Product Feed Checker for Google Shopping

What the checker looks at

15 scored checks, 7 extra signals

The scored checks are the problems that most often keep products out of Shopping or limit their reach. The heaviest ones come first.

• Products without an image link

  Critical · up to 25 points

  Google does not show a Shopping ad without a product image. These products are disapproved until an image is added.

• Products with an id that is already used

  Critical · up to 20 points

  Every product needs its own id. When two rows share one, Merchant Center keeps one and ignores or rejects the other.

• Products with a price that cannot be read or is zero

  Critical · up to 20 points

  Google needs a valid price above zero with a currency. Without it the product cannot run in Shopping.

• Products without a valid GTIN

  Critical · up to 18 points

  For branded products Google expects the barcode number (GTIN). A missing or wrong GTIN limits reach or gets the product disapproved.

• Products with a missing or unknown availability

  Critical · up to 14 points

  Availability tells Google whether it may show the product. An empty or unknown value gets the product disapproved.

• Products without a description

  Critical · up to 12 points

  A description is required. Products without one are disapproved, and Google has less text to match searches against.

• Products with no usable product identifiers

  Warning · up to 10 points

  Without a valid GTIN, and without both brand and MPN, Google cannot tell which product this is. That usually means limited or no visibility.

• Products without a brand

  Warning · up to 8 points

  Brand is required for most products with a known manufacturer and helps Google match the product to searches.

• Products with a title over 150 characters

  Warning · up to 6 points

  Google cuts titles at 150 characters, and only the first part shows in the ad. Long titles waste the space that matters most.

• Products with promotional text or heavy capitals in the title

  Warning · up to 6 points

  Prices, discounts and words like 'sale' or 'free shipping' in titles break Google's editorial rules, and so do titles in capitals.

• Products with an image link on http instead of https

  Warning · up to 6 points

  Images on plain http can be blocked or fail to load when Google crawls them.

• Products that look like variants but have no item group id

  Warning · up to 5 points

  Several ids share the same product page, which usually means they are variants (size, color). Without item_group_id Google treats them as separate, competing products.

• Products with a different currency than the rest of the feed

  Warning · up to 5 points

  A feed normally targets one country and one currency. A price in another currency often points to a mapping or conversion mistake.

• Products with a product link on http instead of https

  Warning · up to 4 points

  Google prefers secure landing pages. Plain http links can be redirected, blocked or flagged when crawled.

• Products with a very short description (under 50 characters)

  Warning · up to 4 points

  A one-line description gives Google little to match searches against and tells the shopper almost nothing.

Good to know, not scored

• Clothing products missing color, size, gender or age group. For clothing and shoes Google requires color, size, gender and age group in most countries. Missing them can get products disapproved.
• Products that mention used or refurbished but are marked new. The title suggests a used or refurbished product, while condition says new or is empty. Google checks this and can disapprove the product.
• Products using 'in stock' or 'out of stock' with a space. Google still accepts the spaced form, but the documented values use an underscore. Using the standard form avoids surprises later.
• Products without a Google product category. Google assigns a category itself when you leave it empty, and sometimes picks the wrong one. That affects taxes, rules and reporting.
• Products with a Google product category we do not recognize. The category is not a numeric id and does not start with one of Google's English top-level categories. It may be a store category or a translated path.
• Products marked as having no identifiers. identifier_exists is set to false. That is right for custom or own-made products, but wrong for branded products that do have a barcode.
• Products marked out of stock. These products are in the feed but will not get Shopping traffic until they are back in stock.