Store owners are receiving vague “Website or online store needs improvement” messages from Google Merchant Center, struggling to identify specific issues causing their accounts to be restricted.
Common Problems Identified:
Incomplete contact pages (missing physical address, email, social links, business hours)
Disorganized footer links and policies
Missing availability status on product pages
Missing shipping policy in checkout
Multiple websites associated with one account (not allowed by Google)
Forced personalization features (must be optional)
Site rendering issues in certain geographic locations
Fake discounts (everything discounted in last 60 days)
Missing contact details across all pages
Resolution Process:
One user successfully resolved their issue within minutes after implementing suggested fixes. Others continue struggling with rejections, facing 7-day waiting periods between review attempts.
Key Recommendation:
Review Google’s merchant center guidelines thoroughly, as most stores have multiple violations beyond the initially obvious issues. The discussion includes links to official Google policy documentation for comprehensive troubleshooting.
Summarized with AI on October 25.
AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
After setting up our store at https://sunvalley.supply we’ve received this message in Google Merchant Center saying our ‘Website or online store needs improvement’. The detail is as follows:
There was a problem identified with your website. Update your entire website to provide a useful and transparent shopping experience for customers.
Make sure your website meets the following requirements
Your website should have a domain name that matches the uploaded domain name
Your entire website shouldn’t have any broken links
Your website shouldn’t contain any placeholder images or text
The product details and categories should match those that you provide in your product data
Your website shouldn’t contain generic information and shouldn’t miss crucial information about products
–
We’re using the Shopify ‘Ride’ theme and have checked to ensure we haven’t left any templated or placeholder content. We haven’t found any broken links. Our product details are automatically synced to Google so it should match. We also assume we’ve got all the crucial information on our products listed as each has detailed product pages with photos, specs etc.
Annoyingly the detail is quite vague and we’ve looked through our website at length to see where we might have missed one of the requirements listed but cannot see what we’ve done wrong.
Has anyone had any experience here? Does anyone know if Google provides the exact issue that it’s found with a site??
We are currently having the same issue after over coming misrepresentation. Could you please see if there is anything you notice as we cannot see any issues from our end. The website is www.kcathome.co.uk
We are in a similar position for our store with the same vague messaging. Anchorfinds.com. I emailed them a couple weeks back and an employee responded that part of our problem was our website not rendering in some locations such as VA and CA. Since then its now only not rendering in CA. Which is odd as I am located in California and it is working fine for me. The third party site they used was Geopeeker.com. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I am currently on a hold from being able to appeal until the 14th of March. Thanks!
I myself use geopeeker to check if parts of the site renders or not. But I only use it, because a lot of merchants have reported that Google uses geopeeker.com to check if the site renders the same and completely in different locations.
I feel it’s silly, as it’s not a very reliable tool. But nothing can be done, if Google says they use this tool and it has to work, then it has to work.
Usually failed renders have to do with slow responsive websites. Best to check with your theme developer.
Can you shed any light on what is wrong with the site - gifts4allofus.com. We have been getting the message about the website needing improvement and cannot pinpoint the main issue.
We received issue - misspresentation and website needs improvement, corrected everything we found. We filed an appeal - the restriction was lifted from us, but they returned it back a few hours later. Can you tell me what we need to do? https://best4my.pet/
I am getting the same message from google about my website having broken links etc. Can you take a look at my website and let me know if you see why this may be triggering the google message. My website is TheBasicSignShop.com and was also flagged for misrepresentation by google as well and am not sure why that happened either. Thank You.
Hi. I have the same problem and no matter how hard I try and make changes, it doesn’t work. Is there a solution? Currently, all my products in Merchant Center are limited.
Hello , thanks for your reply. ok I will remove all the discounts. and I read guides and policies you shared I couldn’t find anything else out of policy.
what else can be the reason for rejection please have another look to my website because every time review rejected take 7 days until they allow for another review and This problem has had a huge negative impact on my business.
thanks
