Oct 6, 2026

Google Merchant Center Product Feed Requirements (Infographic)

What Google Merchant Center needs in a product feed: the seven required attributes, when brand, GTIN, MPN and condition are required, and the character limits.

Download the image Read the walkthrough

Embed this infographic

Every infographic here is free to republish, on any site, with a link back to the study it comes from. Paste this code and the credit is done for you.

<a href="https://searchinsider.io/infographics/merchant-center-product-data"><img src="https://searchinsider.io/research/merchant-center-product-data/merchant-center-product-data-infographic.png" alt="Merchant Center product data infographic: a table of the seven required attributes (id, title, description, link, image link, availability, price) with limits, four conditionally required attributes (brand, GTIN, MPN, condition), an example feed row, and three steps on what to do." style="max-width:680px;width:100%;height:auto;" /></a><p>Source: <a href="https://searchinsider.io/infographics/merchant-center-product-data">Merchant Center product data infographic</a> by Search Insider.</p>

What does Google Merchant Center need in a product feed?

The short answer: Every product needs seven attributes: id, title, description, link, image link, availability and price. Brand, GTIN or MPN, and condition are required in some cases. Titles and images do the heavy lifting, because Shopping uses your data instead of keywords.

Based on Google Merchant Center Help.

What it shows

Required for all products: id, title, description, link, image link, availability and price.
Limits: id 50 characters, title 150 characters, description 5,000 characters.
Availability must be in_stock, out_of_stock, preorder or backorder.
Brand is required for new products except movies, books and musical recordings.
Use GTIN when one exists; MPN is required only when there's no GTIN.
From January 31, 2027, product images must be at least 500 x 500 pixels.

What to do

Titles: Lead with brand, product and key detail.
Identifiers: Use the GTIN whenever one exists.
Accuracy: Match price and availability to the page.

The walkthrough

Which product attributes are required in Merchant Center?

Every product needs id, title (or structured title), description (or structured description), link, image link, availability and price ^[1].

What are the character limits?

The id can be up to 50 characters, the title up to 150 and the description up to 5,000 ^[1].

How should price and availability be formatted?

Price is a number with an ISO 4217 currency code, such as 15.00 USD ^[1]. Availability must be in_stock, out_of_stock, preorder or backorder ^[1].

When are brand, GTIN, MPN and condition required?

Brand is required for new products except movies, books and musical recordings ^[1]. GTIN is required when the manufacturer assigned one, MPN only when there's no GTIN, and condition only for used or refurbished items ^[1].

What image size does Merchant Center need?

Google is introducing a minimum of 500 x 500 pixels for the main product image, enforced from January 31, 2027 ^[1].

Sources

Product data specification, Google Merchant Center Help

More digital marketing infographics

404 errors infographic: a 404 banner with Google's view that 404s are normal, which status to return in four cases, three facts on how Google treats 4xx and soft 404s, a checklist for a good custom 404 page, and three steps on what to do.

SEO · Oct 6, 2026

Do 404 errors hurt your SEO?

Do 404 errors hurt SEO? How Google treats 404s, why soft 404s are the real problem, which status code to return, and how to build a good custom 404 page.

Download See the details

Embed code

<a href="https://searchinsider.io/infographics/404-errors"><img src="https://searchinsider.io/research/404-errors/404-errors-infographic.png" alt="404 errors infographic: a 404 banner with Google's view that 404s are normal, which status to return in four cases, three facts on how Google treats 4xx and soft 404s, a checklist for a good custom 404 page, and three steps on what to do." style="max-width:680px;width:100%;height:auto;" /></a><p>Source: <a href="https://searchinsider.io/infographics/404-errors">404 errors infographic</a> by Search Insider.</p>

AI-generated content infographic: a quality not method banner, a split of fine uses versus uses against Google's rules, a pre-publish checklist (accuracy, metadata, who, how, why), a Merchant Center note on labeling AI images and product data, and three steps on what to do.

AI search · Oct 6, 2026

Does Google penalize AI-generated content?

Google's stance on AI-generated content: quality over production method, what breaks the scaled content abuse policy, and a checklist before publishing AI-assisted content.

Download See the details

Embed code

<a href="https://searchinsider.io/infographics/ai-generated-content"><img src="https://searchinsider.io/research/ai-generated-content/ai-generated-content-infographic.png" alt="AI-generated content infographic: a quality not method banner, a split of fine uses versus uses against Google's rules, a pre-publish checklist (accuracy, metadata, who, how, why), a Merchant Center note on labeling AI images and product data, and three steps on what to do." style="max-width:680px;width:100%;height:auto;" /></a><p>Source: <a href="https://searchinsider.io/infographics/ai-generated-content">AI-generated content infographic</a> by Search Insider.</p>

Anchor text infographic: an example link with the anchor text underlined, four vague or stuffed anchors swapped for descriptive ones, four rules on image links, internal links, length and keyword stuffing, a note on Google's link spam examples, and three steps on what to do.

SEO · Oct 6, 2026

What is anchor text, and what should it say?

What anchor text is, what Google says it should say, good and bad examples, image link alt text, and which anchor practices Google lists as link spam.

Download See the details

Embed code

<a href="https://searchinsider.io/infographics/anchor-text"><img src="https://searchinsider.io/research/anchor-text/anchor-text-infographic.png" alt="Anchor text infographic: an example link with the anchor text underlined, four vague or stuffed anchors swapped for descriptive ones, four rules on image links, internal links, length and keyword stuffing, a note on Google's link spam examples, and three steps on what to do." style="max-width:680px;width:100%;height:auto;" /></a><p>Source: <a href="https://searchinsider.io/infographics/anchor-text">Anchor text infographic</a> by Search Insider.</p>