Feed titles in Merchant Center: what Google allows

A Merchant Center product title names the product and its variant in plain words, in 1 to 150 characters, and describes what the landing page shows. It is a label, not an ad. Google’s [title] page says to leave out price, sale price, sale dates, shipping, delivery date, other time-related information and your company’s name, and not to use capital letters for emphasis. Its Editorial and professional requirements policy also rules out punctuation, symbols, capitalisation, spacing or repetition not used for their intended purpose. Put the important words first, because Google says users usually notice only the first 70 or fewer characters. A pattern that works: brand, product type, then what people search for, as in “Acme slim bifold leather wallet, tan, RFID blocking”. Titles written with generative AI must go in the [structured_title] attribute, not [title]. The title needn’t match the page word for word, but both must describe the same product and variant. Fix the template that builds titles, not the rows one by one.

Google's [title] page, minimum requirements first: “Use a relevant title that clearly describes your product.” “Describe the product shown on your landing page.” And for variants, “Add the distinguishing details of each variant to the title.” A small red T-shirt and a large blue one should not share a title.

The limits and the no-go list come next. A title runs to “1–150 characters”, and the best practices warn that “Users will usually notice only the first 70 or fewer characters of your title, depending on screen size.” Promotional material stays out: “Don’t add information such as price, sale price, sale dates, shipping, delivery date, other time-related information, or your company’s name.” So does shouting: “Don’t use capital letters for emphasis.” Google's “Editorial and professional requirements” policy adds “Punctuation, symbols, capitalization, spacing, or repetition that aren't used correctly or for their intended purpose”.

One rule is newer than most templates: “All titles created using generative AI must be provided using the structured title [structured_title] attribute instead of the title [title] attribute.” If an app rewrites your titles, check which attribute it sends them in.

Reading the titles you actually submit is a manual feed audit in Merchant Center. StoreVerifier does not read your feed, and the free scan does not grade capitals in product-page titles either. On many stores the product page name is where the feed title comes from, so a title in capitals on the page is worth fixing at the source. The storefront side is in all-caps and promo product titles, and every product check is on the misrepresentation checker.