Google Merchant Center Suspensions and How to Fix Them

Whenever you search for a product on Google, they show you a search results page full of product listings and product pages, and the option to click over to the dedicated shopping tab.

While some of this information comes from Schema scraping and general data indexing, many merchants choose to use one of Google's additional tools to get more out of it. That tool is the Google Merchant Center.

To ensure that product listings on Google results pages are as accurate as possible, Google continually reviews accounts using Merchant Center and happily suspends any that are found to be violating the terms of service. Unfortunately, it's not always clear how they make that determination or why, let alone how to fix it, leaving many suspended users in the dark.

Today, I wanted to go through all of the reasons why you might have your account suspended from the Google Merchant Center, and what you can do to recover it if it happens. 

What Is the Google Merchant Center and Why Should You Use It?

First, a brief rundown of what the Google Merchant Center even is.

Basically, it's a control panel available to people who run stores that sell products. It's not really available to brands that sell exclusively consulting or services, or even digital products, though some people have used workarounds to use it anyway. It's also largely not relevant for B2B brands, and works best for B2C brands.

The console basically allows you to create a feed of your products, which includes all kinds of item information in a Schema-compatible format. Product data has to be handled properly, otherwise Google won't use it, and you don't get the benefits of the Merchant Center. Here's their specification.

Why do this? One reason: it allows you to run Google Ads in Google Shopping. You only need a Google Ads account to run ads on the main feed, on Google display network sites, and in other locations, but Google Shopping requires you to have physical products fed into the system via the Google Merchant Center. Learn more about getting your store accepted in Google Shopping if you're just getting started.

That's really it! If you run the wrong kind of business, or if you have no intention of advertising through Google Shopping, or if you don't want to give Google a direct feed of your products, then you have no reason to care. For the portion of merchants who do fit the bill, though, the Google Merchant Center is an indispensable part of their advertising strategy.

Which makes it hurt all the more if you're sitting down to configure ads for the week, only to find that your Merchant Center account has been suspended with some vague reason and frustratingly few details. If you've also noticed your Google Ads suddenly stopped working, there may be related issues worth investigating.

Fortunately, Google isn't actually as obtuse as people make it seem sometimes, so with the right information, you can navigate your suspension and get your account back into their good graces.

Why You Were Suspended and How to Fix It

Now let's go through each of the reasons why Google might suspend a user from the Google Merchant Center, and how to fix them.

The good news is, Google will tell you which of their reasons why your account was suspended. The bad news is that's basically all they do; they tell you to contact Google support to figure out your problem and request a re-review.

You can get some additional information, though. Log in to your Google Merchant Center account. Choose Products on the left, and at the top, you'll see Item Issues, Feed Issues, and Account Issues. The third one, Account Issues, is where a suspension will appear. There's a "Learn more" link here, too, which you can click for more information. 

Any issues are issues you should fix, so be sure to check this section regularly, even after you're unsuspended, so you can proactively address problems before Google makes them a bigger problem for you.

So, what are the main reasons why Google might suspend a Merchant Center account?

Misrepresentation of Self or Product

This is probably the most common cause of a suspension, and it's also one of the vaguest and most seemingly subjective reasons. What constitutes misrepresentation? Who is being misrepresented, and how? Google isn't really going to tell you.

What they do tell you is that you have to comply with their misrepresentation policy, which can be found here.

There are a lot of possible causes here. Things you can't do include:

• Scamming by hiding or misrepresenting info about your business or product.
• Making it seem like you're endorsed or supported by a brand or organization when you aren't.
• Offering products you can't actually deliver.
• Impersonating other businesses or brands in your offers.
• Presenting a false identity or business name.
• Enticing customers with false pretenses.
• Offering "miracle cures" for medical ailments.
• Promising extreme weight loss from products.
• Falsely implying endorsement from experts.
• Listings that promote harmful health claims in contradiction to public health (basically, being antivax or going against the CDC or WHO consensus).
• Making claims that are proven false.
• Making claims that could undermine participation in elections.
• Making claims that contradict scientific consensus on climate change.
• Failing to disclose payment model information and the full cost of items.
• Failure to disclose all related conditions like shipping information or return policies.
• Omitting important relevant information, like tax exemption numbers for charitable contributions.
• Making promises of offers that aren't available to users, such as sales on out-of-stock products or deals that are no longer active.

That's a lot. It's also a lot of really obvious things. If you're a scammer, why are you even trying to run Google Ads in the first place? But it happens, so they have to watch for it. 

Fortunately, Google often gives you a subheading on why you were suspended under this clause, so you'll actually see something like:

• Misrepresentation of Self or Product (Untrustworthy Promotions)
• Misrepresentation of Self or Product (Omission of Relevant Information)
• Misrepresentation of Self or Product (Unavailable Promotions)
• Misrepresentation of Self or Product (Misleading or Unrealistic Promotions)
• Misrepresentation: Dishonest Pricing Practices

In cases where the cause of suspension is clear scammery, Google is just going to ban you and there's nothing you can do about it. In cases where it's an issue with a promotion or pricing, they'll give you a warning, and you'll have the opportunity to fix the issue.

So, how do you fix it?

Mostly, you have to diagnose why it's happening. What promotions are you running? How easy are they for users to claim? Are the products available?

It can be tricky to figure out which specific promotions or misrepresentations might be flagging your account. For the most part, you're fine if it's a case of something like a great sale and selling out of a product. It's more of an issue if you have a constant "discount" running and your products are never actually full price.

