item_group_id: Definition

When to use

Required for enhanced listings on surfaces across Google for product variants

Required for Shopping ads for product variants targeting the following countries:

• Brazil
• France
• Germany
• Japan
• United Kingdom
• United States

Format

Follow these formatting guidelines to make sure we understand the data you're submitting. 

Guidelines

Follow these guidelines to make sure you submit high-quality data for your products.

Minimum requirements

These are the requirements you'll need to meet to show your product on Google. If you don't follow these requirements, we'll disapprove your product and let you know in the Diagnostics page of your Merchant Center account.

• Use the same value of item_group_id for all variants of the same product. For example, a T-shirt comes in 9 variants: 3 sizes (small, medium, and large) and 3 colors (red, blue, and green). Submit each variant as a separate product (e.g., 9 separate products), and submit the same value of item_group_id for each product to indicate that these are variants.
• Each distinct item group must have a unique value for item_group_id.
  • Don’t rely on casing to make item_group_id unique. For example, we interpret the item_group_id  abc123 and ABC123 as the same product.
  • Don’t reuse or recycle the same item_group_id for different products. 
• Submit a variant attribute along with item_group_id. So when submitting item_group_id, make sure that your variants use at least one of the variant attributes: color, pattern, material, age_group, gender, size, size_type, size_system, and unit_pricing_measure.
• Use the same variant attributes for all products with the same item_group_id. For example, if you submit a dress in 2 colors and 2 sizes, each product you submit must provide a value for the color attribute and the size attribute. Don't just provide the color or size for one dress, but not the others.
• Make sure that the product details displayed on your landing page match the values you provide for each attribute like title, color, pattern, material, price, availability, and image_link. Learn more about requirements for Shopping ads landing pages

Best practices

These are best practices that can help you go beyond the basic requirements to optimize your product data for performance. 

• Use the parent SKU as the item_group_id for all variants of the same product. Don't submit a parent SKU as a separate product. If you'd like to group variants using a parent SKU, use the parent SKU as the value for item_group_id for all products in the variant group.
• Don’t mix up item_group_id and id attributes. Use the id attribute to uniquely identify a single product, and use item_group_id to group together several products as variants. 
• Don’t submit item_group_id if your product is not a variant. If your product is similar to other products, but not specifically a variant, don’t submit item_group_id. Some examples of products that are not variants include assorted items (a suit consisting of a jacket and pants) or any other set of dissimilar items that are sold together (a set of bath accessories). 
• Use a stable item_group_id for each group of product variants. Once you've assigned an item_group_id to a product, don't change it. If item_group_id changes often, it could cause inconsistency in they way variants are grouped and shown to users.
• Don’t use item_group_id for unsupported variants. If your product varies by an unsupported attribute (such as car make and model), or if your product is a build-to-order custom good with a large number of variants (more than 30), then don't use item_group_id to indicate your variants. Review best practices for unsupported variants

Examples