Disapproved products don’t appear in Google’s free listings or Shopping ads. Answer a few questions about your product data and the tool lines up the likely causes and fixes, in order.
Question 1 of 2
Fix red first, then yellow. Green is polish — don’t start by rewriting everything.
Account issues come first, then data that has to match your website, then content.
A suspension or warning affects every product.
Merchant Center names the exact issue for each disapproved product.
Data must match the landing page exactly.
Valid GTIN, brand for new products, and a working product link.
Required text within limits and a clean product image.
These cover most product-level disapprovals.
Feed price differs from the page or its structured data — including prices loaded by JavaScript.
In stock in the data, out of stock on the page (or the reverse).
Wrong check digit, restricted prefixes or made-up codes.
Promotional text, watermarks or borders on the image_link image.
Links that 404, redirect or need a login.
No title, description or brand for a new product.
Google has to re-crawl the page or re-process your data. Check after the next update; automatic item updates can reduce price and availability mismatches.
Disapproved products don’t show at all. Limited products can show, but issues such as a missing GTIN restrict them.
Read the policy named in the notice (often misrepresentation), fix it across your whole site — contact details, returns, checkout — then request a review.
Note: this is a self-check tool based on Google’s public Merchant Center documentation. It is not a Google product and cannot see your account. Google is a trademark of Google LLC.
Merchant Center usually warns you first, with 7 or 28 days to fix the issue, then suspends the account. How to request a review, why identity verification may come first, the 3–7 business day wait, and the cool-down after failed reviews.
From January 31, 2027, Google Merchant Center needs product images of at least 500 × 500 pixels. Today’s minimums, the 64 MP / 16 MB limit, what counts as “text on image” (promo text, logos, watermarks), automatic image improvements, and how to fix disapproved images.
Google Merchant Center is free, and free listings show your products at no cost on Google Search, Shopping, Images, Lens, YouTube, Maps and Gemini. Shopping ads are the paid option, run through Google Ads. How each works and how to get started.
Google shows “Limited performance due to missing value: GTIN” when a product in a category that usually has GTINs is submitted without one. How to add the manufacturer’s GTIN, one by one or in bulk — and when to use identifier_exists = no instead, for handmade, custom or vintage items.
Products without a shipping cost don’t show to shoppers in Google Merchant Center. How to add an account-level shipping policy under Shipping and returns, when to use the shipping attribute instead, the weight and size attributes you may need, and how long the fix takes.
Google suspends accounts when the website URL looks like a parked domain with no products. Usually a hosting, expired domain or wrong URL problem — the fix, and how long the re-crawl takes.
Google disapproves products when the price in your Merchant Center data doesn’t match your landing page — and repeated mismatches can lead to account suspension. The common causes (feed lag, JavaScript prices, structured data, sale dates), how to fix one or many products, and how to get re-reviewed.
Google stops showing products whose landing pages it can’t reach. What each crawl error means — 404, too many redirects, 5xx, robots.txt, DNS, URL protocol — how to test with the URL Inspection Tool, fix links one by one or in bulk, and request a website check.
What Merchant Center’s product statuses mean — Approved, Limited, Not approved, Under review and Processing — why a product is “limited”, and where to find what to fix.
Google can disapprove your Merchant Center account if your website has no clear return and refund policy. What the website policy must say, where to put it, and how to add return policies in Merchant Center (Shipping and returns) so they show on your ads and listings.
Shopify connects to Google Merchant Center through the Google & YouTube app, which syncs your store’s products to Google — free listings included. Account requirements (no Multi-Client Accounts), automatic vs manual sync, where to see product status, and domain claim issues.
Merchant Center product titles can be 1–150 characters, but shoppers typically see the first 70 or so. What to put first, what to leave out, and why promotional text causes problems.
Merchant Center needs your online store URL verified and claimed before products can show. The five verification methods, which to use (HTML tag on Shopify), and fixes for “claimed at a higher level”, tags in the wrong place and verification emails.
WooCommerce stores connect to Google Merchant Center with the Google for WooCommerce extension. What setup needs (and why the Continue button stays greyed out), how product sync and the 30-day expiry work, how to exclude products, and what isn’t supported.
A complete RSS 2.0 product feed for Google Merchant Center, line by line: the g: namespace declaration, the required item attributes, and why attributes without the g: prefix are ignored. Plus a checklist before you upload.
A misrepresentation suspension means Google doesn’t trust your store yet. What the policy covers, what to audit on your site, and why a rushed review request can lock you out longer.