Google Merchant Center dashboard with product errors

Google Shopping April 26, 2026 8 min read

The 10 Most Common Google Merchant Center Errors and How to Fix Them

Discover the most frequent errors that cause product rejections, and learn how to fix them step by step — or automatically with AI.

See the top 10 errors How Girofeeds solves them

If you manage Google Shopping campaigns, you know how frustrating it is to log into Google Merchant Center and find rejected products, red warnings, and dropping metrics. Every rejected product is a lost sales opportunity.

The good news: most errors are recurring, have known causes, and clear solutions. In this article, we review the 10 most common errors, how to identify them, and how to fix them — both manually and automatically.

What Types of Issues Exist in Merchant Center?

Merchant Center classifies issues into three severity levels:

Errors (red)

Prevent the product from appearing in Google Shopping. Require immediate action.

Warnings (yellow)

Don't immediately reject the product, but reduce its performance and can lead to future rejection.

Notifications (blue)

Optimization recommendations. Not mandatory, but following them can increase CTR.

The 10 Most Common Errors

Incorrect or Missing GTIN

The GTIN (Global Trade Item Number, such as EAN or ISBN) is the worldwide unique identifier for a product. If you sell branded products with an available GTIN and don't include it, Merchant Center will reject the product in categories like fashion or electronics.

Fix: Get the GTIN from the manufacturer or supplier. If you sell own-brand products without a GTIN, set the identifier_exists attribute to FALSE. Never use fake values like '0000000000000'.

Images with Logos, Text, or Incorrect Background

Google rejects images that contain promotional overlays (like 'SALE' or '20% off'), brand logos over the product, non-white or non-neutral backgrounds in certain categories, or watermarked images.

Fix: Use clean images with a white or neutral background. If you have many products, an AI-powered tool can detect and fix these issues automatically across your entire catalog.

Incorrect Price or Price Inconsistency with the Website

Google compares the price in the feed with the actual price on your product page. If there's a discrepancy (even by cents), the product can be rejected. This often happens when prices are updated in the store but not in the feed.

Fix: Make sure the feed updates automatically with your store's prices at least once a day. Enable automatic item updates in Merchant Center.

Incorrect Availability (in stock / out of stock)

If the feed says a product is in stock but the web page shows 'sold out', Google detects the discrepancy and rejects the product or suspends the account. This is one of the most dangerous errors because it can affect the entire account.

Fix: Sync stock in real time between your ERP or store and the feed. Update the feed at least every 24 hours.

Poorly Optimized or Generic Title

The title doesn't cause a technical rejection, but it dramatically reduces CTR. Titles like 'Men's shoe size 42' or 'Product ref. 123' perform very poorly. Recommended structure for fashion: Brand + Product Type + Attributes (color, size, material).

Fix: Example: 'Nike Air Max 90 - Men's Sneakers - White - Size 9'.

Empty or Copied Description

Generic descriptions copied literally from suppliers add no value and can penalize you. Merchant Center values original descriptions that clearly describe the product in detail.

Fix: Create original descriptions focused on product benefits, with the most relevant attributes for the buyer.

Incorrect or Redirected Landing URL

If the product URL in the feed points to a page that returns a 404 error, redirects to the homepage, or loads too slowly, Merchant Center will reject the product.

Fix: Periodically review the URLs in the feed. Use permanent 301 redirects if you change URLs, and update the feed with the new ones.

Incorrect XML Format in the Feed

If the XML feed file has improperly closed tags, unescaped special characters (like & instead of &), or incorrect encoding, Google cannot process it and all products remain unpublished.

Fix: Validate the XML before uploading it. If you generate the feed from your CMS, make sure the module or plugin generates valid XML.

Missing or Incorrect 'Shipping' Attribute

In many countries, specifying shipping conditions is mandatory. If you don't include the shipping attribute in the feed (or configure it at account level), products may be rejected.

Fix: Configure shipping conditions in Merchant Center at account level (easier) or include them directly in the feed.

Incorrect or Too Generic Product Category

If you don't assign the correct Google Product Category (GPC), your products are shown with less precision. In competitive categories like electronics or fashion, incorrect categorization can significantly reduce visibility.

Fix: Use the official Google Product Categories taxonomy and assign the most specific category possible for each product.

How to Fix These Errors Automatically?

Manually reviewing and fixing these errors in catalogs of hundreds or thousands of products is unviable. That's why specialized feed management tools exist — they detect errors automatically and fix them.

Girofeeds is one of those tools: it analyzes your catalog with AI, detects exactly which products have issues (incorrect images, poorly optimized titles, inconsistent prices...) and fixes them automatically, syncing changes directly with your PrestaShop, Magento, or WooCommerce.

Girofeeds fixes these errors automatically

Detects incomplete titles and rewrites them with the optimal Shopping structure.
Automatically removes logos and watermarks from images.
Syncs prices in real time between your CMS and the feed.
Completes missing GTINs, categories and attributes with AI.
Generates unique descriptions to avoid duplicate content.
Monitors image URLs and detects 404 errors.

The result: up to 80% fewer Merchant Center rejections, better Shopping CTR, and less time spent on manual feed tasks. You can also take advantage of automatic repricing and catalog optimization to maximize your performance.

See how it works Request free access

Conclusion

Google Merchant Center errors are inevitable when managing a catalog of any significant size. The key is detecting them in time and fixing them systematically — or better yet, automating their correction so they don't reappear.

If you want to see how Girofeeds can help you maintain an error-free catalog optimized for Google Shopping, you can request free access and try it with your own catalog.

Remember: fixing the feed is not enough. If the error is in the source data of your CMS, it will return with every update. Girofeeds works directly on the catalog so the fix is permanent. Learn more about product image optimization and why Girofeeds outperforms traditional feed managers.