Google Merchant Center Adds Warranty Attribute for All Products as Quebec's 3 to 6 Year Warranty Law Starts

Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, 20 October 2026.

Google Merchant Center now accepts a warranty attribute for general products, not just vehicle ads, so merchants can show warranty length in Shopping ads and free listings. The change appears on Google's Merchant Center help page for the attribute and was reported by industry press on 16 October 2026. It follows Quebec's new legal warranty of good working order, which took effect on 5 October 2026 and covers appliances and electronics for 3 to 6 years.

Google's help page names the Quebec rule directly. It says the attribute is for products that must show certain information in ads or free listings because of local regulations, giving Bill 29 in Canada and Quebec as the example.

What changed

• New attribute for products. The warranty attribute was previously documented for vehicle ads in Japan. It is now available for general products, and Google keeps the vehicle version with an extra mileage field.
• Two sub-attributes. duration is a whole number, and duration_unit accepts month or year. Both are listed as required for products when the attribute is used, and the unit defaults to month if left out.
• Years for Quebec. Google says Bill 29 warranties must be submitted in years.
• Use is targeted. Google describes the attribute as optional, for products that need warranty details shown because of local rules. The page says it has no schema.org equivalent.

Data source type	How to submit a 3 year warranty
Text feed (TSV or CSV)	Column name warranty(duration:duration_unit), value 3:year
XML feed	<g:warranty><g:duration>3</g:duration><g:duration_unit>year</g:duration_unit></g:warranty>
Merchant API	Use the Merchant API resource format

The Quebec law behind it

Quebec's consumer protection office, the Office de la protection du consommateur, says a legal warranty of good working order applies to certain new appliances and electronics bought or leased from a merchant from 5 October 2026. It entitles consumers to free repair, including parts, labour and reasonable shipping costs, if the item stops working during a fixed period after delivery. The warranty also transfers to later owners until it expires.

Product	Legal warranty in Quebec
Stoves, refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, heat pumps	6 years
Washing machines, dryers, dishwashers	5 years
Televisions	4 years
Laptops, desktop computers, game consoles, mobile phones, tablets	3 years

Google's own examples on the help page match that list: a television with a 4 year warranty and a mobile phone with a 3 year warranty, both priced in Canadian dollars.

According to an April 2026 analysis by law firm Osler, the final regulation requires merchants to show the warranty duration prominently near the advertised price, and manufacturers to disclose it online. That disclosure duty is the practical reason a feed-level attribute matters for retailers selling into Quebec through Google's shopping surfaces.

Why it matters for search

Merchant Center data feeds more than paid Shopping ads. Google's help page says the attribute applies to ads and free listings, the unpaid product results that appear across Google's shopping surfaces. For ecommerce SEO teams, that puts warranty data alongside price, shipping and returns as structured product information Google can display.

The update also continues a pattern of Google adding policy-driven fields to product data. Last year Google expanded the ways merchants can share shipping and returns policies with Search, as noted on its Search Central blog.

What to do

• Retailers selling into Quebec: add warranty with the legal duration in years for every covered product category, and check that the feed value matches the price-adjacent disclosure on your product pages.
• Use the right unit. Submit year explicitly. If the unit is left blank, Google defaults to months, which would understate a 3 year warranty as 3 months.
• Keep page and feed consistent. Show the same warranty length in visible product page copy as in the feed, so shoppers and Google see one figure.
• Outside Quebec: Google positions the attribute for regulatory use. Retailers elsewhere should watch for further guidance before relying on it for promotional warranty claims.
• Check legal requirements with counsel. The feed attribute supports disclosure but does not replace a merchant's own obligations under Quebec law.

Conclusion

Google has opened the Merchant Center warranty attribute to general products, with sub-attributes for duration and unit, so warranty length can appear in Shopping ads and free listings. The timing lines up with Quebec's warranty of good working order, in force since 5 October 2026, which sets 3 to 6 year warranties on major appliances and electronics. Retailers with Quebec customers should update their feeds in years and keep their product pages consistent with what they submit.

Questions and answers

What is the Merchant Center warranty attribute?

It is a product data attribute, warranty, with two sub-attributes: duration (a whole number) and duration_unit (month or year). Google says it can be shown in ads and free listings.

Is the warranty attribute required?

Google describes it as optional, for products that must show certain information because of local regulations such as Bill 29 in Quebec. When used for products, both sub-attributes are required, and Bill 29 warranties must be given in years.

What does Quebec's warranty of good working order cover?

From 5 October 2026, certain new goods bought or leased from a merchant carry a legal warranty of 6 years (stoves, refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, heat pumps), 5 years (washers, dryers, dishwashers), 4 years (televisions) or 3 years (computers, game consoles, mobile phones, tablets).

How do I format a 3 year warranty in a text feed?

Use the column name warranty(duration:duration_unit) and the value 3:year, according to Google's Merchant Center help page.

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