For
Product feeds for sporting goods
A sporting goods catalog is three catalogs in one: apparel and footwear that must carry Google's apparel attributes, hard goods like bikes, skis and rackets with sizes that do not look like clothing sizes, and an outdoor or hunting range where some products cannot be advertised at all. This page sets up a product feed for sporting goods that handles all three, with the filters, titles, seasonal labels and channel mix that fit.
We connect your store, build the feed and keep it in sync. Updated 2026-10-27.
At a glance
- Activewear and shoes targeting the US, UK, Germany, France, Japan or Brazil need age_group, gender and color; clothing (1604) and shoes (187) also need size.
- Google's Dangerous products policy bans guns (including airsoft, paintball and BB), ammunition, scopes and sights, pepper spray, exploding fireworks and fighting knives; gun locks and other safety items are allowed.
- Hard-goods sizes (bike frames, ski lengths, racket grips) go in size as one combined value, with the deciding measurement in the title.
- We set up Textfinity to filter restricted items by product type, normalize sizes with regex rules, set season labels with an advanced expression and publish a feed per channel.
Apparel rules inside a sporting goods product feed
Google treats a running jacket as apparel, not sporting goods. Products targeting the US, UK, Germany, France, Japan or Brazil, and any free listing in Apparel & Accessories (166), need age_group (adult, kids and the younger bands), gender (male, female, unisex) and color. Clothing (1604) and shoes (187) also need size. Sports stores often miss these because the store categorizes by sport (Running, Football) rather than by garment, so the gender sits in a collection name and the age band in a tag.
Size is the hard one. Shoe sizes arrive as "US 9 / EU 42.5 / UK 8", kids' sizes as "8-10Y", and team kits as "YL". Google wants the size shoppers choose on the page, one value per variant; a lookup sheet from your store's spellings to one system per target country keeps it consistent.
Restricted products in sports and outdoor catalogs
| Product | Google Shopping status | Feed rule |
|---|---|---|
| Airsoft, paintball and BB guns | Not allowed | Exclude by product_type |
| Ammunition, magazines, silencers | Not allowed | Exclude by product_type |
| Scopes, sights, bipods, stocks, grips | Not allowed (gun parts) | Exclude by product_type or tag |
| Pepper spray, tasers, brass knuckles | Not allowed | Exclude by product_type |
| Fighting, switchblade and balisong knives | Not allowed | Exclude by title matches regexp |
| Exploding fireworks, firecrackers | Not allowed | Exclude by product_type |
| Gun locks, trigger locks, chamber blocks | Allowed (safety) | Keep |
| Bows, crossbows, hunting knives | Not named on the policy page | Check the current policy for each target country |
From Google's Dangerous products policy, checked 2026-10-27. Retailers must also follow the laws where they operate and where the ads show.
Titles and categories for sports hard goods
Sports shoppers search with the spec that decides fit: "29 inch trail bike large frame", "170 cm all-mountain skis", "size 5 match ball". Put that measurement right after the model: brand, model, type, key measurement, color, then size for variants. Google allows 150 characters, and the front of the title is what shows in most placements.
Categories: Sporting Goods is 988, with Athletics (499713) and Outdoor Recreation (1011) below it, for example Bicycles (1026) and Soccer Balls (1112). Activewear sits under apparel as 5322, which is what triggers the apparel attributes. Map product types to IDs with replace from google sheet, which is a substring find-and-replace, so keep column A values specific (full product type paths) and condition the rule on is in google sheet list; a new collection then stays visible as unmapped instead of half-replaced.
Seasons, channels and catalog size
Sporting goods are seasonal: ski in winter, cycling and water sports in summer, team kits around the start of the season. A custom_label_0 with the season lets you raise or pause bids per group in Google Ads without editing the feed every quarter. Channel mix: Google Shopping and Microsoft Ads for intent, Meta Ads and Pinterest Ads catalogs for outdoor and lifestyle products, each with the restricted filter applied.
Counting size variants, most sports stores land between 1,000 and 5,000 SKUs, and larger multi-sport retailers well above that. Each catalog is quoted on its own after a short call, based on SKUs, feeds and whether it needs AI titles.
Examples
Worked examples, by situation
Four sports catalogs, four different problems.
Apparel attributes from sport collections
Before
collection: Women's Running size: US 7.5 / EU 38.5 color: Multi
After
gender: female age_group: adult size: 7.5 color: Blue/Coral
How we set it up
We give gender the static value female with the condition collection includes Women, and age_group the static value adult; size gets replace from regexp ^US ([\d.]+).*$ → \1; color an advanced rule: [primary_color] + "/" + [accent_color] from the store's color fields, because Google rejects "Multi".
