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Product matching

Product matching is how Google or a price comparison site recognises offers from different shops as one product, so it can show them side by side.

How it works

A channel gets the same product from many shops under different names and IDs. It joins them by shared signals: the GTIN, often called EAN in Europe, the brand with the MPN, and the product name. Matched offers land on one product card; an unmatched offer stays on its own.

The guide to EAN, GTIN and SKU across channels covers each channel field by field.

ChannelMatching
GoogleBy identifiers, against its product catalogue; it also uses them to list the sellers of one product
Zboží.czProduct name, EAN, manufacturer and product number are the main factors
idealoBy EAN, which allocates offers to a product automatically
HeurekaIn most categories, automatically by an exact name match with an offer already in the category; unique names by hand; books, films and music only with an EAN

Where you see it

  • Heureka: Přehled spárovanosti (pairing overview) in the shop’s admin, with a tab for missing mandatory parameters.

Example

Example store, not client data.

The tableware shop sends 3,000 products to Heureka. Its 2,600 factory-made products carry a GTIN, which Heureka says can speed up pairing considerably when the name and category are also good. Its 400 handmade ceramics have no GTIN and names no other shop uses, so they wait for manual pairing. 2,600 ÷ 3,000 = 87% of the range has a GTIN to send.

How GetProfit reads it

The portal checks the Google side. In its feed score, GTIN carries 16 of the 100 points. The feed screen shows how many products have no barcode and offers two courses of action. If the barcode exists, it says where to get it and which feed field it goes in; if not, it suggests setting identifier_exists = no.

Not to be confused with

  • SKU — your own catalogue item and its code. Channels use it as the offer ID; Heureka says its ITEM_ID field plays no part in pairing so far.

Right and wrong readings

  • Wrong: “Put our own code in the EAN field so every product has one.” Right: Heureka asks for official product codes there, not internal numbers.
  • Wrong: “Renaming an offer is harmless once it is paired.” Right: on Heureka, a new name, category, offer URL or ITEM_ID, or a significant price change, unpairs the offer and sends it back to pairing.

Sources