Google Shopping Product Feed Errors: How to Find and Fix Common Issues

Your Google Shopping campaigns can only be as good as your product feed. Feed errors—missing attributes, invalid data, policy violations—can prevent products from showing entirely or severely limit their visibility. The frustrating part? These errors often go unnoticed while your competitors capture the traffic you're missing.

Google Merchant Center is strict about data quality, and its error messages aren't always intuitive. This guide walks through the most common feed errors, explains what causes them, and shows you exactly how to fix each one. Whether you're troubleshooting a sudden drop in approved products or optimizing a new feed, you'll find actionable solutions here.

For products that are approved but still not showing, see our guide on products not getting impressions.

Understanding Feed Errors in Merchant Center

Google Merchant Center classifies feed issues into three categories:

Type	Impact	Priority
Errors	Products are disapproved and won't show in Shopping ads	Critical - fix immediately
Warnings	Products may show but with reduced visibility or quality	High - fix soon
Notifications	Suggestions to improve data quality; no immediate impact	Medium - address when possible

Where to Find Feed Errors

In Google Merchant Center:

1. Go to Products in the left navigation
2. Click Diagnostics
3. Review the Item issues tab for product-level problems
4. Check the Account issues tab for feed-wide or policy problems

You can filter by issue type, download affected products as a CSV, and see exactly which attribute is causing each problem.

Most Common Feed Errors and How to Fix Them

1. Missing or Invalid GTIN

Error message: "Missing value [gtin]" or "Invalid GTIN"

What it means: Google requires a valid GTIN (Global Trade Item Number)—such as UPC, EAN, or ISBN—for most products. Missing or incorrect GTINs can cause disapprovals.

How to fix:

• Find the correct GTIN: Check product packaging, manufacturer documentation, or databases like Barcode Lookup
• Verify format: UPC = 12 digits, EAN = 13 digits, ISBN = 10 or 13 digits
• Use identifier_exists = false: For custom, handmade, or vintage products without GTINs, set this attribute to indicate no GTIN exists
• Don't use placeholder values: "000000000000" or made-up numbers will cause issues

2. Price Mismatch Between Feed and Landing Page

Error message: "Mismatched value (page crawl) [price]" or "Automatic item update: price"

What it means: Google crawled your landing page and found a different price than what's in your feed. This is a common cause of misrepresentation issues.

How to fix:

• Update feed more frequently: If prices change often, increase feed upload frequency to every few hours
• Include all price components: The feed price must include taxes (if shown on landing page) and match exactly
• Use structured data: Add Product schema markup to your landing pages to help Google identify the correct price
• Enable automatic item updates: In Merchant Center settings, enable this to let Google use crawled data (though fixing the root cause is better)
• Check sale prices: If running promotions, ensure sale_price and sale_price_effective_date are set correctly

3. Image Quality and Policy Issues

Error messages: "Image too small," "Promotional overlay on image," "Generic image"

What it means: Product images don't meet Google's image requirements. This is common for apparel (minimum 250x250px, recommended 800x800px+) and products with watermarks or promotional text.

How to fix:

• Use high-resolution images: Minimum 100x100 pixels for non-apparel, 250x250 for apparel. Aim for 800x800 or higher
• Remove overlays: No watermarks, promotional text ("Sale!", "Free Shipping"), or logos on the image itself
• Show the actual product: Images must show the product being sold, not accessories, lifestyle shots without the product, or placeholder images
• Use proper backgrounds: White or transparent backgrounds work best; avoid busy backgrounds
• One product per image: For single-product listings, show only that product

4. Availability Mismatch

Error message: "Mismatched value (page crawl) [availability]"

What it means: Your feed says a product is "in stock" but your landing page shows it's unavailable (or vice versa).

How to fix:

• Sync inventory more frequently: Real-time or near-real-time inventory sync prevents mismatches
• Use correct availability values: "in_stock", "out_of_stock", "preorder", or "backorder"
• Update feed immediately when items sell out: Don't wait for scheduled uploads - availability mismatches can hurt your impression share recovery
• Add structured data: Product schema on landing pages helps Google verify availability

5. Missing Required Attributes

Error message: "Missing value [attribute]" for attributes like brand, description, or condition

What it means: Required attributes are empty or missing from your feed. Different product categories have different requirements.

Required for all products:

• id: Unique product identifier
• title: Product name
• description: Product description
• link: Landing page URL
• image_link: Main product image URL
• price: Product price with currency
• availability: Stock status

Required for specific categories:

• Apparel: color, size, gender, age_group
• All products with GTINs: brand, gtin (or mpn + brand)
• Used/refurbished items: condition

How to fix: Review the product data specification for your product category and ensure all required attributes are populated.

