Automatic item updates

Automatic item updates let Merchant Center replace price, sale price, availability, and condition from the structured data on the landing page when the product data is stale. Google’s guide is Allow Merchant Center to update product information automatically. The background is About structured data markup for Merchant Center.

When the markup is wrong at scale, Google stops those updates. The notice is Not performing automatic item updates for availability. Google says the pause comes from incorrect microdata or a large mismatch between the page and the product data.

Shopify causes

The offer price is not the variant price. A compare-at price, a currency app, or the first variant’s price in every URL makes the crawler “correct” the feed to the wrong number, or stop trusting the site. See [Mismatched value (page crawl) [price]](/guides/mismatched-value-page-crawl-price).

Availability in the theme does not follow inventory policy. Continue selling at zero quantity while the theme says OutOfStock is a common Shopify mismatch. See Inaccurate availability.

Condition is missing from the offer. Automatic updates for condition need `itemCondition`. See Missing microdata for condition.

The markup is not in the server HTML. Google ignores offer data that appears only after JavaScript runs. The setup guide states that limit.

What to change

1. Put one Product offer in the server-rendered HTML for each product URL, including the variant query.
2. Set `price`, `priceCurrency`, `availability`, and `itemCondition` to the same facts the feed submits.
3. Fix the theme variants that disagree before you turn automatic updates back on. Google’s notice says the pause lasts until the microdata mismatches are fixed, and the Needs attention list can lag.
4. Do not add a second offer with a different price. Conflicting markup is a reason Google stops trusting the page.
5. Re-scan the catalog after the theme publish. This app does not toggle the automatic-updates setting inside Merchant Center.

How PageCop detects it

The app does not call Merchant Center, so it cannot see whether automatic updates are on or paused. It detects the page facts that cause the pause: a structured-data price that differs from the variant, an availability value that differs from inventory policy, and a missing or invalid offer. Those issues are the ones to clear before you expect Google to resume updates.

FAQ

If I turn automatic updates off, do mismatches go away?

No. Google’s guide says that if you turn the updates off, the product is still subject to item-level disapprovals when the page and the data disagree. Fix the page. Turning the setting off is not a fix this app performs.

How long after a theme fix do updates resume?

Google says it can take time for the Needs attention list to update, and that availability updates resume after the microdata is corrected. This app only shows whether the page and the Shopify catalog agree on the last scan.