Our always up-to-date Google Shopping Category Taxonomy and category list can be found here with all 5,595 unique categories.
The first time the Google Shopping product category taxonomy was updated was in February of 2015.
The next time the Google Shopping taxonomy was updated was in July of 2019.
The most recent Google Shopping taxonomy update was in September of 2021.
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We even have a way to automatically categorize products for the Google taxonomy using Artificial Intelligence
Why use Google Product Categories at all?
There are thousands of categories in the taxonomy that should be provided in your Google Shopping feed. While some providing your category for Google Shopping is sometimes optional, some categories are required, like ‘Apparel & Accessories’, ‘Media’, and ‘Software’. For all other categories, it is recommended but not required to include Google Product Categories for increasing your relevancy as well as for better bid segmentation grouping.
The relevancy gains of providing Google product categories are immense, and should not be overlooked. Our full-service feed optimization team can help you categorize thousands or even millions of products into great categories for bidding purposes and just better relevancy overall.
Google Product Categories can be subdivided only in the UK, US, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Netherlands, Brazil, Norway, Sweden, Turkey and Australia. Product type is recommended for segmentation for other countries.
Should you use Google Shopping Category IDs or Category Names?
Turns out it doesn’t matter. Google converts their IDs to names in their backend, so you can use either Category IDs or Category numbers for Google Product Categories. It is of course easier to see your categories as actual names.
What Google Shopping Categories should you use for bundled products?
The main product in a bundled item should be used for the category of the bundle. For example, when submitting a digital SLR camera bundled with a bag the correct Google Product Category would be ‘Cameras & Optics > Cameras > Digital Cameras’, because the digital SLR camera is the main product in the bundle.
How granular should you get with the Google Shopping Taxonomy?
Items in the ‘Apparel & Accessories category’ can be generally specified or more specifically. For example, Coats and Jackets could be put under 1604 or ‘Apparel & Accessories > Clothing’ or 203 or more specifically ‘Apparel & Accessories > Clothing’ > Outerwear’ or even more specifically 5598 or ‘Apparel & Accessories > Clothing’ > Outerwear > Coats & Jackets’.
Can products have multiple Google Shopping categories?
Some categories may fit under several categories, but only one Google Product Category is allowed. Choose the category that best describes your item and which is the most specific.
How can Feedonomics help with Google Shopping product categories?
If you’ve ever found yourself asking “how do I map my products to Google Shopping categories as granularly as possible?”, we can actually do all the heavy lifting! Feedonomics lets you easily see your data and write powerful transformation rules to create the absolute best Google Shopping categories for bidding and performance.
We also have a way to automatically categorize products for the Google taxonomy using Artificial Intelligence
Google Shopping Actions
Remember, if you are on Google Merchant Center, you can take advantage of Google Shopping Actions. Google Shopping Actions lets you get your products on Google Express, enable 1-click reordering, and be accessible through the voice controlled Google Assistant. See everything you need to know to get started with Google Shopping Actions.
Brian Roizen is the Cofounder and Chief Architect of Feedonomics, a full-service feed optimization platform that optimizes product data for hundreds of channels. He has been featured on numerous podcasts and eCommerce webinars, and regularly contributes to Search Engine Land and other industry-leading blogs. Brian graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.
