Table of Contents
- Before You Start: Read the Suspension Notice
- Section 1: Website Trust Signals (13 checks)
- Section 2: Contact Info & Policies (8 checks)
- Section 3: Product Feed & Data (10 checks)
- Section 4: Pricing & Availability Accuracy (7 checks)
- Section 5: Restricted Content & Claims (5 checks)
- Section 6: Technical & Account Setup (4 checks)
- After the Checklist: Appeal Strategy
Most GMC suspension appeals fail — not because the appeal was poorly written, but because the underlying violations still exist when the appeal is submitted. Google's reviewers look at your website and account, not just your written explanation. If the problem that caused the suspension is still there, you will be rejected regardless of how well you explain it.
This checklist exists for one purpose: make sure every common compliance issue is fixed before you submit your appeal. Work through it systematically. Don't skip sections that seem less relevant — Google's automated systems check everything, and a single remaining violation can cause rejection.
This checklist complements our detailed guides on misrepresentation, website requirements, and the appeal process.
Before You Start: Read the Suspension Notice
Before working through the checklist, read your suspension notification carefully. Find it in GMC under the notification bell or in the Account Health section. Note:
- The specific policy cited: "Misrepresentation," "Circumventing systems," "Unclear or incomplete policies" etc. This tells you which section of this checklist is highest priority.
- Whether it's account-level or item-level: Account suspensions affect all products. Item disapprovals affect specific products. Most serious issues are account-level.
- Any specific examples Google provided: Sometimes the notice includes specific product IDs or URLs that triggered the review. Start with those.
After fixing issues, wait at least 24–48 hours before submitting your appeal to ensure Google's crawler has had a chance to re-index your pages with the changes. An appeal submitted while your pages are still showing violations will be rejected instantly.
Section 1: Website Trust Signals
🌐 Website Trust & Credibility
SSL certificate is active. Your entire site loads via HTTPS with no mixed-content warnings. Test in Chrome — look for the padlock icon with no warnings.
Domain email address is used. Business contact email must be @yourdomain.com, not Gmail, Yahoo, or other free email services.
About Us page exists and is substantive. Minimum: business name, what you sell, location or country of operation. Ideal: founding story, team, physical address.
No broken links on key pages. Test all navigation links, especially on product pages, checkout, and policy pages.
No "under construction" pages or placeholder content anywhere on the site.
Business name is consistent across your GMC account, website, and domain. Discrepancies between your GMC registered business name and what appears on your website are a red flag.
Physical address or service area is disclosed. A PO Box alone is insufficient. Include a country and city minimum; a full street address is better.
No popup blockers preventing Google's crawler from seeing your page content. Intrusive popups (especially cookie/email capture popups that obscure the full page) can prevent Google from crawling your content correctly.
Site is accessible without login. Google's crawler can't log in. All product pages and policy pages must be publicly accessible without requiring account creation.
Page load speed is reasonable. Extremely slow pages (>10 seconds) can prevent crawlers from fully indexing your content. Test with Google's PageSpeed Insights.
Mobile version of your site works correctly. Google primarily crawls mobile versions. Test your product pages and policy pages on mobile.
No fake reviews or testimonials. Testimonials that appear fabricated (no dates, no specifics, all perfect 5-star) are a misrepresentation signal.
Social media links in your footer work. Broken social links signal an abandoned or fake store.
Section 2: Contact Info & Policies
📋 Contact Info & Policy Pages
Contact page has a direct contact method (email address or phone number) — not just a form. See our contact page requirements guide.
Return/refund policy is complete. Must include: return window (in days), what items are eligible, process for initiating a return, how refunds are issued, and who pays return shipping. See our return policy guide.
Return policy in GMC matches your website. Log into GMC → Settings → Returns. Verify the return policy you've configured matches exactly what your website shows.
Privacy Policy exists and is complete. Must include data collection, data usage, third-party sharing, and contact for privacy requests. Link it from your footer.
Terms of Service / Terms & Conditions exist. Not mandatory for all stores, but strongly recommended. Must be accessible from your footer.
Shipping policy shows accurate timeframes. If you claim 2–5 business days, that must be achievable. See our shipping disclosure guide.
All policy links are in your footer and accessible from every page — not buried in a FAQ or accessible only from checkout.
