Solved

Why is my Shopify account suspended by Google for policy violations?

NancyL
Excursionist
14 0 9

I see other people struggling with this issue as well. I have tried to figure it out and I've read documentation until my head swims, but I just can't see what I've done wrong.

 

I have this message in my Google/Settings on Shopify: 

Account suspended due to policy violation:

  • Make sure your store is set up properly. Remove any placeholder images, templated text, or broken links.

None of my products are approved. I've gone through every listing to make sure everything is correct and each one has a UPC. I have policies in place. I honestly don't know what else to do at this point. 

 

Thank you!

 

Nancy
Fresh Coat Finishes

 

 

Accepted Solution (1)
Maz
Shopify Staff
1161 129 178

This is an accepted solution.

Hi @NancyL!

 

Appreciate the screenshots here, they are super helpful.

 

This error you are encountering, 'Product price doesn't match the price on your product landing page' happens often with new products or even existing products. The error generally gets resolved once Google has had time to crawl your website, as they need to verify the information that's submitted through the feed. It does this by comparing the feed data to what is found on your website. I know it might be a pain, however I am happy to help you out!

 

The issue with this is that Google uses a cached version of your website to crawl, and this may not be up-to-date. You can follow along with our documentation here on submitting a sitemap and then have Google recrawl your website using this guide here if the sitemap has already been submitted.

 

Another thing to check is to ensure that 'Automatic improvements is switched off in your Google Merchant Center account. When this is switched on, it can interfere with the sync from the Google channel: 

 

1. Head to your Google Merchant Center > Tools and Settings > Automatic Improvements > Item Updates.

2. If it has been enabled, it must be disabled.

3. If you see two options, please disable using "Specify my own settings" even if the main account shows as already disabled:

 

29-24-24053-14847

 

Once you have submitted the sitemap, there is no guarantee that Google will crawl the product pages immediately. Google doesn't have a specific timeframe for how long this might take, however going from experience it can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. You'll be able to check the product URL with this inspection tool here.

If you do not see the URL on Google while using this tool, then please allow some time for the URL to be crawled fully. You should also see an option to 'request indexing' and can click this on each individual URL.

 

Circling back to the second issue with the warning sign that you need to add a GTIN number, I can see from the screenshot you have sent that we can see it says, 'limited performance'. This warning is expected for custom products, but reads incorrectly. This should show as 'limited performance' and the product is approved and available for Google Ads. No further action is needed on this, as the performance will not be limited, so no need to worry about this one!

 

Hopefully this information helps, but do let me know if you have any other questions, and have a lovely day!

Maz | Social Care @ Shopify 
 - Was my reply helpful? Click Like to let me know! 
 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution
 - To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog

View solution in original post

Replies 12 (12)

Maz
Shopify Staff
1161 129 178

Hi @NancyL!

 

This can definitely be frustrating to have to deal with.

 

As Google shopping is a third party channel it can be tricky for Shopify to navigate as we do not enforce the account suspensions ourselves, that being said I am happy to provide you with some advice here.

 

Google flags certain words and prohibited content and then bans the product. Google does not share specific information as to what policy has been violated, however, you review the Google Shopping Ads Policy to ensure that you are not violating anything. As you have mentioned that you have implemented the fixes required, do you know if Google has already manually reviewed the account once again for you? If not, then you can request a manual review by filling out this form at this link here.  Alternatively, you can also request a review through the Google Merchant Center account by heading to Products > Diagnostics > Account issues. Once completed, this review typically takes up to three days, and Google will email you directly with the results. To help you out even further, I would recommend this page here, which is the Google support page for Policy Violations.

Your next option would be reaching to a Shopify Expert that specializes in Google Shopping. Experts are trusted, third-party agencies and freelancers who offer services for Shopify merchants, These can be found through our list of Shopify Experts here at this link.

 I know you are really busy, but I just wanted to also check, have you heard of Shopify Learn courses? Shopify Learn offers free online courses to help your business. Once you are signed up, you can access a wealth of information to help you and your business to succeed. You can explore more here! I do hope the suspension gets lifted for you very soon, but if you have any questions in the meantime don't hesitate to ask!

Maz | Social Care @ Shopify 
 - Was my reply helpful? Click Like to let me know! 
 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution
 - To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog

NancyL
Excursionist
14 0 9

Thank you for the info. I haven't been able to find anything in the documentation that makes me say "Oh, that's what the problem is." I'm sure it's just my lack of knowledge, but if I don't know what the problem is, I can't fix it. I did request a re-review to see if any of my tweaks solved the problem. They didn't. I'll reach out to the experts. Thank you!

Maz
Shopify Staff
1161 129 178

Hey @NancyL!

 

Thanks for getting back to me and letting me know. I totally hear what you're saying!

 

It's hard to know how to fix the issue when you do not know what it is exactly. I would first suggest trying to get them to re review and if that doesn't do the trick – then you can try the experts' page as you mentioned. Wishing you all the best luck!

Maz | Social Care @ Shopify 
 - Was my reply helpful? Click Like to let me know! 
 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution
 - To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog

NancyL
Excursionist
14 0 9

I have been slowly whittling away at my issues. At this point, I have two types of issues:

1. Some of my products have size variants with different prices. Google says the price on my landing page doesn't match the price on the item's product page because the landing page says the price is "From $6.99" and there are two sizes priced at 6.99 and 19.99.

