How to fix domain verification issues in Google Merchant Center?

“There was a problem verifying and claiming your domain”. That is the message I get from my Google merchant center. It says there is a error and there is no way for me to get around it.

Hey there, @webelieve . Thanks for reaching out to the Shopify Community with your Google Merchant Center situation here. It’s great to meet you.

Based on the error you’ve mentioned to us, it sounds like you need to follow the instructions Google has outlined in this document here to get things resolved. Google requires you to verify and claim your domain to ensure in the complete set up of your Google Merchant Center Account. The instructions I linked there will help you get these steps completed.

Once you’ve had the chance to complete those steps, feel free to follow up with me here and let me know if you encounter any other issues. Additionally, feel free to drop a link to your store here! I don’t mind taking some time to explore your site to see what sort of feedback I can provide you!

Thanks for jumping in with some of those troubleshooting steps, @highlywanted .

Love it when the Shopify Community comes together to help folks solve their issues. :grin:

I’ve been at it all night! And I still haven’t got my store verified yet! Someone please help!

I’ve spent the better part of two nights working on getting my store verified. No luck. If you are able to assist me in any way, I would greatly appreciate it.

Hey again, @webelieve . Thanks for following up on this thread.

Can you give us a bit more information about where specifically you’re stuck? Have you had the chance to refer to the resource I provided you from Google on how to make sure you get things verified and claimed properly? I’m going to ask you a few questions here so I can determine what step you’re stuck with.

  • Have you logged into your Google Merchant Center and copy/pasted your URL in the ‘Website’ Tab of your merchant center? Are you getting any errors with this step?
  • Have you clicked the ‘Claim Website’ button that appears on the bottom right when you login to your Google Merchant Center Account? Are you getting any errors here?
  • Can you tell me which of the four methods of ‘verification’ you’ve attempted? If you haven’t done this step yet, you will need to in order to get things connected properly. Consider the HTML Tag method, as you can add that HTML to the code for the homepage of your website.

Please, get back to me when you can with more information regarding where specifically you’re stuck, and what verification steps you’ve attempted. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for your reply.

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The great news is that my domain was verified and claimed at my Google merch center. The problem I’m still having it that the sales channel app still says that I need to be verified! I don’t get it! I’ve followed the steps to the letter and all the boxes are checked off. So why can’t I link my store up with my Google merch center?

Yes. I went through the check list that you provided and like I said, Google Merch Center gave me the :+1: . However when I go to sync my Shopify store to the Google sales channel, it says I still need to be verified. That’s my current issue.

Interesting! Thank you for all of the additional information you’ve shared with us here, @webelieve . I appreciate that!

For next steps, it’s going to be best that you reach out to our Live Support Team for some additional assistance with this issue. The reason why we’re taking this step is because we’re going to want to get you authenticated so one of our Support Advisors can access your account and investigate this error more deeply than we can here in the Forums. You can use this link here to get in touch with the team.

Are you looking to get things synced together so you can take advantage of Google Ads? I have a blog written by us here that talks about some of the incredible conversion value you can get some running some Google Ad Campaigns. If you haven’t had the chance, I definitely recommend checking it out. It’s written as if you’re helping someone get their ads set up, but it’s still an incredibly informative read.

Hi Imogen,

I am having the same issue I have attempted to use the HTML solution however I do not know where to add it in the coding as I can not find the homepage coding

can you please advise?

Hi there, @babyobsessed . Thanks for jumping into our thread here! I have some screenshots and steps for you here to help you get this HTML Tag added to the correct spot in your theme coding!

First, we need to follow the steps outlined in this screenshot:

Our next step now is to find the right spot to ad the HTML Tag. You can find the right spot using the steps below:

  • Login to your Admin

  • Click ‘Online Store’ and then ‘Themes’

  • Click the ‘…’ button and then select ‘Edit Code’ from the options that appear

  • Then, select the ‘theme.liquid’ option that appears on the left hand menu. From here, find the line of coding that just says . You want to paste the HTML tag underneath this line.

![17-51-99901-21911.png|1920x932](upload://jXQ2tSBYP1F0Hy26HUozVSbNvJ6.png)

Your coding may look different than mine (I used a screenshot from my own store) but the section should still be there for you!

What’s the plan once you get everything verified and claimed? I definitely recommend that you look into Google Ads as something you do for your store! I’ve linked a blog we’ve written on the topic! Google Ads are super strong adverts that are great for putting your products out there and making sales!

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Thanks for the road map! I needed it. It’s now says that my store is verified. However, there seems to be another issue. Several pages are not indexed. I’m working on getting a better understanding of what that means. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hey again, @webelieve . Happy to hear that the previous post I made was helpful to you!

So Google Indexing is just the process of Google’s bots crawling your web pages and ensuring that they can appear in Google Searches. This is an automatic process, but you can prompt Google to re-index pages via Google Search Console. Google won’t index all of your stores pages, and they have more information on indexing available for you via their support documents on Search Console Help.

We do have a resource here that covers some FAQs about SEO, including info on Google Indexing. Feel free to take a look! All in all, it’s just a matter of time before your pages are indexed as required.

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“Your merchant center account has been suspended. contact google support to request a manual review.”

This is the message that I am receiving from my Google sales channel. For some reason I am having a lot of trouble setting up my Google sales channel. Please help. I probably going to need a step-by-step tutorial on what to do to fix the problem, well as what I need to do moving forward. Please contact me as soon as possible. Thank you

Hey again, @webelieve . Apologies for the delayed reply. I’ve been out of the office for the week but I’m back now and jumping in to connect with folks I missed.

Thanks for sharing that error you’re receiving with us. That error is something that is being sent to you via Google, and is not something that is being triggered within Shopify. It looks like Google has suspended your Merchant Center Account, and you’ll need to request a manual review in order to get it functional again.

I have a resource right here from Google that outlines for you the next steps you need to take to have the suspension removed. This document also goes over why your account may have been suspended, and dives deeper into the reasoning behind the causes and how to prevent them from coming up again.

Please view that resource when you can. Once you have that review submitted, I’ve got my fingers crossed that everything should be reverted back to normal for you!

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