We’re proud to be helping thousands of ecommerce business owners by giving the most digestible, battle-tested advice to be found online about succeeding with Google Ads.
Starting immediately, Google is expanding the list of countries where shipping costs are required for Shopping ads and free listings. Additionally, a new attribute for certifications and updated rules for multiple prices on product pages have been introduced.
Merchants are advised to promptly update their product data to align with these changes to ensure compliance with the new requirements.
Changes beginning immediately (June 15, 2023)
Google is expanding the list of countries where shipping costs are required for Shopping ads and free listings. You can set this up using the shipping [shipping] attribute or through account shipping settings.
Google will start disapproving offers without shipping in these EEA (European Economic Area) countries:
- Denmark
- Portugal
- Sweden
- Finland
- Norway
- Slovakia
- Greece
- Hungary
- Romania
They're also expanding the list to include the following countries:
- Brazil
- India
- New Zealand
A new Google Merchant Center certification attribute is now available. Marketers can use it to describe certifications such as energy efficiency ratings. This certification [certification] attribute is a requirement for products registered in the EU EPREL database.
It supports three mandatory sub-attributes:
- Authority [certification_authority]: This represents the authority or certification body issuing the certification. Google currently only supports the values “EC” or “European_Commission.”
- Name [certification_name]: Currently, the only available one is the value “EPREL,” which represents energy efficiency certifications in the EU European Registry for Energy Labeling (EPREL) database.
- Code [certification_code]: This is the code for the certification. For example, the code for the EPREL certificate with the following link: “https://eprel.ec.europa.eu/screen/product/dryer2018/24681” will be “24681”.
Google is making the availability [availability] attribute compulsory for local inventory ads and free local listings. This change will simplify setup for merchants and ensure that users have accurate information about the availability of products.
The GMC rules regarding multiple prices on product pages have changed. Merchants who show multiple prices on their product pages, such as prices for other variants, original currency, or promotional prices, must make these attributes clearly discernable from the advertised base price.
Changes beginning July 18, 2023
Google will automatically extend the expiration date [expiration date] of products about to expire if it detects that the products are still valid on the merchant's website. This change will help to ensure that users see accurate information about the availability of products.
Changes beginning September 1, 2023
Google will begin to disapprove products that use the out_of_stock availability value for products in stock on the merchant's website. When listing a product, it's important to accurately indicate whether it is in stock or not.
In this instance, the availability [availability] attribute comes in handy – it informs users about the current availability status of the product. This change is to ensure that users see accurate information about the availability of products.
Merchants should update their product data to reflect these changes as soon as possible. Google will initially provide warnings to merchants who aren't compliant with the new requirements but don't wait for that to happen.
Make the necessary changes to prevent product disapproval or a Google Merchant Center suspension.
