Suspension of Google Merchant Centre/Shopping/Ads Account

TEFLC2020
Tourist
6 0 3

I could do with some advice please. I received the following email from google after my account was suspended.

 “We have reviewed the Merchant Center Account and the policy disapproval remains because the Merchant Center Account continues to be in violation of our policy.

Google Shopping requires that merchants provide transparency into the product that's being promoted. It has come to our attention that your Google Merchant Center account doesn't comply with our Program Policies. We have therefore disabled your Google Merchant Center account. Please visit here for more information about our policies.

As outlined in our Terms of Service, Google reserves the right to terminate any user's participation at any time.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, unfortunately we will not be able to reinstate this account and the current status of the products and the account may be beyond fix. Google’s primary objective is to provide safe, relevant experiences for our users. The decision to suspend your account was made after careful review of your account and the low quality landing page experiences promoted through your website. We won't be able to provide you with any further details regarding the suspension of the account.”

Has anyone got any ideas of what the fixes will be? And how likely are google to reactivate my account once I’ve worked on my site? I’m reading that once it’s suspended then that’s it, they won’t reinstate! If anyone could recommend an expert in this matter that would be great.

 

Thanks

Joanne

Replies 35 (35)

EmmanuelFlossie
Shopify Partner
2953 221 710

Google is suspending a lot of merchants lately and most are related to not being honest about there business and not stocking goods.

The violation you are talking about is related to: https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6150127

 

While yes, you may have something that can be fixed, without seeing your website or understand your business model, it is hard to figure out.

 

The most common reasons currently are:

Using a virtual office or po box as your business address

Drop shipping without adding any additional value

Having multiple websites

 

Ultimately it is down to trust factor, which is playing a big role now. Google now also uses 3rd party information, so if you have done something in a negative way in the past with a different business, or even with payment gateway, will all have an effect.

Get in touch with Emmanuel: a Google Shopping Specialist, Google Ads Diamond Product Expert, and also a a Google Product Expert Education 2021 & Tailwind 2023 Award winner.
Need Google Merchant Center or Google Shopping support?.
Mike184
Visitor
2 0 0

Hi Emmanuel,

My site has been suspended https://fiftysevendesignsid.com/ for the same thing 

We have reviewed the Merchant Center Account and the policy disapproval remains because the merchant center account continues to be in violation of our policy.
Google Shopping requires that merchants provide transparency into the product that's being promoted. It has come to our attention that your Google Merchant Center account doesn't comply with our Program Policies. We have therefore disabled your Google Merchant Center account. Please visit: http://www.google.com/support/merchants/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=188484 for more information about our policies.

As outlined in our Terms of Service available at http://www.google.com/support/merchants/bin/answer.py?answer=160173&hl=en, Google reserves the right to terminate any user's participation at any time.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but unfortunately we will not be able to reinstate this account and the current status of the products and the account may be beyond fix. Google’s primary objective is to provide safe, relevant experiences for our users. The decision to suspend your account was made after careful review of your account and the low quality landing page experiences promoted through your website. We won't be able to provide you with any further details regarding the suspension of the account.

Is there any advice you could give me?

EmmanuelFlossie
Shopify Partner
2953 221 710

While some businesses that are print on demand can advertise generally, this is not allowed as products need to be stocked to ensure deliverability. Reference: https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6150127#:~:text=Unavailable%20promotions

Why others can sell is due to a high trust factor.

What I recommend you do is first work on your trust factor, I have written a basic article for enhanced listings, which is also part of other Google Merchant Center-related areas: https://feedarmy.com/kb/requirements-for-enhanced-listings-on-surfaces-across-google/

Get in touch with Emmanuel: a Google Shopping Specialist, Google Ads Diamond Product Expert, and also a a Google Product Expert Education 2021 & Tailwind 2023 Award winner.
Need Google Merchant Center or Google Shopping support?.
Mike184
Visitor
2 0 0

Thank you for your help - I will read the article and do what you suggest.  Much appreciated.

