How To Add WooCommerce GTIN And Other Extra Fields To Your Product Listings

In today’s online marketplace, standing out isn’t just about having a great product. It’s about making sure your product gets seen. This is where WooCommerce GTIN, MPN, and other unique details can help.

When you list products on platforms like Google Shopping or Facebook, the details you provide in your product data feeds, like GTIN, MPN, and others, make a huge difference. These identifiers aren’t just filler; they’re the key to getting your products noticed, properly categorized, and ultimately sold.

In this guide, we’ll break down how to add these important fields to your WooCommerce product data feeds. This way, you can prime your products for success.

So let’s get started!

Why Add Extra Fields To Your Product Feed?

In the world of online sales, data reigns supreme. After all, platforms like Google Shopping and Facebook Marketplace rely on detailed product data to display items to the right shoppers.

When submitting product data feeds to various sales channels, additional fields give more detailed product information, helping marketplaces understand exactly what you’re offering. Think of them as the fine-tuning that ensures your products are displayed precisely how they should be.

In other words, adding extra fields like GTIN, MPN, EAN, UPC, and Brand ensures that both marketplaces and search engines properly recognize your products. Thus, they improve your product’s chances of being found by shoppers.

Here’s why adding extra fields like GTIN, MPN, and other product identifiers can boost your store’s performance:

1. Better product categorization

Sales channels use these identifiers to categorize your products more accurately. Without them, your product might end up in the wrong category, making it harder for shoppers to find. Correct categorization means your product is shown to the right audience, at the right time.

2. Improved search results

Extra fields like GTIN and MPN help search tools and platforms understand what your product is. This translates into better placement in search results. The more precise your data, the more likely it is that your product will show up when customers are searching for exactly what you offer.

3. Eligibility for more sales channels

Some platforms require fields like GTIN or UPC to even consider listing your products. Therefore, including these fields opens up opportunities to feature your products on more sales channels, expanding your market reach.

4. Avoiding rejection

Incomplete or incorrect data can cause your listings to be rejected by some platforms. Additional fields help ensure your product meets marketplace standards. Thus, they reduce the risk of costly rejections or delays in getting your products listed.

5. Increased trustworthiness

When you provide unique product identification numbers, it shows that your products are authentic and well-documented. Buyers, and even sales platforms, are more likely to trust listings with complete and accurate information, which can lead to higher click-through rates.

Adding these fields isn’t just a checkbox. It’s a strategic move that can directly impact how many people see, click, and buy your products.

What Are Product Identifiers?

Product identifiers are globally recognized codes that uniquely distinguish a product, no matter the brand or retailer. They play a key role in differentiating your products in the international market, helping link them to relevant search queries and making it easier for customers to locate them.

Product identification numbers are assigned by the manufacturer. Therefore, if multiple retailers sell the same product, they’ll share the same identifier.

Common product identifiers include:

• GTIN (Global Trade Item Number)
• UPC (Universal Product Code)
• EAN (European Article Number)
• MPN (Manufacturer Part Number)
• Brand

These codes help identify products across various platforms and marketplaces. Thus, whether you’re selling shoes, electronics, or books, these identifiers ensure that no matter where your product is listed, it’s recognized as the same item. For a closer look at each type and when Google requires them, see our WooCommerce product identifiers guide.

Why Use Product Identifiers?

Using product identification numbers comes with several benefits, including:

1. Improved search visibility

Product identification numbers like GTIN help e-commerce platforms categorize your products accurately. Including these identifiers enables search engines and marketplaces to match your items to relevant search queries more effectively. Consequently, this boosts the chances of your items ranking higher in search results, allowing potential customers to discover them more easily.

2. Compliance with marketplaces

Many major marketplaces require product identification numbers to list your products. Without them, your listings may be rejected or penalized. Thus, including these identifiers ensures your products meet the platform’s standards, reducing the risk of rejection and allowing you to sell smoothly across multiple channels.

3. Product authenticity

Using product identifiers assures buyers that the products you’re selling are genuine. Since identifiers like MPN or UPC are assigned by the manufacturer, they act as a seal of authenticity. This builds customer trust by allowing them to confidently confirm they’re buying authentic items, which is especially important when shopping online, where concerns about counterfeit goods are more prevalent.

4. Consistency across platforms

When you use product identification numbers, you ensure that your product information remains consistent no matter where it’s listed. Whether it’s on major or smaller marketplaces, product identifiers act as a universal reference for the product. This consistency across platforms creates a smoother shopping experience for customers, as they’ll see the same product details regardless of where they encounter your listing, reducing confusion and increasing trust in your brand.

