The Complete Google Merchant Center Compliance Checklist (2025)

Why Compliance Matters

Google Merchant Center reviews your entire website — not just your product feed. Stores that fail compliance checks get their products disapproved, their accounts limited, or in the worst case, fully suspended.

This checklist covers every requirement Google enforces as of 2025. Use it as a pre-launch audit, a monthly health check, or a recovery roadmap after a suspension.

Required Website Pages

Google requires these pages to exist, be accessible, and contain substantive content — not just placeholder text.

Refund & Return Policy ✅

• Clearly state your return window (e.g., 30 days from delivery)
• Explain the return process step by step
• Specify who pays return shipping
• Cover exchanges and store credit options
• Include exceptions (final sale items, perishables, etc.)
• Link from website footer on every page

Shipping Policy ✅

• List all shipping methods and costs
• Include estimated delivery timeframes by region
• Specify which countries/regions you ship to
• Mention any free shipping thresholds
• Address handling/processing times separately from transit times
• Include tracking information policy

Privacy Policy ✅

• Describe what personal data you collect
• Explain how you use customer data
• Disclose third-party data sharing (analytics, marketing, payment processors)
• Include cookie policy or separate cookie consent
• Mention GDPR/CCPA compliance if applicable
• Provide contact info for privacy-related inquiries

Terms of Service ✅

• Define the agreement between you and customers
• Cover intellectual property, liability, and dispute resolution
• Should be specific to your business — not a generic copy-paste

Contact Page ✅

• Include at least two contact methods
• Email address (not just a contact form)
• Phone number OR physical mailing address
• Business hours (if applicable)
• Expected response time

About Us Page ✅

• Tell your company story — who you are, what you do
• Include your business name and registration info (if applicable)
• Mention your team, founders, or history
• Add social proof — awards, press mentions, years in business

Product Page Requirements

Pricing

• ✅ Product page price exactly matches feed price (including currency)
• ✅ Sale prices displayed with original and discounted price visible
• ✅ No hidden fees discovered after clicking "Buy"
• ✅ Tax handling is clear (included or excluded)

Availability

• ✅ Stock status on product page matches feed (in_stock, out_of_stock, preorder)
• ✅ "Add to cart" button works for in-stock items
• ✅ Pre-order items clearly labeled with expected ship date

Product Information

• ✅ Clear, accurate product title
• ✅ Detailed product description that matches the feed
• ✅ High-quality images showing the actual product (no watermarks or promotional overlays)
• ✅ Product variants (size, color) clearly shown with correct pricing
• ✅ No exaggerated or unverifiable claims

Technical Requirements

SSL / HTTPS

• ✅ Valid SSL certificate on entire domain
• ✅ All pages load over HTTPS (no HTTP fallback)
• ✅ No mixed content warnings (HTTP resources on HTTPS pages)
• ✅ Checkout and payment pages are secure

Accessibility & Speed

• ✅ Mobile-responsive design
• ✅ Pages load in under 3 seconds
• ✅ Core Web Vitals pass (LCP < 2.5s, CLS < 0.1, FID < 100ms)
• ✅ No intrusive interstitials or pop-ups on mobile

Crawlability

• ✅ robots.txt allows Googlebot access to all important pages
• ✅ No noindex tags on product or policy pages
• ✅ XML sitemap exists and is submitted to Google Search Console
• ✅ Canonical URLs are set correctly
• ✅ No redirect chains or cloaking

Security

• ✅ HSTS header enabled
• ✅ Security headers present (CSP, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options)
• ✅ No malware or phishing warnings from Google Safe Browsing

Product Feed Requirements

Required attributes

• ✅ id — Unique product identifier
• ✅ title — Accurate, descriptive product name
• ✅ description — Clear product description
• ✅ link — URL to the product page (must be HTTPS)
• ✅ image_link — High-quality product image (HTTPS)
• ✅ price — Current price with currency code
• ✅ availability — Matches your website's stock status
• ✅ brand — Required for all products with a brand
• ✅ gtin — Required for all manufactured products with a GTIN
• ✅ condition — new, refurbished, or used

Feed quality

• ✅ No duplicate product IDs
• ✅ Titles are descriptive (include brand, product type, key attributes)
• ✅ Descriptions are unique (not copied from manufacturer)
• ✅ Images meet minimum size requirements (100×100px, 250×250 for apparel)
• ✅ No promotional text in images or titles
• ✅ Product categories correctly mapped to Google taxonomy

Business Practice Requirements

• ✅ No counterfeit or replica products
• ✅ No products from the prohibited content list
• ✅ Checkout process is straightforward — no forced account creation at the last step
• ✅ Payment methods are clearly listed
• ✅ Customer reviews (if shown) are genuine, not fabricated
• ✅ Promotional claims are verifiable and not misleading
• ✅ Business operates in the country targeted by the Shopping ads

Monthly Audit Routine

Don't wait for a suspension to check compliance. Build these into your monthly routine:

1. Week 1: Run an automated compliance scan on your homepage and top 5 product pages
2. Week 2: Review GMC dashboard for any new warnings or product disapprovals
3. Week 3: Spot-check 10 random products for price/availability accuracy
4. Week 4: Review policy pages for accuracy (especially shipping times and return windows)

Compliance isn't a one-time task — it's an ongoing practice. The merchants who never get suspended are the ones who check proactively, not reactively.