Fix Google Merchant Center feed issues

Google Merchant Center reports this when a product is missing its GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) — the manufacturer-assigned barcode that uniquely identifies retail products. Affected items stop showing in Shopping ads, free listings, and Performance Max retail campaigns.

Affects: gtin

Google has the GTIN, but it doesn't validate. Either the check-digit algorithm fails, the format is wrong, or the GTIN doesn't match any product in the global retail registry. Affected items are dropped from Shopping until the GTIN is corrected.

Affects: gtin

The image at image_link doesn't meet Google's minimum resolution. Google tightened this threshold in April 2026 — what was previously a warning is now blocking for new submissions. Affected items don't show in Shopping until the image is replaced.

Affects: image_link

The product image contains promotional text overlay — sale percentages, 'NEW' badges, watermarks, calls-to-action rendered into the image. Google's policy bans this and the auto-reviewer flags it. Affected items stop serving until the image is replaced with a clean version.

Affects: image_link

The price in the feed doesn't match the price on the landing page. Google compares feed values against the live landing page and rejects items where the user would arrive expecting one price and see another. Affected items stop serving until both prices match.

Affects: price

Google requires brand on items in most categories. Without it, Google can't disambiguate your product from similar listings by other sellers. Affected items are dropped from Shopping until brand is populated.

Affects: brand

The image_link points to a 'generic' image — usually a stock photo used by many sellers, a placeholder graphic, or a manufacturer marketing shot used by competitors. Google's classifier identifies these and downgrades them.

Affects: image_link

Googlebot can't reach the product page. The URL might be 404, redirected to a non-product page, blocked in robots.txt, or behind authentication. Affected items can't be served because users would land on a broken page.

Affects: link

A general parent issue covering missing required fields beyond just GTIN — could be brand, image_link, price, availability, or category-specific requirements like gender for apparel. Google reports the specific attribute in the issue detail.

The color attribute is populated but with a value Google can't recognise — usually free-text marketing names ('Midnight Whisper', 'Sahara Sunset') that don't map to standard colours. Items still serve but with reduced filter eligibility.

Affects: color

Google requires MPN alongside brand when GTIN isn't available. Without either, the item can't be uniquely identified against the global product graph and gets rejected from Shopping placements.

Affects: mpn

The availability in the feed doesn't match what Google sees on the landing page. Feed says 'in stock', the landing page shows 'sold out' (or vice versa). Affected items stop serving until both align.

Affects: availability

The product link URL is malformed or unreachable. Could be HTTP instead of HTTPS, missing protocol, broken encoding, or returning a non-2xx status code.

Affects: link

Two or more rows in the feed share the same id. Google can only accept one item per id — the others are silently dropped, leading to inventory gaps you'd otherwise miss.

Affects: id

Googlebot can't fetch the image_link URL. Could be 404, blocked by robots.txt, geo-blocked, requires authentication, or HTTPS certificate issues.

Affects: image_link

Google's product taxonomy field isn't populated. Items still serve in most cases (Google infers category from title) but with reduced segmentation precision and missing eligibility for category-specific filters.

Affects: google_product_category

Google's algorithm flags prices dramatically lower than the competitive set for the same product. Often a typo, currency confusion, or counterfeit suspicion. Items aren't always rejected but get suppressed in Shopping placements.

Affects: price

The product falls under a restricted category — alcohol, supplements, healthcare claims, weapons, financial services, gambling. Each has its own ruleset; some are gated by region.

Google can't determine shipping cost for the item. Either account-level shipping settings don't cover the item's destination, or item-level shipping is missing where required.

Affects: shipping

The sale_price field is set but either expired (sale_price_effective_date has ended) or fails validation (higher than price, equal to price, etc.). Item still serves at regular price but loses strikethrough display.

Affects: sale_price

Severe account-level disapproval. The entire Merchant Center account is suspended — no items can serve regardless of their individual status. Typically triggered by repeated or serious policy violations.

The title contains promotional language ('SALE', 'FREE SHIPPING', '50% OFF', 'CHEAP', etc.). Google's title policy bans this — promotional claims belong in the sale_price field or ad-level extensions, not the product title.

Affects: title

Apparel and accessories require age_group on every item. Without it, channels can't apply age-appropriate sizing logic and the item is rejected from Shopping placements.

Affects: age_group

Tax field is set but doesn't validate. Could be malformed structure, invalid country/region code, or rate outside acceptable bounds. Primarily affects US feeds where state-by-state tax is required.

Affects: tax

Feed-reported shipping cost differs from what the landing page shows at checkout. Doesn't always block delivery but suppresses Shopping ad eligibility because users would see different shipping at checkout than in the ad.

Affects: shipping

The condition value isn't permitted for the product's category. Used/refurbished food products, used cosmetics, used babies' items — Google bans these on policy grounds and rejects the listing.

Affects: condition

The product link in the feed returns a 404 error. Item can't serve because users would land on an error page. Distinct from 'Landing page not crawlable' (which covers broader crawl issues) — this is specifically about 404 responses.

Affects: link

Account-level warning that indicates accumulating issues. Not suspension yet, but the threshold for suspension is being approached. Common precursor to harder enforcement.

Google's safe-browsing classifiers flagged the site as untrusted. Could be reputation issues, missing trust signals, or technical security gaps. Affects all listings until resolved.

Google's classifier identified misleading claims, sensationalised language, or content that overstates product capabilities. Affects listings across the account, not just flagged items.

Google's classifier suspected counterfeit goods. Could be price dramatically below legitimate sources, brand names used without authorisation, or listing patterns matching known counterfeit operations.

Healthcare-category restrictions triggered. Health products face strict claim rules — any treatment, cure, or specific outcome claim needs substantiation. Affects vitamins, supplements, medical devices, fitness products with medical claims.

Feed condition doesn't match what the landing page communicates. Common when 'refurbished' is in the feed but the page calls it 'pre-owned' or 'reconditioned'.

Affects: condition

Feed colour doesn't match what the landing page or image shows. Common when 'Midnight Whisper' is in title but the colour field says 'Black' (acceptable) vs. when actual product shown is blue (not acceptable).

Affects: color

Google fetched the image but couldn't process it. Could be corrupted file, unsupported format, or processing timeout. Distinct from 'image too small' or 'broken link' — the fetch worked but processing didn't.

Affects: image_link

Item has no GTIN and no MPN, but identifier_exists isn't set to false. Google requires the explicit flag — otherwise it assumes a missing GTIN is an error rather than an intentional exemption.

Affects: identifier_exists

Title violates Google's editorial standards — non-standard characters, excessive punctuation, gimmick formatting. Items still serve but with reduced ranking.

Affects: title

Description contains HTML tags. Google accepts plain text only — HTML doesn't render as formatting; the raw tags display in some surfaces.

Affects: description

Description under Google's recommended minimum (typically 200 characters). Items still serve but with reduced relevance scoring for search queries.

Affects: description

The landing page exists and works but the item can't actually be purchased from it — out of stock, requires login, requires a region the user isn't in, or has a broken add-to-cart.