Hi there,
Google is showing incorrect images for a lot of my Shopify products in search results.
The products display the correct image on the product page, but Google is often pulling an images from my mega menu instead.
When the correct image is:
It seems to be pulling this image from my mega menu, a lot of product show the same image or similar images from my mega menu.
Google chooses what it displays in its search result. There are some things you can do to assist, but ultimately you cannot force what Google shows.
Make sure product image is in the structured data
Verify product image is primary image in the page source
Check if mega menu images are loaded before product image in html
Put descriptive alt text in menu images to make them distinguishable from the product itself.
Maximus is right that Google has the final say, but there are two concrete levers that usually fix exactly this case. First, check that your product pages output Product structured data with the correct image field, and run one URL through Google’s Rich Results Test. Google leans heavily on the schema image for product results, so if it’s missing or resolving wrong it falls back to whatever prominent image it crawled, which is often that repeated mega menu graphic.
Second, the mega menu loads in the header on every page, so the same image gets crawled site-wide and Google starts associating it broadly. Making sure each product’s JSON-LD image and og:image both resolve to the actual product shot gives it a clearer signal to prefer that one instead.
Did the wrong images start showing recently, or has it been this way since launch? That usually tells whether it’s a theme change or just slow recrawl.
Thanks for the reply.
Yes I’ve checked the product schema and og URLs and they are pointing to the correct product image.
The issue seems to have started since running the mega menu. Because the mega menu image appears in the header across the whole site Google seems to be crawling and associating that image with a lot of product pages, even though the product page metadata itself is correct.
Interestingly enough, Google does not show an image to me, but in Incognito I see another image:
How long ago exactly this problem has surfaced?
The “1 day ago” indicates that Google revisits your store pretty often, which is good.
Probably, thisngs need to settle down or maybe it’s related to the yesterdays Shopify problem – if other images were unavailable, it could get just the available one.
Hi @Keestrack, Google has been quite unstable recently, and the way it pulls data is inconsistent. To reduce the chance of it picking the wrong images, besides setting product images and the featured image, you should simplify the product page or make sure the mega menu HTML is placed below the product div in the HTML structure.
Hope this helps 
Hey Tim, this issue has been like this for a while now, 6+ months. The same photos seem to be used for product images & collections found on Google search. A lot of them originate from 1 specific menu in my mega menu.
Hey @Keestrack .I hope you are doing great.
Google probably picks up your menu pictures because they show up first in the HTML code before your product pictures. The search engine looks at the HTML code. Sees those big menu pictures first, which is why it chooses them.
Here is what I think you should do:
First, you should check your data using Google’s Rich Results Test to make sure your product information points to the right pictures.
Second, you should fix the text for your pictures. Add alt text for your product pictures, but keep the menu picture alt text empty or very general.
Last, go to the URL Inspection tool in the Google Search Console. Ask for your pages to be looked at again.
It might take a week or two to see the effects of these changes, so you should be patient after you make them. You will have to wait a while, but eventually, both the Google product pictures and the menu pictures should be okay.
I hope this helps solve your problem. This way should definitely help fix things for you. If it does, do not forget to like it. Mark it as a solution.
Thanks for the reply.
The correct product image is already being shown in the product schema/structured data and the product image itself is set correctly.
The example I shared is a brand new product that was only uploaded a few days ago, and Google has already picked the wrong image, so it doesn’t look like an old cached image issue.
I also use an app that automatically renames the product image alt text to match the product title, so the product image alt text should already be correct.
That’s why I’m leaning more toward the mega menu images being picked up because they are loaded globally in the header before the main product content.
@SectionKit forgot to tag!
@LitExtension Thanks, but the product images, featured images, schema image, OG image, and alt text are already pointing to the correct product image.
The issue is that Google is still choosing a mega menu image even though the product image signals appear to be correct. This seems more related to how Google is crawling and interpreting the page structure, rather than the actual product image setup.
I’m not looking to remove the mega menu images, so I’m trying to work out whether there is a way to keep them visually but stop Google treating them as the primary image for product pages.
