Google Merchant Change Feed Specifications Yet Again
Google is on a roll with Google Merchant changes. This is the 3rd month in a row we've had to warn users of upcoming deadlines to meet with the threat of being dropped from Google's Product Search. So what are Google's new guidelines for products to be included in their product search this month?
- Availability Status – Google wants items to be shown for customers even when they aren't in stock. So items need to have their own status.
- Product Category – products will need to have accurate product attributes with subcategories.
- Data Freshness - Google has stated they will be constantly refreshing information for items in product search and webmasters need to keep the information up to date or Google will take action.
- Images – all products will need to have images, and Google recommends having up to 10 additional images for each product.
- Apparel – all items in the apparel category need to have age, gender, size and color options included.
Google has stated that they will be enforcing these rules after September 22, 2011 for feeds that target the US, UK, Germany, Japan and France.
Any accounts that do not follow the guidelines will be penalized, meaning feeds will be pulled until the problems are fixed. To make sure your feed is up to standard, Google Merchant Center will also have a section that will evaluate your feed for you. For more assistance you can checkout their help forum on feed specifications here.
If you're new to Google Merchant or have a retail Web site and haven't started with Google Merchant then put this article at the very top of your to-do list,
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