A merchant’s Google Merchant Center account was suspended due to “Website or online store needs improvement” policy violations. Google flagged issues during a review requested on June 11, 2025, and advised waiting until after June 18, 2025 before requesting another review.
Key issues identified:
Domain name must match exactly in Merchant Center (no redirects/subdomains)
Broken links need to be fixed across the entire site
Placeholder content (dummy text/images) must be removed
Product data must match exactly between website and feed
Required improvements:
Replace Gmail contact email with a domain-matched email address
Add contact form to contact page
Display clear stock availability for all products
Include complete trust signals: About Us, Contact Us with physical address/phone, Shipping & Returns, Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions
Verify business phone number in GMC
Prevent adding out-of-stock items to cart
Fix any structured data issues (verify via Rich Results)
Ensure business owner details are visible in footers and match GMC account
Status: Discussion remains open with multiple community members providing guidance and links to official Google Merchant Center policy documentation.
Summarized with AI on October 27.
AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
Hi everyone
Before this, Google approved our application and everything was going well. Until we received an email from Google notifying us that there was a policy issue.
Tried everything and still not approved.
Fix your setup and policy issues
Google found some issues that impact your product visibility. Start fixing them to meet applicable requirements and policies.
Website or online store needs improvement
Limits visibility of all products in all countries
expand_less
During the review you requested on Jun 11, 2025, Google found this to still be an issue. Make sure you meet the requirements before you request another review from Jun 18, 2025.
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 help_outline
Based on the message from Google, the main problem seems to be around “Website or online store needs improvement”, which generally falls under Google’s policy of ensuring users have a trustworthy and complete shopping experience.
Here are a few specific actions you can take to resolve this:
Key Areas to Review & Fix:1. Match Domain Name
Ensure that your Google Merchant Center account uses the same domain as your website — https://refballstudio.com. No redirects, subdomains, or mismatches.
Broken Links
Run a full crawl of your website using a tool like Broken Link Checker or Screaming Frog SEO Spider to make sure there are no dead or broken links anywhere.
Placeholder Content
Remove any sections that still show default text like “Lorem Ipsum” or dummy images (like grey image boxes). Google flags this as incomplete content.
Accurate Product Data
Make sure the product titles, prices, availability, and descriptions on your website exactly match what’s submitted in your product feed. Also, ensure your products are organized into proper categories.
Transparency & Trust Signals
Google expects every eCommerce website to have:
A clear About Us page
A Contact Us page with a physical address and/or phone number
A Shipping & Returns policy
A visible Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions
No Generic or Missing Info
Avoid vague product descriptions like “Best product for daily use.” Add unique, informative descriptions that actually help buyers understand what makes your product special.
Please Note:
After making these changes, don’t immediately request a review. Wait until everything is 100% cleaned up — then request another review after June 18, 2025, as advised by Google.