1- Showing with keywords
Meta Description is also different from Google display result… may be indexing issues.
Let’s try this, high possibility, issues will be fixed.
Step 1: Let’s update the OG image size: 1200x630 pixels, first.
Step 2: Submit the sitemap.xml to the Google Search Console.
Step 3: Manually submit this particular URL - like Aeroflow Boosted Ford Falcon Conversion Stainless Steel Header Flange – Fast Lane Spares
Step 4: Check the live result once " Google Search Result "
@mastroke Thanks for the suggestion. I’ve updated the OG image size to 1200x630 on a single test product and submitted the URL for reindexing so we can see whether it influences the image Google chooses.
The product schema image, OG image and featured product image were already pointing to the correct product image, so it will be interesting to see whether the OG image dimensions make any difference. I’ll give Google a week or so to recrawl it and report back with the results - Let me know if I have missed anything
@mastroke Google is already showing “4 hours ago” in the result for that page, however it’s still displaying the same mega menu image rather than the product image.
Would you expect the thumbnail to update at the same time as the recrawl, or can image selection lag behind? Just trying to determine whether the OG image change has already been evaluated.
Yes, I missed a few points that the previous comment didn’t mention. In some cases, my clients have had to use SVG files for mega menus and also provide full alt text so Google can better understand the image content.
If you’re having trouble using different image formats (such as SVG), adding descriptive alt text with relevant keywords can help.
For example, in a mega menu, the alt text could be: “Air Filtration – Mega Menu Icon.” On product detail pages, the alt text should be more detailed and reflect the product description.
Please try this and let me know the results. Hope this helps
Btw: Lately, some of my product pages have been using video as a search result in the SERP. If possible, try creating a short video about your product to see if it gets selected to replace the current images. A simple video made from photos is fine; it doesn’t need to be elaborate.
Google actually places heavy emphasis on DOM order… Typically, you would have a logo in the header, but Google sees this as an identity image, not the content image. Your issue is that you have content images in the header that are being prioritized over the o.g. image…
So you have a few choices
The first one is obviously the only choice if you really want to make absolutely sure that the product image takes priority. The last 2 are only attempts at reducing priority.
Thanks for the suggestion.
I’ve already had the mega menu images set to loading="lazy" for some time, and I’ve now taken it a step further by removing the descriptive alt text from all of the mega menu images. They now render with alt="" instead of values such as “Air Filters”, “Catalytic Converters”, etc.
I’m going to leave the lazy loading and blank alt text changes in place and monitor the results over the next few weeks to see whether Google starts favouring the actual product images.
If you have any other suggestions please let me know.
Thanks for the suggestion.
One thing I’ve noticed is that the issue isn’t occurring because Google can’t understand my product images. The product image URLs already contain the product names, and the product schema image, Open Graph image and Merchant Center image all point to the correct product image.
The images Google is selecting instead are the grandchild images from my mega menu which are loaded sitewide and appear early in the DOM. Because of that I’ve actually gone the opposite direction and removed the descriptive alt text from those menu images so Google has less reason to associate them with product pages.
I’ve left lazy loading enabled and will monitor the results over the next few weeks to see whether Google starts favouring the actual product images.
@Keestrack you’ve said the correct image is already in the schema, but I’m not seeing the primaryImageOfPage which was recently released from Google for this exact reason.
Of course, it’s still up to Google’s algorithm which image they show, but this can influence their choice.
Google’s selection of an image preview is completely automated and takes into account a number of different sources to select which image on a given page is shown on Google (for example, a text result image or the preview image in Discover).
You can influence which image gets selected by providing your preferred image through one of the following metadata sources:
@ilanadavis Thanks for sharing that, I did not know about this!!
I looked into Google’s documentation and have now implemented the primaryImageOfPage schema property on my product pages pointing directly to the product’s featured image.
I’ve also removed the descriptive alt text from the mega menu images and left them lazy loaded as those are the images Google appears to be selecting instead of the actual product images.
I will update you & let you know how I get on!
