How to Fix Common Google Merchant Center Errors

Google Merchant Center errors that limit or disapprove products are easiest to diagnose by opening an affected item and comparing its submitted data with its landing page. Fix the incorrect catalogue field or website behaviour, resubmit the data and confirm that Google removes the issue after processing.

Before changing hundreds of products, make these quick checks:

• Open the exact variant URL submitted to Google, with the same size and colour selected.
• Check whether a recent sale or stock change reached the product feed.
• Confirm that a missing identifier is genuinely unassigned, rather than missing from your export.
• Open the product image URL and check that it returns the correct image.

You’ll need access to Merchant Center and to the catalogue or integration that supplies its product data. Website fixes can also require your developer.

Where to Find Errors in Merchant Center

Open Products under Products & store, then select Needs attention to see products with issues. Filter by the issue or status, open its details and download the affected-item list. Google’s guide to finding Merchant Center issues describes this view.

If your account has a Prioritised fixes toggle, turn it off when you need the complete issue list. Start with a disapproval affecting many products, then inspect one representative item before applying a bulk correction.

Record the product ID, issue wording and submitted values. Compare several affected items to find a common cause, such as every sale product using yesterday’s price. A shared symptom often points to an export rule or sync failure.

Account issues appear in a banner and under View setup and policy issues. A suspension needs the account-level Merchant Centre recovery steps. Fixing one item won’t resolve an account-wide policy problem.

Missing GTIN and the Identifier Exists Attribute

For a missing Global Trade Item Number (GTIN), first establish whether the manufacturer has assigned one to that exact product. Obtain the correct number from the supplier or packaging. Don’t substitute your stock keeping unit (SKU), guess a number or copy one from a similar item.

The identifier exists attribute in Google Merchant Center tells Google whether the required unique product identifiers exist. The technical field is identifier_exists. Its supported text-feed values include yes, true, no and false. Omitting it defaults to yes.

Set identifier_exists to false only when the product genuinely lacks the identifiers required for its category. Custom art or a handmade one-off without assigned identifiers can qualify. A branded product whose GTIN hasn’t reached your feed doesn’t qualify merely because the field is blank.

Google’s identifier exists specification explains this declaration. Merchant Center uses the attribute for qualifying goods without identifiers. There’s no separate GTIN exemption application to complete for those goods.

Private-label goods need a closer check. A product without a GTIN can still have a manufacturer part number (MPN) and brand. Supply those assigned identifiers where applicable. If you manufacture the product, Google’s identifier guidance explains using your store name and a manufacturer-assigned MPN.

Correct case: a one-off artwork has no assigned identifiers, so its qualifying feed record declares identifier_exists=false.

Incorrect case: a branded appliance has an assigned GTIN, but the export omits it and declares false. Google can limit visibility or disapprove the item. Its Incorrect product identifier fix requires the valid GTIN and a true declaration.

For identifier formats and sourcing, read the guide to GTINs.

Price and Availability Mismatches

A mismatch means Google finds a different price or stock status in your submitted data and on the product page. Check the visible page, checkout and structured data for the same variant. Structured data is the machine-readable product information embedded in the page.

For price issues, compare the amount and currency. Australian product prices must include applicable Goods and Services Tax (GST). A feed value excluding GST won’t match a GST-inclusive storefront price. Google’s price requirements also require agreement with checkout.

During a sale, retain the regular price and submit the current sale_price. If you supply a sale period, make its timing match the storefront promotion. An expired sale left in the feed or a sale page with outdated structured data can cause a mismatch.

Check that the submitted URL selects the advertised variant. A dress with different prices by size must open with the matching size and price. Also inspect cached pages and currency selectors that could show Google a different offer.

For availability, test whether the exact variant can be ordered. Use out_of_stock when you’re no longer accepting orders. Use backorder for an existing product you’re accepting orders for while awaiting stock, with the required availability information. Google’s availability specification distinguishes these states.

The recovery result is agreement across the feed, page and checkout. Automatic item updates can correct some discrepancies, but you still need an accurate regular data sync.

Why These Errors Also Mislead a Shopping Agent

Incorrect catalogue values can reach a shopping agent before Google flags or limits the item. If both systems consume the same wrong source data, correcting only the Google export leaves the agent’s answers wrong.

