Google Merchant Center suspended for Misrepresentation: what it means and what Google looked at on real stores
You open Merchant Center and every product is gone. The card says Misrepresentation. There is no list of what is wrong. This page explains what the message means and what we found on stores Google approved again, in the UK, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Ireland, Switzerland and the US.
What the suspension means
Misrepresentation is an account level issue. It does not sit on one product. It stops the products in the account from showing in the countries it names. On most of our cases the card said the issue was found "through automated checks". On one it said "through a manual check". Both kinds were cleared.
Google's Misrepresentation policy asks that you and your products are shown in a way that is "accurate, realistic, and truthful". It names hiding or misstating business details, hiding the full cost, and implying a link to another party that you do not have.
What Google does not do is tell you which part of your store it means. That is the hard part.
What we found on stores Google approved again
Every store is different, but the same four things came back on store after store.
1. One identity, everywhere
The company name, address, registration and brand name, spelled the same on every page, in the checkout and in Merchant Center. On one store the owner's other brand sat in the homepage title and the social share image (see the Australia and NZ case). On another, the previous brand name was still in the product vendor field and the structured data (see the Netherlands case).
2. The same numbers, everywhere
Delivery days, delivery cost and the return window must agree on the product page, the cart, the checkout, the policy pages and in Merchant Center. One UK checkout charged £16.86 for 3 to 5 days while every page said free delivery in 7 to 13 days (see the case).
3. Nothing you cannot prove
Review counts, star ratings, "limited stock", "4.8 from 5,000 customers", crossed-out prices that never existed, discount pop-ups with no code behind them. One store showed 2,147 reviews on a boat shoe, and the reviews talked about a wool coat, a blazer and chinos.
4. Nothing from another shop
Copied policies, copied product text, product photos still named after the shop they came from. On one UK store 68 photos carried another shop's name in the file name. Nobody could see it on the page. Google reads the image link (see the case).
What did not have to change
Owners often worry about the wrong things. On the stores in our case files, Google approved:
- stores run by a company registered in a different country from the one they sell to, when the site said so plainly
- a store with zero orders ever and social profiles four days old (see the Australia case)
- stores that ship from China, when delivery times and the return address were stated honestly
- stores with no registration number from the country they sell to
That does not mean these never matter. It means they were not the reason on these stores.
What makes it worse
- Pressing "request review" before the store is ready. A rejected request does not reset anything, and the next one gets harder.
- Opening a second Merchant Center. Google links accounts by business, domain, payment and people.
- Rewriting the policy pages and stopping there. On our cases the decisive problems often sat in the checkout, the theme or the photo names.
- Paying anyone who promises an insider or a hundred percent. There is no insider route.
How long the review takes
On our cases Google answered in about four hours at the fastest and four business days at the slowest. Google's help page says account reviews typically take 7 business days and can take longer.
Want to check your own store first? Do the five minute check.