Merchant Center setup and common mistakes

When Google Merchant Center flags a problem, we recommend first determining its scope. An item disapproval, a warning, a preemptive item disapproval (PID) and an account suspension differ in scope. A product-level issue can affect a single item, while an account-level issue can affect every product you sell. Google explains these levels in its overview of issue scope.

Work through the problem in this order: establish its scope, identify where the data source and website disagree, verify the correction, and only then submit another review request. A price or availability mismatch between the feed and landing pages can trigger PID. That preventive action may also cover other offers Google considers likely to be noncompliant, so the fix may extend beyond the first example shown.

All data and settings in this guide reflect their status as of November 12, 2026.

Google Merchant Center is the current name of the tool where you manage the product data behind Google’s shopping offers. If you remember Merchant Center Next, Google confirmed on October 1, 2024 that the move to the new interface was complete. In July 2026, it announced that the “Next” label would be dropped over the following weeks (naming). What used to be called Feeds now appears as Data sources, and diagnostics sit under Products > Needs attention (navigation). Names and menus can keep changing.

Shopping ads use product data from Merchant Center to match offers. Product campaigns, including product-based Performance Max (PMax), need a Google Ads connection. Linking the accounts establishes that connection; product approval and eligibility are assessed separately.

Standard Shopping, Performance Max, and free listings

Standard Shopping remains available. Performance Max replaced Smart Shopping in 2022. When both campaign types promote the same products in the same account, Ad Rank determines which takes precedence. Google announced this principle on October 23, 2024.

If you want to go further with this campaign type, read our guide to advanced Performance Max management.

Before you begin, have the right access, verifiable business details, a domain you control, a data source, shipping settings and a return policy ready. The setup itself covers creating the account, adding business details, verifying and claiming the website, and adding products. Google also uses your business details to inform shoppers (requirements, returns).

Verification and claiming are two different steps

Website verification establishes your authority to manage the site. Website claiming connects it to Merchant Center. A claim is exclusive, although advanced account structures allow sharing through specific arrangements.

Google offers several verification methods, depending on what is available to you: your e-commerce platform, email, an HTML verification tag in the page code, an uploaded file, Google Tag Manager or Google Analytics. Not every method is open to every account.

A claim on example.com restricts other accounts from separately claiming merchant.example.com or example.com/merchant. Check both the holder and the level of the claim. A multi-client account (MCA) can support inherited claims and sharing between accounts, so account structure matters when resolving a conflict.

Linking Merchant Center to Google Ads

If someone else administers the Google Ads account, you send the link request with that account’s customer ID, and the administrator approves it in Google Ads. If you are an administrator of both accounts, the link is approved automatically (linking accounts).

Before linking, both accounts must be free of account-level policy violations. The connection is to an advertising account; a Google Ads manager account (MCC) cannot be linked. Under Google’s linking conditions, one Merchant Center account can connect to a maximum of 500 Google Ads accounts.

If you need to sort out who can access which account, read our article on managing Google Ads access.

A data source, often still called a feed, delivers information about your offers to Merchant Center. Google supports several methods: adding products automatically from your online store, an e-commerce platform integration, a file, Google Sheets, adding products manually and the Merchant API. The Merchant API is a programmatic interface for connecting your own systems. Each method has its own availability conditions.

Choose your data source together with the account link and a check of price, availability and identifiers against the website (product data specification). Choose the submission method and the update schedule based on how often your catalog actually changes and what your integration can handle.

Google requires updates at least every 30 days. Prices and availability must also match the website and checkout. For a changing catalog, the appropriate interval follows those changes; the minimum alone does not ensure current data.

Adding products automatically versus automatic item updates

With adding products automatically from your online store, Google creates offers straight from your website. According to Google, it checks the site at least once every 24 hours. If the same product also arrives through an uploaded data source, Google keeps the uploaded version. Crawl errors can lead to an offer found on the site being archived, and Google may restore it once you fix the problem. Local inventory ads (LIA) need an eligible local inventory data source that meets the applicable rules.

Automatic item updates can use the landing page to help address mismatches in existing items. Regular updates to the data source remain a separate responsibility.

When prices or stock change many times a day, the changes can outrun what automatic updates can handle (limitations). Google may still disapprove a product, and with many mismatches it may switch the feature off.

Check integrations still using Content API

For older integrations, we recommend checking which interface they use and how far their migration has progressed. Build new integrations on Merchant API. It supports programmatic management of accounts, products, inventory, reports, and data sources.

An older plugin or Content API integration may stop delivering products even when the file itself is correct. Check the connection against the sunset guidance and Merchant API updates, alongside the product content.

Attribute names and predefined values use English; free-text content follows the data source’s language. The Product data specification adds requirements by product, category, country, and marketing method. The following attributes are a starting reference, with further requirements depending on the offer.

