Warning Affects: description data quality

Fix “Description too short” on Google Merchant Center

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

What you see in Google Merchant Center:

Description too short

API identifier: description_too_short

Descriptions under 200 characters get flagged as thin content. Items still serve but with reduced relevance scoring — single-sentence descriptions ("Wireless headphones.") perform much worse in search-driven placements than longer content.

The 500-800 character range is the sweet spot for most categories. Long enough to satisfy relevance scoring with multiple attribute mentions; short enough to avoid the noise penalty of over-padded content.

For thin descriptions across thousands of SKUs, the Optimiser expands them using product attributes, image analysis, and category-specific templates.

Top causes

1
Single-sentence descriptions ('Wireless headphones.')
2
Truncated imports where only the first line came through
3
New products listed with placeholder descriptions

How to fix it

1

Audit description length

Sort by character count. Anything under 200 needs expansion.
2

Write meaningful descriptions

Material, size, fit, use cases, key features. Real content, not keyword padding.

Related issues

Meta Commerce Manager

Description too long

Meta caps descriptions at 9,999 characters but truncates to ~90 in many placements. Long descriptions don't break catalogs but reduce visible content in product detail views.

Google Merchant Center