6. Policy Violations

Error messages: "Policy violation," "Misrepresentation," "Prohibited content"

What it means: Products violate Google Shopping policies. These are serious issues that can affect your entire account.

Common policy violations:

• Misrepresentation: Product claims don't match landing page reality
• Prohibited products: Weapons, drugs, counterfeit goods, adult content
• Misleading promotions: "Free" items that aren't actually free, fake urgency
• Missing business information: No refund policy, contact info, or terms

How to fix:

• Review the specific policy cited in the disapproval
• Ensure landing pages have required business information (refund policy, contact details, privacy policy)
• Remove any prohibited products from your feed
• Request a review after making fixes (in Merchant Center under Account issues)

Category-Specific Feed Errors

Understanding your Google product taxonomy is essential for avoiding category-specific errors. Each category has different attribute requirements.

Apparel and Fashion

Apparel has the strictest requirements. Common errors:

• Missing size: Required for all clothing, shoes, accessories
• Missing color: Use standard color names (not "ocean breeze" but "blue")
• Missing gender: male, female, or unisex
• Missing age_group: adult, kids, toddler, infant, newborn
• Inconsistent variants: Use item_group_id to link color/size variants

Electronics

• Missing GTIN: Almost all electronics have manufacturer GTINs—find them
• Missing brand: Required for all branded electronics
• Condition not specified: New, refurbished, or used must be indicated

Food and Groceries

• Missing unit pricing: Some regions require unit_pricing_measure and unit_pricing_base_measure
• Expiration issues: Don't advertise expired or soon-to-expire products

Feed Data Quality Best Practices

Title Optimization

While not an "error," poor titles hurt performance significantly. Follow these guidelines:

• Include brand, product name, and key attributes (color, size, material)
• Front-load important keywords
• Use 70-150 characters (max 150)
• Don't use ALL CAPS or excessive punctuation
• For detailed guidance, see our title optimization guide

Description Quality

• 500-1000 characters is optimal
• Include relevant keywords naturally
• Describe features, benefits, and specifications
• Don't copy manufacturer descriptions verbatim (duplicate content issues)

Structured Data Alignment

Adding Product structured data (schema.org) to your landing pages helps Google verify your feed data and can prevent crawl-based mismatches.

Preventing Feed Errors Before They Happen

Feed Validation Before Upload

Before uploading a new feed or making major changes:

• Use Merchant Center's feed preview to catch errors before they go live
• Validate data formats (GTINs, prices, URLs) programmatically
• Check for empty required fields
• Test a sample upload before pushing your full catalog

Feed Rules for Data Transformation

Feed rules in Merchant Center let you transform data without changing your source feed:

• Standardize color names (map "navy" to "blue")
• Add missing attributes based on product type
• Append brand to titles
• Set default values for empty fields
• Populate custom labels based on product attributes

Automated Monitoring

Don't wait for disapprovals to accumulate. Use Merchant Center analytics to stay on top of feed health:

• Set up email alerts: Merchant Center can email you when new issues appear
• Check diagnostics weekly: Even if you have no critical errors, monitor warnings
• Track approved product count: A sudden drop indicates new feed issues
• Monitor performance changes: Drops in impression share can indicate feed quality problems

Feed Error Troubleshooting Workflow

When you discover feed errors, follow this systematic approach:

1. Prioritize by impact: Fix errors blocking the most products first
2. Group by issue type: Batch similar fixes together for efficiency
3. Identify root cause: Is this a one-time data issue or a systemic problem with your feed source?
4. Fix in source system: When possible, fix issues at the source (your e-commerce platform) rather than using feed rules
5. Re-upload and verify: After fixes, upload the feed and check that issues are resolved
6. Request review if needed: For policy violations, manually request review after fixes

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

Feed errors are one of the most common—and most fixable—problems in Google Shopping. A clean feed doesn't just prevent disapprovals; it improves your ad quality, CTR, and ultimately your ROAS.

Key takeaways:

• Check diagnostics regularly: Don't wait for problems to compound. Review Merchant Center diagnostics weekly.
• Prioritize errors over warnings: Errors block products entirely; fix them first.
• Understand the root cause: One-time data fixes are different from systemic feed source issues.
• Use feed rules: Transform data in Merchant Center to fix issues without changing your source.
• Prevent rather than fix: Validation before upload catches most issues before they cause disapprovals.
• Match feed and landing page: Most crawl-based errors come from mismatches. Keep them synchronized.

A well-maintained feed is the foundation of Google Shopping success. Invest in getting it right, and everything else—bidding, budgeting, optimization—works better.