattern [pattern] and material [material] attributes, or your item might be disapproved.

Recommendations:

• If you can't provide the appropriate images to submit your items as variants, you may list your variant products as a single item with multiple values for the variant attributes and provide the available image.
• The image must accurately display the product and include minimal or no product staging.
• For variants based on colour, each individual variant item that you submit must have an image that displays the product in a single colour.
• The main image should be taken on a solid white, grey or light-coloured background.

• The main image of a product should include a main and/or clear view of the product being sold. Additional views of the product (other than the main view) should be submitted in the additional image link [additional_image_link] attribute.

Formatting:

• The accepted image formats are non-animated GIF (.gif), JPEG (.jpg/.jpeg), PNG (.png), BMP (.bmp) and TIFF (.tif/.tiff) and the file extensions for these images should correspond to their format.
• The accepted URL protocols are 'http' and 'https'. Any symbols used within the image URL must be replaced by URL-encoded entities (e.g. comma = %2C).
• Google recommends that you submit stable URLs for your images and only update the URL if the actual image of the product has changed. This is especially important if you use a Content Delivery Network to host images, and it makes sure that Google can correctly crawl your images.

Cropping:

We may automatically crop your image to focus more on the product.

Google allows the promotion of quality second-hand products. Google also allows the promotion of refurbished products as long as they comply with local laws and regulations and with our policies.

There are only three accepted values:

• New [new]: The product is brand new and has never been used. It is unopened in its original packaging.
• Refurbished [refurbished]: The product has been professionally restored to working order, is 'as new' and comes with warranty. The packaging may or may not be the original packaging. This is sometimes referred to as 'remanufactured'.
• Used [used]: Use this value if new and refurbished don't apply. For example, if the product has been used before, is a refilled printer cartridge, the original packaging has been opened or the original packaging is missing.

When to include: Required if your product is used or refurbished. Optional for new products.

Content API v2 (JSON): 'condition': 'used'

Content API v2 (XML): <condition>used</condition>

Important: If you're submitting the attribute names in English, you'll need to provide the attribute values in English as well.

Use the GTIN attribute to submit Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs) in one of the following formats:

• UPC (in North America/GTIN-12): 12-digit number. 8-digit UPC-E codes should be converted to 12-digit codes.
• EAN (in Europe/GTIN-13): 13-digit number.
• JAN (in Japan/GTIN-13): 8- or 13-digit number.
• ISBN (for books): 10- or 13-digit number. If you have both, only include the 13-digit number. ISBN-10 are deprecated and should be converted to ISBN-13.
• ITF-14 (for multipacks/GTIN-14): 14-digit number.

Important:

• We accept only valid GTINs as defined in the official GS1 validation guide, which includes these requirements:
  • The checksum digit is present and correct.
  • The GTIN is not restricted (GS1 prefix ranges 02, 04, 2).
  • The GTIN is not a coupon (GS1 prefix ranges 98–99).

When to include: Required for all new products (except movies, books and musical recording brands). Optional for all other products.

Content API v2 (JSON): 'brand': 'Acme'

Content API v2 (XML): <brand>Acme</brand>

Important: Do not provide your shop name as the brand unless you manufacture the product.

This attribute allows you to specify the required energy efficiency class values for your product.

When to include: It's strongly recommended that you submit the energy efficiency class, minimum energy efficiency class and maximum energy efficiency class attributes for applicable products. You might need to provide this class for these types of products:

Important:

• The minimum energy efficiency class [min_energy_efficiency_class] value must be smaller than the maximum energy efficiency class [max_energy_efficiency_class] value. For example, your scale must run from A to D rather than D to A.
• The energy efficiency class [energy_efficiency_class] value that you provide must be within the range of the minimum energy efficiency class value and the maximum energy efficiency class value. For example, if your range runs from A to D, your energy efficiency class value may not be G.

If you can't match the ID [id] attribute in your local products data source to the ID in your products data source, you can use matching ID for matching. You'd submit different values for your ID, but the same value for matching ID and ID. This should always match the ID of the corresponding variant in your products data source, if one exists.

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 data source.

When to include: Recommended for all items with different IDs/SKUs for online versus local products.

Important:

• Starting and trailing whitespaces and carriage returns (0x0D) are removed.
• Each sequence of carriage return (0x0D) and whitespace characters (Unicode characters with the whitespace property) is replaced by 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 an item has been submitted, the matching ID [webitemid] can't change when you update your data source or be used for a different product at a later point in time.

