Feed error
Item disapprovedMissing 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.
How this appears in your account
The exact wording the channel shows, so you can match what you are looking at.
- Missing value [color]
- Missing value: size [size], color [color], gender [gender], age group [age_group]
- Missing color for product variants
What it affects
- Channels
- Google Shopping Microsoft Advertising
- Attributes
- google_product_category item_group_id
- Scope
- A subset of items
Why it happens on Shopify
The colour lives in a variant option the feed does not read
Shopify stores colour as Option1, Option2 or Option3 on the variant, and the option name is free text. A feed that looks for an option called "Color" misses stores that named it "Colour", "Shade" or "Farbe", and submits nothing.
Single-colour products have no colour option at all
A product sold in one colour usually has no options, so its only variant is the "Default Title" variant. The colour is mentioned in the title or description, but there is no structured value for the feed to pick up.
Some variants in a group have a colour and others do not
Where variants share an item_group_id, Google expects every variant to carry the same set of variant attributes. A product whose options are size only, or where colour was added to some variants later, triggers the variant-specific form of the issue.
The product was categorised as apparel automatically
When no google_product_category is supplied, Google assigns one itself. If it lands in Apparel & Accessories, the colour requirement applies even to items you never thought of as clothing, such as a bag or a keyring.
How to fix it
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Check which products are affected and why
Download the affected items from the Needs attention tab and compare them with the catalogue. Split them into products with a colour option, products whose colour exists only in the title, and products that are not really apparel. Each group needs a different fix.
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Map color from the right variant option
Read the option whose name means colour, whatever it is called in your store, and send its value as color for each variant. Do this per variant rather than per product, because each colour variant is a separate row.
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Give single-colour products a structured value
For products without a colour option, store the colour in a metafield, such as the colour category metafield that Shopify's product taxonomy provides, and map it into the feed. Parsing colour words out of titles is a fallback, not a source of truth.
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Send colour names, not codes or placeholders
Google rejects numbers and symbols such as hex codes as colours, and values that are not colours at all, such as "variety" or "N/A". Use the colour shown on the landing page. Multiple colours are separated with a slash, for example "Black/White", with up to three colours per item.
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Set google_product_category where Google guessed wrong
If items that are not apparel are being asked for a colour, supply the correct google_product_category. Google's own guidance notes that a wrongly assigned category changes which attributes are required.
How feedlab handles this
feedlab syncs every variant with its options and metafields, so a conditional rule can take color from whichever option is named Colour, Color or Shade and fall back to a metafield for single-colour products. The rule preview lists the variants that would still have no colour against your real catalogue before the feed is published.
Frequently asked questions
Which products need a colour attribute?
Google requires color for products in the Apparel & Accessories category. It is required for free listings, and for Shopping ads in Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Outside apparel it is optional but still useful for products that come in several colours.
My product only comes in one colour. Do I still need it?
Yes, if it is apparel. A single-colour T-shirt still needs a color value, even though Shopify gives it no colour option. Store the colour in a metafield and map it into the feed.
Can I send a colour like "Midnight" or a hex code?
A named colour such as "Midnight" is acceptable if it matches what the landing page shows, and Google suggests adding the plain colour, such as "Blue", to the title. Hex codes and numbers are not accepted as colours.
Related errors
- 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.
- 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: 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.
- Missing value: item group ID The "Missing value [item_group_id]" issue means variants of one product reached the channel without the shared group ID that ties them together. On Shopify it usually means the feed emits a row per variant but never sends the parent product ID, or builds ids in a way that loses the link between variants.
Primary sources
Channel specifications change. These are the official documents this page is based on.