Refer to this website product listing to understand where each of the elements is created, and what it looks like.
1. TITLE
The Manufacturer can be in all caps, but the entire title cannot. You will be dinged for excessive capitalization. Make sure it its entered in normal type. The system will display it as all caps. See below, and compare to above.
2. SHORT DESCRIPTION
This information is visible to the right of the product image in the website listing. Google does not pick up any of this information. So if you want it to be displayed in google listings, make sure to repeat it in section 5, the regular description. The short description is can be found under the primary product description on the edit product page.
3. CATEGORIES
Always enter ONE product category. No more, no less. It cannot be left empty. It is found on the right side of the Edit Product page.
4. PRODUCT CONDITION
Google ONLY allows one of the following: New, Used, Refurbished. It is required.
See image in Product Data below.
5. DESCRIPTION
This description appears UNDER the product photos in the website listing. It cannot have ANY HTML. Which means you cannot copy and paste a description from another website. If it is not formatted correctly, Google will disapprove the listing.
This is also where you add any relevant information that you would like to appear in Google listings from the "short description" area, for example: Condition 7/10 Warranty: 30 days, No returns
How do I know if it has HTML formatting? Click the TEXT tab. Do you see any funky characters or commands? If it does not look the exact same as in the visual tab, then it contains HTML.
So how do you UN-HTML it?
Removing HTML will remove all "formatting" like bold, underline, etc. It will be plain text. This is what you want.
Open a text editor like Notepad
Copy and paste everything into the editor - this will automatically strip the HTML.
Adjust spacing so that it looks nice.
Then copy and paste everything from Notepad into the Description area. Now, when you click the VISUAL and TEXT tabs, they should look identical.
6. PRODUCT DATA ENTRIES
GENERAL
Enter price, sales price, tax status, tax class as usual.
Enter Brand Name
Enter GTIN, (Numberic) or MPN (Alphanumeric) Please visit the provided links to understand the difference. One should be added to improve Google visibility.
If the product doesn’t have a clearly associated MPN or is a custom-made product (for example, art, custom t-shirts, novelty products, and handmade products), the attribute is optional.
Only provide an MPN if you’re sure it’s correct. When in doubt do not provide an MPN (for example, do not guess or make up a value).
SHIPPING
If the product is to be shipped as a normal UPS package, select No Shipping Class.
If the product has a special shipping rate, then enter 500 as the weight, regardless of what the actual weight is (this will override the chance for Google to assign it as a UPS package and display UPS shipping rates). Select the appropriate special shipping cost from the dropdown - this is what Google will use.
PRODUCT CONDITION
As discussed earlier, you MUST select one of these options. These are the ONLY choices you have.
ONCE all products have been entered/updated with all things listed above, let us know and we'll format the Google Feed to see if anything else is needed to submit it to the Google Merchant center.
Thanks!
DeAnne
support@pinecoastcreative.com