Merchant Center names its problems in its own words, and the names rarely say what is wrong. “Invalid value [gtin]” and “Incorrect GTIN” are two different problems. “Limited” is not an error at all. And some issues take one product off Google while others take every product off. This page is the index: Google’s name, what it means, which level it sits at, and where to go next.
Product-level or account-level: the difference that matters most
Google splits its issues in two, and the split decides how worried to be. On its Issues in Merchant Center page, Google says product-level issues only affect individual products
, while setup and policy issues impact all of your products
.
So one disapproved image costs you one listing. One policy issue costs you the account.
Both live in the same place: Products & store → Products → Needs attention. Google describes the filter above that list like this: The Priority fixes feature filters the Needs attention page to display only issues likely to have a medium or high impact on your products' performance and potential clicks.
Turn it off to see everything.
One thing that is not an issue: “Limited”. It is one of the five product statuses, alongside Under review, Processing, Approved and Not approved. Google describes it as The product is showing on Google, but only in some instances, or all of the product data may not be shown on the ad.
(Google’s page on product status). A limited product is still selling. It is usually missing an attribute, not breaking a rule.
The issues, in Google’s names
| Google’s name for it | What it means | Level | Where to go next |
|---|---|---|---|
| Missing value: size, color, gender, age group | A required attribute is empty. Clothing needs gender, age group and colour | Product | Attributes Google expects |
| Missing product description | The description was left out when the product was added | Product | Google’s page |
| Limited performance due to missing value: GTIN [gtin] | Google thinks this category normally has a barcode and yours has none | Product | Adding GTINs |
| Incorrect GTIN | The barcode is a real one, but belongs to a different product | Product | Google’s page |
| Invalid value [gtin] | The barcode isn’t a valid number at all | Product | Google’s page |
| Mismatched product price | The price in your data differs from the price Googlebot read on the page | Product | Fixing a price mismatch |
| Mismatched product availability | Your stock status and your page disagree | Product | Fixing an availability mismatch |
| Mismatched strikethrough price (page crawl) | The was-price on the page doesn’t match the price or sale price you sent | Product | Strikethrough prices Google distrusts |
| Image too small | The main image is under Google’s minimum dimensions | Product | Image too small, explained |
| Generic placeholder image | The main image is a stand-in, not the product | Product | Fixing a missing or generic image |
| Text on image | Promotional text, a logo, a badge or a watermark sits on the image | Product | Removing overlays |
| Product page unavailable | Google couldn’t load the landing page you submitted | Product | When the landing page fails |
| Excessive capitalization | A title is largely in capitals | Product | Fixing capitalisation |
| Inaccurate shipping costs | Your shipping rates are lower than the ones at your checkout | Account | Shipping your policy must state |
| Preemptive item disapproval | Price or availability mismatches, enforced at account level | Account | What a preemptive disapproval is |
| Misrepresentation | Your store hides, misstates or can’t deliver something | Account | Working through Misrepresentation |
| Website needs improvement, Site inaccessible, Insufficient contact information, Missing return and refund policy, Login required, Users cannot complete purchase | The six website quality issues on one Google page | Account | The “Website needs improvement” issue |
Missing data: the attribute issues
These are the most common and the least alarming. Google is telling you a field is empty.
Missing value issues name the attribute. Google explains: A value isn't provided for a required product attribute.
and Apparel offers need gender [gender] , age group [age_group] , and color [color] attributes.
(Google’s page on missing values). So a clothing catalogue raises three of these at once, and one bulk edit clears all three.
Missing product description is literal: Google says it happens because the product description was omitted or forgotten when the product was added
.
Identifiers come in three flavours, and the wording tells you which:
- Limited performance due to missing value: GTIN: you sent no barcode, and Google says
You’ve submitted products in a category that we suspect should have a GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) , but you haven’t provided the unique product identifiers that are normally available for that category.
- Incorrect GTIN: the number is valid but belongs to something else. Google says it
tends to occur when the GTIN from another product is accidentally re-used
. - Invalid value [gtin]: the number itself is wrong. Google says it
occurs when you’ve entered an invalid value for the GTIN [gtin] attribute
.
If your products genuinely have no barcodes, the answer is not a made-up number: it is the identifier-exists attribute. Our guides to a missing brand, a missing MPN and telling Google a product has no identifier cover the three fields that go together, and our post on setting identifier exists in bulk on Shopify covers doing it at scale.
Mismatches: when your page and your data disagree
These are the issues that escalate. Google reads your product page and compares it with what you sent.
On price, Google describes the mechanism plainly: Googlebot routinely crawls your website landing pages and compares the price [price] attribute in your data source with the prices on your landing page
(Google’s page on mismatched price).
On availability, it adds the consequence: Too many products with incorrect availability can lead to account suspension
(Google’s page on mismatched availability).
That is why mismatches get their own account-level enforcement. Google’s page on product data quality disapprovals says: Only price and availability mismatch between the feed and the landing pages can result in preemptive item disapproval.
(Google’s page on data quality disapprovals).
