Use the item_group_id [item_group_id]
attribute to group product variants in your product data. Variants are a group of similar items that only differ from one another by product details like size [size]
, color [colour]
, material [material]
, pattern [pattern]
, age_group [age_group]
or 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 users as a group, instead of separately.
When to use
Required for enhanced free listings 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 that we understand the data that you're submitting.
Type | Unicode characters (recommended: ASCII only): alphanumerical, underscores and dashes |
---|---|
Limits | 1-50 characters |
Repeated field | No |
Schema.org property (What's this?) |
Product.inProductGroupWithID , 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, have a look at the Content API for Shopping.
Guidelines
Follow these guidelines to make sure that you submit high-quality data for your products.
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 of your Merchant Center account.
- Use the same value for
item_group_id [item_group_id]
for all variants of the same product. For example, a T-shirt comes in nine variants: three sizes (small, medium and large) and three colours (red, blue and green). Submit each variant as a separate product (e.g. nine separate products), and submit the same value ofitem_group_id [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 [item_group_id]
.- Don’t rely on casing to make
item_group_id [item_group_id]
unique. For example, we interpret theitem_group_id [item_group_id]
abc123 and ABC123 as the same product. - Don't reuse or recycle the same
item_group_id [item_group_id]
for different products.
- Don’t rely on casing to make
- Submit a variant attribute along with
item_group_id [item_group_id]
. So, when submittingitem_group_id [item_group_id]
, make sure that your variants use at least one of the variant attributes:color [colour]
,pattern [pattern]
,material [material]
,age_group [age_group]
,gender [gender]
andsize [size]
. - Use the same variant attributes for all products with the same
item_group_id [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 thecolor [colour]
attribute and thesize [size]
attribute. 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]
,color [colour]
,pattern [pattern]
,material [material]
,price [price]
,availability [availability]
andimage_link [image_link]
. Learn more about requirements for landing pages
Best practices
These best practices can help you go beyond the basic requirements to optimise your product data for performance.
- Use the parent SKU as the
item_group_id [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 foritem_group_id [item_group_id]
for all products in the variant group. - Don't mix up
item_group_id [item_group_id]
andid [id]
attributes. Use theid [id]
attribute to uniquely identify a single product, and useitem_group_id [item_group_id]
to group together several products as variants. - Don't submit
item_group_id [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 submititem_group_id [item_group_id]
. Some examples of products that are not variants include assorted items (a suit consisting of a jacket and trousers) or any other set of dissimilar items that are sold together (a set of bath accessories). - Use a stable
item_group_id [item_group_id]
for each group of product variants. Once you've assigned anitem_group_id [item_group_id]
to a product, don't change it. Ifitem_group_id [item_group_id]
changes often, it could cause inconsistency in the way that variants are grouped and shown to users. - Don't use
item_group_id [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), don't useitem_group_id [item_group_id]
to indicate your variants. Review best practices for submitting unsupported variants
Examples
General examples
Submit variant details through the variant attributes. For example: |
Product | Google logo t-shirt |
title [title] |
Google logo t-shirt – Small – Red |
id [id] |
12345-S-R |
color [colour] |
red |
size [size] |
S |
item_group_id [item_group_id] |
12345 |
Product | Google logo t-shirt |
title [title] |
Google logo t-shirt – Medium – Blue |
id [id] |
12345-M-B |
color [colour] |
blue |
size [size] |
M |
item_group_id [item_group_id] |
12345 |
Don't submit variants without variant attributes. For example, don't do this: |
Product | Google logo t-shirt |
title [title] |
Google logo t-shirt – Small – Red |
id [id] |
12345-S-R |
item_group_id [item_group_id] |
12345 |
Product | Google logo t-shirt |
title [title] |
Google logo t-shirt – Small – Blue |
id [id] |
12345-S-B |
item_group_id [item_group_id] |
12345 |
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 country of sale, and is required in order for variant attributes to be displayed accurately.
