Product Feed Specs for UCP, ACP, and Merchant Center

Your product feed is what AI systems read when they decide whether to surface your products in response to a user’s query. If the feed is missing fields, has stale availability, or uses the wrong price format for the target platform, AI agents either skip your products entirely or show incorrect information — both of which kill conversion. Feed quality directly affects your Readiness Score: catalog issues account for 25% of the total score.

Feed formats

JSON (preferred for UCP and ACP)

Use JSON for any programmatic UCP or ACP catalog endpoint:

{
  "products": [
    {
      "id": "prod_123",
      "title": "Running Shoes",
      "description": "High-performance running shoes for trail and road. Available in sizes 7-13.",
      "link": "https://yourstore.com/products/running-shoes",
      "image_link": "https://yourstore.com/images/running-shoes.jpg",
      "price": "129.99",
      "currency": "USD",
      "availability": "in_stock",
      "brand": "YourBrand",
      "gtin": "0123456789012",
      "product_type": "Apparel & Accessories > Shoes > Athletic Shoes"
    }
  ]
}

XML (Google Merchant Center)

For Google Merchant Center submission:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:g="http://base.google.com/ns/1.0">
  <channel>
    <item>
      <g:id>prod_123</g:id>
      <g:title>Running Shoes</g:title>
      <g:description>High-performance running shoes for trail and road.</g:description>
      <g:link>https://yourstore.com/products/running-shoes</g:link>
      <g:image_link>https://yourstore.com/images/running-shoes.jpg</g:image_link>
      <g:price>129.99 USD</g:price>
      <g:availability>in stock</g:availability>
      <g:brand>YourBrand</g:brand>
      <g:gtin>0123456789012</g:gtin>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

JSON-LD (on-page structured data)

Add Product schema to every product page for AEO and GEO coverage:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Running Shoes",
  "description": "High-performance running shoes for trail and road.",
  "image": "https://yourstore.com/images/running-shoes.jpg",
  "brand": { "@type": "Brand", "name": "YourBrand" },
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "price": "129.99",
    "priceCurrency": "USD",
    "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock"
  }
}
</script>

Required vs optional fields

Field	UCP	ACP	Google MC	Notes
`id`	Required	Required	Required	Stable, unique per product
`title` / `name`	Required	Required	Required	Clear, descriptive — no keyword stuffing
`description`	Required	Required	Required	Use at least 150 characters for AI comprehension
`link`	—	—	Required	Canonical product URL
`image_link`	Required	Required	Required	Absolute HTTPS URL
`price`	Required	Required	Required	See price formatting rules below
`availability`	Required	Required	Required	See availability values below
`brand`	Recommended	Recommended	Required (most categories)	—
`gtin`	—	—	Recommended	Improves match quality
`variants`	Required (if applicable)	Required (if applicable)	Required	See variant handling below

Variant handling in feeds

Each variant must be its own item in the feed with its own id. Use the item_group_id field to group variants of the same base product:

{
  "products": [
    {
      "id": "prod_123_10_black",
      "item_group_id": "prod_123",
      "title": "Running Shoes — Size 10, Black",
      "color": "Black",
      "size": "10",
      "availability": "in_stock",
      "price": "129.99",
      "currency": "USD",
      "image_link": "https://yourstore.com/images/running-shoes-black.jpg"
    },
    {
      "id": "prod_123_11_black",
      "item_group_id": "prod_123",
      "title": "Running Shoes — Size 11, Black",
      "color": "Black",
      "size": "11",
      "availability": "out_of_stock",
      "price": "129.99",
      "currency": "USD",
      "image_link": "https://yourstore.com/images/running-shoes-black.jpg"
    }
  ]
}

ACP agents select a specific variant when a user specifies size, color, or other options. If variants are collapsed into a single product entry, the agent cannot resolve the user’s selection to a purchasable SKU.

Price and availability rules

Price formatting

Platform	Format	Example
UCP / ACP endpoints	Decimal string, no currency code	`"129.99"` with a separate `"currency": "USD"` field
Google Merchant Center	Decimal string + currency code	`"129.99 USD"`

Mixing these formats is the most common feed error. The wrong format causes Google to reject feed items or ACP agents to misread prices.

