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November 14, 2025

# Does Product Feed Validation Still Matter in 2026?

Short answer: yes, but not for the reason it used to.

The old thinking was: Only checking for missing required fields while ignoring formatting issues (extra whitespace, wrong currency codes) that also cause silent disapprovals. That framing is dated — search engines have gotten much better at figuring things out without hand-holding. But 'search engines can cope without it' isn't the same as 'it doesn't matter.'

What actually changed is who benefits. Validate after every feed regeneration, not just the first submission — schema drift creeps in silently as your product catalog or CMS changes. That's less about appeasing an algorithm and more about not wasting the crawl/attention you already have.

The practical test isn't whether it's trendy — it's whether skipping it creates work for someone else later (a crawler, a future you, a user). By that test, product feed validation still earns its place.

Same question, different tool: does GTIN validation still matter?

Merchant Feed Validator either way — checking takes longer to read about than to do.

Try Merchant Feed Validator yourself

Everything in this guide runs directly in your browser — no signup, no install.

Open Merchant Feed Validator →
More on product feed validation
The Product Feed Validation Checklist: What to Verify Before You Publish
A short, practical checklist for product feed validation — the things worth checking every time, not just the first time.
Merchant Feed Validator vs. Doing It by Hand: Is It Worth Switching?
A practical look at what Merchant Feed Validator actually saves you over doing product feed validation manually, and when manual still makes sense.
Product Feed Validation FAQ: Questions People Actually Ask
Straight answers to the questions that come up most often about product feed validation.
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