Google Merchant Center misrepresentation: what it covers and how to fix it

What the policy covers

Google’s misrepresentation policy is about trust: a shopper who clicks a listing should find the business, the price and the product the listing promised. The policy groups the practices it does not allow into six types.

For the first three, Google calls the breach egregious. The account is suspended when it is detected, and the policy says such accounts are reinstated only in compelling circumstances. That is why it pays to check a store before the first feed goes in, not after the first notice.

Google tells you which policy you broke, not which page broke it, so the audit has to cover the whole store.

The store checks Google’s help pages name

Google does not publish a misrepresentation checklist, and a suspension notice names the policy rather than the page. What it does publish is a fix page for missing contact information, which it lists against both Misrepresentation and Website needs improvement, and a set of requirements for the online store. Between them:

• Contact details you can see before checkout. At least one of a business address, phone number, email address, contact form or social media business profile, easy to find before a shopper reaches checkout.
• The same details everywhere. The business name, address and phone number on the site (the footer and contact page) should match what Merchant Center holds under Settings, Business info. Google names a mismatch as a common cause.
• A return and refund policy that answers the real questions. What a customer has to do, when returns are accepted, the time limits and what refund to expect. Google also asks for it in the product data.
• The full cost before purchase. Shipping, fees and any recurring payment shown before the order is placed, not discovered afterwards.
• A checkout that works. Products can be added to the cart, at least one conventional payment method is offered, and card details are collected on an SSL page.
• No loose ends. Placeholder text and broken links are on Google’s list of things to remove.
• One language. The site, the product data and the language set in Merchant Center should match.

Make the feed and the page agree

Unavailable offers and dishonest pricing are often not deliberate. A feed that updates once a day can show a price or a stock level the product page no longer has. To a shopper, and to Google, that looks the same as a bait and switch.

• Price and sale price in the feed match the product page, including currency.
• Products that are out of stock say so in the feed, or leave it.
• The landing page is the product, not a home page or a search result.
• Product titles describe the product the page sells. The guide to product titles covers what belongs in them.

A wrong google_product_category is not itself misrepresentation, but some categories carry their own rules, and a product filed under the wrong one can be judged against the wrong rules. The guide to categories with their own requirements lists them.

Requesting a review

Fix the site first, then ask for the review from the issue in Merchant Center. If you think the decision is wrong, the same flow lets you appeal it. Google says account reviews typically take 7 business days and complex ones can take longer.

Make every change before asking, rather than one at a time. Each review looks at the store as it is on that day, and a review that finds the next problem is a week spent learning one thing. The guide to whom to contact covers what to do when a review is refused.