Our agency is often asked to unblock Google Merchant Centre (Google Shopping) accounts, so we decided to write an article that will help you unblock your accounts at least a little bit.

The first thing you need to do is to read the description of the reason for the account blocking. You can find it in your account:

It’s hard not to see the red ‘Fix’ button, but if you don’t see it and your account is blocked, go to the ‘Product’ -> ‘Action required’ section. Click the ‘Fix’ button.

Only then do you need to look for the problem.

But before that, you need to describe what you should not do in any case, it will only worsen your situation. In no case do not create another account, Google will perceive this as another violation – bypassing the system and will block you again.

There are warnings, and now let’s move on to the errors.

The most common mistakes when passing the Google Merchant Centre check

Errors can be divided into several groups: errors on the website, errors in the feed, and other errors.

Problems on the website:

• Insufficient information on product pages: Product pages should contain all the necessary information about the product, including description, features, price, and availability.
• Problems with the mobile version of the website: Websites should be adapted for mobile devices.
• There is no possibility to pay for the goods on the website. This is a prerequisite for displaying ads in Google Merchant Centre and advertising in Google Shopping.
• It also often happens that there is an opportunity to order goods quickly, ‘Leave an order in 1 click’, ‘Contact the manager’ – this is also a violation of Google’s rules, because it does not lead to payment for the goods through the site.
• Lack of a return policy or contact information: The website should clearly state the return policy and contact information for customers.
• Lack of information on the website about the delivery of goods, or it does not match the information in Google Merchant Center. The site should have a separate page that clearly describes the options for delivering goods to the buyer. Don’t have one? We will create it.
• There is no contact information on the website or it does not match the data in Google Merchant Center. Google makes sure that the site has up-to-date information for customers.
• The price of goods depends on the terms of purchase. This violates the rules of the Google Merchant Centre. Therefore, if your website explicitly states that the price for payment by bank transfer or card differs from the price on the website, you need to remove it.
• Lack of courier delivery. According to Google’s rules, it must be available.
• Low-quality images on the website. If your images are very small or have a watermark, this is not high-quality content that violates Google’s rules. You need to fix this.
• There are too many links to messengers on the website. According to Google’s rules, the site should be the main platform for selling goods.
• The missing products should not have an opportunity to order the goods. Such products should have the status ‘Out of stock’ or a similar status, and the buy button should be inactive.

This is not an exhaustive list, but in 90% of cases, this is usually the problem.

Errors in the product feed

• The data in the feed does not match the data on the website:
  • Incorrect prices: The prices for the products in the feed should be up-to-date and match the prices on the website.
  • Incorrect attributes: Each attribute in the feed must meet Google’s requirements. For example, if you specify the size of a product, it must be in the correct format.
  • Incorrect product availability statuses: The information about the availability of products on the website and in the feed must match.
• Errors in product URLs: Product URLs must be unique, valid, and lead to a page with a detailed description of the product.
• Insufficient or missing product information: Each product in the feed should contain a detailed description, including name, price, availability, category, and other relevant information.
• Product names are spelled incorrectly. For example, in capslock.
• The language of the feed does not match the language of the site.

This is not a complete list of mistakes, but it covers 70% of the most common errors.

Other mistakes to consider

• The sale of goods must be permitted under Ukrainian law. It may sound strange, but sometimes there are cases when people try to advertise products that are prohibited by Ukrainian law. Even if you have only a few such products, the advertising of the entire site can be blocked.
• Discounts should be honest. If you have a discounted price that is higher than the market price, it is a violation of Google’s rules.
  Lack of a privacy policy: The website should have a privacy policy that explains how the company collects and uses personal data of users.

This whole list of mistakes is just the most popular ones. Unfortunately, Google does not give clear answers to what exactly needs to be changed, but provides general recommendations, which greatly complicates moderation in Google Merchant Centre.

At Spilno, we have created our own moderation algorithm that greatly speeds up the process.

The algorithm for unlocking (passing moderation) of a Google Merchant Center account:

• We investigate the account.
• We find violations.
• We fix the violations.
• We consult with Google support and get feedback in advance on whether we have fixed everything.
• Additionally, we receive personal feedback from a Google manager – are we still violating the rules?
• If we do not violate the rules, ONLY in this case we send the account for verification.
• If we do, we return to point 2.

Conclusion: in general, you can unblock your account yourself using the instructions and algorithm above, but if you don’t want to waste time on it and speed up the process, contact Spilno digital marketing agency.