Google Shopping Feed Attributes: Full List, Requirements and Free Template (2027)

By Corey Frankosky · Last Updated October 27, 2026

A Google Shopping feed is the list of products you send to Google Merchant Center, with one row per product and one column per attribute. Seven attributes are required for every product, more are required depending on your category and country, and the optional ones are where most of your Shopping performance comes from. This guide gives you the full attribute list, checked against Google's current product data specification, plus a free feed template you can download.

You will also see how GTIN and identifier_exists work, the difference between google_product_category and product_type, title formulas by category, feed formats, supplemental feeds and the most common feed errors. If you would rather have someone build and manage your feed and campaigns, see my ecommerce Google Ads management page.

1What Is a Google Shopping Feed?

A Google product feed, also called a product data source, is a file or spreadsheet that describes everything you sell. Each row is one product. Each column is an attribute, such as id, title, price or gtin. Merchant Center reads the feed, checks it against the Google product data specification, and makes approved products eligible for free listings and Shopping ads.

The feed matters more than most people expect. Google Shopping ads have no keywords, so Google uses your feed to decide which searches each product can show for. My Google Shopping ads guide explains how that auction works.

In the current Merchant Center, feeds are called data sources. You manage them under Data sources from the Settings gear icon, and you fix product problems on the Needs attention tab of the Products page. My Google Merchant Center guide covers the account setup.

2Free Google Shopping Feed Template

I built a free CSV template with the header row for the most used attributes and example rows you can copy:

• A simple product. A water bottle with a GTIN, an MPN and a sale price.
• A product with variants. A t-shirt in two colors and sizes, with both rows sharing one item_group_id.
• A product with no GTIN. A handmade candle using identifier_exists set to no.

Download the Free Feed Template (CSV)

You can import the CSV straight into Google Sheets. Open a blank sheet, go to File, then Import, and upload the file. From there, replace the example rows with your products and connect the sheet to Merchant Center as a Google Sheets data source. Keep in mind that Merchant Center file uploads accept .txt, .tsv or .xml, so if you upload a file instead of a sheet, save it as tab separated values first.

3Required Feed Attributes

These are the attributes Google's specification marks as required for every product, or required in the condition shown.

Source: Google Merchant Center product data specification, accessed October 27, 2026.

Images need a little extra attention. Google lists a 500 x 500 pixel minimum for image_link, with enforcement starting January 31, 2027. Title and description also have structured versions, structured_title and structured_description, which Google says to use for AI generated text.

4Attributes Required by Category or Country

This is where most feeds fall short. These attributes are only required in certain situations, but if your products are in those situations, they will be disapproved or limited without them.

For variants, every row in a group shares one item_group_id, and each row gets its own id, color, size and, where one exists, GTIN. Google also lists item_group_title and variant_option as optional attributes for variant groups.

5Recommended and Optional Attributes

Google marks these as optional. I recommend most of them, because they give Google more to match on and give you more ways to structure campaigns.

Custom labels are the ones I use most. Tag products by margin, season, best seller status or clearance, and you can split campaigns and ROAS targets around those groups. My post on structuring Shopping campaigns for retailers shows how.

6GTIN and identifier_exists

A GTIN is the number under the barcode. In the US that is usually a 12 digit UPC. Google accepts UPC, EAN, JAN, ISBN-13 and ITF-14, and the check digit has to be correct.

Here is how to decide what to send:

1. The manufacturer assigned a GTIN. Send it. Google says products with missing or incorrect GTINs may have limited visibility, and a product could be disapproved if a GTIN exists and you leave it out.
2. No GTIN, but the manufacturer has an MPN. Send brand and mpn.
3. No GTIN and no MPN. This covers handmade, custom and many private label products. Set identifier_exists to no.

Keep in mind that identifier_exists defaults to yes. Do not set it to no just to clear an error if the product really has a GTIN. And never make up a number. Google is clear that you should only provide a GTIN if you are sure it is correct. GTINs starting with the restricted prefixes 02, 04 or 2, or coupon prefixes, are not accepted.

