Item group ID [item_group_id]

Use the item group ID [item_group_id] attribute to group product variants in your product data. Variants are a group of similar products that only differ from one another by product details like size [size], colour [color], material [material], pattern [pattern], age group [age_group] and gender [gender].

When you use an item group ID [item_group_id] to group your products, you can ensure that your product and its variants are shown to customers as a group, instead of separately.

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In this article

• When to use
• Format
• Minimum requirements
• Best practices
• Examples

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When to use

Required for free listings for product variants

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

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

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Format

Follow these formatting guidelines to make sure that Google understands the data that you're submitting.

Learn when and how to submit your product data in English

Type	Unicode characters (recommended: ASCII only): alphanumerical, underscores and dashes
Limits	1–50 characters
Repeated field	No
Schema.org property (What is this?)	Product.inProductGroupWithID, Type: Text ProductGroup.productGroupId, Type: Text

 

File format	Example value
Text feeds	AB12345
XML feeds	<g:item_group_id>AB12345</g:item_group_id>

To format your data for Content API, see the Content API for Shopping resource.

Note: To ensure that this product data attribute is recognised by our system correctly, remember to submit your data feed file in a format that we support.

Minimum requirements

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

• Submit a unique ID for each different product. Use the same value for the item group ID [item_group_id] attribute for all variants of the same product. For example, a T-shirt comes in nine variants: three sizes (small, medium, large) and three colours (red, blue, green). Submit each variant as a separate product (for a total of nine separate products) and submit the same value for the item group ID attribute for each to indicate that these are variants of the same product.
• Each distinct item group must have a unique value for the item group ID [item_group_id] attribute.
  • Don't rely on casing to make the item group ID unique. The values 'abc123' and 'ABC123' are interpreted as the same product.
  • Don't reuse or recycle the same item group ID attribute for different products.

• Submit a variant attribute along with the item group ID attribute. When you submit an item group ID, make sure that your variants use at least one variant attribute like: colour [color], pattern [pattern], material [material], age group [age_group], gender [gender] or size[size].

• Use the same variant attributes for all products with the same item group ID. For example, if you submit a dress in two colours and two sizes, each product that you submit must provide a value for the colour [color] and size [size] attributes. Don't just provide the colour or size for one dress, but not the others.

• Make sure that the product details displayed on your landing page match the values that you provide for each attribute like title [title], colour [color], pattern [pattern], material [material], price [price], availability [availability] and image link [image_link]. Learn more about requirements for landing pages

Best practices

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

• Use the parent SKU as the item group ID value 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 the item group ID [item_group_id] attribute 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 [item_group_id] to group together several products as variants.

• Don't submit a value for the item group ID attribute if your product is not a variant. If your product is similar to other products, but not specifically a variant, don't submit the item group ID attribute. Some examples of products that are not variants include a suit consisting of a jacket and trousers or a set of bath accessories.

• Use a stable item group ID value for each group of product variants. Once you've assigned an item group ID to a product, don't change it. If the item group ID changes often, it could cause inconsistency in the way variants are grouped and shown to customers.
• Don't use the item group ID attribute 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 the item group ID attribute to indicate your variants. Review best practices for submitting unsupported variants
• Make sure that you have different landing page URL attributes (for example, link [link], mobile link [mobile_link]) for each variant, with each URL using a different path segment and/or query parameters, for example '/t-shirt/green' or '/t-shirt?color=green&size=small'
• For instructions on how best to structure your website and URLs for variants, refer to the URL structure article on Search Central.
• For details on how to add Schema.org structured data for variants, refer to the Product variant article on Search Central.

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Examples

General examples

Submit variant details through the variant attributes. For example:

Product data for red Google logo T-shirt, size small Attribute Value Title [title] Google logo T-shirt - small - red ID [id] 12345-S-R Colour [color] Red Size [size] Small Link [link] https://example.com/shirt?color=red&size=small Item group ID [item_group_id] 12345

Product data for blue Google logo T-shirt, size medium
Attribute	Value
Title [title]	Google logo T-shirt - medium - blue
ID [id]	12345-M-B
Colour [color]	Blue
Size [size]	Medium
Link [link]	https://example.com/shirt?color=blue&size=medium
Item group ID [item_group_id]	12345

Don't submit variants without variant attributes.

Clothing products

Clothing products typically come in variants. Use the same item group ID [item_group_id] for each variant. Here's an example that comes in two colours, each in three sizes.

Note: The gender [gender] attribute may be mandatory depending on the target country and is required in order for variant attributes to be displayed accurately.

