Guide
Google Merchant Center product feed: the basics and the common disapprovals
A Merchant Center product feed is the list of your products, one line per item with set attributes (id, title, description, link, image link, availability, price and, depending on the product, brand, GTIN or MPN), that Google uses to show your products in Shopping ads and free listings. Most disapprovals come from a gap between the feed and the product page, above all a price or availability that does not match.
Why the feed matters more than keywords
Shopping ads do not work from keywords. Google Ads Help explains that they use your existing Merchant Center product data to decide when and where to show your ads, and that they display a product photo, title, price, store name and more. In other words, your feed is your ad: if a title is vague, a photo is poor or a price is wrong, there is no ad text to compensate.
The same product data can also feed Performance Max: with a linked Merchant Center account, Performance Max can use your data source to generate Shopping ads.
The attributes every product needs
Google's product data specification lists the attributes below. Limits are Google's own; check the specification before building a feed, as it changes.
| Attribute | What Google asks for |
|---|---|
| id | Unique per product, max 50 characters; use your SKU where possible |
| title | Max 150 characters; describes the product as on the landing page; no promotional text or all caps; include colour or size for variants |
| description | Max 5,000 characters; matches the landing page; no links or promotional text |
| link | The product page, starting with http or https, on your verified domain |
| image_link | The main photo; no promotional text, watermarks, borders or placeholders. Google has announced a minimum of 500 × 500 px for all product images, enforced from 31 January 2027 |
| availability | in_stock, out_of_stock, preorder or backorder, matching the landing page and checkout |
| price | A number followed by the ISO 4217 currency code (EUR, USD…); in the US and Canada without tax, elsewhere including VAT or GST |
| brand | Required for all new products except movies, books and musical recordings; max 70 characters |
| gtin / mpn | GTIN strongly recommended when the product has one; MPN required only if the product has no manufacturer-assigned GTIN |
| condition | Required if the product is used or refurbished (new, refurbished, used) |
The landing page has to tell the same story
Merchant Center checks your product pages, not just your file. Google's landing page requirements include:
- The page is live, not under construction or showing an error, and on the domain registered in your Merchant Center account.
- It shows the key elements of the product: title, description, image, price, currency, availability and a buy button.
- The price is clearly shown and matches your product data.
- Pop-ups or banners do not cover important information.
- The product on the page is essentially identical to the product in your data.
Common disapprovals and how to fix them
Google's price troubleshooter also asks you to check the structured data (microdata) on your product page, the regional prices if you use them, and your tax settings, and notes that you should look again 48 hours or more after uploading a feed.
| Issue | Usual cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Mismatched value (page crawl) [price] | The feed price differs from the page, often after a sale or a price change | Update the feed right after any price change on the site; check the sale price too |
| Inaccurate prices (account level) | Repeated inconsistencies between feed and landing pages | Fix item-level mismatches first, then review how often the feed is refreshed |
| Availability mismatch | Out of stock on the site, in stock in the feed | Sync stock and feed; keep the price visible on out-of-stock pages |
| Generic or placeholder image | A “no image” picture or a logo instead of the product | Use a real photo of the product, without text or watermark |
| Missing GTIN, brand or MPN | Identifiers not filled in | Add the manufacturer's GTIN; if none exists, give brand and MPN |
Automatic item updates: a safety net, not a strategy
Merchant Center can update price, sale price, availability and condition from your landing page automatically; Google says these automations should already be on in your account. Google is just as clear that they are not a replacement for regular updates of your product data: they are designed to fix sporadic problems for a small share of your products. If Google's extractors cannot determine price, availability or condition, products can be disapproved, which is why product structured data on the page is worth having.
How we build feeds at Takat
We build the feed so that the product pages and the feed come from the same product data, and we prepare product photos from supplier images by cutting them out on a plain background with square framing, never with AI-generated product images. We have had a 16-country feed of 345 products approved for a shop client. Shopping campaigns then follow our usual rules: created paused, live only with the client's OK, a daily budget cap and a stop-or-scale rule read at day 14. See Google Shopping.
Questions we get
Do I need a GTIN for every product?
Not always. Google strongly recommends a GTIN when the product has one. If the product has no manufacturer-assigned GTIN, the MPN becomes required, and brand is required for all new products except movies, books and musical recordings.
Should prices in my feed include VAT?
Outside the US and Canada, yes: Google asks for prices including VAT or GST. In the US and Canada, prices are submitted without tax.
Why was my product disapproved for price when the price is right?
Often because the page and the feed were updated at different times, because a sale price differs, or because the structured data on the page shows another price. Google suggests rechecking 48 hours or more after a feed upload.
Can I just rely on automatic item updates?
No. Google says automations fix sporadic problems for a small share of products and are not a replacement for keeping your product data up to date.
Sources
- Merchant Center Help: Product data specification (checked 2026-10-06)
- Merchant Center Help: About landing page requirements (checked 2026-10-06)
- Merchant Center Help: Price issues troubleshooter (checked 2026-10-06)
- Merchant Center Help: Allow Merchant Center to update product information automatically (checked 2026-10-06)