Editorial & professional requirements

This policy applies to Shopping ads and local inventory ads with merchant hosted local store front

Our policy

In order to provide a quality customer experience, Google requires that all Shopping ads meet high professional and editorial standards. We only allow promotions that are clear and professional in appearance. These ads should lead customers to products and landing pages that are relevant, useful, and easy to interact with.

Technical requirements

The product data specification defines the structure and format for providing data about your products so that attractive and professional ads can be created. Your promotions will need to comply with the product data specification to appear in Shopping ads, so make sure to review the attributes and their requirements carefully.

Examples of what's not allowed

Website needs improvement

Websites that aren’t fully-functional, don’t have business specific content, have information that is difficult to understand, or display product content that is incomplete

Examples: A website has broken links, templated content, placeholders of text or placeholders for images.

Learn how to fix this issue.

Insufficient contact information

Websites that are missing required contact information, have unverified business information in Merchant Center, or both

Examples: Website is missing contact information (for example, no social media link, contact email address, or phone number); Merchant Center account has missing contact information, such as a physical business address or a verified phone number; contact information is missing from both the store website and Merchant Center account.

Missing return and refund policy

Websites that are missing or provide incomplete return, refund, or cancellation information

Examples: Store return or cancellation policy pages that are empty or don't state all the requirements for return or cancellation, refund or cancellation policies that aren't clear or easy to find, no return, refund, or cancellation policy is clearly stated, autorenewal practices or notification methods for billing changes aren’t clear or easy to find.

Usefulness

Login is required or content is unnecessarily difficult or frustrating to navigate

Examples: Websites with pop-ups or interstitial ads that interfere with the customer’s ability to see the content requested; sites that require a visitor to enter a username or password to see the content requested; sites that disable or interfere with the browser’s back button; websites that don’t load quickly on most popular browsers and devices, are under construction, not functioning, require download of an additional application to view the landing page (aside from common browser plug-ins), or lead to a file, email address, or error messages. For specific guidelines on how to comply with this policy, refer to the 'link' attributes in the product data specification

Website that is not fully functional

Examples: Links for Contact Us information, social media business profiles, blogs, etc. on landing pages that don’t work and lead to an unrelated page. Ensure all links on the website are working and point to relevant pages.

Website that has incomplete or difficult to understand business information

Examples: Contact information, shipping information, or a frequently asked questions section on the website is incomplete or unclear for customers to take action on. Ensure that business information on your website is complete and easy to understand.

Not all customers are able to complete their purchase

Examples: Business information fields in your checkout process are required. Customers from certain internet locations (IP addresses) can not complete the checkout process.

Spelling and grammar

Promotions that do not use commonly accepted spelling and grammar

Examples: "Flowers here buy" or "Buy flwres here"

Punctuation, symbols, capitalization, spacing, or repetition that are not used correctly or for their intended purpose

Examples: Excessive or gimmicky use of numbers, letters, symbols, punctuation, emoticons, emoji, repetition, or spacing, including: f1owers, fllllowers, fl@wers, Flowers!!!, f*l*o*w*e*r*s, FLOWERS, FlOwErS, F.L.O.W.E.R.S, flowers-flowers-flowers!, f l o w e r s, buyflowershere. For specific guidelines on how to comply with this policy, refer to the title [title] and the description [description] attributes in the product data specification.

Unclear relevance

Promotions that are not relevant to the landing page

Examples: Product title or description that is not relevant to the product promoted, generic landing pages or different product landing pages. For specific guidelines on how to comply with this policy, refer to the title [title] and description [description] attributes in the Product data specification.

Style requirements

Promotions that do not use the features of the Shopping ad for their intended purpose

Examples: Listings that use the title field as an additional description field; listings that display irrelevant or obtrusive information in images. For specific guidelines on how to comply with this policy, refer to the title [title] and description [description] attributes in the Product data specification.

Website that is using generic placeholders or templated content

Examples: Generic text on the website that says “Add customer reviews and testimonials here” or an empty box that says “lorem ipsum.” Ensure text and images on the website are tailored to your business.