For this example, you would submit the following six variants:

Product data for white Google logo T-shirt, size small
Attribute	Value
Title [title]	Google logo T-shirt - small - white
ID [id]	12345-S-W
Colour [color]	White
Size [size]	Small
Link [link]	https://example.com/shirt?color=white&size=small
Item group ID [item_group_id]	12345

Product data for black Google logo T-shirt, size small Attribute Value Title [title] Google logo T-shirt - small - black ID [id] 12345-S-B Colour [color] Black Size [size] Small Link [link] https://example.com/shirt?color=black&size=small Item group ID [item_group_id] 12345

Product data for white Google logo T-shirt, size medium Attribute Value Title [title] Google logo T-shirt - medium - white ID [id] 12345-M-W Colour [color] White Size [size] Medium Link [link] https://example.com/shirt?color=white&size=medium Item group ID [item_group_id] 12345

 

Product data for black Google logo T-shirt, size medium
Attribute	Value
Title [title]	Google logo T-shirt - medium - black
ID [id]	12345-M-B
Colour [color]	Black
Size [size]	Medium
Link [link]	https://example.com/shirt?color=black&size=medium
Item group ID [item_group_id]	12345

 

Product data for white Google logo T-shirt, size large
Attribute	Value
Title [title]	Google logo T-shirt - large - white
ID [id]	12345-L-W
Colour [color]	White
Size [size]	Large
Link [link]	https://example.com/shirt?color=white&size=large
Item group ID [item_group_id]	12345

 

Product data for black Google logo T-shirt, size large
Attribute	Value
Title [title]	Google logo T-shirt - large - black
ID [id]	12345-L-B
Colour [color]	Black
Size [size]	Large
Link [link]	https://example.com/shirt?color=white&size=large
Item group ID [item_group_id]	12345

Shoes

Submit shoes in the same way as other clothing products. Group variants of the same product by adding the same item group ID [item_group_id] to each variant.

 

Product data for blue, orange and green low-top shoes, size 8 narrow
Attribute	Value
Title [title]	Low-top shoes - 8 narrow
ID [id]	12460-8b-blu
Colour [color]	Blue/orange/green
Size [size]	8B
Link [link]	https://example.com/shoes?color=bog&size=8B
Item group ID [item_group_id]	12345

Product data for blue, orange and green low-top shoes, size 8
Attribute	Value
Title [title]	Low-top shoes - 8
ID [id]	12460-8-blu
Colour [color]	Blue/orange/green
Size [size]	8
Link [link]	https://example.com/shoes?color=bog&size=8
Item group ID [item_group_id]	12345

 

Product data for low-top shoes blue/orange/green, 8 wide
Attribute	Value
Title [title]	Low-top shoes - 8 - wide
ID [id]	12460-8w-blu
Colour [color]	Blue/orange/green
Size [size]	8W
Link [link]	https://example.com/shoes?color=bog&size=8W
Item group ID [item_group_id]	12345

Electronics

Electronics can be submitted as variants. For example, if a phone is available in multiple colours, you can submit each as a variant by using the same value for the item group ID [item_group_id] attribute.

Product data for a blue Google Nexus 6, 32 GB, unlocked   Attribute   Value Title [title] Google Nexus 6 - 32 GB - Midnight Blue - unlocked ID [id] 2345-32gb-midblu Colour [color] Midnight Blue Link [link] https://example.com/phone?color=mb Item group ID [item_group_id] 2345

 

Product data for a white Google Nexus 6, 32 GB
Attribute	Value
Title [title]	Google Nexus 6 - 32 GB - Cloud White - with contract
ID [id]	2345-32gb-cldwh
Colour [color]	Cloud White
Link [link]	https://example.com/phone?color=cw
Item group ID [item_group_id]	2345

Furniture

Furniture can be submitted as variants. For example, if a sofa is available in multiple fabrics, you can submit each as a variant by using the same value for the item group ID [item_group_id].

 

Product data for mid-century microfibre sofa, yellow and grey dot pattern
Attribute	Value
Title [title]	Mid-century microfibre sofa - dot pattern - yellow and grey
ID [id]	3456-dot-yllw-gry
Colour [color]	Yellow/grey
Material [material]	Suede
Link [link]	https://example.com/sofa/yellowgray?material=suede
Item group ID [item_group_id]	3456

 

Product data for mid-century microfibre sofa, green leather
Attribute	Value
Title [title]	Mid-century microfibre sofa - leather - green
ID [id]	3456-lth-grn
Colour [color]	Green
Material [material]	Leather
Link [link]	https://example.com/sofa/green?material=leather
Item group ID [item_group_id]	3456

 

Product data for a walnut-coloured plywood lounge chair
Attribute	Value
Title [title]	Moulded plywood lounge chair - walnut
ID [id]	1a2b3c-wal
Colour [color]	Walnut
Material [material]	Plywood
Link [link]	https://example.com/chair?color=walnut&material=plywood
Item group ID [item_group_id]	1a2b3c

 

Product data for an ash-coloured plywood lounge chair
Attribute	Value
Title [title]	Moulded plywood lounge chair - ash
ID [id]	1a2b3c-ash
Colour [color]	Ash
Material [material]	Plywood
Link [link]	https://example.com/chair?color=ash&material=plywood
Item group ID [item_group_id]	1a2b3c

Makeup

Makeup products can be submitted as variants. For example, if makeup comes in multiple colours, you could submit each colour as a variant by using the same value for the item group ID [item_group_id] attribute.

Product data for beige liquid makeup
Attribute	Value
Title [title]	Blend liquid makeup - beige
ID [id]	0987-b
Colour [color]	Beige
Link [link]	https://example.com/makeup/beige
Item group ID [item_group_id]	0987

 

Product data for liquid makeup, beige-medium
Attribute	Value
Title [title]	Blend liquid makeup - beige medium
ID [id]	0987-bmed
Colour [color]	Beige medium
Link [link]	https://example.com/makeup/beige-medium
Item group ID [item_group_id]	0987