Feed error
Item disapprovedMissing value: age group
The "Missing value [age_group]" issue means an apparel item was submitted without saying whether it is for adults, kids or babies. Shopify has no age group field, so stores that sell mainly adult clothing rarely record it anywhere and the feed sends nothing unless a rule supplies it.
How this appears in your account
The exact wording the channel shows, so you can match what you are looking at.
- Missing value [age_group]
- Missing value: size [size], color [color], gender [gender], age group [age_group]
- Missing value: Age group
What it affects
- Channels
- Google Shopping Microsoft Advertising
- Attributes
- google_product_category
- Scope
- A subset of items
Why it happens on Shopify
Nothing in the store records age group
An adult fashion store has no reason to tag products as adult, so the information is implied rather than stored. The feed cannot send a value that does not exist anywhere in the catalogue.
The metafield exists but is not mapped
Shopify's product taxonomy adds an age group category metafield, and stores that used Shopify's Google channel may hold age group in its metafields. Neither reaches a feed built by another tool unless it is mapped.
Values are not in the accepted vocabulary
Google accepts newborn, infant, toddler, kids and adult, in English. Store terms such as "Baby", "Junior" or "Teens" are not valid values on their own.
The product was categorised as apparel automatically
Where no google_product_category is supplied, Google assigns one. Items that land in Apparel & Accessories inherit the age group requirement.
How to fix it
-
Set a sensible default for the store
If the store sells only adult clothing, adult is a truthful default for every apparel item. This is the one apparel attribute where a store-wide value is often correct.
-
Identify the exceptions
Children's and baby ranges are usually separated by collection, product type or tag. Use that signal to override the default for those products.
-
Map store terms to Google's values
Translate "Baby" to infant or newborn, "Toddler" to toddler and "Kids" or "Junior" to kids, using Google's age ranges: newborn up to 3 months, infant 3 to 12 months, toddler 1 to 5 years, kids 5 to 13 years and adult from roughly 13 upwards.
-
Check the category for non-apparel items
If products that are not clothing are being asked for an age group, supply the correct google_product_category rather than inventing a value.
How feedlab handles this
feedlab lets you set age_group as a conditional rule: adult by default, with overrides for products in a children's collection, product type or tag. The rule preview shows which products fall into each branch against your real catalogue before the feed is published.
Frequently asked questions
Which products need an age group?
Google requires age_group for products in Apparel & Accessories, for free listings and for Shopping ads targeting Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. A few accessory sub-categories, such as keychains and watch bands, are exempt.
What values can I use?
newborn, infant, toddler, kids and adult, submitted in English. Pick the value that matches who the product is designed for, not who might buy it.
Is it fine to send adult for every product?
Only if the store genuinely sells nothing for children. If it does, those products need the correct younger age group, or they risk showing for adult searches and being misclassified.
Related errors
- Missing value: gender The "Missing value [gender]" issue means an apparel item was submitted without saying who it is for. Shopify has no gender field on products, so the information usually lives only in a collection, a tag or the title, and the feed sends nothing unless gender is mapped from one of those deliberately.
- Missing value: color The "Missing value [color]" issue means an apparel item reached Merchant Center without the colour attribute it requires. On Shopify the colour usually exists, but as a variant option or in the product title rather than a dedicated field, so a feed that does not map the option explicitly leaves color empty.
- Missing value: size The "Missing value [size]" issue means a clothing or shoe item was submitted without a size. On Shopify the size is normally a variant option, so the error points at a feed that does not map that option per variant, or at one-size products that have no size option at all.
- Incorrect value: Google product category An incorrect or invalid google_product_category value means the category you submitted does not match an entry in Google's product taxonomy, so it is rejected. On Shopify it usually comes from passing a Shopify category, a collection name or only the last segment of a Google category path.
Primary sources
Channel specifications change. These are the official documents this page is based on.