Keith_Hennigan
Visitor
3 0 0

I had my Google Merchant Center Account suspended as it did not comply with program policy. My store was paused at the time due to covid stock issues. It is no longer a viable business but if I cant get this resolved will I have issues creating another Google Merchant Center Account for another store in the future.

 

 

EmmanuelFlossie
Shopify Partner
2953 221 710

Generally, the rule is 1 business = 1 website.

Creating multiple accounts may indeed cause it to get suspended too.

Get in touch with Emmanuel: a Google Shopping Specialist, Google Ads Diamond Product Expert, and also a a Google Product Expert Education 2021 & Tailwind 2023 Award winner.
Need Google Merchant Center or Google Shopping support?.
Keith_Hennigan
Visitor
3 0 0

The only reason I still have the website open is to resolve the Google Merchant Center Account suspension it currently has no products or promotions. I have been looking into a new website completely different to the old one but wondering is it possible to have new website new Merchant Center Account.

CarlBuck
Visitor
1 0 0

Hi Emmanuel.

I am having the same issue.

This is the site: https://www.beattys.ie

Any thoughts?

EmmanuelFlossie
Shopify Partner
2953 221 710

I recommend having a look at the following policies:

 

https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/7052112?hl=en

https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6363310?hl=en

https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/4752265?hl=en

https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6149970?hl=en

 

The most common issues are:

  1. Not adding full contact details page linked from the footer (email, phone number, address, contact form): https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6363310?hl=en

  2. Not having a valid checkout: https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/9158778?hl=en

  3. Not having returns and refund, delivery, privacy policy and terms of service pages

  4. Selling products that are not allowed: https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6150006

  5. Selling products that are not stocked: https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6150127#:~:text=Unavailable%20promotions

  6. Not adding any added content, and simply copy-pasting other sites

  7. Having multiple websites in the same niche

  8. Not being honest with what you sell or how you portray the business

  9. Having a low trust factor or no track record of order fullfilment

You can ask Google for specific examples of policy violation. To do so ask here and check the box, I need more info https://support.google.com/merchants/contact/suspended

 

Hope this helps.

 

Get in touch with Emmanuel: a Google Shopping Specialist, Google Ads Diamond Product Expert, and also a a Google Product Expert Education 2021 & Tailwind 2023 Award winner.
Need Google Merchant Center or Google Shopping support?.
snipermar
Visitor
1 0 0

Hi Emmanuel

Thank you for your previous answers it s very helpfull,

My account have been disabled by google, according to them the reason is ''Low quality landing page experiences promoted through the website''. I have been on the link you shared about the landing page rules and it seems for me that i am respecting all the requirements, i want just to add that i m using some GIF designs, may this be the issue ? Do you have any advice to resolve this ?

Thank you for your help.

EmmanuelFlossie
Shopify Partner
2953 221 710

To know the potential reasons the website needs to be analyzed. As Google may provide one reason, you may have multiple violations. So re-read all policies. If you need help, you can contact me. I provide a service that checks for compliance.

Get in touch with Emmanuel: a Google Shopping Specialist, Google Ads Diamond Product Expert, and also a a Google Product Expert Education 2021 & Tailwind 2023 Award winner.
Need Google Merchant Center or Google Shopping support?.
CanineCouture
Visitor
1 0 0

Hi Emmanuel,

Thanks for all of your really helpful answers on this thread.

I am a new Shopify store and have been really upset/surprised and how aggressively Google are suspending accounts and then giving so little information about why they have done it.

Your insights on this forum have been very helpful as I have tried to understand the unhelpful emails I got from Google. The points you are saying about listing an address etc to improve the situation make sense to me but are also upsetting as Shopify don't give any clues about this when setting up your account and it should be quite straightforward info to share.

Long story short, Google have suspended my ad account immediately on me registering it and effectively refuse to let me list products. I notice you have said that for merchants that this happens to one must go the extra mile to resolve this.

