Product dimensions
Product dimensions are the length, width and height of the item itself as it stands in use, as opposed to the box it is delivered in.
- Item dimensions
What it means
Product dimensions describe the thing you sell: the length, width and height of a kettle, a bath or a wardrobe, usually with its weight beside them. A shopper checks them against an alcove or a worktop, and filters and AI shopping assistants compare them.
Google takes them as product length, width and height, in cm or in, from 1 to 3,000. All three must use the same unit: “Otherwise, the information won’t be displayed.” For weight, Google asks for the assembled product.1
Supplier files break them in a few ways. One cell holds all three numbers, as in 30 x 20 x 10 cm, with nothing to say which is the height. Some arrive in millimetres, which Google’s dimension attributes do not take.1 Some measure the box, not the product. Split the cell into three columns, put the unit in each header, and write down which side is which.
Think of it like this
Product dimensions are the measurements on a furniture shop’s label, not on the delivery note. The label tells you whether the sofa fits your room, and the delivery note tells the driver whether it fits the van.
For example
One kettle arrives as “300x200x100mm” and the next as “H10 W20 D30 cm”. Both become Length (cm) 30, Width (cm) 20 and Height (cm) 10, in three columns, so a filter or a sort treats them as the same size.
Why it matters
A shopper who cannot tell whether a product fits may not buy it, or may buy it and send it back. Mixed units also fail quietly. A kettle recorded as 300 cm is millimetres read as centimetres. It still sits well inside Google’s limit of 3,000, so only a sort on the column will catch it.1
Not to be confused with
Product dimensions are not shipping dimensions. Google’s product attributes carry “the measurements of the product that you’re selling”, and its delivery attributes “the dimensions of the parcel”.12
Sources
- Google Merchant Center Help. Product length [product_length], product width [product_width], product height [product_height], product weight [product_weight].
- Google Merchant Center Help. Delivery length [shipping_length], delivery width [shipping_width], delivery height [shipping_height].