In this attribute, you'll include Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs) for your products.

When to include: If you sell your items both in-store and online and cannot use the ID [id] attribute to match, you'll need to use either matching ID [webitemid] or unique product identifiers as matching attributes.

If you're using any unique product identifiers to match, you need to include condition in this data source.

This code uniquely identifies the product to its manufacturer. In particular, the combination of brand and MPN clearly specifies one product.

When to include: If you sell your items both in-store and online and cannot use the ID [id] attribute to match, you'll need to use either matching ID [webitemid] or unique product identifiers as the matching attributes.

If you're using any unique product identifiers to match, you need to include condition in this data source.

When to include: If you sell your products both in store and online and cannot use the ID [id] attribute to match, you'll need to use either matching ID [webitemid] or unique product identifiers as the matching attributes.

If you're using any unique product identifiers to match, you need to include condition in this data source.

All items that are variants of the same product need the same item group ID value. If you have a 'Parent SKU' that's shared by all variants of a product, you can provide that as the item group ID value.

When to include: Required for Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US for all items with variants that use these detailed product attributes: colour [color], size [size], pattern [pattern], material [material], age group [age group], gender [gender], size type [size type] and size system [size_system]. Recommended for all other countries.

Content API v2 (JSON): 'itemGroupId': 'AB12345'

Content API v2 (XML): <item_group_id>AB12345</item_group_id>

Important:

• The item group ID [item_group_id] attribute is different from the ID [id] attribute. An item group ID attribute has common values for a group of variants, whereas the ID attribute should have unique values across a group of variants and for all other items as well.
• The values provided for the item group ID should be unique between products, and only shared by items that are variants of the same product.
• If you send us an item group ID attribute, we'll automatically look for variant attributes. If an item uses an item group ID, make sure that the item has at least one detailed product attribute.

This defines the dominant colour(s) of an item. When a single item has multiple colours, you can submit up to two additional values as accent colours:

• Combine the colours with '/' in order of prominence (dominant colour first, then up to two accent colours). For example, a black shoe with green accents should have a colour value of 'Black/Green'. In the case of non-deformable goods in Clothing like jewellery or wooden accessories where finishes or materials are equivalent to colour, the finish or material name can be submitted in the colour [color] attribute (e.g. 'Mahogany' vs 'Stainless Steel' vs 'Rose Gold').
• If you're using XML, represent the '/' with '#47;'

When to include: Required for all products in an item group that vary by colour and all clothing items in data sources that target Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US. Recommended for all products for which colour is an important, distinguishing attribute.

Content API v2 (JSON): 'colour': 'Black'

Content API v2 (XML): <colour>Black</colour>

What not to include:

• Colour values that contain numbers (e.g. '0 2 4 6 8').
• Colour values that contain non-alphanumeric characters (e.g. #fff000).
• Single letter colour values (e.g. 'G') in Latin-based languages. Single-letter colour values in Chinese/Japanese/Korean languages (e.g. '红') are acceptable.
• Colour values that reference the product or product image (e.g. 'see image').
• Descriptive values that are not actually valid colour names (e.g. multicolour, various, variety, see image, N/A).
• Long colour values exceeding 40 characters.
• Long colour values that are aggregates of several other colours (e.g. RedPinkBlue). Instead:
  • If you're trying to indicate multiple colours for a single item (not product variants), specify a primary colour, optionally followed by at most two secondary colours, separated by a '/'. For example, replace RedPinkBlue with Red/Pink/Blue.
  • If you are trying to indicate multiple colours for multiple similar items (product variants), submit these as separate products each with the same item group ID and a different colour value.

A note on invalid submissions:

• If you submit a colour value that violates the syntactic rules above, Google may reject the entire item at the time of data source submission.
• Google regularly verifies the correctness of the attributes that you submit, including colour. If the values provided are found to be incorrect, Google may remove all of your items from the Shopping tab.

Important:

• For variants, each different colour or colour combination must be submitted as its own item, in conjunction with the item group ID.
• Use consistent names of colours across variants of the same product, as well as across multiple products of the same category.
• The values that you provide may be displayed to customers, so provide values that they will be able to understand.

This indicates the size of a product. For 'Clothing & Accessories' items, you can also submit the size type [size_type] and size system [size_system] attributes to provide more details about your sizing.

• Submit only one attribute per item. If you provide multiple size attributes for the same item, only the first will be applied. Additional size attributes will be discarded, and you will receive a warning.

