Product description not showing in Google Shopping despite being set in Shopify and Merchant Center

[tobiaszellweger]

Hi everyone,

I added a product title and description in Shopify and connected my store to the Google Merchant Center. Most of the data (like images, title, price, etc.) syncs correctly via the API.

However, the product description does not show up in Google Shopping, even though:

• I have entered a description in Shopify.

• I also added a separate description directly in Google Merchant Center (both are different).

Does anyone know why the description might not be showing? Could the text be too long?

Is there something else I need to manually adjust or check? Attached is a PDF with screenshots for better context.

Thanks in advance!

Best regards,
Tobias

[SealSubs-Roan]

Google Shopping trim or even removes product descriptions that don’t comply with its formatting standards. Your Shopify description may be 100% correct, but if it appears to Google to have promotional language, excessive formatting or even just unsupported HTML, it can get rejected or hidden. Plus, when you use the API, Shopify is the primary data source so, any manual changes you make to the description in Google Merchant Center can be over-ridden or ignored. Confirm in the GMC diagnostics tab for the product any feed problems. Consider shortening it, removing unique characters or styling and ensuring it is within the framework of Google’s content policies for optimal visibility.

[EmmanuelFlossie]

For shopping ads, the description is not visible, only the title, image, price, brand and annotations.

For free lisings, the description is also not visible, but if you click on the listing, you can expand and see more details.

This is the normal behavior of Google Shopping.

As long as you can see it in Google Merchant Center > Products > click on your product > then google uses the details.

[Amlani]

I saw your pdf. But shopping ads appear like this for everyone. You will not be able to see descriptions here other. Although, description or structured_description are required fields and just because they don't appear in ads, please don't stop sending those from Shopify to GMC.

[tobiaszellweger]

Hi,

Thanks for your message.

Just to clarify: I’m referring to the free listings, not paid ads. I haven’t run any ads yet.

What confuses me is that my products don’t show a description under “About this product,” even though I’ve added descriptions in Shopify and they are visible in Google Merchant Center as well.

I’ve seen many other free listings on Google Shopping where this section does appear, so I’m just trying to understand why it’s missing for mine.

Best regards,
Tobias

[EmmanuelFlossie]

Go to Google Merchant Center > Products > click on your product that has the issue > do you have a description here?

If no, check your data feed app.

If yes, nothing else needs to be done. You are eligable to show descriptions.

[Amlani]

got it. as your original question didnt talk about free listings, I couldn't identify the same. if you are talking about this 'about this product' as

per the image, then yes, as Emmanuel suggested, check if there are any issues with your products in your merchant center account. if not,

then you are good to go.

[EmmanuelFlossie]

@bloomagency13 

Some of your info is incorrect, for example structured data info outside of price and availability can not overwrite GMC attributes.

Google does not modify descriptions that have promotional text. It only gets rejected if that is the case.

The google and youtube app, does not exclude descriptions, nor does it by default unmap descriptions. If that is the case it will not be on select products but all products.

Google Merchant Center does not take 24 horus to reprocess data, it is only up to 30 minutes.

[loyalty-wizard]

Hey Tobias,

This is quite a common issue - 90% of the time, people seeing your Google shopping listing won't see the product description in the feed. Google is pretty selective about when they show descriptions in free listings and you have no control over this.

A few things to check:

• Put the most important product info in the first 160-500 characters - Google prioritizes the beginning
• Limit the description to 500-1000 characters
• Make sure you're not including promotional text or website links - Google ignores descriptions that break their guidelines
• Each product should have its own unique description rather than duplicate content

Even when everything looks right in Merchant Center, Google's algorithm decides what actually gets shown. Your description might be there but just not displaying in search results.

As a side note - It's also worth checking the diagnostics section in Merchant Center for any hidden warnings.

[EmmanuelFlossie]

@loyalty-wizard 

The user is asking about why the description is not showing in free listings. Not how to optimize.

There is no such thing as Google ignoring descriptions if there is promotional text.

[loyalty-wizard]

Google absolutely ignores descriptions to some extent and will not display the full detail even in a free listing - the point re optimising it is that if Google interprets the quality as low, it will not display the content. Otherwise you could write absolutely anything in the description and stuff keywords everywhere and assume it would display. 

You can test this theory for yourself now on google shopping. Larger established brands will likely display full descriptions - but if you find products from smaller brands you can see they are sometimes cut off, or not there at all.

[EmmanuelFlossie]

I have checked, and even if you submit a description, it is true that the description is not always visible on the listings.

Never noticed this before. Thank you for the further details.