Google has made a number of updates to its Merchant Center product data specifications. Some changes went into effect on April 14, 2026 and others happen June 30, 2026 and January 31, 2027.
(1) April 14th changes:
- New shipping attributes: Google is adding more shipping options at the product level, mirroring existing account-level features. This includes a new handling cutoff time [handling_cutoff_time] attribute to set a daily deadline for processing online orders, as well as new minimum order value [minimum_order_value] attribute to specify the minimum spend required to purchase and ship an order. Google is also adding the new sub-attributes loyalty program label [loyalty_program_label] and loyalty tier label [loyalty_tier_label] to the shipping [shipping] attribute to allow merchants to specify loyalty shipping benefits for individual products.
- New video link [video_link] attribute: Google is announcing a new, optional video link [video_link] attribute which will allow merchants to submit links to product videos. These videos can help showcase products in more detail, showing them in use or from various angles, and will be used to enhance how products are displayed across Google. Merchants can start submitting their videos using this new attribute now, however, serving as well as policy and quality validation will not begin until June 30, 2026. Technical validation errors will be reported starting April 14, 2026.
(2) June 30, 2026 changes:
- Serving as well as policy and quality validation checks begin for the new video link [video_link] attribute: Starting June 30, 2026 videos submitted via the video link [video_link] attribute will become eligible to serve. At the same time, Google will begin reporting any policy or quality warnings or errors for these videos. Policy or quality errors with videos will prevent the video from serving, but will not impact the serving of the associated offer. Review the ‘Needs attention’ section of your Merchant Center account to view any issues with your videos.
(3) January 31, 2027 changes:
- Updated image size requirements for the image link [image_link] and additional image link [additional_image_link] attributes: To ensure the best experience for shoppers, Google is increasing the minimum resolution for images submitted in the image link [image_link] and additional image link [additional_image_link] attributes to 500x500 pixels across all product categories and marketing methods.
- Google will begin issuing warnings in Merchant Center starting April 14, 2026 for images which do not meet the updated minimum resolution requirement, with enforcement starting on January 31, 2027. To see products impacted by this change, navigate to the Needs attention section of your Merchant Center account and click View history. Look for the warning: ”Image too small for upcoming enforcement” on the side of the page.
- Google will also begin optimizing some images that are smaller than 500 x 500 by utilizing high-resolution near-duplicate images or through AI upscaling of the original image. Importantly, these optimized images will meet the new image requirements and will prevent product disapproval without any action from you. These optimized images will be marked with a warning in the Merchant Center Needs attention section to make them easier to identify. To update an image that has been optimized, you can submit a new image that is larger than 500 x 500 in your product data source.
Emmanuel Flossie posted more about these changes on LinkedIn.
