Google recently (30 minutes ago) changed their Product Search guidelines. The full article can be found here. Below are five takeaways from the article that could SEVERELY impact your product feed.
1. You need to have a UPC, ISBN, or Manufacturers Part Number
Plain and simple, Google wants to identify products better. You need this or your products might not be listed. Oh, they also might not tell you that your feed has been disapproved, you products just won't be showing. Sweet, I know. This will go into effect on May 3.
2. Shipping Information is Required
Starting on June 6, you need to put the full cost of shipping. Shipping is such a huge component of making a purchase decision that Google is trying once again to show the best & most accurate results from product feeds.
3. Tax Information is Required for US only
Starting June 6, tax information is required for all US feeds. They "might" reject your feed if it's not there.
4. Sale Price Attributes
Quantity discount pricing and sales pricing was previously not available. It now seems Google has figured it can handle it through a Sale Price attribute along with a Sale Price Effective Date. This could probably be abused very easily so that ALL products are on sale & it just refreshes, but we'll see how Google uses this.
