Google Shopping Title Optimization for Shopify

How to write Google Shopping titles that get approved

Your product title does two jobs at once: it identifies the product for Google matching, and it survives a long list of formatting prohibitions. Most Shopify titles were written for the product page, not the feed. Here is how to rewrite them for both.

By Hazzy · Software engineer, former SEO specialist

The brand-first formula

Google matches products against searches, so the title must lead with what identifies the item: brand, product, key attribute. “Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 40 Running Shoes, Women, Size 8, Black” matches queries at every word; “Running Shoes” matches nothing and competes with everything. Put size, colour, material and model number in the title when they distinguish the product. That detail belongs here, not buried in the description.

150character hard limit

1brand up front

0promo words allowed

The 150-character limit

Titles longer than 150 characters are truncated or rejected, and most placements show far less: front-load ruthlessly. The usual culprit is concatenated variant options: automatically generated titles that glue every option together overrun quietly. Put identifying information in the first 70 characters and move the rest to the description.

Same product. The rewrite leads with brand and identifiers, drops the promotion and the shouting, and fits the limit with room to spare.

The three formatting traps

Promotional text. SALE, FREE SHIPPING, percent-off and repeated exclamation marks are prohibited outright. Offers belong in promotions or sale prices.
All caps. Supplier imports arrive shouting; Shopify displays them fine and Google disapproves them. Sentence case, keeping genuine acronyms and brand capitalisation.
Keyword stuffing. Repeating the keyword five ways reads as manipulation and can escalate to misrepresentation (a far worse category than a formatting rejection.

Fix the template, not the title

When dozens of titles share a flaw, the bug is in the title template or the import mapping. Editing titles one by one does not survive the next sync.

Near-duplicate titles

Two distinct products sharing an identical title look like duplicate listings and both can be rejected. The classic collision is the “mini” or multipack version against the parent. Differentiate with the attribute that differs (size, count, colour), or merge true duplicates into one product with variants.

Title audit checklist

Every title starts with the brand (or vendor set to the real manufacturer)
No title exceeds 150 characters; key info sits in the first 70
Zero promotional words, zero all-caps, zero repeated punctuation
No two products share an identical title
Variant attributes (size, colour, count) included where they distinguish

Related error guides: title too long · all-caps titles · promotional text · duplicate titles

Find out if this is happening to you

Shipwork scans every title in your public catalogue for length, caps, promotional patterns and duplicates: and names the exact products carrying them. Free, no account, no signup. Paste your store address.

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Questions

Where does the brand go in a Shopping title?

First. Brand, product, key attribute. In that order. Google matches left to right and shoppers scan the same way.

How long can a Google Shopping title be?

150 characters hard limit, but front-load the identifying information into the first 70. Most placements show far less than the full title.

Can I include size and colour in the title?

Yes, when they distinguish the product. Size, colour, material and model number are identifying attributes, not keyword stuffing.

Is repeating keywords in the title risky?

Yes. Beyond wasting space, aggressive repetition can be read as misrepresentation, which is an account-level problem rather than a single rejected product.

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