Google Merchant Center Policy Checklist for Online Stores

Google reviews both your products and your whole website when you join Merchant Center. Stores that skip preparation often meet disapproved products, warnings or a suspension that takes weeks to resolve. This checklist covers what to verify before you submit your first product, and what to keep checking afterwards.

Business information checklist

• Business name in Merchant Center matches the name on your website.
• Physical address shown on the contact page, ideally with a map.
• Phone number and business email that customers can actually reach.
• An About page explaining who you are and where you operate.
• Website claimed and verified in Merchant Center.

Policy pages checklist

• Delivery policy: areas served, fees, timelines and what happens on failed delivery.
• Returns policy: eligible items, time limit, condition, who pays return delivery.
• Refund policy: how and when refunds are paid, for example back to the same M-Pesa number or card.
• Privacy policy: what data you collect and how it is protected.
• Terms and conditions: ordering, pricing, cancellations.
• All policies linked from the footer and visible before payment.

Website and checkout checklist

• HTTPS on every page, with no security warnings.
• No placeholder text, broken links or "coming soon" product pages.
• Checkout works end to end, with clear payment methods such as M-Pesa and cards.
• Order confirmation shown and sent by email or SMS.
• Prices include or clearly state any taxes and fees.
• The site works well on mobile.

Product data checklist

Check	Why it matters
Feed price equals page price	Mismatches are a leading cause of disapprovals
Availability is accurate	Out-of-stock items marked in stock frustrate shoppers
Main images are clean, with no text or watermarks	Image policy violations block products
Titles describe the product, not promotions	Promotional text is not allowed in titles
Product links go to the exact product page	Shoppers and Google must land on the advertised item
Identifiers (brand, GTIN, MPN) provided where they exist	Helps accurate matching

Claims and honesty checklist

• No discounts calculated from prices you never actually charged.
• No countdown timers or "only 2 left" labels that are not true.
• No certifications, awards or official partnerships you cannot prove.
• Delivery times and fees match what customers actually experience.

Misleading claims are a common route to a misrepresentation suspension.

Restricted and prohibited products

Some product categories are restricted or prohibited on Google's shopping surfaces, for example certain healthcare products, weapons, alcohol and items that infringe trademarks. Rules vary by country and category. Before listing anything in a sensitive category, read Google's current shopping policies for that product type and target country.

Ongoing checks after approval

1. Review Merchant Center Diagnostics every week.
2. Re-check feed accuracy after every sale or price change.
3. Update shipping settings when delivery fees change.
4. Re-read policy pages each quarter to make sure they still match practice.
5. Keep business details identical across the website, Merchant Center and Google Business Profile.

What happens if you skip the checklist?

Problems rarely appear one at a time. A store that submits products without clear policies may see a warning, then product disapprovals, then an account-level review. Each step takes time to resolve, and while products are blocked, the store loses visibility it was counting on. Fixing issues after a suspension also means waiting for Google's review, sometimes more than once. Spending an afternoon on this checklist before submitting is far cheaper than weeks of lost listings, especially ahead of busy periods such as the end-of-year holidays.

Who should own this checklist?

Assign one person to own Merchant Center health, even in a small business. Policy problems usually arise when several people change prices, products and settings without anyone checking the overall picture. A short weekly routine is enough to catch issues before Google does.

Example: a pre-submission audit

Before joining Merchant Center, a cosmetics store runs this checklist. It finds that its returns page has no time limit, two products show different prices on the site and in a test feed, and some product photos include promotional text. It also realises a few products fall into a restricted category and need extra checks. Fixing these before submitting saves weeks of disapprovals and avoids risking the whole account.

Get a store that passes first time

Our e-commerce website service builds stores with policy pages, accurate automatic feeds and secure checkout from day one. Read our guides to Merchant Center setup and feed optimisation.