Shopify's defaults cover maybe 60% of what Google wants
Shopify generates a storefront fast, but it stops short of covering every Google Merchant Center requirement out of the box. The gap is where most suspensions happen: policy pages left unpublished, contact info still on its template, theme schema that conflicts with an SEO app, or product descriptions that still mention "direct from supplier in Guangzhou."
This scanner uses the same public endpoints Googlebot hits, plus a few Shopify-specific ones, and tells you where in Shopify Admin to fix each failure.
Shopify merchant questions
How is this different from the general scanner?
The general scanner tests any e-commerce site against ~30 generic GMC requirements. The Shopify scanner adds Shopify-only checks that require Shopify's public endpoints: /products.json product-quality analysis, /sitemap_products validation, /cart.js probe, duplicate Product schema detection, Shopify.theme name identification, and Shopify Admin-linked fix paths. If your store is not Shopify, this scanner won't work, you'll be redirected to the general one.
Is this really free?
Yes. No signup, no credit card, no Shopify app to install, no email required. Paste your store URL, get the full report.
Does it work for password-protected / dev stores?
No. Shopify stores with password protection enabled block Googlebot and this scanner alike. The scan will flag password protection as a critical issue, disable it in Online Store → Preferences and re-scan.
What if my store is a Shopify Plus or custom-domain store?
All Shopify plans work: Basic, Shopify, Advanced, Plus, Retail. Custom domains (yourstore.com, not yourstore.myshopify.com) also work, the scanner reads public HTML and JSON endpoints which are identical regardless of plan.
Why does it check /products.json?
Every Shopify store exposes a public JSON API at /products.json listing products, images, variants, and vendor fields. The general scanner can't see this data, it only sees rendered HTML. The Shopify scanner uses this endpoint to check things the general scanner cannot: how many products you actually have, how many have 3+ images, how many have brand/vendor set, and your out-of-stock ratio.
What if the scanner flags a duplicate Product schema?
Two separate JSON-LD Product schemas on one product page is almost always caused by your theme AND an SEO app (SEO Booster, SEO King, Smart SEO, JSON-LD for SEO) both injecting Product structured data. Google treats conflicting schema as misrepresentation and can suspend the feed. Pick one source to disable, usually in the SEO app's settings, since removing from the theme requires Liquid edits.
Does the scan trigger anything on my Shopify Admin or my customers?
No. The scanner only reads public endpoints, the same ones Googlebot hits when it crawls your store. It does not log in, does not add items to a cart, does not place test orders, and does not appear in your Shopify Admin activity log. Run it as often as you want.
Can I share the results with my developer or my agency?
Yes. After the scan finishes, the page URL stays valid for sharing. Copy it into a Slack message, an email, or a ticket and the recipient sees the same report. We do not save the result on our server beyond the session, so for a permanent record take a screenshot.
What to do with the Shopify scan report
A scan only matters if it changes what you do this week. The report sorts findings by severity so you do not waste a Saturday on cosmetic warnings while a critical issue keeps the account suspended.
Critical failures, the ones marked in red, are the only ones Google treats as account-killers. Missing policy pages, password protection still enabled, products with no images, and duplicate Product schema all sit in this bucket. Fix these before you submit a review request because submitting with any of them still live almost always returns the same suspension within hours.
Warnings, the yellow ones, are usually fine for a first review request but worth fixing within the following week. Examples: a sitemap that excludes /policies/, less than 50 percent of products with three or more images, a missing canonical tag on the homepage, no cookie banner in regions where one is expected. These rarely cause a fresh suspension on their own, but they pile up. Three warnings together can tip a borderline account into a "needs improvement" decision.
Information notes describe context, like which theme you are running or which Shopify plan endpoints are exposed. You can ignore them safely unless a critical or warning issue points back to the same configuration.
The five Shopify-specific patterns that cause a Google Merchant Center suspension
Generic GMC fix guides miss what is unique to Shopify. After scanning thousands of stores, five patterns show up again and again in the suspended accounts that contact us.
- Multi-currency apps that show different prices to different visitors. Tools like Orbe Geolocation and Currency Converter Plus do this client-side. Google reads the price one way and the buyer sees a different number, which Google classifies as misrepresentation. Switch to Shopify Markets with separate product feeds for each country.
- Apps that inject a second Product schema. SEO Booster, Smart SEO and similar apps add a Product JSON-LD even when Dawn or Debut themes already include one. Two conflicting Product objects on a page is treated as a suspicious data signal.
- Policies still on the default Shopify template text. When the scanner finds "Replace this with your own refund policy" inside /policies/refund-policy, that is an instant suspension trigger. Edit each policy and remove every placeholder line.
- Dropshipping language in product descriptions. Phrases like "ships from China", "AliExpress quality", or "imported direct from factory" are flagged. Rewrite descriptions in your own voice and remove anything that hints at a long fulfillment chain.
- Password-protected sub-stores. If you have a wholesale or staging store on the same myshopify.com subdomain, Google can confuse it with your live store and suspend the linked account. Move staging stores to a separate Shopify account.
For the appeal itself, the step-by-step appeal guide covers what to write in the request and what evidence to attach. If your account has already been denied once, the reinstatement-denied guide explains what changes between a first and a second review. And if your suspension reason is specifically misrepresentation, the misrepresentation guide walks through the trust-signal gaps that crawlers look for.