Staying up to date

Once again, they've announced some updates to Merchant Center. These won't be taking effect until a little later in the year, but we wanted to give you a warning in case you missed it! We've got the full details of the announcement below but in summary, if you sell clothes or shoes you're going to need to set up Color and Size attributes. If you don't, Google will kick those products out of their feed from the 1st September 2016. 

Recently, Google have been making quite a few changes; while some give added functionality, others demand additional data. As with a lot of Google's work, this is being driven by data. In this case, they're going to be using the mandatory colour and size attributes to enhance search accuracy. Even better, this information is going to be added into AdWords to improve their advertising offering. That means that you'll need to update your products to keep your Merchant Center feed relevant. 

Luckily, you won't need any additional functionality. Everything you need is already in Zone1; just make sure you're setting up those sizes and colours!


The update

Enforced 'age group', 'gender', 'color' and 'size' attribute requirements for apparel products in Germany, France, Japan, and the UK

Target countries: Germany, France, Japan, the UK

Details:

  • The 'age group', 'gender', 'color' attributes are required for all apparel products submitted for Germany, France, Japan, and the UK. 
  • The 'size' attribute is required for products in the 'Apparel & Accessories > Clothing' and 'Apparel & Accessories > Shoes' categories submitted for Germany, France, Japan, and the UK. 
  • If you don't provide these attributes for apparel products, the items will be disapproved.

Disapprovals begin September 1, 2016: Make sure your apparel products targeting these countries meet the requirements before September 1, 2016 to prevent disapprovals.

If you're looking for a guide on how to implement these changes, check out the tips here. They're about half way down the page, and provide you with a list of approved values for each attibute.

 


1st September 2016