Shopping
Part of Shopping campaign operations
Diagnosing disapproved product listings
Trace a Merchant Center disapproval to the affected item, data source, product page or account setting before requesting review.
Start with the exact Merchant Center issue and affected product, then trace it through the submitted data, product page and relevant account settings. A disapproved product is not eligible to show in Shopping ads; raising its bid will not fix eligibility.
Establish the scope
In Merchant Center, start with the affected products and their issue descriptions. Use Products > All products or Diagnostics under Products; the issue list may be labelled Item issues or shown on the “Needs attention” page. In Google Ads, open the Products tab to locate affected products. Separate a product-level problem from an account-level warning or suspension.
Open the issue to see the affected items and exact issue title. A product can also have different issues in different target countries. Record the issue wording, affected IDs, destination and when the problem first appeared. Compare an affected variant with a working one; if many items changed together, inspect the latest catalogue, site or shipping-setting change.
A warning and a disapproval are different outcomes: a disapproved item stops showing in ads and free listings until fixed, while a warning is not itself a disapproval. An account-level issue can affect the account rather than a single product.
Disapproval vs. Warning in Google Merchant Center
- DisapprovalItem does not show in Shopping ads or free listings until fixed. Requires correction and re-review.
- WarningDoes not block visibility; alerts you to potential issues. Not a disapproval, but should be addressed to avoid future disapprovals.
Follow the stated cause
| Issue concerns | Check first |
|---|---|
| Missing or invalid data | Required attributes, formatting and the latest submitted values. |
| Price or availability | The exact variant in the feed, landing page, structured data and checkout. |
| Image | The URL, crawl access and whether the image represents the item. |
| Shipping | Account settings, product overrides and the customer charge. |
| Policy | The issue detail, product page and applicable Shopping policy. |
Match the issue title to the field it names. “Missing Value” or “Invalid Value or Missing Required Attribute” means check the named attribute; examples include price, description and image_link. “Mismatched Value” points to a difference between the submitted data and the website, commonly price or availability.
For “Price mismatch between your feed and your landing page”, compare the feed price with the price shown on the product page and in its structured data. For an availability mismatch, compare the submitted availability with the page and its structured data. Correct the value at the source that is wrong.
“Unable to view shop on mobile” concerns the mobile_link page; “Unable to view shop on desktop” concerns the link page. Check that Google can access the relevant landing page on that device. A feed refresh may resolve a syncing error, but fix the site access problem if the page itself cannot be viewed.
For an image issue, check whether image_link is present and whether its URL can be crawled. A named issue in the supplied examples is “Missing value [image_link]”. For “Policy requirements not met”, open the issue details and linked policy; “False or misleading health claims” is a named issue to look for.
Common causes of product listing disapproval
- Missing or invalid required attributeCheck fields like price, description, image_link, brand, and availability.
- Price or availability mismatchEnsure feed values match the live product page and structured data.
- Image access or representation issueVerify image_link URL is accessible and the image shows the actual product.
- Shipping settings misconfiguredConfirm account-level and product-specific shipping rules are correct.
- Policy violationReview linked policy (e.g., false health claims, prohibited content).
Fix the source and check eligibility
Correct the system that owns the error. Changing only the feed when the page shows the wrong price can create another mismatch. Repair an export mapping at its source so the next refresh does not restore the mistake.
For example, if the feed price and landing-page price differ, identify which value is wrong, correct it at its source, and make sure the page and structured data agree with the feed. Refresh or re-upload the product data, then check the same product ID and issue status.
After a fix, Merchant Center may automatically re-review the item in 3–5 business days. If the issue remains, use “Request review”; the review can take up to 7 days. Check the issue status again after the review.