7google_product_category vs product_type

These two look similar, but they do different jobs.

Google says all products are automatically assigned a product category, and you only need google_product_category to override it. You can download the full Google product category list as a text file or spreadsheet. The current file has about 5,595 categories. For example, 212 is Apparel & Accessories > Clothing > Shirts & Tops, and 3809 is Water Bottles.

There is no Google product type list, because you write product_type yourself. I recommend matching your store navigation, such as Apparel > Men > T-Shirts. Only the first product_type value is used for Shopping bidding and reporting.

8Title Formulas by Category

Google allows 150 characters, but shoppers usually see 70 characters or fewer, so put the most important words first. Google does not publish formulas by category. These are the ones I use.

Google does not allow promotional text, prices, shipping details, your company name used as promotion, capital letters for emphasis or decorative symbols in titles. For variants, put the size or color in the title and in the matching attribute.

9Google Shopping Feed Formats

You have six main ways to get products into Merchant Center. To add one, open Data sources from the Settings gear icon, and on the Primary sources tab select Add product source.

• Google Sheets. Use Google's template or an existing sheet. The default sync is every 24 hours. This is the easiest option for small catalogs.
• TSV or TXT file. Tab separated text, one product per row. Google recommends TSV over CSV for text files.
• XML file. Common for larger stores and feed tools. Files can be up to 4 GB.
• Scheduled fetch or SFTP. Host the file at a URL starting with http, https or sftp, and Merchant Center fetches it every 24 hours by default.
• Merchant API. Real time updates for developers and large catalogs.
• Shopify app. The Google & YouTube app syncs your available products with Merchant Center automatically. My Shopify Google Merchant Center guide walks through it.

A manual upload does not sync on its own, so you have to upload the file again every time something changes. For most stores, a scheduled fetch, a sheet or an app is the better choice.

10Supplemental Feeds and Feed Rules

You do not have to rebuild your main feed to fix it. Supplemental data sources and attribute rules let you change data on top of it.

Supplemental data sources add or update attributes for products already in a primary source. They cannot add or remove products. The id in the supplemental source must exactly match the id in the primary source. A Google Sheet with just id and custom_label_0 is a quick way to add labels to a Shopify feed.

Attribute rules, the current name for feed rules, transform data as it comes in. Google lists operations such as Set to, Extract, Prepend, Append, Find & Replace, Calculate and Clear. For example, you can append color and size to every apparel title, or set a custom label for every product over $100.

1. Turn on the add-on. Go to Settings, then Add-ons, and activate Advanced data source management.
2. Add a supplemental source. In Data sources, use the Supplemental sources tab and pick a file, a Google Sheets template or the API.
3. Create a rule. Open a primary product source and select the Attribute rules tab.
4. Test before you apply. Save as draft, select Test rules, then Apply changes.

11Common Feed Errors and Fixes

Every issue shows up on the Needs attention tab of the Products page. Changes can take up to 72 hours to show there.

To fix many products at once, download the affected list as a CSV from Needs attention, correct your source data and let the next sync run. Once the feed is clean, use my guide to spotting underperforming products in Shopping ads to see which products are worth the spend.

12Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

• Merchant Center Help, "Product data specification". Accessed October 27, 2026.
• Merchant Center Help attribute pages: GTIN, Google product category, Title and Product highlight. Accessed October 27, 2026.
• Merchant Center Help data source pages: Create a product data source, Add products from a file, Add products using Google Sheets and Set up your attribute rules. Accessed October 27, 2026.
• Merchant Center Help troubleshooting pages: The Needs attention tab, Inaccurate availability, Unable to show image, Product page unavailable and Product ID already used. Accessed October 27, 2026.
• Merchant Center Help, "Syncing your products" for the Google & YouTube app on Shopify. Accessed October 27, 2026.
• Google product taxonomy with IDs (en-US), version 2021-09-21. Downloaded October 27, 2026.