Google Shopping Unit Pricing Measure Attribute: Requirements & Examples

What is the unit_pricing_measure attribute?

The unit_pricing_measure attribute specifies the actual quantity of your product — the weight, volume, length, or count of the contents as sold. It works together with unit_pricing_base_measure and your product’s price to let Google calculate and display a standardized per-unit price alongside your total price in Shopping results. For example: a 750ml shampoo at €14.99 becomes “€2.00 / 100ml” — the price comparison shoppers need to compare value across differently-sized products.

This attribute is not merely a convenience feature — in many markets it is a legal requirement. The EU Price Indication Directive (and its Omnibus Directive update in 2022), the UK Unit Pricing Regulations, and similar laws in Australia mandate that retailers display a reference unit price for covered product categories. Google enforces this requirement by mandating both unit pricing attributes for merchants operating in these markets when the products fall within covered categories.

Technical specifications

Where it displays

• Shopping Ads — Google displays the calculated per-unit price (e.g., “€2.00 / 100ml”) below the total price in Shopping ad listings. This is shown in the same card as the product title and price, making the unit price immediately visible to comparison shoppers without any additional clicks.

• Free Listings — On the Shopping tab product detail page, the per-unit price is shown alongside the total price. In market-level sorting/filtering, unit pricing data enables price-per-unit comparison functionality that helps price-sensitive shoppers find the best value.

• Shopping tab comparison — In markets with legal requirements, Google’s Shopping interface may provide price-per-unit sorting. Products without the attribute are excluded from this functionality.

• Legal compliance display — In EU and UK markets, the per-unit price must be displayed as a matter of law. Google’s surface of this data means your Shopping listing is legally compliant as long as the attribute values are accurate. This removes the compliance burden from your landing page (though your website should still comply independently).

• Display & Remarketing — Unit price data is available as a product attribute in Google’s audience and product signal systems, which can influence how Dynamic Remarketing ads are assembled and targeted for price-conscious segments.

Rules

• Unit must match the physical dimension of unit_pricing_base_measure — If your product is measured in grams, the base measure must also be a weight unit. Mixing dimensions (e.g., measure in ml, base in g) will cause a feed error.

• No space between number and unit — Write 750ml not 750 ml. The format must be exact.

• Use exact unit abbreviations — ml not mL or milliliters. kg not KG or kilograms. Google’s parser is case-sensitive.

• Decimal values are accepted — 1.5kg, 0.75l are valid formats.

• Submit the net content measure — The quantity of the actual product, not the packaging. A 500g yogurt in a 550g container = 500g.

• Required when unit_pricing_base_measure is set — These two attributes are a pair; submitting one without the other causes a feed warning.

Best practices

Choosing the right unit

Use the unit that matches how the product is sold and understood in your market. EU markets predominantly use metric (ml, g, kg, l). UK still uses imperial for some categories. Match consumer expectations: beer is measured in ml or cl in Europe; fl oz in the US.

Multi-pack calculation

Category-specific conventions

• Beverages: Use ml or cl for EU; floz for US. Beer typically in ml or cl.

• Food: Solids/dry goods in g or kg. Liquids/sauces in ml.

• Cleaning products: Liquid cleaners in ml or l. Powder/tablets often in g or ct.

• Personal care: Typically ml for liquids, g for creams/solids.

• Pet food: Wet food in g, dry food in kg.

Impact on performance

• Legal compliance — In EU/UK/AU, submitting this attribute is not optional for covered categories. Missing it can result in product disapproval in those markets, not just suboptimal presentation.

• Conversion rate for value-driven shoppers — Price-per-unit is the primary decision signal for grocery and FMCG shoppers. Products that clearly display per-unit pricing convert better among comparison shoppers because they remove calculation friction.

• Competitive positioning — If your product offers better per-unit value than competitors, displaying the unit price explicitly surfaces that advantage in the Shopping interface without requiring the shopper to do the math themselves.

• Feed quality score — Providing required attributes improves your overall Merchant Center feed health score, which can influence both paid and organic listing performance.

Common mistakes

• Submitting only unit_pricing_measure without unit_pricing_base_measure — both are required as a pair

• Using incorrect unit abbreviations (mL, Kg, litre) instead of exact lowercase abbreviations

• Including a space between the number and the unit (750 ml instead of 750ml)

• Submitting the gross/package weight instead of net product content

• Using different measurement dimensions for the two attributes (e.g., unit_pricing_measure=750ml with unit_pricing_base_measure=100g)

• Forgetting to update unit pricing when product sizing changes but the title and SKU don’t

• Omitting the attribute for multi-pack products because “it’s complicated” — it’s worth calculating correctly

Pro tips

• Automate unit parsing from your product data — If your ERP or PIM system stores volume/weight as structured fields, feed these directly to unit_pricing_measure in your feed generator. Don’t rely on manually parsing product titles (e.g., extracting “750ml” from “Shampoo 750ml”) — title parsing is fragile and breaks on title variations.

• Standardize on metric for EU feeds, even for UK operations — While UK historically uses imperial for some categories, metric is legally preferred for most goods since 2000 and is what EU-standard comparison shoppers expect. Running metric throughout simplifies compliance across both markets.

• Use supplemental feeds to add unit pricing without regenerating full feed — If your main feed doesn’t include unit pricing, add it via a supplemental feed with just id + unit_pricing_measure + unit_pricing_base_measure. This is faster to deploy and easier to maintain separately.

• Audit unit pricing accuracy quarterly — Product reformulations, size changes, and new SKUs can invalidate previously correct unit pricing values. A quarterly audit matching unit pricing values against your PIM/ERP product data catches drift before it becomes a compliance issue.