In any case, once you figure out which promotions or pricing discrepancies are causing the problem, you can fix it and request a re-review. 

Missing or Insufficient Information

This is a broad category that you won't actually see written as-is. Instead, you'll see individual warnings for the information you're missing. They will be things like:

• Missing Return or Refund Policy
• Missing Privacy Policy
• Incomplete or Inaccurate Shipping Information
• Insufficient or Unverifiable Contact Information
• Missing or Incorrect Brand Information
• Generic or Placeholder Images
• Conflict Between Business and Payment Details
• Multiple Accounts for the Same Business
• Multiple Websites for the Same Business
• Missing Contact Information
• Conflicting Contact Information

All of these are pretty much self-explanatory. If you're missing critical business documents, add them to your site. If you have them but Google doesn't think you do, then you need to make them more visible, like putting them in footer links. Site-wide header and footer links can help with visibility, but it's worth understanding how Google treats them. 

Some of the trickier issues here are when there's conflicting information. If your contact information is different in different places on your website, that can cause an error. It can also be a problem if your contact information on your site and on your Google Business Profile is different. 

Google will also check the information. If your phone number doesn't connect, if your address is a fake location, or other issues, bam: suspension time.

A rare one, but one that's hard to diagnose, is having multiple accounts or websites. Having multiple websites for the same store isn't really necessary, but in rare cases, a copycat could cause you issues. Having multiple accounts is trickier; if you had one years ago and forgot or lost access to it, and created a new one, they can find that out and suspend your account for it. Finding the old account and deleting one of the accounts can be tricky, unfortunately.

Other Suspension Reasons

There are a bunch of other issues that can crop up that don't fit under one of the other categories, so I've put them here.

Product Identification Issues. This happens when you have the wrong GTIN information for your products, so there's a conflict between your IDs and those of the manufacturer. Just get your numbers straight; this is usually a data sync issue.

Excessive Capitalization or Promotional Formatting. Google generally doesn't like it if your product names are in all caps, or if you're typing things like "This is a HOT DEAL!" every other sentence in your product pages. Just strip out the overly salesy language.

Promotional Overlays on Images. If your product images have a big banner on them saying ON SALE or 50% OFF or whatever, it's a violation of the product policies. Your product images represent the product, not your store page, so remove that excess promotion. Note that using stock photos instead of original product images can also create issues with your listings.

Other Google Account Suspensions. If your business has been found in violation of other Google app policies (Workspace, Drive, API use, or what have you), they can suspend you from the Merchant Center, too. You'll need to fix those suspensions first.

Unsecured Website. Use SSL. It's 2026, there's zero excuse to not be using SSL for an online storefront, no matter how casually you're running your business. 

Sale of Services. Even if you can technically do it, you're not allowed to run the Google Merchant Center with digital products, services, consulting, or other intangible goods. The way Google puts it, "Promotion of labor, time, effort, expertise, or actions, which do not result in ownership of a tangible product is prohibited." The only exception is for things like medical test kits, where the kit is the product, even though the customer doesn't keep the test.

Appeals and Reviews

When you get a suspension notice, the first thing you'll want to do is figure out what the specific reason for it is. The notice gives you some information, and your Google Merchant Center dashboard will also have information for you. That can help you figure out the broad category of why you were suspended.

Next, you need to find the pages or modules on your site that are causing the problem. I've seen cases where it's caused by a site-wide CTA banner promising deals that don't exist, for example, so it's not necessarily just a single page. There's no single answer for this; you'll just need to do an audit of your site based on what you're looking for from the suspension reason.

Don't forget to go through and make sure all of your relevant documents are in order. Things like your privacy policy, shipping policy, refund policy, and terms of service are all critical and need to be visible. Sometimes a page just gets moved or a URL 404s, and you don't notice until it becomes a problem.

Once you fix the issue, you can request the re-review. This will probably take a few days, and they'll do another look to see if you've fixed the issue. If you have, great, you'll be unsuspended, and you can get back to work. If you haven't, your appeal will be denied, and you'll have to figure out what happened.

One important note here is that there's a cooldown on requesting a re-review. Each successive failed appeal increases the cooldown period, too, so make sure to fix your issues as comprehensively as you can before submitting your re-review request. At least they tell you on the products tab how long until you can request your next review.

Ideally, you'll be able to get unsuspended, and you'll be good to go. If you can't, and you really aren't sure what's going on, you may need to contact Google support and work with someone who has more access to see what's happening.

Sometimes, too, you just can't actually use the Google Merchant Center. If you're suspended because you shouldn't have been there in the first place, well, that's that. 

Can You Just Ignore the Problem?

Some people, upon finding that they've been suspended from the Google Merchant Center, do a bit of re-evaluation. Maybe you didn't really get much use out of the Google Shopping ads, or maybe it was more work than it was worth to maintain the feed. Why not just accept the suspension and move on?

Sometimes, that's fine. The trouble is, it's a lot of risk. In particular, Google frequently also suspends Google Ads accounts for Merchant Center violations, which means you can't run any Google Ads, not just Shopping Ads. 

Even if you accept that as a penalty, what if you change your mind down the road? There's nothing worse than deciding years later that you want to run Google Ads, only to find that you have this old suspension and you're already going in for a struggle before you even begin. Even if you decide you don't want to use ads now, it's better to get the suspension sorted out so it doesn't cascade into other issues with other Google services later. Consider working with a penalty recovery service to help resolve things properly.

In general, I find that if you can be using the Google Merchant Center, you probably should be, so sorting out those suspensions is important. Good luck!