When to include: Required for all of the products in an item group that vary by size. Required for all of the clothing items in the 'Clothing & Accessories > Clothing' and 'Clothing & Accessories > Shoes' product categories in product data that targets Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US. Recommended for all of the products for which the size is an important, distinguishing attribute.

Content API v2 (JSON): 'sizes': ['XL']

Content API v2 (XML): <size>XL</size>

Important:

• For variants, each different size or size combination must be submitted as a separate item, in conjunction with the item group ID. Learn more about submitting clothing products
• If sizes contain multiple dimensions, condense them into one value (e.g. '16/34 Tall' for neck size 16 inches, sleeve length 34 inches and 'Tall' fit).
• Use consistent size values across variants of the same product, as well as across multiple products in the same category. For example, within a group of T-shirts, use 'S', 'M' and 'L' as sizes, not 'S', 'Medium' and 'Lrg'.
• You can use the same image for size variants if specific images aren't available, but we recommend that the link [link] attribute leads to a page which specifies all the details about the variant item.
• The values that you provide may be displayed to customers, so provide values that they'll be able to understand.
• You can provide additional details about your sizing in the text string. For example, you can provide '3.5 Child' or '3.5 Toddler'.
• If your item is one size fits all or one size fits most, you can use the phrase 'one size', 'OS', 'one size fits all', 'OSFA', 'one size fits most', or 'OSFM' in this attribute.

Sample sizing values

Sizing values can be difficult to represent across different types of clothing products. You are not required to provide these exact values but it may be helpful for you to standardise the size values of your clothing products. You can also use the size type [size_type] and size system [size_system] attributes to provide more information about the sizing of your products.

Tops, Outerwear and Dresses

XXS, XS, S, M, L, XL, 1XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL, 5XL, 6XL
00, 0, 02, 04, 06, 08, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34

Bottoms

XXS, XS, S, M, L, XL, 1XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL, 5XL, 6XL
00, 0, 02, 04, 06, 08, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34
23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44
For trousers: 24x30, 24x32, 24x34

Plus, Petite, Big, Tall, Inside Leg, etc.

• When an item applies to a special size group, like Plus, Petite, Maternity or Big and Tall, use the size type [size_type] attribute.
• When an item includes an inseam, consider using this format for the size: 30 Short, 30 Regular, 30 Long

Shoes

• For US: 5, 5.5, 6, 6.5, 7, 7.5, 8, 8.5, 9, 9.5, 10, 10.5, 11, 11.5, 12, 12.5, 13, 13.5, 14, 14.5, 15, 15.5, 16.
• For Europe: 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45.

Content API v2 (XML): <age_group>adult</age_group>

Important:

• The target market for each value is defined as follows:
  • Newborn [newborn]: Up to 3 months old. Newborn sizes are often identified by the age range 0–3 months and/or the single value 'newborn' [newborn].
  • Infant [infant]: Between 3–12 months old. Infant sizes are often identified by the age range 3–12 months.
  • Toddler [toddler]: Between 1–5 years old. Toddler sizes are often identified by the age range 12–24 months or 1–5 years.
  • Children [kids]: Between 5–13 years old. All sizes within this age group have been manufactured to fit a child in that age range.
  • Adult [adult]: Typically teenagers or older. All sizes within this age group have been manufactured to fit an adult or teenager in that age range.
  • If you are submitting the attribute names in English, you must provide the attribute values in English as well.
• This attribute is recommended rather than required for the 'pinback buttons', 'tie clips', 'wristbands', 'shoe covers', 'shoe laces', 'spurs' and 'watch bands' subcategories of 'Clothing & Accessories'.
• If an item clearly isn't just for children, it should be declared as adult [adult] because only one value may be submitted per item.

If the product price is consistent across shops, use this attribute to submit this default price. Submit this price if product price is consistent across shops, or if you are implementing the about product pages with in-store availability.

Otherwise, any shop-specific prices that you include in the local products inventory data source will override this attribute value.

If you're implementing the about product pages with in-store availability feature, the pricing attributes are required and must match the price on your landing page.

When to include: Recommended for all items.

Google recommends submitting the sale price effective date [sale_price_effective_date] attribute for any items with sale prices, as this will determine when your sale price should be live. If the sale price effective date isn't submitted, the sale price will be in effect for that item for as long as it's submitted in your data source.

When to include: Recommended for items on sale.

Used in conjunction with the sale price [sale_price] attribute. This attribute indicates the dates during which the sale price is effective. Learn more about sale price definitions

Use the unit pricing measure [unit_pricing_measure] attribute to define the measure and dimension of your product. This value allows customers to understand the exact cost per unit for your product.