Other than listing my address etc on the website and trying to add some details is there much I can do? I am fearful that I effectively will never be able to use Google Ads now (an email from them told me not to register a different business) and this is really a bit shocking as I have effectively blackmarked myself forevermore without knowingly doing anything wrong.

Any advice or guidance you can offer is really appreciated.

 

Thanks a lot

EmmanuelFlossie
Shopify Partner
2953 221 710

First, It is always best to ask Shopify questions, to the Shopify team or community. And Google-related questions to the Google team or community. While Shopify does their best to help everyone, they do not know all the policies relating to Google, which is understandable.

You can ask Google related questions here: https://support.google.com/google-ads/community?hl=en

I have helped a lot of merchants and every time I consult them, there is a big list of things that need resolving.

Even after my consultation some merchants still get suspended, however, these generally drop shippers that do not have a great website, ie they copy paste and spend little effort on the site.

If you share your website, I am happy to give you some pointers, however checking a site for compliance is a big task, so I will only do some basic checks.

Get in touch with Emmanuel: a Google Shopping Specialist, Google Ads Diamond Product Expert, and also a a Google Product Expert Education 2021 & Tailwind 2023 Award winner.
Need Google Merchant Center or Google Shopping support?.
daron76
Tourist
4 0 2

HI everyone! I guess being in this discussion explains the reason why I am here exactly .Yes, my Google Merchant Center account was suspended...it lasted about 3 days after was opened. I have no idea why and that is my biggest problem and because of that I have no Idea how to fix it or where to look for problems. Anyway ,the reason Google suspended my account is Policy Violation Misrepresentation (I am pretty sure many have or had this problem as well),basically means that I am lying about something or Google think I am. I created my Google Merchant Center Account through Shopify and Connected and Feed my products to Google. And yes I followed the instructions and made sure I had all the information and things Google required accessible on my website: Email  and Phone number as contact info, visible on my website, Shipping, Refund ,Privacy policy, Terms of Service, a valid payment methods ,visible on my website and my store password was removed. Then my products were syncing with Google ,pending in the beginning, then some turned in to not approved, so I went to those and changed the thing or add what Google needed, etc. ,etc. That lasted for about 2 days and the next thing I got was an email that my Google Merchant Center and Google Ads (which I didn't even use yet )were  suspended for the reason I mentioned above. That was pretty shocking ,because I know I haven't done anything to misled or trick anyone, but that's what I got from Google. I contacted them explaining all that in an email asking if they would provide any additional information on what exactly on my website or product feed is causing to violate their policy and they responded pretty much that they can't because the decision was made by their automated system. So having no clue why my account was suspended I went and reed the Policy over and over again, looked up my products ,looking for something that could be the reason ,but still no idea. There was a few issues with my products ,missing GTIN ,price mismatching ,but the products that didn't have GTINs ,didn't come with such from my suppliers in a first place ,so i set up a rule in my feed Identifier exist set to no and that didn't change anything.About the price mismatching I realized Google bots were comparing my product variants wrong, so they compared my Product X Large size in the Feed with same product ,but size small from my website and because they have different prices for a reason ,that was the price mismatching.I contacted Google again explaining that and after the agent checked my website ,he said that my prices were set up correctly.That's great ,but I am still having that message ,then he explained that my items not approved numbers are going down ,meaning that will be all cleared up when my site gets crawled again.That didn't happen,instead my account got suspended for Misrepresentation .I requested a review from my Merchant Center account, which after a day came back the same -Suspended.I am shut down and unable to do anything to show in Google search or anywhere ,so my online store is invisible therefore not functioning.I called Google tonight trying again to find a way to fix it ,but I was told about the same like in the email earlier ,pretty much that they are unable to help and that my account is in a Cool down till March 2 nd.

       Any help on how do I solve that it will be greatly appreciate it .I apologize for the long post ,but explaining all that will give more clarity on the whole issue I hope!

        By the way I had slight problems in Facebook too , but was able to solve them and also Facebook customer support is much more open to help and communicate and offer real customer service.

                                                                                                             Thank you!

