Merchant Center Variants
Missing variant information
One row per variant. The link opens that variant.
Missing variant information means a size, color or material in the feed is not identifiable on the page. Shopify variants need their own id, price, availability and, when they have one, their own GTIN. item_group_id ties the family together. The link has to land on that variant, not on a parent page that hides it.
A variant row is complete when
- The id does not change every time the feed refreshes.
- The link opens the selected size or color, with that price and that stock.
- The image shows that variant when the variants look different.
- The GTIN is that variant’s barcode, not the parent’s.
- item_group_id is shared by the family and is not reused for an unrelated product.
A common Shopify miss is a feed URL with no variant parameter, so every size opens the first variant. Google then sees one price for many rows.
Questions people ask
Should I submit the parent and the variants?
Submit the variants you sell. A parent with no price of its own should not pretend to be a separate offer.
Can two colors share a GTIN?
No. Google says each variant has its own GTIN when GTINs exist.
What if the theme swaps variants with JavaScript only?
The URL Google fetches still has to show the variant. A swap that depends on a click can hide it from the crawler.
Google’s own pages