One of the most common Google Base errors we see are:

The item is missing a required attribute - description:

Google Base has required attributes (fields) for a product. If a required attribute is not provided, the product will generate an error message and not be listed.

If you get this error from Google, you can view your feed to see if you are missing information in the description field.

Browse to Marketing > Shopping Portals > Google Base

You can click on the Export button to get a copy of your feed for review.

By default the description field of the feed is populated from Short Description + Long Description1. If you have a product that doesn't have any data in the Short Description and Long Description1 fields of your product database, Google Base will generate a required attribute missing error and not list that product. 

Solution: You can use merge codes in the Customize Description area to customize what is populated into the description field. This gives you control over populating data in the description field of the feed based on your product data.

Product fields that can be used to customize this field:

##PRODUCTNAME##
##SHORTDESCRIPTION##
##BULLETS##
##LONGDESCRIPTION1##
##LONGDESCRIPTION2##
##LONGDESCRIPTION3##
##LONGDESCRIPTION4##
##LONGDESCRIPTION5##
##ITEMNR##

You can use any/all of the above merge codes in the Customize description field to define where AmeriCommerce should populate the Description field in the feed from. We recommend using a few different merge codes to ensure something will be populated in the descirption field.

IMPORTANT: If you add merge codes in the customize description box, the setting will override the default setting of Short Description + Long Description1. If you want to use Short Description and Long Description1 as well, please add those merge codes in the Customize Description field as well.

The example in the snapshot uses the Product Name and Bullets but you can use any/all of the above mentioned merge codes to ensure your description field is populated.