Important information for people using Google Shopping advertising!
Starting February 14, 2017, Google will begin requiring GTINs from merchants who submit product feeds targeting all markets where Google Shopping is available. This is the second phase of this requirement; since May 2016, GTINs have been mandatory for advertisers targeting Australia, Brazil, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, and the US. This is a significant change to the Google Shopping experience!
Why is Google starting to require GTINs?
Providing GTINs is essential for Google to recognize your products and provide the best possible experience for consumers. Google has observed that providing GTINs can increase the effectiveness and improve ad results by:
- Increased visibility: Correct GTINs ensure more potential customers see your products. Offers tailored to your product catalog. Google Shopping can get up to 40% more clicks than offers that don't match it.
- Improved targeting: Correct GTINs enable product ads to be shown to the right consumers who are interested in your offering, which in turn increases conversion rates. Analysis of data from last year's mandatory GTIN rollout for 50 brands shows that merchants who provide correct GTINs in their product data see a conversion rate increase of up to 20%.
- More ad formats: beyond the benefits of Google Product Ads GTINs also help improve the quality of product information displayed on Google.com and other formats, such as YouTube Shopping, and help you discover products on mobile devices.
There are exceptions where we are unable to provide a GTIN.
Products that do not have a GTIN assigned do not need to submit one. However, if a product has been assigned a GTIN, failure to submit it may result in the product being rejected. Products that do not have a GTIN need to submit the following attributes:
Here are examples of products that may not have a GTIN assigned:
(The rest of the article can be found below the form)
- products sold under the store's brand,
- spare parts,
- Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) parts or OEM replacement parts,
- custom-made products (including T-shirts, artwork and handicrafts),
- books published before the ISBN was approved as an ISO standard in 1970,
- monuments and antiques,
- products available for pre-order (using the condition attribute),
- For products without GTIN and brand or MPN and brand, submit the identifier_exists [with_identifier] attribute.
Solution for products without GTIN
Unbranded Products You do not need to submit the brand attribute if your product does not have a clearly identified brand (e.g., movies, books, and music) or is a custom-made product (e.g., T-shirts, art, and handmade items).
Handmade, custom, unique products, antiques, works of art
If you are offering a new product (which you indicate with the condition [condition] attribute) that does not have the gtin [gtin] and brand [brand] attributes or the mpn [mpn] and brand [brand] attributes, submit the identifier_exists [with_identifier] attribute with a value of no.
Please note that you must follow the formatting guidelines. Failure to do so will result in the information you submit being unusable.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- the obligation to use GTIN numbers in Google Shopping campaigns,
- the benefits of using GTIN, such as greater visibility and precise ad targeting,
- exceptions to the obligation to provide a GTIN,
- correct configuration of product data for products without standard identifiers.