2. I have a couple of refurbished one-of-a-kind items that Google says I need a GTIN for. I have marked it as being a custom product and given it a Google product category of 554, but that hasn't fixed the problem.

I'm using the Minimal theme if that makes any difference.

Maz
Shopify Staff
1161 129 178

Hey @NancyL!

 

Thanks for coming back to this thread, and I am sorry to hear you're still having the same issues with the Google channel.

 

Did you manage to request a review or reach out the experts which I mentioned above? 

 

1. Please send a screenshot of the pricing issue and Google's warning sign.

 

2. Can you tell me if this is the error you're seeing and if it is showing on your Google channel?

 

 

Once I have some more screenshots and information, I'll do my best to dig into this further for you!

Maz | Social Care @ Shopify 
 - Was my reply helpful? Click Like to let me know! 
 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution
 - To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog

NancyL
Excursionist
14 0 9

Thanks for your reply, Maz. It must still be under review because this morning the numbers have changed a little. I have 19 products that use the size variant. Most of them have been approved, but not all.

Here's what shows in Shopify: 

Screenshot 1.png

This is what shows in Google Merchant Center Overview: 

Screenshot 2.png

And this is how it looks in GMC Diagnostics: Screenshot 3.png

   

Maz
Shopify Staff
1161 129 178

This is an accepted solution.

Hi @NancyL!

 

Appreciate the screenshots here, they are super helpful.

 

This error you are encountering, 'Product price doesn't match the price on your product landing page' happens often with new products or even existing products. The error generally gets resolved once Google has had time to crawl your website, as they need to verify the information that's submitted through the feed. It does this by comparing the feed data to what is found on your website. I know it might be a pain, however I am happy to help you out!

 

The issue with this is that Google uses a cached version of your website to crawl, and this may not be up-to-date. You can follow along with our documentation here on submitting a sitemap and then have Google recrawl your website using this guide here if the sitemap has already been submitted.

 

Another thing to check is to ensure that 'Automatic improvements is switched off in your Google Merchant Center account. When this is switched on, it can interfere with the sync from the Google channel: 

 

1. Head to your Google Merchant Center > Tools and Settings > Automatic Improvements > Item Updates.

2. If it has been enabled, it must be disabled.

3. If you see two options, please disable using "Specify my own settings" even if the main account shows as already disabled:

 

29-24-24053-14847

 

Once you have submitted the sitemap, there is no guarantee that Google will crawl the product pages immediately. Google doesn't have a specific timeframe for how long this might take, however going from experience it can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. You'll be able to check the product URL with this inspection tool here.

If you do not see the URL on Google while using this tool, then please allow some time for the URL to be crawled fully. You should also see an option to 'request indexing' and can click this on each individual URL.

 

Circling back to the second issue with the warning sign that you need to add a GTIN number, I can see from the screenshot you have sent that we can see it says, 'limited performance'. This warning is expected for custom products, but reads incorrectly. This should show as 'limited performance' and the product is approved and available for Google Ads. No further action is needed on this, as the performance will not be limited, so no need to worry about this one!

 

Hopefully this information helps, but do let me know if you have any other questions, and have a lovely day!

Maz | Social Care @ Shopify 
 - Was my reply helpful? Click Like to let me know! 
 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution
 - To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog

NancyL
Excursionist
14 0 9
Thank you for your help, Maz. That's a lot to process and it will take me
some time. I was able to switch off Automatic Improvements using "Specify
my own setting".
It's interesting that the number of disapproved products fluctuates. When I
sent my screenshots, GMC showed 7 disapproved and today it is 9, while
Shopify showed 1 disapproved and now it is 6.
I hope that following your suggestions will take care of it.
Thanks again. I'll let you know when I have completed your suggestions.
Maz
Shopify Staff
1161 129 178

You're most welcome @NancyL!

 

I'm glad you were able to disable the automatic improvements setting in the Google Merchant Center. Hopefully the steps I have mentioned above will help, however I can appreciate it is a lot to process and may take some time.

 

Feel free to reply back on this thread if you need any more help, I am always happy to help!

 

 

Maz | Social Care @ Shopify 
 - Was my reply helpful? Click Like to let me know! 
 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution
 - To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog

NancyL
Excursionist
14 0 9

I hit a snag during the verification process. I went to the Google Search Console and entered my domain name. Because I purchased the domain through Google, it automatically verified it and didn't give me the option to copy the html tag for my sitemap. Not sure where to go from here.

Maz
Shopify Staff
1161 129 178

Hey @NancyL!

 

Thanks for your message. It sounds like you're working hard to get everything sorted out, which is great to hear.

 

I am not sure if I fully understand what you're trying to do here, are you trying to find and submit your sitemap as per our help center tutorial here? Additionally, have you tried following with Google's documentation on submitting the sitemap at this page here?

 

Let me know, thanks!

Maz | Social Care @ Shopify 
 - Was my reply helpful? Click Like to let me know! 
 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution
 - To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog

NancyL
Excursionist
14 0 9

Yes, I was following the instructions for submitting my sitemap and I was on step 4 of verifying my site. When I entered my URL it said it was automatically verified because I purchased it thru Google and returned me to the previous screen. It didn't give me a HTML tag to copy so I couldn't complete step 5. Is there another way to find the tag?