Google Merchant Center misrepresentation: how to fix the suspension

What Google counts as misrepresentation

Google's misrepresentation policy covers listings that deceive users by leaving out relevant information or giving misleading information. The Merchant Center Help Center names seven categories. Here is what each one tends to look like in an online store:

Google splits violations into two groups. Egregious violations, such as unacceptable business practices or dishonest pricing, lead to suspension on detection without prior warning. For non-egregious violations, Google issues a warning at least 7 days before any suspension.

Google also lists what it expects you to show: total price including taxes, fees, surcharges, shipping and return shipping costs, how payment and recurring billing work, delivery times and post-purchase terms, and accurate business contact information and location.

What to do in the first hour after a suspension

While the account is suspended, your products do not show on Google Shopping or in free listings. That takes out Shopping and the product side of Performance Max. In our ecommerce ROAS benchmark, 31 of 38 accounts ran Performance Max and 19 ran Shopping, each with at least €500 in spend.

1. Read the notice. The email and the Needs attention tab in Merchant Center name the policy. That is your starting point.
2. Do not click Request review yet. Every unsuccessful review brings you closer to a cool-down period.
3. Review your Shopping and Performance Max budgets. Decide whether they should keep running while your products are offline.
4. Keep the account. We never open a new Merchant Center account to route around a suspension. The mismatch that caused it stays on the website.
5. Start a change log. Note every fix with date, page URL and a screenshot. You will need it for the review.

The most common causes in online stores

Google rarely tells you which page triggered the suspension. Start with mismatches: the website says one thing, Merchant Center says another, or the product feed says a third. DataFeedWatch's checklist begins the same way, with prices and availability that must match across feed, website and ads.

Checklist: fix your store before you ask for a review

Work through this list in order and tick off each point in your change log. Only request a review when every point holds.

1. Business identity and contact

• Business name in Merchant Center matches the name on the website exactly. StubGroup recommends a display name without punctuation, so no .com suffix.
• A real street address that you can find on Google Maps, shown in the footer or on the contact page.
• The customer service URL in Merchant Center points to your actual contact page, not the home page.
• Contact email and phone number on the website match Merchant Center, and the phone number is verified.

2. Shipping and returns

• Shipping regions, costs and delivery times on the policy page match your Merchant Center shipping settings.
• Exclusions are spelled out, for example no delivery to Alaska and Hawaii.
• Return window, return shipping costs and refund method are the same on the policy page, product pages and in Merchant Center.
• Privacy policy and terms of service exist and link from every page.

3. Prices and product data

• Price, sale price, currency and availability in the feed match the live product page.
• Product images and titles in the feed show the product the page sells.
• Promotions in ads and feed are live on the website with visible terms.

4. Checkout and payment

• Shipping costs and fees show before the last checkout step.
• Subscriptions show the billing interval and price before purchase.
• The site runs on HTTPS, and buttons, links and pop-ups work on mobile.

5. Trust signals

• Reviews come from your own customers. Remove reviews copied from marketplaces or suppliers.
• Claims about results, awards or partnerships have a source you can show.
• Third-party review profiles, for example on Trustpilot, are claimed and use the same business name.

How to request a review

Once the fixes are live, make sure Google sees them. Update your product data manually or wait for the next scheduled feed upload. Google also asks that your product data source is not empty and that you complete identity verification if Merchant Center prompts you.

1. 01

   Open the issue

   In Merchant Center go to Products, then Needs attention, then View fix.

2. 02

   Pick the right option

   Choose I fixed the issue when you changed the store. Choose I disagree only if you are sure the flag is wrong. Google says you may only have one chance to disagree.

3. 03

   Explain the changes

   Where the form allows text, list your fixes with URLs from your change log. Short, factual, one line per fix.

4. 04

   Wait

   Google says reviews typically take up to 7 business days, longer for complex cases. Do not change the website back in the meantime.

If a review fails, Merchant Center can start a cool-down period. The Request review button stays grayed out until it ends, and the account stays suspended. Google says the cool-down may get longer with each unsuccessful review and that support cannot shorten it. You find the end date in the Needs attention tab.

Treat each review as your last. One complete fix beats three quick attempts, because each failed attempt costs you days without products on Google.

Google also offers a standard appeal with supporting documentation. If you resell a brand and Google doubts the affiliation, we attach contracts or partner confirmations.

Keep the suspension from coming back

Watch for changes that reach the website but not Merchant Center: a new shipping rate, a sale price that ends on the site but stays in the feed, a new return window. Three habits help:

• One owner for policy pages. Whoever changes shipping or returns on the website updates Merchant Center the same day.
• Feed and site in sync. Pull prices and availability from the same source, and check the Needs attention tab weekly.
• A check before every promotion. Discount, dates and terms live on the site before the promotion goes live in ads.

Merchant Center sits between your store and your campaigns, so a suspension is an ads problem as much as a feed problem. A Google Ads agency that runs Shopping and Performance Max should watch the account status next to ROAS. If you advertise on more than one search network, a PPC agency should keep your product data consistent across all of them.

Once your products are back, measure the recovery in your store backend: revenue after refunds, minus variable costs, minus ad spend. That is where we measure our own guarantee too.