Google has disallowed the sale and advertising of digital books on Google Shopping Ads. Google said "beginning May 18, 2021, Google will no longer support the advertising of digital books globally on Shopping ads."
This does not impact advertising other books, like physical books or audiobooks but it does prevent you from advertising digital books. Google said this includes PDFs, ePub books, MOBI, and 電子書籍 formats.
Shopping ads for digital books will be disapproved at the offer level, including those running at the time the policy goes into effect. Only digital books will be disapproved not audiobooks or physical books.
Google said "if any physical books or audiobooks are disapproved for being incorrectly classified as digital books, please request a review in Merchant Center." Google said it "does not expect this to be a common issue, and will address it swiftly if it happens."
Why is Google changing this policy? Google said "Google cannot provide the best user and publisher experience to meet the high standards for digital books in Shopping ads. While we understand this negatively impacts those who advertise digital books on Shopping, we believe this is the right decision to protect users, publishers, and the Shopping ecosystem."
This does not seem to impact Google Shopping's free listings:
Hi Saljo, Not at this time.
— Ginny Marvin (@GinnyMarvin) May 4, 2021
Forum discussion at Twitter.