Availability values

UCP / ACP	Google Merchant Center	Meaning
`in_stock`	`in stock`	Available to purchase now
`out_of_stock`	`out of stock`	Not available
`preorder`	`preorder`	Not yet released — include `availability_date`
`backorder`	`backorder`	Available for backorder

Update availability within 5 minutes of inventory changes. Stale availability is the leading cause of AI-to-purchase conversion failures — an agent that shows an out-of-stock item as available loses the customer’s trust immediately.

Submission paths

UCP (Google path)

Submit your feed via Google Merchant Center (Content API or scheduled fetch)
Ensure the feed URL is in a supported format (RSS/XML or Content API JSON)
Publish your /.well-known/ucp manifest pointing to your catalog endpoint
Validate with the Readiness Score

UCP (Shopify)

Shopify exposes your product catalog automatically when UCP is enabled. Ensure your product data in Shopify is complete — descriptions, images, and availability — before enabling the feature. See the Shopify UCP Guide.

UCP (Custom / Headless)

Host a feed JSON endpoint and reference it in your manifest:

{
  "capabilities": {
    "product_catalog": {
      "endpoint": "https://yourstore.com/api/ucp/products",
      "format": "json"
    }
  }
}

Use the Manifest Generator to build the full manifest, or call the Manifest API directly.

ACP

ACP agents consume your catalog through the search_products tool endpoint. That endpoint must return well-structured product objects with all required fields including variant data. See ACP Getting Started.

Formatting best practices

Use stable product IDs

Never use session-based, timestamp-based, or auto-incremented IDs that change on reimport. Stable IDs let agents re-reference products across sessions. If an agent caches prod_123 and you reimport with a new ID, the agent’s product reference becomes a dead link.

Prices in the correct format per platform

UCP/ACP: decimal string in major currency units ("129.99") with a separate currency field. Google Merchant Center: decimal string plus currency code ("129.99 USD"). Mixing these is the most common feed formatting error.

Absolute image URLs

Images must be absolute HTTPS URLs. Relative paths (/images/shoe.jpg) do not work in feeds. Images should be at least 400×400 pixels, ideally 1000×1000 pixels.

Keep availability in sync

Update availability within 5 minutes of inventory changes. Stale availability is the leading cause of AI-to-purchase conversion failures.

Descriptions of at least 150 characters

AI systems use product descriptions to match user queries. Short descriptions (“Running shoes. Size 7-13.”) give the model almost no signal. Write full, natural-language descriptions that describe use cases, materials, and fit.

Feed validation

Run the Asva audit API to check your catalog, feed format, and schema in one call:

curl -X POST https://asva-ai.com/api/audit \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ASVA_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"domain": "yourstore.com", "checks": ["catalog", "feed", "schema"]}'

Pre-submission checklist

Feed URL is publicly reachable (no authentication required)
All required fields are present and non-empty
Prices are in the correct format for the target platform
Images are absolute HTTPS URLs and accessible
/.well-known/ucp manifest references the feed endpoint
ACP endpoints validated with the ACP Validator
JSON-LD Product schema is present on all product pages

Get Started

UCP

ACP

Attribution

Guides

Product Feed Specs for UCP, ACP, and Merchant Center

Feed formats

JSON (preferred for UCP and ACP)

XML (Google Merchant Center)

JSON-LD (on-page structured data)

Required vs optional fields

Variant handling in feeds

Price and availability rules

Price formatting

Availability values

Submission paths

UCP (Google path)

UCP (Shopify)

UCP (Custom / Headless)

ACP

Formatting best practices

Feed validation

Pre-submission checklist

​Feed formats

​JSON (preferred for UCP and ACP)

​XML (Google Merchant Center)

​JSON-LD (on-page structured data)

​Required vs optional fields

​Variant handling in feeds

​Price and availability rules

​Price formatting

​Availability values

​Submission paths

​UCP (Google path)

​UCP (Shopify)

​UCP (Custom / Headless)

​ACP

​Formatting best practices

​Feed validation

​Pre-submission checklist

​Related

Feed formats

JSON (preferred for UCP and ACP)

XML (Google Merchant Center)

JSON-LD (on-page structured data)

Required vs optional fields

Variant handling in feeds

Price and availability rules

Price formatting

Availability values

Submission paths

UCP (Google path)

UCP (Shopify)

UCP (Custom / Headless)

ACP

Formatting best practices

Feed validation

Pre-submission checklist

Related