Consider these hypothetical replies from an agent using faulty catalogue records:

Source error	Wrong reply in chat	What the retailer must correct
An expired sale price remains in the catalogue	‘This dress costs $80 AUD including GST.’ The real current price is $100 AUD including GST.	End the sale in the source catalogue and refresh downstream data.
A sold-out variant is still marked available	‘Yes, the navy dress in size 12 is in stock.’ The shopper can’t order that variant.	Update stock for the exact variant and sync the new status.
One model has another model’s GTIN	‘These are the same appliance.’ The numbers incorrectly identify different models as one product.	Restore each model’s assigned identifier and remove any incorrect match.

A missing GTIN alone doesn’t make an agent invent a product identity. The wrong answer arises when its matching or answer process relies on missing or incorrect identifiers. Price and stock errors follow the same dependency: the answer can be wrong when the data it reads is wrong.

Fix the catalogue record, then refresh both the Google feed and the agent’s catalogue. A Merchant Center rule that replaces an incorrect price changes Google’s processed data only. It doesn’t repair a separate catalogue connection used by chat.

Ask the agent about the corrected variant after its refresh. Its quoted price and stock status must match the storefront. Test product identity too if the correction changes how records match.

Image and Landing Page Errors

For an image issue, open the submitted image_link and inspect the actual file. It must show the product being sold and be accessible to Google’s crawler. Replace promotional overlays or store-logo stand-ins with a compliant product image.

Google’s image requirements prohibit added promotional text and most generic stand-in images. If many items share the error, check whether the export selects a promotional asset instead of the product photo.

For a landing page error, open the submitted product link on desktop and mobile. It must reach the correct product page with usable purchasing controls. Repair a broken URL, failed redirect or server error at its source.

A page that loads for you can still block Google. Inspect robots.txt and firewall restrictions with your developer. Google’s landing page repair instructions name Googlebot, Googlebot-image and AdsBot-Google as crawlers to check. Confirm that the crawler can reach the page and images after the fix.

Shipping Setting Errors

For missing or conflicting shipping, compare Merchant Center’s delivery settings with checkout for the affected product and Australian postcode. Confirm that an applicable service covers the destination, product and currency. Then compare the charge, including any order-value threshold.

Australian rates can differ by state or postcode. A metro rate applied to a regional destination can understate the delivery charge. A delivery zone omitted from Merchant Center can leave a product without usable shipping information.

Check product-level shipping values as well as account settings. A submitted product-level shipping price overrides account settings for the matching location. An integration can also overwrite manual changes. Google’s shipping settings guide explains both behaviours.

Use a hypothetical checkout check for an ordinary parcel, then repeat it for a bulky item if those rates differ. The charge submitted to Google must match the site as closely as possible. Google permits an overestimate when an exact match isn’t possible.

Correct the responsible delivery rule and repeat checkout with a postcode from each affected zone. Confirm that a destination you don’t serve isn’t advertised as deliverable.

Fix in Bulk and Confirm the Fix

Apply a bulk correction only after one affected product confirms the cause and the intended replacement value. Keep the downloaded issue list so you can compare the same product IDs after processing.

1. Correct the source catalogue or website. For an export-format problem, use a narrowly scoped data source rule. A supplemental data source can update existing products by matching their IDs.
2. Inspect the resulting data for a representative item. The corrected value must match the page and checkout before you resubmit the batch.
3. Resubmit or refresh the affected data source. Confirm that processing succeeds and the updated values appear in Merchant Center.
4. Open the issue details and use the available review or website-check action after the technical fix is live. Some issues clear through automatic processing.
5. Reopen the original affected-item list. Confirm that the issue disappears for those IDs and inspect any remaining examples for a second cause.

Supplemental sources require the Advanced data source management add-on. They update existing attributes and can’t add products on their own. Google’s data source instructions explain this setup. For the wider export structure, read the Google product feed guide.

Allow for Google’s crawl and issue processing after resubmission. Its issue guidance says fresh crawls usually finish within 24 to 48 hours. A policy review is a separate process and can take longer. Use the timing shown in your issue details instead of treating a successful upload as approval.

If the issue persists after processing, collect the exact issue text, product IDs and submitted values. Include the landing-page URL and evidence of the correction when contacting Google or your feed integration’s support. Start with the remaining affected item so support can trace the failure through the same record.