As we announced on March 14, and in emails to all Product Search merchants, today we will begin requiring unique identifiers for products in all categories except for apparel, custom, and one-of-a-kind items. These requirements are part of an ongoing effort to make Product Search better for our users. Our unique identifier requirements enable us to build detailed product pages to help shoppers learn about products and compare prices from across the web. These unique identifiers are only required for Google Product Search, and this policy will not impact Google Commerce Search or AdWords ad formats.
We will be gradually enforcing this policy over the next few weeks, with full enforcement in effect on June 20th. During this time, products that do not have correct unique identifiers may not appear in our product listings. If you have products that do not have correct unique identifiers, we recommend that you make the necessary changes as soon as possible.
Please note that in the weeks after June 20th, we will begin disapproving the feeds of merchants who have a significant percentage of items that do not include the correct unique identifiers.
For more information on unique identifiers, and what we require, please see our Help Center. If you did not receive the email informing you of this change, please make sure to update your contact information in the “Settings” tab of the Google Merchant Center. The unique identifier requirement is part of a broader set of changes we plan to announce in the coming months. By checking this blog often and providing your contact information in your account, you can stay up to date with our requirements. Thank you for helping us improve the Product Search experience for our users.
Posted by Karen Corby, Product Manager, Google Product Search