Domain safety

Retailer landing pages or associated site domains that Google deems unsafe

Examples: Domain page deemed unsafe as a result of hacking or other activity causing the site to become compromised. If Google detects suspicious signals, it may block customers from visiting your site from some browsers and from Google Search.

Product details

Website that has inaccurate, missing, or duplicate product details

Examples: Product descriptions and specifications that are unrelated to the product image or listing. The same product details being used for multiple products without differentiation. Ensure the product details on the website are accurate and unique for each product.

What you can do

Here's what you can do if your product is disapproved or if your Merchant Center account is impacted:

Product disapproval

Products that don't comply with our policies may be disapproved and won't be eligible to serve.

Read our Shopping policies to learn what we don't allow.
Update your website. If your ad or listing directs to violating content, update your website to meet all policy requirements.
- Remove the violating products. You must remove non-compliant offers from your product data feed. You’ll receive an email with details about the violations.
- Update your product data in Merchant Center. Manually update your product data or wait for your automated upload schedule to run before requesting any reviews.
Request a review or appeal. After fixing the issue or if you believe the disapproval is incorrect, you can request a review or appeal the decision.
- Individual product review (if you fixed the issue)
  - If you edit your product data via your chosen upload method (such as a file) or directly in Merchant Center, the affected products will be automatically re-reviewed.
  - If you remove the violating products from your feed, no further action or review request is necessary.
- Standard appeal (if you disagree with the issue)
  - For certain issues, you can dispute the violation. You may need to complete additional steps, such as providing an appeal reason and/or uploading required documentation.
  - If a review or appeal is successful, the issue will be removed from Merchant Center.
- Bulk appeal (available in certain cases)
  - For specific policy issues where you believe a large number of offers require review, you may be able to submit a single bulk appeal.
  - ⚠️ Warning: Before submitting a bulk appeal, you must review your offers and remove any policy-violating items from your feed. Submitting a bulk appeal for a large set of offers risks immediate failure if violations are found. This may limit your ability to submit subsequent appeals for those products.
  - You must remove any offers that are violating our policies from your feed before attempting to appeal in bulk.
  - How to appeal in bulk: The bulk appeal option may not be available in all instances or when using third-party platforms.
    - Option 1 - Under all products
      - Go to Merchant Center > Products > Needs attention.
        
        Navigate to the specific issue.
        
        Select “View fix”
        
        Select the option to disagree with the issue for all products.
        
        Review any informational prompts that appear.
        
        Select “Request review” to submit the appeal.
    - Option 2 - Product details page
      - From the product details page, selecting “Review and fix” will display the appeal options: “I disagree with the issue” and/or “I disagree with the issue for all products”.
  - Third-party platforms
    - If you use a third-party platform to list your products, consult that platform for available review options.
    - If a review or appeal is successful, the issue will disappear from Merchant Center.

Account disapproval

For most violations, we'll send you a warning email detailing the policy violation and give you 7 or 28 calendar days to fix your issue.However, we may not issue a warning for egregious policy violations.

Read our Shopping policies to learn what we don't allow.
Update your website. If your ad or listing directs to violating content, update your website to meet all policy requirements.
- Remove the violating products. You must remove non-compliant offers from your product data feed. You’ll receive an email with details about the violations.
- Update your product data in Merchant Center. Manually update your product data or wait for your automated upload schedule to run before requesting any reviews.
Request a review or appeal. After fixing the issue or if you believe the disapproval is incorrect, you can request a review or appeal the decision.
- Individual product review (if you fixed the issue)
  - If you edit your product data via your chosen upload method (such as a file) or directly in Merchant Center, the affected products will be automatically re-reviewed.
  - If you remove the violating products from your feed, no further action or review request is necessary.
- Standard appeal (if you disagree with the issue)
  - For certain issues, you can dispute the violation. You may need to complete additional steps, such as providing an appeal reason and/or uploading required documentation.
  - If a review or appeal is successful, the issue will be removed from Merchant Center.
- Bulk appeal (available in certain cases)
  - For specific policy issues where you believe a large number of offers require review, you may be able to submit a single bulk appeal.
  - ⚠️ Warning: Before submitting a bulk appeal, you must review your offers and remove any policy-violating items from your feed. Submitting a bulk appeal for a large set of offers risks immediate failure if violations are found. This may limit your ability to submit subsequent appeals for those products.
  - You must remove any offers that are violating our policies from your feed before attempting to appeal in bulk.
  - How to appeal in bulk: The bulk appeal option may not be available in all instances or when using third-party platforms.
    - Option 1 - Under all products
      - Go to Merchant Center > Products > Needs attention.
        