For this example, you'd submit the following six variants:
Product | Google logo t-shirt |
title [title] |
Google logo t-shirt – Small – White |
id [id] |
12345-S-W |
color [colour] |
white |
size [size] |
S |
item_group_id [item_group_id] |
12345 |
Product | Google logo t-shirt |
title [title] |
Google logo t-shirt – Small – Black |
id [id] |
12345-S-B |
color [colour] |
black |
size [size] |
S |
item_group_id [item_group_id] |
12345 |
Product | Google logo t-shirt |
title [title] |
Google logo t-shirt - Medium - White |
id [id] |
12345-M-W |
color [colour] |
white |
size [size] |
M |
item_group_id [item_group_id] |
12345 |
Product | Google logo t-shirt |
title [title] |
Google logo t-shirt – Medium – Black |
id [id] |
12345-M-B |
color [colour] |
black |
size [size] |
M |
item_group_id [item_group_id] |
12345 |
Product | Google logo t-shirt |
title [title] |
Google logo t-shirt – Large – White |
id [id] |
12345-L-W |
color [colour] |
white |
size [size] |
L |
item_group_id [item_group_id] |
12345 |
Product | Google logo t-shirt |
title [title] |
Google logo t-shirt – Large – Black |
id [id] |
12345-L-B |
color [colour] |
black |
size [size] |
L |
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 | Low-top shoes |
title [title] |
Low-top shoes – 8 narrow |
id [id] |
12460-8b-blu |
color [colour] |
blue/orange/green |
size [size] |
8B |
item_group_id [item_group_id] |
12345 |
Product | Low-top shoes |
title [title] |
Low-top shoes – 8 |
id [id] |
12460-8-blu |
color [colour] |
blue/orange/green |
size [size] |
8 |
item_group_id [item_group_id] |
12345 |
Product | Low-top shoes |
title [title] |
Low-top shoes – 8 – Wide |
id [id] |
12460-8w-blu |
color [colour] |
blue/orange/green |
size [size] |
8W |
item_group_id [item_group_id] |
12345 |
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 item_group_id [item_group_id]
.
Product | Google Nexus 6 |
title [title] |
Google Nexus 6 – 32 GB – Midnight blue – Unlocked |
id [id] |
2345-32gb-midblu |
color [colour] |
midnight blue |
item_group_id [item_group_id] |
2345 |
Product | Refurbished Google Nexus 6 |
title [title] |
Google Nexus 6 – 32 GB – Cloud white – With contract |
id [id] |
2345-32gb-cldwh |
color [colour] |
cloud white |
item_group_id [item_group_id] |
2345 |
Furniture can be submitted as variants. For example, if a couch is available in multiple fabrics, you can submit each as a variant by using the same value for item_group_id [item_group_id]
.
Product | Mid-century sofa |
title [title] |
Mid-century microfibre sofa – Dot pattern – Yellow and grey |
id [id] |
3456-dot-yllw-gry |
color [colour] |
yellow/grey |
material [material] |
suede |
item_group_id [item_group_id] |
3456 |
Product | Mid-century sofa |
title [title] |
Mid-century microfibre sofa – Leather – Green |
id [id] |
3456-lth-grn |
color [colour] |
green |
material [material] |
leather |
item_group_id [item_group_id] |
3456 |
Product | Moulded plywood lounge chair |
title [title] |
Moulded plywood lounge chair – Walnut |
id [id] |
1a2b3c-wal |
color [colour] |
walnut |
material [material] |
plywood |
item_group_id [item_group_id] |
1a2b3c |
Product | Moulded plywood lounge chair |
title [title] |
Moulded plywood lounge chair – Ash |
id [id] |
1a2b3c-ash |
color [colour] |
ash |
material [material] |
plywood |
item_group_id [item_group_id] |
1a2b3c |
Make-up products can be submitted as variants. For example, if make-up comes in multiple colours, you could submit each colour as a variant by using the same value for item_group_id [item_group_id]
.
Product | Blend liquid make-up |
title [title] |
Blend liquid make-up – Beige |
id [id] |
0987-b |
color [colour] |
beige |
item_group_id [item_group_id] |
0987 |
Product | Blend liquid make-up |
title [title] |
Blend liquid make-up – Beige medium |
id [id] |
0987-bmed |
color [colour] |
beige medium |
item_group_id [item_group_id] |
0987 |
Groceries
item_group_id
[item_group_id]. Product | Basmati rice |
title [title] |
Basmati rice – extra long grain |
id [id] |
575185159 |
item_group_id [item_group_id] |
123456 |
price [price] |
£11.20 |
unit_pricing_measure [unit_pricing_measure] |
2.25 kg |
unit_pricing_base_measure [unit_pricing_base_measure] |
0.45 kg |