Google has recently updated its product title policy in Google Merchant Center, and it’s worth taking a closer look at what has changed and its implications for merchants.
When reviewing the policy, I noticed that the section around brand usage in product titles has been modified. Previously, the guidance suggested that if you sell products from multiple brands, and the brand is a differentiating factor, you should include the brand name in the product title. This made sense, it helped users quickly understand who manufactures the product they were looking at.
The updated wording, however, has removed that suggestion. It now emphasizes that you can only use your own merchant brand name or company name in the short title attribute if you are the actual manufacturer of the product. For products you don’t manufacture, you must use the original manufacturer’s brand name. In short, merchants can’t insert their own company name as a “brand” unless they truly are the manufacturer.
What does this mean in practice?
Not much changes for most merchants. If you’re a reseller, you’ll naturally still want to include the brand name in your product titles. Shoppers searching for specific products expect to see the manufacturer’s brand included; otherwise, your listing may not align well with their search intent. For manufacturers, the situation is similar; the store name usually matches the brand, and the brand will already be visible in the Shopping listing itself.
For example, if the listing is for “Nike Thailand,” the brand is already displayed in the store name, so repeating it at the beginning of the product title is unnecessary. In fact, I recommend placing the brand name at the end of the title so that the most relevant search keywords appear at the beginning. This minor adjustment can improve performance, since users’ scanning results are drawn first to the product details.
Why did Google make this change?
It’s unclear why Google decided to remove the earlier suggestion. One possibility is that they may soon introduce new ways of displaying brand information, such as annotations or dedicated brand indicators within listings. That could explain why they no longer want merchants to feel obliged to add it in the same way.
That said, the best practices section still highlights the importance of keywords, including brand names, product names, and other identifiers. Although the policy wording has shifted, the recommendation to utilize brand information effectively remains unchanged.
Final thoughts
For now, the impact of this update is minimal. If you’re not the manufacturer, continue including the brand name in your titles; it’s still one of the strongest ways to connect your products with what shoppers are searching for. If you are the manufacturer, your brand is likely already well-represented through your store identity. However, you can still experiment with placing the brand name within the title to improve visibility.
I’ll be keeping an eye on whether Google introduces new features or policy changes related to how brand names appear in Shopping listings.
What do you think this change signals? Could we be seeing a more significant update to the brand presentation in the near future? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.