This policy applies to Shopping ads and local inventory ads with merchant hosted local store front
Our policy
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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.
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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
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.
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: 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.
- Examples: Store return policy pages that are empty or don't state all the requirements for return; refund policies that aren't clear or easy to find; no return or refund policy is clearly stated.
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- Examples: Business information fields in your checkout process are required. Customers from certain internet locations (IP addresses) can not complete the checkout process.
- Examples: "Flowers here buy" or "Buy flwres here"
- 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.
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Unclear relevance
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- 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.
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Style requirements
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- 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.
- 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.
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Domain safety
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- 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.
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Product details
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- 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:
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.