7 Most Common Reasons for Google Merchant Suspensions
Learn what triggers suspensions so you can avoid them—or identify why yours happened.
Google suspends thousands of Merchant Center accounts every day. While their emails are often vague, the underlying reasons usually fall into a few predictable categories.
Understanding these common triggers can help you prevent suspensions—or identify what went wrong if you've already been hit.
Important
Multiple issues are often present. Fixing just one may not be enough to get reinstated.
1. Price and Availability Mismatches
The issue: Your product feed shows a different price or availability than what's on your website.
Why it happens:
- Feed updates are delayed or infrequent
- Currency differences between feed and checkout
- Sale prices not synced properly
- Products marked "in stock" that are actually backordered
How to prevent it: Update your feed at least daily. Use automated feed tools that sync in real-time.
2. Missing or Incorrect Business Information
The issue: Your website lacks clear contact information, business details, or has mismatched information.
What Google looks for:
- Physical business address
- Phone number
- Email address
- Business name matching your Merchant Center
How to prevent it: Add a dedicated "Contact Us" page with complete business information. Include it in your footer on every page.
3. Unclear or Missing Policies
The issue: Return, refund, or shipping policies are missing, hard to find, or don't match your feed settings.
Common problems:
- No return policy page
- Shipping costs not clearly stated
- Policy pages that return 404 errors
- Policies buried in hard-to-find locations
How to prevent it: Create clear policy pages and link them from your footer. Make sure the information matches what you've entered in Merchant Center.
4. Checkout and Payment Issues
The issue: Customers can't complete a purchase successfully, or the checkout experience is problematic.
Red flags Google looks for:
- Unexpected fees added at checkout
- Payment options that don't work
- SSL certificate issues
- Checkout that requires account creation with no guest option
How to prevent it: Regularly test your checkout process. Use Google's Merchant Center diagnostics to identify issues.
5. Prohibited or Restricted Products
The issue: You're advertising products that violate Google's Shopping policies.
Common violations:
- Counterfeit goods or replicas
- Products making health claims without approval
- Weapons, drugs, or adult content
- Products with misleading descriptions
How to prevent it: Review Google's Shopping policies thoroughly. Remove any products that could be interpreted as violations.
6. Misleading Product Information
The issue: Product titles, descriptions, or images don't accurately represent what customers receive.
Examples:
- Using brand names you're not authorized to sell
- Stock photos that don't match actual products
- Exaggerated claims in descriptions
- Incorrect product identifiers (GTINs)
How to prevent it: Use accurate descriptions and your own product photos. Verify all GTINs and brand information.
7. Website Quality Issues
The issue: Your website appears untrustworthy, unfinished, or low-quality to Google's reviewers.
Warning signs:
- Broken links or images
- Placeholder text still on pages
- No SSL certificate (http instead of https)
- Very few products or empty categories
- No social proof or reviews
How to prevent it: Regularly audit your website. Fix broken links. Add trust signals like reviews and security badges.
The Compounding Problem
Here's what makes suspensions tricky: when Google reviews your account after an appeal, they check everything—not just the issue they flagged.
So even if you fix the original problem, if there are other issues present, your appeal will be rejected.
This is why a thorough audit before appealing is so important.