Improve Google Product Type Sync

[sukafia]

Google uses both product_type and product_categoryto match search queries with relevant products. While Google automatically assigns the product category, the product type is manually specified.

Google Listing & Ads syncs the selected Woo product categories as product types. However, the product types are synced randomly, meaning any category can be assigned as the primary product type, instead of the most relevant option.

Some things to note

• If one category is selected, that'd be correctly synced as the product type but merchants typically assign multiple categories to products.
• Google prioritizes the first value in the feed as the primary product type. However, we're randomly syncing the values without specifying an order. (e.g.prioritizing the child categories)
• Merchants assign multiple parent/child categories to a product. This means that just prioritizing child categories isn't sufficient as multiple child categories will be synced in some cases. Also, some merchants may prefer having the parent category synced as the product type.

One consideration raised internally in p1708081999866279/1706088275.307189-slack-C0410KV3YLW is adding a UI option for specifying the preferred category to sync as product type.

I'm creating this issue for further discussion, tracking, and prioritization.

How to reproduce the problem

1. Create a product and assign multiple categories (parent and child)
2. Duplicate the product or create other products with multiple categories
3. Notice the product type is randomly assigned in Google Merchant Center

Describe the solution you'd like

An option to specify the suitable Google product type

Technical consideration

• Integration with attribute mapping needs to be considered.
• Google's recommendation and relevance to Google Listings & Ads?

UI Idea

Ticket

Reported in 7600082-zen

[sukafia]

Per @mikkamp advice, the filter woocommerce_gla_product_attribute_values can be used to control how product types are synced. Merchants this is an urgent concern to can use the filter to control how attributes are synced by adding a custom code snippet.

There's a description of how to use the filter here - you'd need to return an array with the attribute you want to override.

[mikkamp]

Just wanted to clarify a few points for better tracking:

However, we're randomly syncing the values without specifying an order. (e.g.prioritizing the child categories)

Not specifying an order means the default order is by term name. So for example for a case where we have assigned the following categories, they'll initially be returned in alphabetical order:

• Mens Clothing (parent)
• T-shirts (child)
• White (child)

We then include all parents with children, but don't change the order. So we'll end up with:

• Mens Clothing
• Mens Clothing > T-shirts
• Colour > White

The only thing we can specify in this case is whether we select the parent category "Mens Clothing", which would place "T-shirts as the "first" category. However if the colour would have been "Blue" then it would have been returned as the first category. Which is why an option to specify that "T-shirts" would be the preferred category, is needed.

Assigning multiple product types is possible when syncing products. The place where it mentions it's a problem is:

If you use product type to organize your bidding and reporting in Google Ads, we recommend that you submit only 1 value. (If you submit more than one value, only the first value will be used.)

The Google Listings & Ads extension doesn't organize bidding or reporting by product type. So it would be through usage of these methods within the Google Merchant Center dashboard or through another linked system.

[Aaronomary1]

I'm currently working on a code snippet to map WooCommerce product categories to Google product types in a more refined manner for our Google Listings and Ads integration (prioritizing the child category > parent category for my needs). To achieve this, I've drafted a code snippet that:

• Fetches the product's categories and their hierarchical relationships.
• Sorts these categories to prioritize child categories.
• Converts the sorted category list into a format compatible with Google's product type expectations.

Here's the snippet (Intended for functions.php):

add_filter('woocommerce_gla_product_attribute_values', 'customize_product_types_for_gla', 10, 3);

function customize_product_types_for_gla($attributes, $wc_product, $gla_product) {
    // Fetch all term ids including parents and children for the product.
    $product_id = $wc_product->get_id();
    $category_ids = wc_get_product_term_ids($product_id, 'product_cat');

    // Prioritize child categories by sorting them based on their hierarchy.
    $sorted_category_ids = sort_categories_by_hierarchy($category_ids);

    // Convert sorted category IDs to Google product types format.
    $google_product_types = convert_product_types($sorted_category_ids);

    // Override the productTypes attribute for Google Listings and Ads.
    $attributes['productTypes'] = $google_product_types;

    return $attributes;
}

function sort_categories_by_hierarchy($category_ids) {
    $categories_with_depth = [];

    foreach ($category_ids as $category_id) {
        $term = get_term($category_id, 'product_cat');
        $depth = count(get_ancestors($category_id, 'product_cat', 'taxonomy'));
        $categories_with_depth[] = ['id' => $category_id, 'depth' => $depth, 'term' => $term];
    }

    // Sort categories by depth (child categories first).
    usort($categories_with_depth, function ($a, $b) {
        return $a['depth'] <=> $b['depth'];
    });

    // Return sorted category IDs.
    return array_map(function ($category) {
        return $category['id'];
    }, $categories_with_depth);
}

function convert_product_types($sorted_category_ids) {
    $product_types = [];
    foreach ($sorted_category_ids as $category_id) {
        $term = get_term($category_id, 'product_cat');
        if ($term && !is_wp_error($term)) {
            $product_types[] = $term->name;
        }
    }

    // Construct the product type string according to Google's guidelines.
    return implode(' > ', array_reverse($product_types));
}

Could someone on your team review this code to ensure it aligns with best practices and possibly suggest improvements? Specifically, I'm looking for feedback on:

• Ensuring the most efficient use of the WordPress and WooCommerce functions.
• Optimization strategies for better performance.
• Best practices for integrating with Google Listings and Ads.

[mikkamp]

We don't have the capacity to test/support custom code. But let me see if there are a few suggestions I can give.

Ideally in situations like this the WC Crud classes can be used fully, but since they don't allow sorting by depth count there needs to be a balance with switching to using WordPress functions.

• In your comment you mention that wc_get_product_term_ids retrieves all terms including parents / children, which is a little misleading because parents will only be returned in that case if they are selected.
• The function sort_categories_by_hierarchy fetches the term data in a loop, but doesn't really do anything with that data, as the sort only looks at depth (should it sort by a second parameter if depth is equal?).
• The function convert_product_types combines all categories it's given even if they aren't connected. If I assign a product with the three categories Apple and Clothing > Tshirt, it will end up combining them as Apple > Clothing > Tshirt, if you never assign multiple categories that aren't in the same branch then that should be ok.

[Aaronomary1]

Is there any update on this issue?