Google Merchant Center powers your products in Shopping ads, Performance Max and free product listings on Google. When products are disapproved, they disappear from all of those. When the whole account gets an issue like misrepresentation, every product stops showing.
This guide covers the most common errors, what causes them and how to fix them for good.
Where to find the problems
In Merchant Center, check:
- Products → Needs attention (or the diagnostics/product issues view): item-level issues per product
- Account-level issues and notifications: problems that affect the whole account
- Feed processing results for your data source
Export the list of affected products and group them by issue. Usually a few issue types cause most disapprovals.
Item-level errors
1. Mismatched value (page crawl): price
Cause: the price in your feed differs from the price on your landing page, often because of sales, currency conversion, VAT differences or caching.
Fix:
- Update your feed more often (at least daily, ideally several times a day for frequent price changes)
- Make sure structured data on the page shows the same price (see my Product schema guide)
- Show prices including VAT in countries where that is required
- Clear page and CDN caches when prices change
Google also offers automatic item updates in Merchant Center, which can adjust price and availability based on your structured data. It helps, but fixing the root cause is better.
2. Mismatched value: availability
Cause: product is “in stock” in the feed but “out of stock” on the page, or the other way round.
Fix: sync stock more frequently and use consistent availability values in feed and structured data.
3. Missing or invalid GTIN
Cause: branded products without a valid GTIN (EAN/UPC), or wrong check digits.
Fix: add correct GTINs from the manufacturer. For your own brand or custom products without a GTIN, provide brand and mpn, and set identifier_exists to no only when the product truly has no GTIN.
4. Image problems
Causes: promotional overlays (text, “SALE” badges, watermarks), placeholder images, images too small, images that cannot be crawled.
Fix: use clean product images on a neutral background, at a good resolution, accessible to Google’s crawler. Put promotional text in the ad or promotions feature, not on the main image.
5. Landing page not working
Causes: 404 pages, redirects to the homepage, pages blocked by robots.txt, geo-redirects that block Google, very slow pages.
Fix: make sure every feed URL returns 200, is crawlable and shows the exact product.
6. Missing shipping or tax information
Fix: configure shipping in Merchant Center for each target country, or include shipping in the feed. In the US, set tax settings as required.
7. Policy violations
Some product categories are restricted or prohibited, and claims like medical promises can trigger disapprovals. Read the specific policy linked in the issue and adjust product titles, descriptions or targeting.
Account-level issue: misrepresentation
Misrepresentation is the error store owners fear most, because it can suspend the whole account. Google wants to protect shoppers from stores that seem unreliable or unclear.
Common triggers:
- Missing business information: no clear address, contact details or company information
- Unclear or missing policies: returns, refunds, shipping, terms and privacy
- Unrealistic offers: extreme discounts, prices that look too good to be true
- Unclear payment and checkout: missing information about costs before checkout
- Inconsistent information: different business names, addresses or prices across site, feed and Merchant Center
- Unverifiable claims: fake reviews, “best in the world” claims, trust badges you are not entitled to
- A new site with little content and no trust signals
How to fix it:
- Add a complete About and Contact page with company name, address, phone and email
- Publish clear shipping, returns, refund, terms and privacy pages, linked in the footer
- Make sure all costs are visible before checkout
- Remove claims you cannot prove and any non-genuine reviews or badges
- Check business information in Merchant Center matches your website
- Then request a review through Merchant Center
Be careful with repeated review requests without real changes. Fix everything first.
Feed optimisation: beyond fixing errors
Once errors are fixed, a better feed improves performance:
- Titles: brand + product type + key attributes (size, colour, material). Put the most important words first.
- Descriptions: factual, specific, without promotional text
- Google product category and product type: as specific as possible
- Additional images: lifestyle and detail shots
- Custom labels: for margin, best sellers or seasonality, so you can bid differently in campaigns
- Product highlights and details: extra structured information
Monitoring
Feeds break quietly: a plugin update, a new currency, a price import. Set up regular checks of the number of approved products and alerts when disapprovals jump. A small automation can do this daily.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a Merchant Center review take?
Item-level fixes are usually processed after the next feed fetch and crawl. Account-level reviews can take several days or longer.
Will fixing errors improve my Shopping ad performance?
Approved products can show at all, and a clean, rich feed helps Google match your products to relevant searches.
Do I need a feed tool or app?
For small stores, the platform’s native integration is often enough. For large catalogs, multiple countries or advanced optimisation, a feed management tool or custom feed saves time.
Need help with Merchant Center?
I fix feed errors and misrepresentation issues, and build product feeds that perform, for WooCommerce, Shopify and Magento. See my digital marketing service or request a feed review.