Google Product Feed Optimization Checklist (With Feed QA Steps)

Feed optimization has two parts. The first is meeting Google’s requirements so products are approved. The second is giving Google complete, accurate and specific data so products can match the right searches. Most feeds have gaps in both.

Each checklist below lists a check, what good looks like and where to verify it. Every requirement comes from Google’s documentation; practitioner suggestions are marked as tips. Use it for a one-off audit, then keep the QA routine at the end for ongoing changes.

How to use this checklist

Go through the sections in order. The early ones cover issues that can stop products or put the account at risk; the later ones improve quality and performance.

1. Export the current issue list from Products > Needs attention (turn off Prioritized fixes to see every issue). See how to use diagnostics.
2. Download a sample of product data from Merchant Center or your feed tool, covering every main category and both simple and variant products.
3. Open each sample product’s landing page in a private window, logged out.
4. Work through the tables below, noting each failed check and the system that produces the value.

Data source setup

Check	What good looks like	Why
One primary source for the catalog	All products in a single primary data source; exclusions handled with excluded_destination	Google’s recommendation for primary sources
No duplicate online and local primary sources	Same products aren’t submitted in separate online and local primary sources	Google says not to do this
Supplemental sources match	Supplemental IDs match primary IDs exactly and use the same feed label	Supplemental sources match by ID and feed label
No legacy online inventory sources	Quick price and stock updates use a supplemental source with a “Take latest” rule	Online inventory data sources are deprecated
Countries and language correct	Target countries and language match where you sell and the language of your data and pages	Set per primary source
Feed labels planned	Feed labels follow the format (up to 20 characters, uppercase, digits, hyphen, underscore) and match campaigns	Language and feed label can’t be changed later
Single source of truth	Each product is managed in one place (platform, file or API), so syncs don’t overwrite fixes	API and app updates may overwrite manual edits

Background on these concepts is in what is a product feed.

IDs and product structure

Check	What good looks like
id present and unique	Every product has an id of 1 to 50 characters; no two products share one
id stable	IDs don’t change between updates (a change overwrites the product and its history)
id not case-dependent	No IDs that differ only by letter case, such as abc123 and ABC123
id clean	No whitespace or invalid Unicode characters
IDs not recycled	Discontinued products’ IDs aren’t reused for new products
One record per variant	Each size, color or other variant is a separate product with its own id
item_group_id consistent	All variants of a product share one stable item_group_id (1 to 50 characters); the parent isn’t submitted separately
item_group_id only for real variants	Not used to group different products such as a jacket and matching trousers

Variant setup has its own guide: how to manage product variants in feeds.

Titles and descriptions

Check	What good looks like
Title length	1 to 150 characters; the most important details in roughly the first 70
Title matches page	Title describes the product on the landing page
Variant details in title	Color, size or other variant details included where relevant, and submitted as attributes too
Specific keywords	Product type, brand where it differentiates, and specific details such as material or key feature
No promotional text	No prices, sale wording, shipping or delivery claims, all caps for emphasis, symbols or company name
Clean formatting	No HTML tags, extra whitespace or gimmicky characters
Description present	Every product has a description of 1 to 5,000 characters
Description focused	Describes only this product; no links, comparisons, category paths, store policies or business history
Key details early	Most important information in the first 160 to 500 characters
AI-generated text labeled	AI-written titles and descriptions use structured_title and structured_description with the correct digital source type

Templates and examples are in product titles and descriptions for Google Shopping.

Images

Check	What good looks like
Size	At least 500 x 500 px (required for all products from January 31, 2027); about 1500 x 1500 or larger recommended; under 64 megapixels and 16 MB
Format	JPEG or WebP recommended; extension matches the real file type
No overlays	No calls to action, price or shipping text, watermarks, badges or added logos
No placeholders	No “coming soon” or “no image available” images, and no store logo in place of a product photo
Unique per variant	Each variant shows its own color or finish; one photo isn’t reused for distinct products
Framing	Product fills roughly 75% to 90% of the image; no borders
Additional images	Up to 10 additional images where useful, including lifestyle images in lifestyle_image_link
Crawlable URLs	robots.txt allows Googlebot and Googlebot-image; stable URLs without timestamps or session IDs
AI image metadata kept	Generative AI images keep their IPTC DigitalSourceType metadata

Fixes for each image issue are in how to fix product image issues.

Price, availability and landing pages

These checks matter most, because Google compares them with your website and repeated mismatches can lead to account suspension.