The strikethrough version is about your was-price rather than your price. Google says the issue means the pricing information displayed on your website is different from the pricing information shared in price [price] or sale price [sale_price]
attributes.
Common causes, in our experience: a currency or market where the feed sends a different number; a discount app that changes the page price but not the feed; a sale that ended on the site and not in the data; variants whose prices differ while the feed sends the parent’s. Our guides to a feed that doesn’t match the website and variants that don’t match the feed cover the last two, and our posts on price mismatches in Merchant Center and price mismatches on WooCommerce go through them platform by platform.
Images
Three separate issues, three separate causes.
Image too small is a measurement. Google is raising the floor: Enforcement of the new requirements will begin January 31, 2027
, and until then you can use an image that's at least 100 x 100 pixels for non-clothing and 250 x 250 pixels for clothing products
.
Generic placeholder image is about what the picture shows. Google says Some of your products have generic images.
and asks for a main image that clearly shows the product.
Text on image is about what has been added to it. Google says Some of your products have images with promotional text (retailer logos or calls to action) or watermarks, which can obstruct the view of your product.
This issue was called “promotional overlay” before Google renamed it.
Pages and titles
Product page unavailable means Google couldn’t get in. Google says you submitted a landing page that can’t be accessed by Google and may also not be accessible to Google users
. Usual causes: a 404 after a product was renamed, a store password page, a region redirect, a firewall that blocks Googlebot, or a staging URL in the feed. Our post on the product page unavailable issue walks through each.
Excessive capitalization is about trust, not grammar. Google says capitalised titles are frequently used in spam emails or by fishy retailers
, and notes that acronyms are fine.
Account and policy issues
These are the ones to read first if your products have stopped showing altogether.
Inaccurate shipping costs. Google’s page opens with the consequence: Your account has either been warned or suspended due to this error
, and then the cause: The shipping rates in your Merchant Center shipping settings or product data are lower than the shipping rates shown on your website during checkout.
Rounding up is allowed; rounding down is the error.
Misrepresentation is Google’s largest policy. Our post on the Misrepresentation triggers merchants miss covers the parts that aren’t obvious, and our guide to how to fix a Misrepresentation suspension is the way back once the account is suspended. For stores that ship from a supplier, our post on dropshipping and Merchant Center suspensions goes rule by rule.
The six website quality issues all live on one Google page, editorial and professional requirements: Website needs improvement, Site inaccessible, Insufficient contact information, Missing return and refund policy, Login required, and Users cannot complete purchase. Four of them map to something a visitor can see on your store, and our guides cover each: a missing contact page, a missing refund policy, a checkout a shopper can’t complete and fees that appear late.
Two other account issues sit outside that page: a suspended linked Google Ads account, covered in our guide to a linked Ads suspension, and business details that don’t match, covered in our guide to business information mismatches.
Products that aren’t showing but have no issue
Sometimes Needs attention is empty and the products still aren’t on Google. The usual causes are a product that expired, a feed that hasn’t refreshed, a product excluded by a campaign setting, or a product that was never submitted at all. Our guide to products not showing is the checklist, and our posts on products that expire after 30 days and deleted products still showing cover the two sides of the stock question.
Where ShieldKit fits
Merchant Center tells you which issue it found. It doesn’t show you the page behind it. Our free store check reads your live store with no install and no account, and covers the issues in the table that live on a public page: your refund, shipping, privacy and terms pages, your contact details, the Product structured data on your product pages, whether those pages load at all, and the payment methods your homepage shows. It also compares the price on each product page with the price in that page’s structured data, which is the mismatch behind most of the price rows above.
The image, product-data and business-details rows need more than the public pages. Those run on a full store check once your store is added to a free ShieldKit account: hidden fees on any platform, product data and product images where your platform publishes a product list (today Shopify and WooCommerce), and the business-details match once your Merchant Center account is connected. Each result quotes the words it read, so you can line a Merchant Center issue up against the page it came from.
FAQ
Where do I see all my Merchant Center errors?
Products & store → Products → Needs attention. Account-level setup and policy issues are reached from the same tab, with “View setup and policy issues” above the summary cards. The Priority fixes filter limits the list to issues Google considers medium or high impact, so turn it off to see everything.
Is “Limited” an error?
No. It is one of Google’s five product statuses. Google says a limited product is showing on Google, but only in some instances, or all of the product data may not be shown on the ad
. It usually means an attribute is missing, most often an identifier.
Which Merchant Center issues can suspend my account?
Policy issues and the website quality issues affect the whole account, as does inaccurate shipping. Price and availability mismatches have their own account-level enforcement: Google says only those two can result in a preemptive item disapproval. Most other issues in the table above take individual products off Google and leave the account alone.
What is the difference between “Incorrect GTIN” and “Invalid value [gtin]”?
An incorrect GTIN is a real barcode attached to the wrong product. Google says it usually happens when a barcode is reused. An invalid value is not a usable barcode at all, for example the wrong number of digits or a failed check digit.
How long do fixes take to clear?
Google doesn’t publish one number for every issue. Mismatch issues clear when Google next crawls the page and the next data update agrees with it, which is why checking both sides matters before you request a review.