Google Merchant Center 2026: 4 spec-change deadlines

Google Merchant Center is in the middle of its biggest product-data spec update in years. Four dates between April 2026 and January 2027 reshape what your Google Shopping feed has to look like: new attributes, video display, a pickup-cost rule for the UK, Switzerland and the EEA, and an image floor that finally has teeth. Three are already in effect (the pickup rule since September 30, 2026); the image floor is enforced from January 31, 2027. Here is each date, the actual change, and what to do about it now.

April 14, 2026, new attributes went live

Several new attributes were added to the product data spec. They are optional, and since April 14 Merchant Center reports technical validation errors on them.

handling_cutoff_time

The cutoff time of day at your warehouse, orders placed before this time ship same-day. Combined with handling time and shipping time, it lets Google show "Order in the next 4 hours for delivery Tuesday" prompts on Shopping listings.

Format: four-digit HHMM (no colon), paired with a separate cutoff_timezone attribute in IANA format. e.g. 1600 with Europe/Prague.

minimum_order_value

The minimum spend required to place an order shipped to a given country, not a free-shipping threshold (that's a separate attribute, free_shipping_threshold). Lets Google show an accurate minimum on Shopping listings instead of surprising the shopper at checkout.

Format: country:service:price, e.g. US:standard:20 USD.

video_link

URL to a product video. Optional; since June 30, 2026, submitted videos are eligible to display on Shopping listings. Supports MP4, MPG/MPEG, WMV, AVI, MOV, and FLV.

Plus loyalty program sub-attributes (loyalty_program_label, loyalty_tier_label) for stores running points programs that affect price or shipping.

June 30, 2026, video display eligibility

Since June 30, 2026, videos submitted through video_link are eligible to display in Shopping listings, and Google runs quality and policy validation on them. If you submit videos, watch Merchant Center diagnostics for video issues the same way you do for images.

September 30, 2026: pickup rules mandatory in the UK, Switzerland and the EEA

Announced April 28, 2026, this one is mandatory from September 30, 2026 for merchants in the UK, Switzerland, and the EEA whose in-store products are enabled for pickup. If you charge pickup costs or impose a minimum order value on those products, the matching attributes (pickup_method, pickup-cost fields, minimum_order_value) must be present and correct, or the affected products may be disapproved.

Scope note: this hits in-store / pickup products specifically, not your general online feed. If you don't offer in-store pickup in those regions, it doesn't apply to you, but for Czech and EU shops that do, it is the most actionable date on this list.

January 31, 2027, 500×500 image minimum enforced

This is the big one. From January 31, 2027 the 500×500 minimum image size is enforced: products with images below 500×500 get disapproved, not warned.

The previous floors:

• Non-clothing categories: 100×100 px
• Clothing/apparel categories: 250×250 px

Both go away. The new universal minimum is 500×500 across all categories.

Warnings started on April 14, 2026, so Merchant Center already flags these images in your diagnostics, before it starts disapproving them on January 31, 2027. Use the time that is left.

Other changes worth knowing

IPTC DigitalSourceType for AI images (already in effect)

Not new in 2026, this became mandatory in February 2024: but worth flagging if you haven't updated. AI-generated product images submitted to Merchant Center must include IPTC DigitalSourceType metadata with one of: TrainedAlgorithmicMedia, CompositeSynthetic, or AlgorithmicMedia.

Applies to image_link, additional_image_link, and lifestyle_image_link. One thing to know if you render images through a feed tool: Emberfeed doesn't generate images with AI and doesn't write IPTC metadata. A render is a new image, so an IPTC DigitalSourceType tag on an AI-generated source photo does not carry over. If some of your product photos are AI-generated, submit those as the original, tagged files rather than as renders.

identifier_exists is now warning-only

Since late 2023, missing GTIN/MPN combined with identifier_exists=falseno longer triggers disapproval, it surfaces as a "Limited performance" warning. Your products keep serving; visibility in Shopping results is just downgraded. Worth knowing because it's the highest-volume warning in Merchant Center diagnostics.

structured_title and structured_description

Alternative attributes that satisfy title /descriptionrequirements with structured data useful for AI-driven product surfaces. Increasingly important as Google Shopping moves toward AI Overviews and structured comparisons in SERPs. Worth adding now even though they're not strictly required.

What to ship and when

1. Right now:Audit Merchant Center diagnostics for the "Image too small" warning. Plan the remediation. Get IPTC metadata correct on any AI images you're generating.
2. Since April 14, 2026: The new attributes are live. Add handling_cutoff_time, minimum_order_value, and video_link to your feed where they apply. Get product videos created if you want to compete on that surface.
3. Since June 30, 2026: If you submit videos, watch your Merchant Center diagnostics for video rejections and fix anything flagged.
4. From September 30, 2026 (UK, Switzerland and the EEA only): If you offer in-store pickup, make sure pickup-cost and minimum_order_valueattributes are set on those products. Skip if you don't do pickup in those regions.
5. Before January 31, 2027: Resolve every "Image too small" warning by replacing the source images with larger ones. Rendering the small files at a higher resolution doesn't count: Google says not to scale images up.

The Emberfeed shortcut for catalog-wide changes

Field rules let you make catalog-wide changes once and have them apply to every product. Specifically for the 2026 spec:

• Add handling_cutoff_time as a default value (your warehouse cutoff is the same for every product), one rule, every product gets it.
• Set minimum_order_value conditionally per category if your store has different thresholds, one rule with a category condition.
• Serve Google a clean render (no text, no logo, no border) from a duplicate of the feed you use for Meta. What a render can't do is fix an image that is too small: that needs a larger source photo, which Emberfeed picks up on the next hourly refresh.
• Check Google's required fields and common format issues before you submit. Emberfeed's validation also measures your product photos, while rendering them and in the background after each refresh, and lists the ones under 500×500, so an "Image too small" warning does not have to come from Merchant Center first.

For the full reference of every Google Merchant required field and rule, see our GMC image requirements 2026 spec page. For specific rejection codes, the catalog rejection database covers each error individually.