The link should lead straight to the product. An interstitial page is acceptable only when the law requires it (specification).

Prices, Czech VAT, availability, and shipping

For Czechia, submit prices in CZK, using a decimal point and including applicable value-added tax (VAT). The data source, product page, structured data, and checkout must agree. Czech VAT belongs within the product price; the tax attribute does not add it.

According to the Czech Financial Administration, the standard VAT rate as of January 1, 2026 is 21% and the reduced rate is 12% (Czech tax system). Which rate applies depends on how the supply is classified. Some supplies, such as books that meet the statutory conditions, are exempt with the right to deduct input VAT.

Google supports four availability values: in_stock, out_of_stock, preorder, and backorder. They must agree with the page, checkout, and structured data. Both preorder and backorder also require availability_date, with that date published on the landing page. Use out_of_stock according to actual availability and the Product data specification.

Shipping information is required for Czech Shopping ads and free listings. You can provide it at account level or through the product’s shipping attribute. Correct account settings can cover products without individual shipping values. Keep shipping charges separate from price.

The shipping structure can include country, region or postal code, service, price, handling time, and transit time. Which components are required depends on the configuration and situation.

Google has added two logistics attributes worth knowing (changes). handling_cutoff_time sets the daily cutoff for handling online orders, and minimum_order_value sets the minimum a shopper must spend before you sell and ship. From September 30, 2026, products marked in_store with pickup enabled in the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom or Switzerland must include the relevant pickup fees and minimum order value, if your website applies them. The requirement covers local inventory ads and free local listings.

GTIN, brand, MPN, and product variants

When a manufacturer has assigned a GTIN, supply that actual value. The general specification recommends it. For local products, it is required for new products with an assigned GTIN. For free listings, the requirement covers all products with an assigned GTIN.

An EAN-13 submitted in gtin must be the actual 13-digit code for that product. MPN is required when no manufacturer-assigned GTIN exists, with exceptions: it is optional for custom products and products without a clearly assigned MPN.

According to the specification, an incorrect GTIN or MPN leads to disapproval. Incorrectly setting identifier_exists=no, which declares that the identifier does not exist, can also lead to disapproval. We recommend submitting GTINs without spaces or hyphens, even though Google accepts such characters and ignores them (GTIN). Convert ISBN-10 codes to ISBN-13.

The brand attribute is required for new products, with the exception of movies, books and music recordings. If a product has no real brand, do not fill in placeholders such as “N/A” or “Generic”.

Depending on the category and situation, variants may require a shared group identifier in item_group_id, color in color, size in size, GTIN, and images. The specification also makes google_product_category mandatory in specific cases. Check the requirements for the particular product.

Titles, descriptions, images, and generative AI content

A title should make the product and its variant clear, including details such as color or size. Descriptions should provide product information. Google’s specification requires you to leave out promotional messages, text written entirely in capitals, store links in descriptions, sales promotions, and information about competitors.

When a text attribute was written with generative artificial intelligence (AI), Google requires the corresponding structured alternative (specification). For an AI-generated title, use structured_title with digital_source_type=trained_algorithmic_media and place the title itself in content.

The condition attribute is required for used and refurbished products. It remains optional when the goods are new.

Each image must show the correct product and follow the rules on overlays (image requirements). Google accepts JPEG, WebP, PNG, non-animated GIF, BMP and TIFF (specification). Both Googlebot and Googlebot-image must be able to reach the files.

Google has announced a minimum image size of 500 × 500 px. Warnings have been showing since April 14, 2026, and enforcement is planned from January 31, 2027. Google also announced that it will optimize some smaller images.

Images created with generative AI must carry metadata about their origin (specification). One way to do this is the IPTC DigitalSourceType field with the appropriate value. If an image already has AI provenance metadata embedded, keep it.

Our take: The biggest risk in Merchant Center is product data that does not match the website. Price, VAT and availability must agree in the data source, on the product page, in structured data and at checkout. Until they do, there is no point in fine-tuning titles or the campaign. Your feed should be a continuous output of your online store, not a file someone edited by hand once.

We strongly recommend replacing every image smaller than 500 × 500 px now. Do not wait for the planned enforcement date of January 31, 2027. Putting it off only turns the task into a bulk fix under time pressure.

Start in Products > Needs attention. Establish the scope and record the exact message before deciding what to fix.

Price and availability mismatches and PID

Compare the price in four places: the data source, the product page, structured data and checkout. One possible cause is a time lag between updates. Also look for a price entered manually in Merchant Center, because a manual change overrides the value from your data source.

Google’s documentation describes how a product can regain approval after you fix the price and Google crawls the page again, provided the website price matches your data (process). You can request a crawl, or it may happen automatically later.

