Friday, February 26, 2021
Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information, and organizing product information for shoppers and retailers is an essential part of this mission. In the last year, we’ve introduced several new experiences that enable brands and retailers to list their products on Google, whether that’s on Google Search through a product knowledge panel or on the Shopping tab.
To best help users find your content and products in Search, we recommend that websites clearly identify products mentioned.
In the following sections we provide guidelines for manufacturers, retailers, and publishers on how to ensure that Google understands the products they are selling or referencing.
How Google identifies products online and offline
Google relies on accurate and trusted product data to precisely identify products that are available for shoppers.
We recommend providing clear product identification, as this helps Google to match offers to products, and to match products to relevant search queries. You can improve Google's understanding of products by using unique product identifiers like Global Trade Item Number (GTIN™), Manufacturer Part Numbers (MPNs), and brand names. When using product identifiers, we recommend that the identifiers follow these best practices:
- Uniqueness: Each product should have a unique identifier that can consistently and accurately be shared across the ecosystem and identify a product in both the physical and digital worlds of commerce.
- Verifiability: Identity of a product (for example, who is the manufacturer) and other product data should be verifiable through a trusted source. This allows marketplaces to verify that product data is accurate and complete through global registries, the organizations that issued and manage the identifiers.
- Global Reach: With ecommerce making the world more connected, relying on an identification system that can be used across the ecosystem globally will help keep product identific