When to include: Optional for each product, except when regulated by local laws or regulations.

The product's base measure for pricing (for example, '100 ml' means that the price is calculated based on 100-millilitre units). If you use unit pricing measure [unit_pricing_measure], then use the unit pricing base measure to include the denominator for your unit price. To make the unit prices more comparable for all ads and free local listings on a page, yours might show a different base measure than what you provide here.

When to include: Optional, except when required by local laws or regulations.

Specify whether click and collect is available for this offer and whether the collection option should be shown as buy, reserve, deliver to shop or not supported.

• Buy [buy]: The entire transaction occurs online
• Reserve [reserve]: The item is reserved online and the transaction occurs in store
• Deliver to shop [ship_to_store]: The item is purchased online and delivered to a local shop for the customer to collect
• Not supported [not_supported]: The item is not available for click and collect

Specify the expected date that an order will be ready for collection, relative to when the order is placed.

• Same day [same_day]: Indicates that the item is available for collection the same day that the order is placed, subject to cut-off times.
• Next day [next_day]: Indicates that the item is available for collection the day following the day that the order is placed.
• 2-day [2-day]: Indicates that the item will be delivered to a shop for a customer to collect in two days.
• 3-day [3-day]: Indicates that the item will be delivered to a shop for a customer to collect in three days.
• 4-day [4-day]: Indicates that the item will be delivered to a shop for a customer to collect in four days
• 5-day [5-day]: Indicates that the item will be delivered to a shop for a customer to collect in five days.
• 6-day [6-day]: Indicates that the item will be delivered to a shop for a customer to collect in six days.
• 7-day [7-day]: Indicates that the item will be delivered to a shop for a customer to collect in seven days.
• Multi-week [multi-week]: Indicates that the item will be delivered to a shop for a customer to collect in more than one week.

When customers click your ad or designated free listing, if your account is enabled for the about product pages with in-store availability feature, they're sent to a landing page on your website for the product. Set the URL for this landing page with the link [link] attribute.

Important:

• Use your verified domain name.
• Start with http or https.
• Use an encoded URL that complies with RFC 2396 or RFC 1738. For example, a comma would be represented as '%2C'.
• Don't link to an interstitial page unless legally required.

When customers click your ad or free listing, if your account is enabled for the store-specific product pages with in-store availability and price feature, they're sent to a landing page on your website for the product. Set the URL for this landing page with the link for merchant-hosted local shop front [link_template] attribute.

Important:

• Include the shop code {store_code} ValueTrack parameter. URL structures vary across websites. Shop codes can be URL parameters or part of the URL path.
• Verify and claim your website URL and make sure that the website URL that is registered in Merchant Center matches the domain in the link template. If the website URL doesn't match the registered domain, learn how to resolve this issue.
• Include URL measurement parameters in the ads redirect [ads_redirect] attribute only.

When customers click your ad or free listing, if your account is enabled for the store-specific product pages with in-store availability and price feature, they're sent to a landing page on your website for the product.

The mobile link for merchant-hosted local shop front [mobile_link_template] attribute lets you include a URL to a mobile-optimised version of your landing page. This mobile version will be shown to customers on mobile devices, like phones or tablets.

Important:

• Include the shop code {store_code} ValueTrack parameter. URL structures vary across websites. Shop codes can be URL parameters or part of the URL path.
• Verify and claim your website URL, and make sure that the website URL registered in Merchant Center matches the domain in the link for merchant-hosted local shop front [link_template] attribute. If the website URL doesn't match the registered domain, learn how to resolve this issue.
• Include URL measurement parameters in ads redirect [ads_redirect] only.

When customers click your ad, if your account is enabled for the store-specific product pages with in-store availability and price feature, they're sent to a landing page on your website for the product.

Use ads redirect to set a URL that includes measurement parameters, which can help you better understand traffic to your landing page.

Important:

• Include the shop code {store_code} ValueTrack parameter. URL structures vary across websites. Shop codes can be URL parameters or part of the URL path.
• Verify and claim your website URL and make sure that the website URL that is registered in Merchant Center matches the domain in the link template. If the website URL doesn't match the registered domain, learn how to resolve this issue.
• When you set up this attribute, a customer who clicks on your ad will be taken to the location in the ads redirect [ads_redirect] attribute instead of the ones that you set in the link for merchant-hosted local shop front [link_template] or mobile link for merchant-hosted local shop front [mobile_link_template] attributes.