Feed error
Item disapprovedMissing 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.
How this appears in your account
The exact wording the channel shows, so you can match what you are looking at.
- Missing value [gender]
- Missing value: size [size], color [color], gender [gender], age group [age_group]
- Missing value: Gender
What it affects
- Channels
- Google Shopping Microsoft Advertising
- Attributes
- google_product_category
- Scope
- A subset of items
Why it happens on Shopify
Shopify has no built-in gender field
Gender is not part of the core Shopify product. Stores express it through collections such as "Women", product types, tags or the title, none of which a feed reads as gender unless told to.
The metafield exists but is not mapped
Shopify's product taxonomy adds a target gender category metafield, and stores that used Shopify's Google channel may hold gender in its own metafields. A feed built by another tool will not pick either up automatically.
Values are not in the accepted vocabulary
Google accepts only male, female and unisex, in English. Values such as "Women", "Herren" or "Kids" are not valid gender values and are treated as if nothing had been sent.
The product was categorised as apparel automatically
Without a google_product_category, Google assigns one itself. Products placed in Apparel & Accessories are then asked for gender, even if they are homeware or gifts.
How to fix it
-
Decide where gender is recorded in your store
Pick one reliable source: the target gender metafield, a tag convention, the product type or a collection. Collections are the weakest source because a product can sit in both "Women" and "Sale" and nothing enforces consistency.
-
Translate store terms into male, female or unisex
Map "Women", "Damen" and "Ladies" to female, "Men" and "Herren" to male, and anything genuinely shared to unisex. The output must be one of the three English values regardless of the store language.
-
Default deliberately rather than silently
If a whole category is unisex, such as socks or caps, a conditional default of unisex for that category is legitimate. A blanket default across the catalogue misdescribes products that are clearly for one gender.
-
Check the category for non-apparel items
If items that are not clothing are being asked for gender, supply the correct google_product_category so they leave Apparel & Accessories.
How feedlab handles this
feedlab syncs products with their tags, product types, collections and metafields, so a conditional rule can derive gender from whichever source your store actually uses and translate it into male, female or unisex. The rule preview shows which products would still have no gender against the real catalogue before the feed is published.
Frequently asked questions
Which products need a gender value?
Google requires gender 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 lanyards, are exempt.
What values are accepted?
Only male, female and unisex, submitted in English even if the store and the rest of the feed are in another language.
Can I just set everything to unisex?
It clears the error but misdescribes products made for men or women, which can show them for the wrong searches. Use unisex where it is true and derive the rest from your catalogue.
Related errors
- 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: 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.