How Many Google Shopping Feeds Are Missing Product Identifiers?
Written by Christopher Krassnig, Founder & CEO of ZenoX Media. Answers every question here from the accounts ZenoX runs, not from theory.
The short answer
Most Shopping feeds are missing identifiers: the ZenoX Product Feed Quality Index (July 2026) found 81.3% of 12,375 sampled products across 251 real Merchant Center accounts carry neither a GTIN nor an MPN. Two out of three stores had no identifier on any sampled product. That one empty column caps how many auctions a store can enter.
What we measured
The Product Feed Quality Index is our recurring audit of every Merchant Center account connected to the ZenoX MCC. This edition sampled up to 50 products per store, 12,375 products across 251 stores, snapshot July 28, 2026. Many accounts are measured at onboarding, before optimization, so the numbers show how feeds arrive.
The identifier result was the starkest one in the study: 81.3% of products had neither a GTIN nor an MPN filled, and two out of three stores (66.9%) had no identifier on a single sampled product.
Why identifiers change your reach
A GTIN or MPN tells Google exactly which product you sell. With one, Google matches your offer to its own product catalog, trusts the data more, and shows you in more of the auctions that product belongs in. Without one, Google guesses from your title and description, and you enter fewer auctions off weaker signals.
That is why identifier work comes first on a new account. It is the least glamorous task in Google Ads and one of the highest-return ones.
How to fix it without getting suspended
If the product has a real barcode, put it in the gtin field. If it does not, fill brand plus mpn, or set identifier_exists to false and let brand carry the match. What you never do is invent a GTIN to fill the column: made-up codes are a fast path to a Merchant Center suspension, and they are one of the first things Google cross-checks.
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