5. Prevention of duplicate listings

Product identifiers help platforms recognize when a product is the same across different listings, preventing the creation of duplicate entries. Without these identifiers, platforms may treat identical products from various sellers as separate listings, cluttering search results and confusing buyers. Thus, these codes ensure that your product appears just once on each marketplace, streamlining the browsing experience for customers and improving your product’s visibility.

6. Expanded market reach

Including product identifiers increases your chances of getting your products accepted on more sales channels. After all, marketplaces often rely on these codes to manage their vast inventories, and having them allows your products to be featured across a broader range of platforms. Consequently, this widens your audience and boosts your chances of making more sales.

What Product Identifiers Should You Add To Your WooCommerce Product Feed?

The product identifiers to add to a WooCommerce product data feed depend on the sales channel you’re targeting. For example, while one channel may require you to include GTIN, MPN, and Brand, another may not. With that said, it’s a good idea to determine your products’ identifiers in case a sales channel you’re looking to promote your items on requires them.

Thankfully, a good product data feed solution offers templates that tell you exactly what details a sales channel requires. For example, the AdTribes Product Feed Pro plugin for WooCommerce comes with templates for 250+ channels, including Google Shopping, Meta, TikTok, and Pinterest:

As you can see above, the Google Shopping template lists the attributes Google accepts and labels each one as required or recommended. Its Product identifiers group, for example, holds Brand, Gtin, MPN, and Identifier exists.

Take note: AdTribes Product Feed Pro also prefills many of these attributes with your product details. Thus, it reduces the amount of work you have to do when setting up your feeds!

With all that in mind, here are the product identifiers most major sales channels require from WooCommerce store owners:

WooCommerce GTIN

GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) is one of the most important identifiers for your products. It’s used to track products worldwide and is required by many major marketplaces. GTINs come in different formats depending on the region and product type, including UPC, EAN, and ISBN.

When you add GTINs to your products, you make it easier for platforms to categorize said products and help search engines show them to the right audience. If your products don’t have GTINs, you might miss out on valuable exposure.

WooCommerce UPC

A type of GTIN, UPC (Universal Product Code) is primarily used in North America. UPCs ensure that your products are recognized and categorized correctly. They’re particularly common in retail environments, so if you’re listing your WooCommerce products on popular platforms, including the UPC can make all the difference.

Adding UPCs to your WooCommerce product data feeds improves your chances of making it easier for shoppers to find your products on multiple North American platforms.

WooCommerce EAN

EAN (European Article Number) is a type of GTIN widely used in Europe. If you’re selling products internationally, especially to European markets, adding an EAN to your WooCommerce products is a must. EANs help categorize your products accurately and make them easy to find.

Adding EANs can improve your product’s visibility across European sales channels and marketplaces, helping you reach a broader audience.

WooCommerce MPN

MPN (Manufacturer Part Number) is a distinct code that a manufacturer assigns to its product. Unlike GTIN, which is global, MPNs are specific to the manufacturer. Including the MPN in your WooCommerce product data feeds ensures that your product can be correctly identified even if it doesn’t have a GTIN.

MPNs are especially helpful in categories where multiple manufacturers produce similar items, such as electronics or automotive parts. When you add MPNs to your WooCommerce products, you reduce the risk of mix-ups or mislabeling across different sales platforms.

WooCommerce brand

Brand is a key piece of information that identifies the manufacturer or producer of the product. Including the brand in your WooCommerce product data feeds helps shoppers recognize and trust your products, as they may have brand preferences or be looking for specific brands. Brands are especially important for products in categories where brand reputation and recognition play a significant role in purchasing decisions, such as clothing, electronics, and cosmetics.

Adding the brand to your WooCommerce product data feeds ensures that your products are correctly associated with the right brand across all sales channels. Thus, this identifier improves their visibility and appeal to consumers who are loyal to or actively searching for specific brands.

Would you like more information on unique product identifiers? Then check out this Google Merchant Center document!

How To Add WooCommerce GTIN And Other Extra Fields To Your Product Feeds

To add WooCommerce GTIN and other product identifiers to your product data feeds, you’ll need a product data feed plugin for WooCommerce. For this guide, we’ll use AdTribes Product Feed Pro.

