On this page
- Follow the Shopping ads policies
- Promote only products available for direct purchase
- Use a supported language
- Tell customers about your return and refund policy
- Collect user information responsibly and securely
- Follow website-level requirements
- Make sure your data meets the product data specification
- Sign in to your Merchant Center account regularly
Follow the Shopping ads policies
Make sure that the products you plan on listing comply with the relevant Shopping policies.
Promote only products available for direct purchase
The products that you promote in Shopping ads and free product listings need to be available for purchase through your online store.
You're not allowed to use Shopping ads and free listings to promote affiliate or pay-per-click links to products, except when participating as a Comparison Shopping Service (CSS) in a CSS program country.
Use a supported language
When listing your products, use a language that is supported in Merchant Center. Make sure you submit different product data for each language and that the product data links to landing pages in the same language.
Specifically, use the same language for:
- Your website
- The product data that you submit
- The language you select when registering your product data
Tell customers about your return and refund policy
Add your return policy information to your Shopping ads and free listings in your product data. It should also be easy to find in your own website.
Your policy should explain exactly how you handle returns and refunds, including:
- What the user is required to do
- Under what circumstances you offer returns and refunds
- Timeframe in which you accept returns
- When your user can expect a refund
Even if you don't offer returns or refunds, still state your policy explicitly.
Keep in mind: You'll need to process returns and refunds on your own. Google doesn't approve or handle returns or refunds.
Collect user information responsibly and securely
Be careful with the information that you collect from users:
- Collect personal information, such as credit card numbers, securely on an SSL-protected page
- Don't sell your users' contact info
- Don't use users' personal information or images in ads without their consent
- Your site's primary purpose shouldn't be to collect users' personal information
- Don't offer free items or incentives except in certain circumstances:
- With purchase of a product
- As part of a marketing campaign
- When the primary purpose is not to collect personal information from users
Follow website-level requirements
Make your contact information clearly available on your website. Examples: a contact us form, a link to your business profile on social media, an email address or phone number.
Make sure at least one conventional method of payment is available to users during checkout. Example, credit card, debit card, invoicing, or payment on delivery.
Your site must clearly and conspicuously disclose all related conditions before and after purchase as well as disclose the payment model and full expense that a user will bear before and after purchase.
Make sure users can successfully add products to the cart and fully complete the checkout process.
Make sure your data meets the product data specification
When you're ready to submit your products through Merchant Center, you'll need to format your product data to meet the product data specification, otherwise product may result in being disapproved
Sign in to your Merchant Center account regularly
Sign in to your Merchant Center account at least once every 14 months so that your account stays active.