Invalid product category

What Google requires

One line from Google's taxonomy

The value must be either a numeric Google taxonomy id, such as 212, or a full official category path with > between levels, such as Apparel & Accessories > Clothing > Shirts & Tops. One category per product, and it has to match a line that actually exists in the current taxonomy. Google reports a value that does not match its taxonomy as Invalid product category.

What Google does

The product is disapproved

An unrecognised category blocks the item. Free text such as Shirts on its own belongs in product_type, not here. Where the attribute is absent Google infers a category from the title, which is right often enough to be dangerous and wrong often enough to misfile the product.

How to fix it by hand

Map every value to Google's taxonomy

• Match each category to exactly one line from Google's current product taxonomy.
• Prefer the numeric id: it is shorter and cannot be broken by an ampersand.
• Send one category per product, and keep free text in product_type.

What FeedMender checks today

One check applies, read from the scanner's registry

gpc_invalid flags a google_product_category made only of digits and separators — several numeric ids in one field, or a number with stray punctuation.

• gpc_invalidblocks

What the scan does not check today: whether the id or path actually exists in Google's taxonomy. A single all-numeric value passes this check untouched, and so does any value containing >; the taxonomy itself is not consulted, so an id or path that is well-formed but wrong is not caught here.

The quicker way

Let the scan flag them

Run the free scan and it lists the categories that are several ids or separators jammed into one field. The scan to identify errors is free and shows every finding before you pay anything. You only pay for the fix.

Scan your feed