description is required for each product, 1 to 5,000 characters of plain text about the product, without promotional text, consistent with the title and with the landing page. Google matches searches against it, so an empty or one-line description is a product that can only be found by its title; Google’s fix page recommends around 500 to 1,000 characters.
| Attribute | description |
|---|---|
| Requirement | Required for each product. |
| Format |
|
Google’s rules for description
- Don’t include promotional text such as price, sale price, sale dates, shipping, delivery date, other time-related information, or your company’s name.
- Keep it consistent with the other details in the data source (the title) and with your landing page.
- Describe the product: material, dimensions, fit, use, what is included.
Common mistakes, and the error each one becomes
- No description at all. → Missing value [description]
- The title copied into the description.
- A description in capitals. → Field can't be all uppercase letters
Where the value comes from on a connected store
| Shopify | The product description with HTML stripped, shared by all variants of the product. |
|---|---|
| WooCommerce | The variation’s own description when set, otherwise the product’s short description, otherwise its long description, HTML stripped. |
The free feed check reads this attribute from any feed file and reports the defects above; every check is listed.
Questions merchants ask
Is there a minimum length?
Google’s description specification gives the limit as 1–5,000 characters. Google’s page on fixing a missing product description recommends around 500 to 1,000 characters. The free check reports descriptions under 50 characters as thin.
Does Google penalise a description that differs from the page?
Consistency with your landing pages, and with the other details in the data source such as the title, is one of the minimum requirements on Google’s description specification. The page says that not following these guidelines can lead to disapprovals or limit the serving of your ads. The product data specification says to match the description from your landing page.
Can I include a link in the description?
No. Google’s description specification says not to include links to your store or other websites; the link to the product’s landing page goes in the link attribute.
Sources
- Description [description] and structured description [structured_description] — Google Merchant Center Help
- How to fix: Missing product description — Google Merchant Center Help
- Product data specification — Google Merchant Center Help