Google product category [google_product_category]

All products are automatically assigned a product category from Google’s continuously evolving product taxonomy. Providing high-quality, on-topic titles and descriptions, as well as accurate pricing, brand, and GTIN information will help ensure your products are correctly categorized.

The Google product category [google_product_category] attribute can be used to override Google’s automatic categorization in specific cases.

In this article

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

When to use

Optional for each product

Google will only accept a product category override in the following cases:

1. Calculation of US taxes. For products sold in the US, you can override Google’s automatic categorization to ensure that the correct US tax rate is applied to your product.
2. Enforcement of category-specific attribute requirements. Some product categories (such as Apparel & Accessories, Mobile Phones, or Software) impose additional required fields. If Google incorrectly assigns your product to one of these categories, use this attribute to override the categorization and remove the category-specific requirements.
3. Targeting of Google Ads campaigns. If you’ve defined any of your ad campaigns based upon Google’s product categories, you can use this attribute to reassign products within your campaign structure.
4. Alcohol. Alcoholic beverages must be correctly categorized. If the category of your product is incorrectly assigned, you can use the Google product category [google_product_category] attribute to override it and ensure that your product remains compliant. Learn more about our Alcoholic beverages policy.

Format

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

Learn how to Submit attributes and attribute values.

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

Minimum requirements

These are the requirements 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 in your Merchant Center account.

• Use only a predefined Google product category. You can choose to submit either the ID or the full path of the product category, but not both. If no category matches the product, or if you want to submit your own product category, use the product type [product_type] attribute instead
• If the taxonomy of product codes is not available in your language, use the English values or numeric ID.

Best practices

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

• Use the one category that best describes your product. Choose the category based on your product’s main function. For example, even though an MP3 player might have other functions, like a clock, its main function is as an MP3 player. So you would use the MP3 player category: Electronics > Audio > Audio Players & Recorders > MP3 Players (ID: 233)
• Use the most specific category possible. For example, an MP3 player charger, use the MP3 player accessories category: Electronics > Audio > Audio Accessories > MP3 Player Accessories (ID: 232). Don’t just use: Electronics (ID: 222)
• Use the latest categories. In Google Ads, bidding on Shopping campaigns is based on the latest categories. While you can submit any version of the categories published after August 2011, we'll translate these to the latest version. So if you use out-of-date categories, what you submit might not match what you see.

Additional guidelines

Review each section closely to determine if the requirements apply to your country or product. If you don't follow requirements that apply to you, we'll disapprove your product and let you know in your Merchant Center account.

Examples