# description

The description attribute is the prose a channel uses to understand and display what a product is. On Shopify it maps from body_html, which is rich text, so it needs its HTML stripped and its entities decoded before it can be submitted.

- **Canonical URL:** https://www.feedlab.io/knowledge/attributes/description
- **Last reviewed:** 16 September 2026
- **Source:** feedlab knowledge base
- **Licence:** free to quote and cite with attribution to feedlab


## Specification

| Property | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Attribute | `description` |
| Plain name | Product description |
| Data type | Text |
| Limit | 5,000 characters |
| Format | Plain text. No HTML tags, no promotional wording, no links, and no block capitals. Line breaks are permitted. Because the source is Shopify's rich text editor, decoding HTML entities matters as much as stripping tags: an ampersand left as & shows up literally in the listing. |


### Example values

- `A midweight merino crew neck knitted in a 12-gauge rib. Machine washable at 30 degrees.`



### Support by channel

| Channel | Requirement | Field name | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Google Shopping | Required | `description` | HTML is rejected. Only the first 150 to 500 characters typically display. |
| Meta | Required | `description` |  |
| Microsoft Advertising | Required | `description` |  |
| Pinterest | Required | `description` |  |
| OpenAI | Required | `description` | Capped at 5,000 characters of plain text. |












## Frequently asked questions

### Why is HTML showing up in my Google Shopping description?

Shopify stores product descriptions in body_html, which contains markup from the rich text editor. Mapped straight into the feed, that markup either gets rejected or rendered literally. The field needs the tags stripped and HTML entities decoded before submission.

### How long should a feed description be?

The limit is 5,000 characters, but only the first few hundred are typically displayed. Lead with what the product actually is and its defining attributes, and keep specification detail further down where it still contributes to matching without cluttering the listing.

### Can the description be the same for every variant?

Yes, and it usually should be. The description describes the product; the variant's distinguishing attributes belong in title, size, colour and the dedicated variant fields.




## Primary sources

- [Google: description attribute specification](https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6324468)