Keep the banned range out, keep the safety gear in
Filter rules
exclude if [product_type] is in list "Airsoft, Ammunition, Scopes & Sights, Self Defence"
exclude if [title] matches regexp (?i)\b(balisong|butterfly knife|knuckle)How we set it up
We add exclude filters with is in list and matches regexp. Gun locks stay because their product type is not on the list. The same filter set goes on every channel feed.
Frame and wheel size in size and title
Before
title: Trail 29 Large frame: L wheel: 29
After
title: Kestrel Trail 29 Mountainbike, 29 Zoll, Rahmengröße L, Grün size: L / 29 in google_product_category: 1026
How we set it up
We map size with an advanced rule: [frame] + " / " + [wheel] + " in"; set up an AI config that enhances the title with output language German, reading title, frame, wheel and color, accepted per product; and map google_product_category with replace from google sheet, conditioned on is in google sheet list.
Season label for bidding
Before
product_type: Football > Boots
After
custom_label_0: autumn-spring
How we set it up
We map custom_label_0 with an advanced rule: if [product_type] includes "Football" then "autumn-spring" else if [product_type] includes "Ski" then "winter" else "summer". Product sets in Commerce Manager and listing groups in Google Ads read the label.
Copy this plan
Plan: a sports catalog to Google Shopping
01
Send us the store
Shopify natively; other platforms through a CSV or Google-shaped XML export URL, or SFTP.
What we set up: We connect the store or export URL.02
Profile sizes, colors and genders
Feed hygiene shows size and color spelling variants, empty genders and titles over 150 characters.
What we set up: We run feed hygiene on sizes, colors and genders.03
Exclude restricted products
Build the dangerous-products filter once and copy it to every feed.
What we set up: We add exclude filters with is in list and matches regexp to every feed.04
Map apparel attributes and sizes
gender, age_group, color and size for activewear and shoes; combined sizes for hard goods.
What we set up: We build the Google Shopping feed with size as a replace from regexp and gender as a static value with a condition.05
Add categories and season labels
google_product_category from a sheet of specific product type paths, custom_label_0 from one advanced expression.
What we set up: We map google_product_category with replace from google sheet under an is in google sheet list condition, and custom_label_0 with an advanced rule.06
Register the feeds with Merchant Center and the other channels
Each feed is a URL: Merchant Center, Commerce Manager, Pinterest and Microsoft fetch it on a schedule. Review diagnostics in each channel.
What we set up: We hand you the feed URLs and register them with you: you give us access or we walk you through it.
Customization tips
Make it yours
Filter by product type, not by keyword
A title regex for "gun" also catches glue guns and massage guns. Excluding whole product types is safer; keep regex for the few knife names that hide in general categories.
Seasonal labels versus seasonal filters
Excluding off-season products means re-adding them later and rebuilding their listing groups. Labeling them and lowering bids keeps the structure in place; exclude only what is out of stock.
One size system per country
A German feed should say 42 for shoes, a US feed 9. When the store keeps "US 9 / EU 42.5" in one field, a replace from regexp per feed picks the right part: ^US ([\d.]+).*$ for the US feed, ^.*EU ([\d.]+).*$ for the German one. Mixed systems in one country confuse shoppers comparing offers.
FAQ
Questions about product feed for sporting goods
Can I advertise hunting and airsoft products on Google Shopping?
Not guns of any kind, including airsoft, paintball and BB guns, and not ammunition, gun parts such as scopes and sights, pepper spray or fighting knives. Gun safety items such as locks are allowed. Bows, crossbows and hunting knives are not named on the policy page, so check the current policy and local law for each target country.
Do sportswear products need gender and age group?
Yes when they target the US, UK, Germany, France, Japan or Brazil, and for free listings in Apparel & Accessories: age_group, gender and color are required, and size is required for clothing and shoes.
How should bike and ski sizes go into a product feed?
As one combined value in size, such as L / 29 in for a bike or 170 cm for skis, with the deciding measurement also in the title. Google asks for multi-dimensional sizes to be combined into one value.
Set up for you
Have a sports feed set up that keeps banned items out and sizes right.
Send us your store. We set up Textfinity with the dangerous-products filter, size and season rules, and publish feeds for Google, Meta and Pinterest.
Tell us your store and channels. We reply within 24 hours.