Importance of Unique Product Identifier in Google Shopping Feed Optimization

By Jignesh Gohel - March, 11th 2014

Unique product identifier plays an important role while you are optimizing Google shopping feed for better performance. Google is taking some extra care and has announced unique product identifier requirements in listings to improve the quality of data last year. The new specifications were meant to create better selling opportunity for merchants while allowing unique shopping results to customers. Unique product identifiers lead to helps create a single listing of all competing products as Google shopping can easily identify same product being sold by different merchant. By providing best possible product, it allows customers to easily reach their favored retailer to get more details about the product.

To get better position in Google PLA and Google shopping, merchants are required to provide accurate and comprehensive data about the products. It is highly advised to make the subsequent changes in your already existing product listings. Data Quality is becoming more important a factor with unique listings and improve the returns from Product Listing Ads. Unique product identifier is one of these attribute that can help you to boost your Google shopping and PLA ads.

Google shopping had carried out the new enforcement regulations in several steps that may result in:

• Disqualifying ads that didn’t have accompanying data to be listed under unique product identifier attributes. There are different types of unique product identifier available in Google shopping feed, which includes MPN, GTIN and brand name depending upon type of product you are selling.
• Demoting the products that had been incorrectly using the identifier exists attribute
• Disqualifying products that had invalid GTIN or didn’t confirm to the standards required by GTIN specifications.

Additions requirements for unique product identifier enforcement

Google Shopping will soon start disapproving and demoting products that:

1. Held incorrect MPN, GTIN and brand name
2. Have incorrectly used the identifier_exists identifier

These enforcements will continue to be made stringent and more products can expect to get disapproved if they aren’t accompanied with the detailed identifiers / characteristics / attributes. For businesses, it is increasingly necessary for merchants to gear up and allocate unique identifiers to each of their listed products for better compliance with the Google shopping feed requirements and profitable returns.

If you are already having active Google shopping feed, I strongly recommend going through the product disapproval warnings under Data Feed and Data Quality tabs. This can be reached via the Merchant Center. All pending disapprovals are currently shown as warnings but these will soon turn into errors after the final launch date of Unique Product Identifier Requirements. If your product has been marked as “false” in the ‘identifier_exists’ attribute, you need to provide required details for preventing the listing from further demotion.

If you are looking for more information about these changes, I recommend reading the latest Product Feed Specification and Unique Product Identifier Requirements to understand the changes asked for. Unique Product Identifier Requirements is going to change the online selling and buying experience for good. So buckle up!

As always, if you need any help in setting Google shopping feed and Google adwords PLA, drop me a message; I will get back to you within 24 hours.