Please find below a summary of the most common reasons why images are disapproved for content by Google, Amazon and most common shopping comparison websites.

If you’re having trouble with images within your Google Merchant Centre then this will help you understand the potential reasons why.

This does not include image disapprovals for image size or for images with invalid background colours.  These are detected on testing of your data within Test My Feed, but the listing below covers other aspects of image which can cause product disapproval if detected.  These are taken from Google’s stated guidelines.

• Placeholder or incorrect product images;

• Generic images, graphics or illustrations that are not the actual product images, except for products in the ‘Hardware’ or ‘Vehicles and parts’ categories;

• Images containing:- promotional elements (calls to action e.g. ‘buy’); – service-related information (‘extended warranty’ or ‘free delivery’); – promotional adjectives (‘best’ or ‘cheap’), condition or compatibility (‘new’, ‘2-piece’ or ‘adaptable’); – names and/or logos of merchants regardless of whether the above-mentioned   elements overlay the product.

This also applies to watermarks with promotional elements or names and/or logos of merchants.

• Images containing obstructing content (e.g. watermarks, brand names and/or logos) that overlay the product;

• Images that include borders;

• Images of a bundle that do not show the entire bundle;

• Images of a multipack that do not display a single unit of the product.

Landing pages with no product image or placeholder images that do not show the actual product are also not allowed.