Use this guide to format your product information for Comparison Shopping Service Center (CSS Center). Google uses this data to match search queries to results. Sharing your product data in the correct format is important for showing your product pages organically.
In this article
Requirements
In addition to the following product data specification, the data you submit must also meet the following requirements:
- CSS program policies
- CSS product page requirements
- Language and currency requirements
- Formatting requirement
Definitions
- Product: The actual product that potential customers search for on Google.
- Variant: A specific version of a product that comes in different variations. For example, a shirt that comes in different sizes may have small, medium, and large size variants.
- Offer: The price and condition offered by a particular merchant for the product on the CSS product page.
- Headline offer: The offer that is shown prominently on your CSS product page. Its price is used to represent your product page on Google.
Required: Submit this attribute. If you don't, your product page won't be shown organically.
Optional: You can submit this attribute if you want to help boost your product's performance.
Attributes
The CSS product data specification includes 2 types of attributes:
- Attributes that capture information about CSS product pages
- Attributes that capture required product information
- Note: These are the same attributes that are used to capture product information in Merchant Center.
The product data you submit using these attributes is the foundation for showing your product pages on Google. If there’s any issues, Google will let you know in CSS Center.
CSS product page attributes
The information you submit using these attributes differentiates your CSS from your competitors’ CSSs. Make sure everything you submit is of the quality that you would show to a customer.
| Attribute and format | Minimum requirements at a glance |
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A link to your CSS product page (CPP).
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CPP mobile link CSS product page link (CPP link) that is optimized for mobile.
Example
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Number of offers The number of offers for a product displayed on your product page.
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The lowest price for a product offered for immediate purchase by one of the merchants on the product page.
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The highest price for a product offered for immediate purchase by one of the merchants on the product page.
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Headline offer link The landing page of your headline offer. Google uses the link to run data quality checks.
Example
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Headline offer mobile link A link to the mobile-optimized landing page of your headline offer, when available. Google uses the link to run data quality checks.
Example
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Headline offer price The product price of the headline offer. This price is used to represent your product page on Google.
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Headline offer condition The condition of the product sold on the landing page of the headline offer.
Example
Supported values
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Headline_offer_installment Use the headline_offer_installment
Example Syntax
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Headline_offer_subscription_cost Use the headline_offer_subscription_cost
Example
Supported values
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Product data attributes
You also need to submit the following Merchant Center product data attributes in order to show your CSS product pages organically:
Additional image link [additional_image_link]
Google product category [google_product_category]
Expiration date [expiration_date]
Product length [product_length]
Product height [product_height]
Product weight [product_weight]
Product detail [product_detail]
Product highlight [product_highlight]
Learn more about Merchant Center Product data specification.
CSS Product Listing Ad format
CSS product listing ads show a carousel of products on Google general search results. The following data feed attributes allow you to format the product information you upload to Comparison Shopping Service Center (CSS Center). Providing required attributes is important to ensure that your products show up in ads.
| Attribute and format | Minimum requirements at a glance |
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Headline offer shipping price The shipping price of the headline offer.
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Use this attribute to outline the highest shipping cost associated with the headline offer to deliver in the target country. The format of the attribute is similar to the headline offer price This field is required if the shipping cost of the offer is more than zero. |
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A URL used to specify additional parameters and tracking for your product page. Customers will be sent to this URL rather than the value that you submit for the link
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Optional attribute that can be used to specify tracking URLs and parameters. |
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Custom label 0-4 A label that you can assign to a product to help organize bidding and reporting.
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Use a value that you'll recognize in your campaign and manage effectively. The value won't be shown to customers who see your ads and free listings. |
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A setting you can use to pause and quickly reactivate a product for ads. A product can be paused for up to 14 days. If a product is paused for more than 14 days it will be disapproved. To re-approve, remove the attribute. |
Submit the attribute with a supported value for ads destinations. You should only pause a product for 14 days or less. |