What is a GTIN?

GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) is the universal product ID used by retailers and platforms to recognize a product. Treat it like a passport—proof your item exists and a key to eligibility in shopping features and AI discovery.

What is a GTIN?

A GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) is the canonical identifier for a sellable product. It’s used across supply chains, feeds, and search to unambiguously refer to a specific item.

Common Formats

• UPC – North America
• EAN – Europe and many global markets
• ISBN – Books

Where You’ll See It

• Ecommerce platforms (e.g., Shopify) surface GTIN in product barcode or identifier fields.
• Marketplaces often require a GTIN before listings can go live.
• Merchant feeds use GTIN to qualify products for rich features and accurate matching.

Without a GTIN, platforms may treat your item as “undocumented,” which makes matching, reviews, and price signals less reliable—and can lead to limited visibility.

Why GTIN Matters

• Eligibility for Google’s Product Rich Result enhancements (stars, price, availability).
• Cleaner matching across ads, feeds, and catalogs when your Product Detail Page aligns with feed data.
• More trustworthy inputs for AI discovery and better path to LLM Readiness.

Common Pitfalls

1. Using the wrong format (UPC vs. EAN) for the market you’re selling in.
2. Reusing one GTIN across multiple different products or variations.
3. Having a GTIN on your PDP that doesn’t match the GTIN in your feed—this inconsistency reduces trust.

Best Practices

• Embed GTIN in your site using JSON-LD as part of your Product Schema.
• Maintain Field Consistency across PDPs and feeds (name, brand, price, availability, identifiers).
• Regularly audit feeds with a Feed Diagnostics Report to catch missing or mismatched identifiers.
• Follow Merchant Guidelines for each platform to avoid disapprovals.

Quick JSON-LD Example (truncated)

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Example Product",
  "sku": "SKU-123",
  "gtin13": "0123456789012",
  "brand": { "@type": "Brand", "name": "ExampleCo" },
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "price": "49.00",
    "priceCurrency": "USD",
    "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock",
    "url": "https://example.com/products/example-product"
  }
}

What to Do Next

1. Assign the correct GTIN to each sellable product (no reuse).
2. Add GTIN to PDP markup with JSON-LD and ensure your Product Schema validates.
3. Sync the same identifier in your feeds and confirm with a Feed Diagnostics Report.

Bottom line: GTIN is a small field with outsized impact. It underpins Structured Product Data and helps your products qualify for visibility, both in search and in AI-driven experiences.