This guide is for store owners and marketers who write or edit titles for Google Shopping and free listings. After reading it, you’ll be able to write a Google Merchant Center product title that follows Google’s rules, puts the useful details first and avoids the mistakes Google warns about. You’ll need access to your product data, in your store admin or a feed spreadsheet. A Merchant Center account helps you check for warnings.
Write each title in the title attribute so it describes the exact product on the landing page, with the most important details in the first 70 characters. You can use up to 150 characters, and the first 70 matter most, because only up to 70 display on Shopping ads and free listings[1][2]. Leave out promo text, capitals for emphasis and symbols[1].
Step 1: Know the limits before you write
The title attribute accepts 1 to 150 characters[1]. That sounds generous, but only up to 70 characters display on Shopping ads and free listings, and Google strongly encourages 70 or fewer where possible[1][2]. Seventy is a guide to what shoppers will see rather than a hard limit. A better rule: you can go up to 150, and the first 70 matter most.
Check what happens if you go over. A title that’s too long isn’t disapproved. It gets truncated[2]. So the risk isn’t a rejected product. The risk is that the important detail sits in the part that gets cut off.
Tip
To see issues with your product data, open the Needs attention tab in Merchant Center[5].
Step 2: Put the key details first
Google’s own advice is to lead with the most important details, because users usually notice only the first 70 or fewer characters[1][4]. Ask yourself what a shopper typing a search would need to recognise the product. That is often the brand, what the item is and one or two attributes that separate it from similar items.
Compare two titles for the same product:
- Weak: Our Bestselling Premium Quality Lightweight Jacket for Everyday Wear, Navy, Men’s, Acme
- Stronger: Acme Men’s Lightweight Jacket, Navy, Water Resistant
The second one gets the brand, gender, product type and colour into the visible portion. The first spends its best characters on adjectives. (Both examples are made up to show the pattern.)
Step 3: Use a formula that fits your category
For clothing and accessories, Google’s best practice is Brand + Product Type + Other Important Attributes, and it says to include the gender[3]. For example: Acme Men’s Running Shorts, Black, Medium.
That formula comes from Google’s guidance for clothing and accessories. For other categories, adapt the same logic by asking which attributes people search by in your niche:
- Clothing: brand, gender, product type, colour, size
- Electronics: brand, product type, model, key spec such as capacity
- Home goods: brand, product type, material, size or pack quantity
Good to know
Only the clothing and accessories formula comes from Google[3]. The electronics and home goods lists are practical suggestions based on the same principle, so test them against your own search terms.
Step 4: Add details that separate each variant
If you sell a product in several sizes or colours, each variant should carry its own distinguishing details in the title. Google’s guidance is to add the distinguishing details of each variant. Its example is Sleeveless Polka Dot Skater Dress, Small, Black[1].
Don’t give a whole product family one identical title. Shoppers who see several listings with the same wording can’t tell them apart.
There’s also an optional item_group_title attribute. It takes 1 to 150 characters and must be identical for all variants of one product[6]. It is separate from title, so keep the variant details in the title itself[1].
Step 5: Match the title to the landing page
The title must describe the product the page links to[1]. Google also advises matching your landing page[4]. If your feed says Black and the page opens on a grey version, you’ve created a mismatch between the title and the page.
Open a sample of product URLs in a private window and compare what you see with the feed title. Fix the source data rather than only the feed if your store platform generates both from the same fields.
Step 6: Strip out promo text and gimmicks
Google says not to include promotional text in titles, such as price, sale price, sale dates, shipping or delivery date[1]. Remove anything like Free Delivery, 20% Off or Sale Ends Sunday.
Capitalisation is the other trap. Don’t use capitals for emphasis or gimmicks such as all caps, symbols or HTML tags[1][5]. Acronyms like UK or USD are fine. Avoid extra white spaces too[1].
- Bad: NEW!!! ★ ACME Running Shoes ★ BEST PRICE
- Good: Acme Women’s Running Shoes, Pink, Size 5
If you see an excessive capitalisation issue, Google’s help page on it is listed in the sources[5]. Find the affected products in Needs attention, rewrite the titles without the extra capitals and resubmit.
Watch out
A bulk find-and-replace on a spreadsheet can also change capitals that are fine, such as acronyms like UK or USD[1][5]. Review a sample before you upload.
Step 7: Handle AI-written titles correctly
If you generate titles with generative AI, Google requires you to use the structured_title attribute rather than the plain title[1]. Whatever tool wrote the text, read every title before it goes live, because filler words waste your first 70 characters.
Step 8: Check your feed and fix the leftovers
Titles are one piece of your product data. Our beginner’s guide at https://oxfordimpulse.com/beginners-guide-google-merchant-center-feed/ explains how the whole feed fits together, and our guide to GTINs at https://oxfordimpulse.com/what-is-gtin-google-merchant-center/ covers product identifiers. Google also lists wider advice on improving product data in its help documentation[4].
If you see a limited status in Merchant Center, our explainer at https://oxfordimpulse.com/google-merchant-center-limited-status-meaning/ covers what it means.
A title that’s too long is truncated, not disapproved[2], so shorten it at the source and put the key details first.
Common mistakes at a glance
- Spending the first 70 characters on adjectives instead of brand, product type and key attributes.
- Treating 70 as a hard limit or assuming long titles get disapproved. Neither is accurate.
- Giving every variant the same title.
- Adding price, sale or shipping wording.
- Writing in all caps or adding symbols and HTML tags.
- Using a title that doesn’t describe the page the shopper lands on.
- Putting AI-generated text in title instead of structured_title.
Product title checklist
Once your titles are sorted, the next job is the rest of your product data. Oxford Impulse has more Merchant Center guides at https://oxfordimpulse.com/google-merchant-center/ if you want to go further.
FAQs
What is the ideal Google Merchant Center product title length?
Are long product titles disapproved in Merchant Center?
No. Titles over the length limit are truncated, not disapproved[2]. The risk is losing important wording at the end, so keep the key details near the start.
What should a Google Shopping product title include?
Can you put a price or a sale in the title?
No. Google says not to include promotional text such as price, sale price, sale dates, shipping or delivery date[1]. Describe the product itself instead.
Is all caps allowed in product titles?
Should every variant have a different title?
What is the item group title in Merchant Center?
Can you use generative AI to write product titles?
Yes, but titles made with generative AI must use the structured_title attribute rather than title[1]. Read every title before upload, because filler words waste your first 70 characters.
What does it mean if a title does not match the landing page?
Where do you find title problems in Merchant Center?
Issues show in the Needs attention tab[5]. Open it to see what Google has flagged, then fix the titles in your source data.
Sources
- Google Merchant Center Help: Title [title] and structured title [structured_title] support.google.com
- Google Merchant Center Help: How to fix: Text too long support.google.com
- Google Merchant Center Help: Best practices for advertising clothing and accessories support.google.com
- Google Merchant Center Help: Tips to optimize your product data support.google.com
- Google Merchant Center Help: How to fix: Excessive capitalisation support.google.com
- Google Merchant Center Help: Item group title [item_group_title] support.google.com