AdTribes Product Feed Pro is free, and it can already send your brand from WooCommerce’s built-in Brands. To send GTINs, MPNs, and the other identifiers we’ve discussed, you’ll need the premium version, AdTribes Product Feed Elite. It adds dedicated identifier fields to your products and lets you map WooCommerce’s own GTIN field to your feed.

In addition, you should familiarize yourself with the product data feed creation process. But don’t worry, because it’s super easy! Plus, we’ve got a comprehensive, step-by-step guide on using AdTribes Product Feed Pro to create effective product data feeds. Just check out our article, “What Is A Product Feed And How Do You Create One? (Ultimate Guide).”

Do you know how to use AdTribes to create product data feeds? Then let’s proceed!

Step 1: Add identifiers to your products

First, your products need their identifiers stored in WooCommerce. You have two options here, and you can use both.

Option 1: Use WooCommerce’s built-in fields

WooCommerce has its own field for barcodes. Open a product, go to the Inventory tab of the Product data box, and enter the code in the GTIN, UPC, EAN, or ISBN field. For variable products, you’ll find this field on each variation.

WooCommerce also has built-in brands. Go to Products > Brands to create your brands, then pick one in the Brands box when editing a product.

Option 2: Use the extra fields in Product Feed Elite

AdTribes Product Feed Elite adds dedicated fields for identifiers like Brand, GTIN, MPN, UPC, and EAN, plus other attributes like product condition, color, and size. To turn them on, go to your WordPress dashboard > Product Feed > Settings, then click the Extra fields tab.

Here, you’ll find a list of attributes, each with its own toggle. Simply turn on the fields you want to use. In the example below, we enabled Brand, GTIN, MPN, UPC, and Optimized title.

Once enabled, the fields appear on the General tab of each product’s Product data box, ready for you to fill in.

Step 2: Configure field mapping using product identifiers

Next, create or edit your feed, then open the Field Mapping tab.

Depending on your chosen sales channel, its identifier attributes are already listed for you. For example, in a Google Shopping feed, click the Product identifiers group in the sidebar to see Brand, Gtin, MPN, and Identifier exists.

To map them, pick the matching field from each attribute’s Source from WooCommerce dropdown. You can type part of a name, like “gtin,” to filter the long list.

Here are the sources to pick, depending on where you stored your identifiers:

• Brand: “Brands” for WooCommerce’s built-in brands, or “Brand (Added Custom attribute)” for Product Feed Elite’s field
• Gtin: “Global Unique ID (GTIN, UPC, EAN, or ISBN)” for WooCommerce’s built-in field, or “GTIN (Added Custom attribute)” for Product Feed Elite’s field
• MPN: “MPN (Added Custom attribute)” for Product Feed Elite’s field

Using Yoast WooCommerce SEO? Its GTIN and MPN fields show up as sources, too.

💡 PRO TIP: Leave Identifier exists set to Plugin calculation. AdTribes Product Feed Pro then sets it to “yes” for new products that have a brand plus a GTIN or MPN, and “no” for the rest, so you don’t have to manage it by hand.

Step 3: Add custom fields (optional)

While adding custom fields is optional, it can help your products stand out.

Let’s say your preferred sales channel doesn’t require a certain identifier. What if you’d like to include said identifier in your feed, anyway? Then you’ll have to add custom fields to your list of fields.

To do this, click the + Add custom field button at the bottom of the table. This adds a new row under Custom fields.

First, enter a name for your custom field. When creating this name, you can only use letters, underscores, and hyphens. White spaces, numbers, and other special characters aren’t allowed.

Then, pick its source from the Source from WooCommerce dropdown. For example, we can create the following custom fields, and then select their sources:

• upc: UPC (Added Custom attribute)
• ean: EAN (Added Custom attribute)

Step 4: Complete feed setup

And that’s it! Click Save Changes, and you’ve successfully added product identifiers to your product data feed. Now, all that’s left is to finish setting up your feed!

FAQs About Product Identifiers

Let’s answer some commonly asked questions about product identifiers!

Conclusion

Adding WooCommerce GTIN, MPN, and other product identifiers to your data feeds helps sales channels categorize and showcase your products effectively, increasing your chances of success. After all, these details ensure better visibility, improved search results, and a smoother shopping experience for your customers.

To recap, you can easily add product GTINs and other helpful identifiers by using AdTribes Product Feed Pro and Elite and following these steps:

1. Add identifiers to your products
2. Configure field mapping using product identifiers
3. Add custom fields (optional)
4. Complete feed setup

Do you have any questions about what we discussed in this article? Reach out to us and let us know. We’d be happy to hear from you!