        Navigate to the specific issue.
        
        Select “View fix”
        
        Select the option to disagree with the issue for all products.
        
        Review any informational prompts that appear.
        
        Select “Request review” to submit the appeal.
    - Option 2 - Product details page
      - From the product details page, selecting “Review and fix” will display the appeal options: “I disagree with the issue” and/or “I disagree with the issue for all products”.
  - Third-party platforms
    - If you use a third-party platform to list your products, consult that platform for available review options.
    - If a review or appeal is successful, the issue will disappear from Merchant Center.

Note: Account reviews typically take 7 business days, but may take longer for complex reviews. If you remove violating products, the warning will be removed. If a review or appeal is successful, the issue will disappear from Merchant Center. In the case of account suspension, we will approve the account and allow products to be displayed again.

Account issue that limits product visibility

Your account has an issue and is operating with reserved functionality, therefore your products have limited visibility. Check your email for a notice with details about the issue and steps to resolve it. Common issues include policy violations or missing account information.

Read our Shopping policies to learn what we don't allow.
Update your website. If your ad or listing directs to violating content, update your website to meet all policy requirements.
- Remove the violating products. You must remove non-compliant offers from your product data feed. You’ll receive an email with details about the violations.
- Update your product data in Merchant Center. Manually update your product data or wait for your automated upload schedule to run before requesting any reviews.
Request a review or appeal. After fixing the issue or if you believe the disapproval is incorrect, you can request a review or appeal the decision.
- Individual product review (if you fixed the issue)
  - If you edit your product data via your chosen upload method (such as a file) or directly in Merchant Center, the affected products will be automatically re-reviewed.
  - If you remove the violating products from your feed, no further action or review request is necessary.
- Standard appeal (if you disagree with the issue)
  - For certain issues, you can dispute the violation. You may need to complete additional steps, such as providing an appeal reason and/or uploading required documentation.
  - If a review or appeal is successful, the issue will be removed from Merchant Center.
- Bulk appeal (available in certain cases)
  - For specific policy issues where you believe a large number of offers require review, you may be able to submit a single bulk appeal.
  - ⚠️ Warning: Before submitting a bulk appeal, you must review your offers and remove any policy-violating items from your feed. Submitting a bulk appeal for a large set of offers risks immediate failure if violations are found. This may limit your ability to submit subsequent appeals for those products.
  - You must remove any offers that are violating our policies from your feed before attempting to appeal in bulk.
  - How to appeal in bulk: The bulk appeal option may not be available in all instances or when using third-party platforms.
    - Option 1 - Under all products
      - Go to Merchant Center > Products > Needs attention.
        
        Navigate to the specific issue.
        
        Select “View fix”
        
        Select the option to disagree with the issue for all products.
        
        Review any informational prompts that appear.
        
        Select “Request review” to submit the appeal.
    - Option 2 - Product details page
      - From the product details page, selecting “Review and fix” will display the appeal options: “I disagree with the issue” and/or “I disagree with the issue for all products”.
  - Third-party platforms
    - If you use a third-party platform to list your products, consult that platform for available review options.
    - If a review or appeal is successful, the issue will disappear from Merchant Center.

To ensure a safe and positive experience for customers, Google requires that retailers comply with all applicable laws and regulations in addition to our policies. It's important that you familiarize yourself with and keep up to date on these requirements for the place where your business operates, as well as any other places your ads are shown. When we find content that violates these requirements, we may block it from appearing. In cases of repeated or egregious violations, we may ban you from advertising content with us.

If you’re working with a third-party platform, some of these instructions may not apply to you. Refer to your third-party platform for instructions on how to resolve the issue and request a review. Learn how to find support if you use a non-Google platform.

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