If you’ve been using Google Merchant Center for a while, you’ve probably learned to pay close attention whenever Google quietly pushes out a policy update. Most of the time, these updates don’t come with any announcement, no email, no banner. They just show up in the documentation, and it’s up to you to figure out what changed and why.
That’s exactly what happened recently with the product ID attribute.
Google updated the documentation to include the following note:
“Using the same IDs across multiple Merchant Center accounts is acceptable and won’t result in duplicate product disapprovals.”
On the surface, this might sound like Google just gave you a green light to list your products across multiple accounts and run more ads for the same product. But that’s not what this means at all, and I want to clear that up before anyone makes a costly mistake.
Reference: https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6324405
What This Does NOT Mean
Let me be direct: running the same product across two separate websites or Merchant Center accounts in the same country is not allowed. It falls under Google’s ad network abuse policy, which prohibits taking an unfair advantage in the auction.
Think about it logically. If you have two websites, both targeting the UK and selling the exact same product, you’re essentially competing against yourself in the ad auction, and crowding out other advertisers in the process. Google sees this as manipulative, and rightfully so. This can and will get your accounts suspended if you go down that road.
So if you’re thinking about scaling by spinning up a second website for the same market, my honest advice is don’t. If this is a long-term business you’re building, it’s not worth the risk. Play by the rules and build on one solid foundation.
So What Does This Update Actually Apply To?
Here’s where it gets interesting, and honestly, this is the reason I wanted to write about it.
The real use case for this update is multi-country targeting with separate top-level domains.
Just above this new note in the documentation, Google still clearly states: “Don’t reuse an ID for different products in the same target country or language.” The key phrase there is same target country. Flip that around, and it means you absolutely can reuse the same product ID when targeting different countries.
This is where things start to make sense.
Let’s say you’re selling across the UK and France. Some merchants prefer to use country-specific domains, such as .co.uk for the UK and .fr for France. When you do this, you typically need separate Merchant Center accounts for each country, or you set up an advanced account with sub-accounts for each target market.
Now here’s the thing: if you’re running both country stores on a single CMS or inventory system, which most merchants are, your product IDs will be identical across both accounts. The same SKU for the same product, just being sold in a different country.
Before this clarification, merchants were sometimes getting confused about whether this was allowed. And given that Google felt the need to update the documentation, I’d guess a lot of people were asking this question through support.
One Domain vs Multiple TLDs. My Take
While we’re on the subject, I want to share my own perspective on the domain strategy question.
Personally, I recommend targeting multiple countries from a single domain whenever possible. When you consolidate all your international traffic under one domain. Say, example.com, you’re building domain authority in one place rather than splitting it across multiple TLDs. Over time that has a meaningful impact on your organic rankings and overall brand strength.
That said, I understand why some businesses prefer separate TLDs. There’s a trust factor with local shoppers, and in some markets a local domain extension genuinely does improve conversion rates. It’s a valid strategy, just be aware that it comes with more account management overhead on the Merchant Center side.
If you do go the multi-TLD route, just make sure you’re setting up your account structure correctly: one advanced (MCA) account with sub-accounts for each country. This keeps everything organized and makes it easier to manage feed settings, shipping, and tax rules per market.
Another bonus point is that getting approved with 1 domain targeting different countries, is more likely then when you have multiple different TLDs.
Why Did Google Even Need to Clarify This?
This is the part that I find most interesting. Google doesn’t typically update policy documentation unless people repeatedly ask about it. The fact that this clarification appeared tells me there’s been genuine confusion in the merchant community, probably among people running multi-country accounts who worried that duplicate product IDs would cause disapprovals.
In reality, nothing has changed here in terms of how the system works. Google’s system has always been able to distinguish between the same product ID used in different target countries. What changed is that Google made it explicit in writing, so merchants don’t have to guess.
It’s a small update, but it matters, especially if you’re managing feeds across multiple markets and want peace of mind that your setup is compliant.
Key Takeaways
- Using the same product IDs across multiple Merchant Center accounts is acceptable, but only when targeting different countries or languages.
- Running the same products across multiple accounts in the same country is not acceptable and violates Google’s abuse of ad network policy.
- If you’re using separate TLDs per country (.co.uk, .fr, etc.), you’ll need separate Merchant Center accounts or sub-accounts, and your product IDs can safely be the same across them.
- Nothing has fundamentally changed here. This was always the case. Google has simply made it clearer in the documentation.