How to fix: Inaccurate availability status due to inconsistency between feed and landing page

When someone clicks a Shopping ad or free product listing on Google they expect to see the same availability on your landing page as they see in the ad or listing. You may be paying for wasted clicks if a user clicks on a product, then returns to Google after seeing that it’s not available on your landing page.

You received this notification because we found availability mismatches between your product data and landing pages. You should have received an email asking you to update your product data by a certain date so that the values in your data are consistent with those on your landing page.

Some common reasons for availability mismatch include:

• Use of IP detection and dynamic landing pages: Don’t change the availability of your product on your landing page based on a user’s location. If you only target certain locations within a country use regional pricing and availability.
• Preorder products: Don’t list a product as in_stock on your landing page or in your product data if it hasn’t been released yet and is only available for preorder. Instead, submit preorder as the value for the availability [availability] attribute and make sure to include the availability date [availability_date] attribute to indicate when the product will become available.
• Sold out products: Don’t list a product as in stock on your landing page or in your product data if it has sold out and is temporarily out of stock. Instead, submit out of stock as the value for the availability [availability] attribute.
• Variant mismatch: Ensure that any variants of the product are in stock. For example, if you’re selling shoes and have all sizes except for size 11, ensure the landing page doesn't pre-populate size 11 shoes. (Ideally, the landing page pre-populates to the exact variant in the feed.)
• Site maintenance: If your site has planned maintenance, or was temporarily down, verify that this was the root cause and confirm that it’s fixed before you request a re-review. Don’t set the availability [availability] attribute to out_of_stock to exclude products. Use the excluded destination [excluded_destination] attribute instead.
• Backorder or long fulfillment times: Submit backorder as the value for the availability [availability] attribute for products that can still be purchased and dispatched within a reasonable time frame.
• Ensure products can be shipped to a home address: Ensure that online products can be directly delivered to a customer's doorstep, excluding PO Boxes. If you have a product that's only available for in-store pickup or that ships to a pick-up point, check the shipping cost guidelines to see whether these options are allowed in your target country. If they're not, use the excluded destination [excluded_destination] attribute to ensure that your product is excluded from online offers. (You may also consider trying local inventory ads.)
• Ensure that your product can be purchased within the entire target country: If you sell products that are only available in some regions of the target country, check to see whether regional availability and pricing is available in your target country.
• Buy button: Make sure that the buy button is functioning correctly and isn't greyed out. If your product is out of stock, ensure that this is reflected in your product data using the availability [availability] attribute.
• Outdated microdata or HTML: Check for contradictory information within your site build, and remove it to eliminate crawling issues. Learn more about structured data markup

Instructions

Step 1: Ensure that the availability in your product data matches that on your landing pages

Investigate your update process to see what could be causing the problem:

1. Check the warning email for examples of products that are affected.
   • Look for a common problem in your product data that could cause this mismatched availability.
   • Make sure you update your landing page and product data (and microdata if applicable) at the same time.
   • Schedule an upload or use the Content API to immediately update your product data. This scheduling helps make sure Google has the same data as is on your landing page.
2. After you address the problem, update the availability [availability] attribute in your product data to match your landing page.

Step 2: Resubmit your product data

1. After you’ve updated your product data, resubmit it using one of these methods:
   • Upload a feed
   • Submit through the Content API
   • Import content from an ecommerce platform
2. Next, check that you’ve fixed the issue by making sure it’s no longer listed on the Diagnostics page.
   
   Keep in mind: It may take some time for your change to be reflected on the Diagnostics page.

Step 3: Request a review

In some instances, if your account or one of your product offers is disapproved and you’ve either fixed the issue or you disagree with the issue, you can request a review. If the review is successful, your issue will disappear. If the disapproval remains and you’re uncertain with how to proceed, contact us for support.

Note: If you use a third-party platform to list your products, you may also be able to go to your third-party application to request a review.

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 or complete the task. Learn how to find support if you use a non-Google platform.

Related links

• About automatic item updates
• Availability [availability]