RudraMatroja
Tourist
3 0 1

Similar issue: https://urban-bag.fr

Account suspended in November for Misrepresentation.

Called multiple times, did everything sugested, let other agencies try and fix it but nothing works.

I had shown them my tax return, my shpping bills and list of all the orders i had to process till then.

This is completely stupid from google to put an autonomous system that is not backed by a human to cross check when requested.

I'm on the verge of giving up on the business due to this issue.

EmmanuelFlossie
Shopify Partner
2953 221 710

If you have let other agencies work on the account, I would assume they have checked everything, if that was the case, then my guess is that you are permanently suspended.

Or your trust factor is too low and you need to work on building up a trustworthy business. One way is to collect reviews.

BTW, you have an app that has not updated their SSL app.coupo.co

Using 3rd party apps that are linked from outside your servers, leaves you at risk.

Get in touch with Emmanuel: a Google Shopping Specialist, Google Ads Diamond Product Expert, and also a a Google Product Expert Education 2021 & Tailwind 2023 Award winner.
Need Google Merchant Center or Google Shopping support?.
daron76
Tourist
4 0 2

No one is working on the account.I actually do everything ,at least I am trying and Google stays silent for about a week now.Collecting reviews sounds like a good idea,but I don’t think thats the reason for my suspension.

Regarding that third party app, I am not quite sure what do you mean and where do I look for it,I haven’t use such .How do I fix that?Thanks!

EmmanuelFlossie
Shopify Partner
2953 221 710

Hello Daron, there are more than 200 touchpoints related to approval, and reviews is one of them.

If for example, you have a low trust score in other areas, you can increase it with reviews. Merchants that go the extra mile to resolve and improve their website, will succeed.

With regards to which app it is, if you do not know, I recommend contacting Shopify.

Get in touch with Emmanuel: a Google Shopping Specialist, Google Ads Diamond Product Expert, and also a a Google Product Expert Education 2021 & Tailwind 2023 Award winner.
Need Google Merchant Center or Google Shopping support?.
TEFLC2020
Tourist
6 0 3

Hi Emmanuel

Just wanted to provide everyone with an update as it was myself who started the thread.  Not good news I am afraid, after months of hard work I am still not back up and running.

I spent a lot of time reading the actioning the resources you recommend for my site Eco-Friendly & Sustainable Shopping – TheEcoFriendlyLivingCo but appeals were in vain.  I then spoke to a outside agency who believed they could fix the issue and at first I thought they did!! But then I realised they only set up a new account and of course that one was shut down for circumventing policies, so now I have no hope of getting my ads account back up and running.

My question at this point is, does being banned for advertising affect your organic growth on Google?  Everything I have read said no but I am wary and unsure of everything at this point and would like an experts view!

Thanks in advance

EmmanuelFlossie
Shopify Partner
2953 221 710

That is sad news. I hope you can find the spirit to continue work on your site and get approved again.

No, getting suspended from Google Ads or Google Merchant Center, has no effect on organic traffic directly.

By direct, I mean, if you advertise, it creates traffic to your site, which then indirectly increases your ranking for organic traffic.

Get in touch with Emmanuel: a Google Shopping Specialist, Google Ads Diamond Product Expert, and also a a Google Product Expert Education 2021 & Tailwind 2023 Award winner.
Need Google Merchant Center or Google Shopping support?.
daron76
Tourist
4 0 2

Thank you for the info Emmanuel!

Alex_Hope
Visitor
1 0 1

Hi Emmanuel,

Have also JUST opened my store and have had my Merchant Account suspended. Am working through some of the issues in my feed thanks to your article:
https://feedarmy.com/kb/requirements-for-enhanced-listings-on-surfaces-across-google/

Also, for anyone else having issues, this is a great resource too. https://www.storegrowers.com/google-shopping-feed/

 

Appreciate your posts!!

🐵

ebir9029
Visitor
1 0 0

My website is also suspended due to this.

Ellikumo
Excursionist
24 0 4

What are you supposed to do if you are just starting up your business and operate from home but don't want to provide your home address or phone number?

