Merchant Center product Q&A: what to add to your feed

Google Merchant Center can accept product-specific questions and answers through its optional question_and_answer attribute. For a Shopify merchant, the useful starting point is a small set of verified answers about important products—not a promise of better rankings or automatic inclusion in an AI answer.

Documentation checked on 3 November 2026.

What Google accepts

Google’s attribute specification allows up to 30 pairs per product. Each question and answer can contain up to 1,000 characters, within a combined 10,000-character limit. Both parts are required. The attribute is available in all countries and is primarily intended for conversational experiences such as AI Mode.

Use factual product information. Exclude prices, dates and keyword lists. Avoid repeating information already supplied in other attributes, or in a submitted document from which Google can extract the same answer.

Start with questions your team can substantiate

Our recommendation: choose five products with recurring support questions. For each answer, record the source of the fact, the variant it applies to and who checked it. Compatibility, care and package contents are useful starting points. If the team cannot establish an answer, leave it unresolved rather than generating confident copy.

For example, a hypothetical bag listing might answer whether its laptop compartment accommodates a particular device. Check the actual internal measurements and the device dimensions first; a broad marketing label such as “15-inch laptop” is not a substitute for that check.

Add data without confusing the checkout setting

Google recommends a supplemental data source; a primary source or Merchant API submission is also supported. These optional attributes do not affect existing product approval status. Confirm your feed provider’s support instead of assuming a Shopify FAQ field syncs automatically.

Keep a record of the submitted answers and inspect the processed product data after a small test. Assign someone to revise answers when specifications change. Product-data enrichment does not itself establish eligibility for direct checkout, and an accepted feed does not guarantee that Google will display or recommend a product.