No "no refunds" or "all sales final" policies without clear exceptions. Blanket no-refund policies trigger misrepresentation flags for most product categories.
Section 3: Product Feed & Data
📦 Product Feed Compliance
All product images meet requirements. Main image: white or light background preferred, product fills most of frame, no watermarks, no promotional overlays. See our image requirements guide.
No promotional text in product images. "Sale," "20% off," "Free shipping" in images = instant disapproval.
Product titles don't use ALL CAPS or excessive punctuation. "BEST PRICE!!!! Premium Leather Wallet" fails GMC title standards.
GTINs are submitted for products that have them. If your products have manufacturer GTINs and you're not submitting them, you'll get data quality flags. See our feed optimization guide.
No duplicate product IDs across feeds. Each product must have a unique ID within your account. Duplicates cause processing conflicts.
Landing page URLs in the feed actually work. Test 10–20 random product URLs from your feed. 404s and redirect chains cause disapprovals.
Product descriptions don't contain prohibited claims. Check for medical claims, impossible guarantees, or language that implies capabilities the product doesn't have.
Availability values match your actual stock. Products listed as in_stock must be available to purchase immediately. See our pre-order and OOS guide.
No copyrighted brand names in titles/descriptions for generic products. If you're selling a generic item, don't include competitor brand names in your title.
Feed is fetching/submitting successfully. Check GMC Feeds section for fetch errors, processing errors, or timeout warnings.
Section 4: Pricing & Availability Accuracy
💰 Pricing Accuracy
Feed price matches landing page price exactly. Click through from your GMC product list to each product page. The prices must be identical (within rounding tolerance). This is the #1 cause of disapprovals.
No "add to cart to see price" pricing. Price must be visible on the product page without adding to cart.
Sale prices use the sale_price attribute. If you're running a sale, submit both price (regular) and sale_price in your feed. Don't just lower the regular price without the sale_price attribute.
Currency in feed matches website display currency. If your site shows USD, your feed must submit USD. See our international guide for multi-currency setups.
No mandatory fees hidden until checkout. If a product requires additional fees (setup fee, installation, required accessories), these must be disclosed on the product page.
Shipping cost shown or disclosed. Either free shipping clearly stated, or shipping calculator accessible from the product page.
Shipping settings in GMC are accurate and current. GMC → Settings → Shipping. Verify handling time, carriers, and cost settings reflect what you actually offer.
Section 5: Restricted Content & Claims
🚫 Restricted Content
No medical treatment claims. "Cures," "treats," "heals," "clinically proven" — these phrases on product pages or in feed descriptions trigger disapprovals for almost any product type.
No impossible guarantees. "100% guaranteed to work," "100% success rate," "never fails" — these are misrepresentation triggers.
Age-restricted products have proper disclosure. If you sell products with age restrictions (alcohol, adult products, certain supplements), your site must have age verification or clear disclosure.
No counterfeit or brand impersonation indicators. Check product pages for any language that could imply official brand affiliation that doesn't exist ("Official Nike distributor" when you're not).
Restricted products are properly disclosed. If selling restricted products, ensure all required disclosures, certifications, and compliance documentation is in place.
Section 6: Technical & Account Setup
⚙️ Technical Setup
Website is claimed and verified in GMC. GMC → Settings → Business info → verify your website claim is active.
Business address in GMC is complete and accurate. GMC → Settings → Business info. Incomplete or inaccurate business information is a trust signal issue.
No multiple GMC accounts for the same website. Having multiple GMC accounts associated with the same domain is a policy violation. If you have old accounts, check whether they're still active.
Payment methods are legitimate and clearly disclosed. Your checkout page must clearly show accepted payment methods before the buyer commits to the purchase.
After the Checklist: Appeal Strategy
Once you've worked through every item on this checklist:
- Document your changes. Keep a log of every change you made with dates. You'll reference this in your appeal.
- Wait 24–48 hours for Google's crawler to re-index your pages.
- Run a final check using the free GMC scan at gmcunbanned.com to catch anything you may have missed.
- Submit a detailed appeal. Explain specifically what violations existed and what you changed to fix them. Don't write "I reviewed my account and it's compliant" — that's what everyone writes and it signals you didn't identify specific issues.
- Request human review explicitly in your appeal. Automated reviews have higher error rates.
For complete appeal guidance, see our detailed suspension appeal guide.
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