Check	What good looks like
Price matches page	Feed price equals the price in the page’s HTML and structured data, in the currency prominently displayed
Price in initial HTML	Price isn’t only injected by JavaScript after load
Sale prices handled	price holds the regular price, sale_price the sale price, with sale_price_effective_date; page shows both
No loyalty prices in sale_price	Member prices use loyalty_program instead
Availability matches page	In-stock products have an active buy button; out-of-stock products show sold out or a disabled button
Preorder and backorder dated	availability_date set and the expected date shown on the page
No out_of_stock to hide products	pause (up to 14 days) or excluded_destination used instead
Landing page loads	No 404s, server errors or more than two redirects; URL on the verified domain
Variant URLs distinct	Each variant’s link opens with that variant selected
Update timing	Feed updates are scheduled to match site changes; Merchant API used if values change more than once a day

If any of these fail, use the guides to fix price mismatches and align website data and product feeds.

Identifiers and product details

Check	What good looks like
GTIN where assigned	Manufacturer GTINs submitted for every product that has one
Brand correct	Real brand, not the supplier’s company name; store name for products you make with no official brand
MPN where no GTIN	Brand plus MPN for products without a GTIN
No invented identifiers	No made-up, guessed or copied GTINs; no internal SKUs in gtin
identifier_exists used correctly	false only for products that truly have no identifiers
condition	Set for used and refurbished products
Apparel attributes	color, size, age_group and gender on every apparel variant
Recommended detail	pattern, material, size_type and size_system where relevant
Multipacks and bundles	multipack and is_bundle used where they apply

To fix identifier issues, see how to fix missing product identifiers.

Shipping and returns

Check	What good looks like
Shipping for every target country	Account shipping policy or shipping attribute covers each country where it’s required
Currency matches	Each country has at least one shipping service in the same currency as the product prices
Costs close to website	Shipping costs as close as possible to checkout; overestimate rather than underestimate if needed
Labels used deliberately	shipping_label and return_policy_label only where products need different policies
Return policy configured	Return policy set in Merchant Center and consistent with the policy on your site

Feed QA: a routine for every change

Most feed problems start with a change somewhere else: a theme update, a new app, a price import, a new product range. A short QA routine after each change catches issues before Google does.

When to run it

• After changing your theme, product templates or structured data.
• After installing, updating or replacing a feed app or plugin.
• Before and after a sale or bulk price change.
• After importing new products or a new supplier catalog.
• After adding a target country, currency or language.
• After changing attribute rules or supplemental sources.

The routine

1. Pick a fixed sample of products (practitioner tip: 10 to 20, including a variant product, a sale item, an out-of-stock item and a recent addition).
2. For each, compare id, title, price, sale price, availability, image and link in Merchant Center with the live landing page.
3. Check the page’s structured data carries the same price, currency and availability, in the initial HTML.
4. For attribute rules, use Test rules and the draft preview before applying, then reprocess the data source.
5. Check Needs attention over the next few days for new issues, and use View history to see when a status changed.
6. Note what changed and when in a change log.

Ongoing monitoring

Practitioner suggestion for a simple cadence:

How often	What to check
Weekly	Needs attention summary cards, new issues, products with high click potential that are disapproved or limited
Monthly	Analytics > Products: impressions, clicks and click-through rate by product, brand and category; products with zero impressions
Quarterly	Full run through this checklist, including a fresh sample of landing pages

Zero impressions can mean a product isn’t approved yet, or simply low traffic, according to Google’s performance documentation.

When to get help

If the checklist turns up problems you can’t trace to a source system, or the same issues return after each fix, an outside review can save time. Our product feed optimization service runs this kind of audit and fixes issues at the source. For broader account problems, see our disapproval service.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Google Merchant Center Help — The Needs attention tab
• Google Merchant Center Help — Create a product data source
• Google Merchant Center Help — Feed labels
• Google Merchant Center Help — ID [id]
• Google Merchant Center Help — Item group ID [item_group_id]
• Google Merchant Center Help — Title [title] and structured title
• Google Merchant Center Help — Description [description]
• Google Merchant Center Help — Image link [image_link]
• Google Merchant Center Help — How to fix: Mismatched product price
• Google Merchant Center Help — Sale price [sale_price]
• Google Merchant Center Help — Availability [availability]
• Google Merchant Center Help — How to fix: Product page unavailable
• Google Merchant Center Help — Automatic item updates
• Google Merchant Center Help — About unique product identifiers
• Google Merchant Center Help — Free listings for products
• Google Merchant Center Help — Set up shipping settings for an entire account
• Google Merchant Center Help — Set up return policies
• Google Merchant Center Help — Set up your attribute rules
• Google Merchant Center Help — Track your product performance
• Google Search Central — Merchant listing structured data

Last reviewed October 10, 2026 against the official documentation listed above. Google changes Merchant Center features and policies regularly — always confirm details in your own account.