Check availability along the same path: data source, product page, structured data and checkout. A PID can affect more than one offer, so we recommend reviewing the full scope shown in diagnostics rather than a single example.

Misrepresentation and account credibility issues

Misrepresentation concerns misleading information and the credibility of the store’s presentation. Review the business details, contacts, product information, return terms, website, checkout, and HTTPS against the store requirements.

Contact requirements depend on which Google guide applies to your situation:

Google requires a clear return and refund policy, including information on the cases in which you do not accept returns. You can set return policies by country and mark product exceptions with return_policy_label (settings). Platform settings do not decide your customers’ statutory rights. Those follow the applicable law.

Since September 2026, Google has been consolidating its policies for Shopping ads and free listings under Shopping policies. According to the announcement, some rules still apply only to ads. Prohibited categories include counterfeit goods and specified dangerous products, such as a range of weapons, explosives, recreational drugs, and tobacco products. Healthcare and sexual content restrictions vary by country. Some healthcare offers require prior approval from Google.

Individual cases from our own practice

The following examples come from individual cases we handled at PPC ONE.

Fix the cause before submitting a request (process). Choose “I fixed the issue” if you have corrected the problem. Choose “I disagree with the issue” if you believe Google assessed it wrongly. The process can include merchant or identity verification (reviews).

Access to a review may depend on completing merchant verification, and the data source must contain products. During a warning period, one additional account review is available. After an unsuccessful second attempt, a one-week cooldown period may begin.

For most violations, Google first issues a warning and gives you 7 or 28 calendar days to fix the problem. Serious violations may trigger suspension without warning. For unavailable offers and unreliable claims, its Misrepresentation guidance states that warnings last at least seven days. In October 2025, Google clarified existing enforcement with examples involving nondelivery and return or refund processes that do not work.

Keep the repair aligned with the actual problem. Google may treat a substantial catalog reduction before review, followed by a rapid reupload after approval, as circumvention under Abuse of Network. That behavior can lead to account suspension.

How long a review can take

Review times depend on which review process you are in:

A cooldown period may follow exhausted review attempts and may grow longer after unsuccessful reviews. Support cannot bypass or shorten it under the remediation and review guidance.

Czechia is part of the European Comparison Shopping Services (CSS) program. Shopping ads and free listings in Europe run through a CSS. Google Shopping is one of these services, and a merchant can work with more than one CSS (CSS services).

In the EEA, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, not explicitly selecting a CSS can lead to products being disapproved or the visibility of free listings being limited (CSS selection). Select a representative for Free listings in Europe in the correct verified account. That representative can be Google Shopping or an external CSS.

How to evaluate CSS costs

According to Google, Google Shopping as a CSS deducts a fixed percentage margin from the merchant’s bid before entering the auction. Other CSS providers charge according to their contracts. Google’s provider guidance lists fixed fees, percentage CPC markups, commissions, and combinations. It also identifies country, industry, language, and certain technical services as considerations when choosing a provider.

We recommend assessing auction participation separately from provider fees. Calculate the total cost using the online store’s actual CSS contract.

In this auction, when Google sets the price of the winning click, it excludes a competing bid that another CSS placed for the same merchant (auction).

Google reports that more than 700 CSS groups run ads and that over 600,000 merchants use CSS in the EEA and the United Kingdom. These are Google’s own European figures. They do not provide a benchmark for the Czech market.

Build a separate export for each platform

We recommend a shared product data foundation with a separate transformation for each platform. Google, Heureka, and Seznam each have their own specifications. Google uses product data to match Shopping offers, so check both eligibility and whether each offer is matched correctly.

In July 2025, Seznam renamed its campaigns on Zboží.cz to Seznam Nákupy (Seznam Blog).

Keep these differences in mind when you prepare each export:

Heureka also sets its own operational and image requirements:

According to Heureka Help, changing URLs, product names or categories can cause products to become unmatched. The documentation says that matching them again may take roughly four business days.

Return to diagnostics after making changes. Check account status, PID, and individual items separately, then compare the corrected data with the website. For price issues, revisit all four locations: source, product page, structured data, and checkout.

Meet every applicable required and conditionally required attribute in the specification, along with the relevant advertising policies. Add truly optional attributes based on what each product needs.

Moving from Standard Shopping to Performance Max will not fix disapproved products. A product-based Performance Max campaign relies on the same Merchant Center link, so you still have to resolve the disapprovals (Shopping, campaign overlap).

We recommend bringing in a specialist for an account suspension, repeatedly failed reviews, a dispute over a website claim or changes to your integration.

For a broader review of your advertising, read our article on auditing a Google Ads account.

At PPC ONE, we provide Google Ads and Sklik services. We have worked in the field since 2011. Petr Kučera is the founder of PPC ONE.