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Get ready folks – starting tomorrow (September 15, 2021), Google Merchant Center will start enforcing the requirement for products in free listings in the merchant feeds to include unique product identifiers.
In its official announcement, Google re-enforced the importance of unique product identifiers (UPIs), stating:
“Providing the correct unique product identifiers (UPIs) for your products ensures that Google recognizes them and can provide optimal customer experience…In order to unify the enforcement of UPIs across programs, specifically the enforcement for multiple different products that use the same GTIN, we’re expanding this enforcement and applying it to products listed in free listings.”
For those who are unfamiliar, the term UPIs refers to products that include Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs), Manufacturer Part Numbers (MPNs), and brand names in the product feed that is submitted to Google Merchant Center.
Here is the full breakdown of what to expect with this new crackdown from Google.
“Different products that use the same GTIN with the same variant attributes will be considered ambiguous and will be disapproved,” said Google. “Variant attributes include condition and multipack for all products, as well as color and for apparel products. If a group of products are identified as duplicates, only one will remain active and eligible to show in free listings.”
What This Means For You
For those who currently utilize the free version of Google Merchant Center and are not actively including UPIs with your products, this could become an issue and result in products being rejected. So, the takeaway here is to make sure that all of your free product listings have UPIs going forward to avoid any issues.
Check out this great resource from Google that breaks down all approved UPIs so that there is no confusion.