EmmanuelFlossie
Shopify Partner
2953 221 710

Register your business officially in your country with a business address. For example, relocating where you have your business operation to not be your residential address.

Google allows trustworthy businesses only, by not listing the address of operation, you will not be able to follow the policy requirements and trust levels.

 

Get in touch with Emmanuel: a Google Shopping Specialist, Google Ads Diamond Product Expert, and also a a Google Product Expert Education 2021 & Tailwind 2023 Award winner.
Need Google Merchant Center or Google Shopping support?.
Ellikumo
Excursionist
24 0 4

Our business is legally registered in our country but it's registered at our home address. So your saying I need to rent/buy a property to have a business address I'm willing to list just so Google will allow it?

Surely there is another way. Can I provide an email and phone number instead and use a PO box for returns? 

EmmanuelFlossie
Shopify Partner
2953 221 710

I am saying you need to use the address that is officially registered, be it at home, or at a different property.

PO boxes, co working spaces, virtual offices, distribution centers are all generally not accepted.

A valid address that can be resolved in Google Maps, is only one of many requirements to get approved by Google.

 

If you are already suspended, you need to go the extra mile as you will be more scrutinized compared to a company that has a long track record of order fulfillment.

Get in touch with Emmanuel: a Google Shopping Specialist, Google Ads Diamond Product Expert, and also a a Google Product Expert Education 2021 & Tailwind 2023 Award winner.
Need Google Merchant Center or Google Shopping support?.
Ellikumo
Excursionist
24 0 4

OK. I did see that they need 2 contacts and they list address, email and phone as the options. Hence why I ask. So in theory I could put the home address as the business address and the po as the postal and that should apese the Google gods? Even without a phone number... 

EmmanuelFlossie
Shopify Partner
2953 221 710

When you are already suspended, you need to go the extra mile. So just following the bare minimum, will most likely not work. I help hundreds of merchants and the ones that only do partial or try to limit what they do, pretty much all fail.

If you want to add a return address, that is different from the business address, sure that is fine. However on the contact page, you must add all contact methods, including address, phone, business hours, contact form and email address.

Get in touch with Emmanuel: a Google Shopping Specialist, Google Ads Diamond Product Expert, and also a a Google Product Expert Education 2021 & Tailwind 2023 Award winner.
Need Google Merchant Center or Google Shopping support?.
Ellikumo
Excursionist
24 0 4

OK. It seems like they are really going after internet only companies. We had no intention of manning a phone or selling P. O.S. When we started the business. If you have the phone number and all on the site there will be no option but to have a business phone. Thanks for your help. 

Jerry35
Visitor
1 0 0

I am new to register an GMC account and when the account has been finished and i add in some of feed, then my account has been ban because of the False statements and i try to handle some materials to proof that i am not lie to the google team and they said: "Google’s primary objective is to provide safe, relevant experiences for our users. The decision to suspend your account was made after careful review of your account and the low quality landing page experiences promoted through your website."  My website: https://sylvoxtv.eu/en  can you help figure out the problem? Thank you.

TEFLC2020
Tourist
6 0 3
Get a PO Box or just suck it up I’m afraid
Ellikumo
Excursionist
24 0 4

Did you read the thread? The issue is that po boxes aren't accepted as an address.... 

TEFLC2020
Tourist
6 0 3
That’s not what you first posted about. The first post is what I replied
to. Only trying to help. I do know a business who uses a PO Box at a place
local to her and that seems to have satisfied Google so far but time will
tell on that one I guess
EmmanuelFlossie
Shopify Partner
2953 221 710

I want to update this thread that drop shipping is no longer cause of suspension. A google CM has confirmed with us product experts that this is not a reason for suspension.

Get in touch with Emmanuel: a Google Shopping Specialist, Google Ads Diamond Product Expert, and also a a Google Product Expert Education 2021 & Tailwind 2023 Award winner.
Need Google Merchant Center or Google Shopping support?.