Google Merchant Center Healthy Account Checklist 2026
Most GMC suspensions are preventable. They happen because merchants set up their account once, never review it again, and then a policy change or a feed error creates a violation that accumulates until Google's automated system flags the account. The merchants who stay healthy run structured monthly checks. This is the checklist they use.
It covers all 52 signals in the GMCSuspension audit tool, organized into categories you can work through in under an hour.
Section 1: Website Policy Compliance (Check Monthly)
Must be reachable from every page. Check that the link still works after any theme update.
"30 days from delivery" is compliant. "Returns accepted" or "contact us for returns" is not. Specify the number.
Google requires this to be explicit. "Customer pays return shipping on non-defective items" is the format that passes review.
How long after receiving the return will the customer be refunded? "Within 5-7 business days" is typical and compliant.
Separate from the return policy. Must name carriers, estimated delivery times by region, and any free shipping thresholds.
Email-only contact is not sufficient. A real-time contact method is required.
Not just on the contact page. Must be findable from any page without navigating through the menu.
A physical address is required for business identity verification. PO boxes as the only address trigger a misrepresentation flag.
An expired SSL certificate immediately suspends checkout functionality and flags the account. Check your certificate expiry date monthly.
Test a full checkout (use a test payment method) every month. Broken checkout is a top suspension trigger.
Section 2: Product Feed Health (Check Weekly)
If you run daily sales or flash promotions, your feed must sync at minimum every 6 hours. A 24-hour sync with daily price changes guarantees mismatches.
Check a random sample of 20 products each week. Include products currently on sale. Even a $0.01 difference is a policy violation.
Products shown as "in stock" in the feed must be available to purchase. Out-of-stock products listed as available trigger misrepresentation flags.
"Free shipping" or "Best price" in a product title is a policy violation. Titles should describe the product, not advertise it.
No watermarks, no promotional overlays, no borders, no placeholder images. Product must fill at least 75% of the image frame for apparel.
Check the Diagnostics tab in GMC. If more than 5% of your products are disapproved, treat it as a warning sign and fix disapprovals before they escalate.
Section 3: Business Identity Signals (Check Quarterly)
Inconsistency between the legal name in GMC and the name displayed on your storefront is a misrepresentation signal.
Generic "we are passionate about our products" About pages score poorly. Specific history, team, or location details strengthen your identity signals.
Third-party validation (Trustpilot, Google Reviews, BBB) strengthens your legitimacy signals. Link to them from your site.
Empty or abandoned social profiles that are linked from your site weaken your business identity. Either keep them active or remove the links.
Section 4: Policy Compliance Monitoring (Check Quarterly)
Google publishes policy changes in the Merchant Center Help Center. A category you sell in may have new requirements that make a previously compliant setup non-compliant. Check this quarterly at minimum.
Alcohol, healthcare products, financial services, gambling-adjacent items, and adult products require specific attribute labels in the feed. Check that any products in these categories have the correct restricted product attributes.
This checklist covers the most common suspension triggers we see across all accounts. For a full automated check against all 52 policy signals, run the free GMC audit tool. If you are already dealing with a suspension, see the GMC suspension checklist for reinstatement-specific steps.
Check all 52 signals in minutes, not hours.
The free audit tool runs every check on this list automatically and flags what needs attention.
Run Free AuditFrequently Asked Questions
How often should I review my GMC account health?
Monthly is the minimum. If you run sales, update pricing frequently, or add new product categories, check weekly. Google's automated systems crawl your site continuously, and policy violations can accumulate between checks. The longer a violation goes undetected, the higher the risk of an account-level suspension.
What is the single most important thing to check monthly on GMC?
Price accuracy between your data feed and your live product pages. Feed sync delays and sale pricing are the most common causes of price mismatch, and price mismatch is the fastest path to a misrepresentation flag. Set your feed to sync at least every 6 hours if you run sales or change prices frequently.
Do GMC policy requirements change over the year?
Yes, Google updates its shopping policies multiple times per year. The 2025 updates added stricter requirements for shipping policy pages, stronger business identity verification, and new rules for comparison shopping and bundled products. Subscribe to the Google Merchant Center newsletter and check the policy update log quarterly.
Can a product disapproval lead to account suspension?
Yes. High volumes of disapproved products, especially for the same policy reason across many items, can trigger an account-level review. Google's system treats widespread policy violations as a signal of systemic non-compliance rather than individual errors. Fix disapprovals promptly and in batches rather than leaving them to accumulate.