Merchants should be aware that Google will be continuing to tighten rules on requiring GTINs on product feeds or they would disapprove products.  GTIN stands for Global Trade Identification Numbers ie barcode (EAN), ISBN, Universal Product Code (UPC) etc

In late 2014, Google released a statement announcing that they will

• soon start disapproving products with incorrect GTIN, MPN and brand
• Globally demote products that incorrectly use the identifier_exists attribute (ie where merchants claim that MPN/GTIN information does not apply

They will also continue, in their words, ‘to ramp up enforcements to find and disapprove products with incorrect GTIN, MPN and brand data in the coming months.’

We highly recommend that you ensure you are supplying the correct information where this is available through your suppliers.  It is unclear at this stage how Google will validate the “correct” match of Brand, MPN and GTIN, but for products such as electronics and domestic appliances, Google has already got a comprehensive indexation of many product GTIN data.

See separate article on GTIN validation here

For more information, please review the unique product identifier requirements page on Google or the latest product feed specifications in order to make the appropriate changes to your data.