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This help center shows articles applicable to Merchant Center Next. Learn more about the upgrade and get answers to frequently asked questions.

Submit attributes and attribute values

Submitting your product data to Google in the correct format is important for ads and free listings to be successful. Google uses this data to create your ads and listings and to make sure that they’re matched to the right queries. You can find a full list of available attributes in the product data specification.

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There are several methods of uploading your product data, including through a spreadsheet, feeds, and the Content API. For each of these, and for every product you’d like to feature, you’ll need to add values for the required and applicable attributes.

Submitting attributes and sub-attributes

For each product attribute and for sub-attributes of that attribute, you may notice there’s a descriptive name and a technical name. The technical name always appears in brackets and may include underscores such as in, [subscription_cost].

In English, the descriptive and technical names are often identical, aside from the formatting. In all other languages, however, the descriptive name is provided in the local language, while the technical name is always provided in English.

For some sub-attributes, you’ll need to submit the name of the attribute and the name of the sub-attribute, as well as the value for the sub-attribute. For example, if you’re adding the shipping [shipping]attribute, you’ll first need to submit the technical name of the attribute (shipping) and then, in parentheses, add the technical names of the sub-attribute(s) that you want to submit separated by a colon ( : ).

It would look something like this: shipping(country:postal_code:price).

You would then submit a sequence of attribute values, following the specific formatting requirements for each sub-attribute, such as: US:80302:6.49 USD.

You’re required to provide product data attributes and sub-attributes in English, using their technical names, regardless of your target country, the language of your feed, or the language you selected for your Merchant Center account.

Note: For certain attributes, we previously accepted translated attribute names for a limited set of languages. This isn’t the case for new attributes, and there’s no guarantee that these attribute names will continue to be supported in non-English languages, so we recommend you submit all attribute names in English.


Submitting attribute values

There are different formatting rules for the values you submit for each attribute, including type, limits, and supported file formats. You can find these specifications in the individual articles for each attribute. Some attributes, such as the description [description] attribute, allow for any string in any language. Others, such as the condition [condition] attribute, require that you choose from a set of predefined supported values, which must be submitted in English. For the condition [condition] attribute, those values are new, refurbished, and used.

When an attribute requires supported values, such as the condition [condition] attribute, those values must be submitted in English, regardless of your target country, the language of your feed, or the language you selected for your Merchant Center account.


Submitting Google product categories

The Google product category [google_product_category] attribute is an optional attribute that defines a product’s classification in Google’s taxonomy of products. All products are automatically assigned a product category when they’re added to Merchant Center, but you can use this attribute to override Google’s automatic categorization for certain products. If your product belongs to a Google product category that allows exceptions to particular guidelines, you’ll also want to ensure it’s correct.

In order to use this attribute, you must provide either the numeric ID, or the full path of the product category, as defined in the Google taxonomy. You shouldn’t provide both the path and the ID. Google product codes are available in many, but not all, languages.

If the taxonomy of product codes isn’t available in your language, you should use the English values or numeric ID.

You can download a list of the Google product categories in one of 2 ways:


Examples

Attribute

Attribute Submit attribute as
ID [id] id
Age group [age_group] age_group

Attribute with supported values

Attribute Example value for the attribute
Condition [condition] new
Availability [availability] in_stock

Attribute with free-form text

Attribute Example value for the attribute
ID [id] _pixel_phone_silver_32gb_12month_contract
Title [title] Google Pixel 5” 32 GB Very Silver (with contract)

Sub-attribute

Attribute / sub-attribute Submit sub-attribute as
Shipping [shipping]  
  • Country [country]
country
  • Postal code [postal_code]
postal_code
  • Price [price]
price
  • Minimum handling time [min_handling_time]
min_handling_time
  • Minimum transit time [min_transit_time]
min_transit_time

Sub-attribute with supported values and free-form values

Attribute / sub-attribute Example value for the sub-attribute
Subscription cost [subscription_cost]  
  • Period [period]
month
  • Period length [period_length]
12
  • Amount [amount]
50 EUR

Google product category

You can submit either the numeric ID or the full path of the product category. Don't submit both. If the taxonomy of product codes isn’t available in your language, you should use the English values or numeric ID.

If listing the full product path:

Attribute Example value for the attribute
ID [id] bird_feed_wild_15lb
Title [title] Farmer's Delight Wild Bird Feed
Google product category [google_product_category] Animals & Pet Supplies > Pet Supplies > Bird Supplies > Bird Food

If listing the numeric ID:

Attribute Example value for the attribute
ID [id] bird_feed_wild_15lb
Title [title] Farmer's Delight Wild Bird Feed
Google product category [google_product_category] 4990

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