We covered this news back in April, but as Kirk Williams posted last week, some of you may have forgotten. In short, Google Merchant Center will automatically opted everyone in to the new automatic item updates for condition on June 26, 2022.
Google posted this news back in April and it says "Automatic item updates for condition: To help you keep your product data correct we’re adding automatic item updates for condition. Beginning June 26, 2022, all accounts will be automatically opted-in to use automatic item updates for condition. If you choose to not use the feature, you can opt-out in Merchant Center through the Automatic Improvements setting, under item updates. If you opt-out, your products may be disapproved if they use an incorrect condition value."
Automatic item updates can help you keep your data more accurate and up-to-date by automatically using your landing page data to update your product data. Automatic item updates allow Google to update your products on Shopping ads, Buy on Google, and free product listings using the structured data markup we find on your website and advanced data extractors. Automatic item updates is currently offered for the price [price] and availability [availability] attributes.
For example, if your most recent data feed contains a product that costs $4 but your product landing page lists it as $3, we will update the product to $3 in your Shopping ad or free product listing.
The condition [condition] attribute tells potential customers about the condition of the product you're selling. Google said it is important to set this value correctly since it is used to refine search results.
Kirk Williams added on Twitter "I don't really see this as a negative thing TBH, since condition is something that should be set correctly on a PDP anyway so if it's not already... fix it anyway. But, I always pay attention when I see the words "all accounts will be opted in."
I don't really see this as a negative thing TBH, since condition is something that should be set correctly on a PDP anyway so if it's not already... fix it anyway. But, I always pay attention when I see the words "all accounts will be opted in"! #ppcchat
— Kirk Williams 🎙 (@PPCKirk) May 31, 2022
Forum discussion at Twitter.
Note: This was pre-written and scheduled to be posted today, I am currently offline for Shavous.
