Every Google Shopping and Performance Max campaign runs on one thing: your product feed. If a product is disapproved or limited in Merchant Center, it doesn't matter how well the campaign is built. Google can't advertise what it can't approve.

Most Shopify stores send their feed through the Google & YouTube app. It does a decent job, but it copies whatever is in Shopify. If your product data is thin or inconsistent, the feed is too. This guide covers the errors that come up most often and how to fix each one at the source.

Start with the diagnostics, not the campaign

In Merchant Center, open the products report and filter by issue. Sort the issues by how many products each one affects, then look at which of those products actually sell. Fix in this order:

  1. Account-level issues — these can stop every product at once.
  2. Disapprovals on your best sellers — that's where the lost revenue is.
  3. Warnings and "limited performance" — these don't block ads but quietly reduce how often you show.

Don't try to clear every warning on every product. Fix the ones that cost you sales.

1. Price mismatch

Google checks the price in your feed against the price on your product page. If they differ, the product gets disapproved.

Common Shopify causes:

  • A sale price set by an app or theme script that never reaches the feed.
  • Currency or market settings showing UK visitors a different price from the one submitted.
  • VAT shown differently on the page and in the feed. UK prices in Shopping should include VAT.
  • The feed syncing slower than you change prices.

The fix is to make Shopify the single source of truth. Run sales through Shopify's own compare-at price rather than front-end scripts, and check the page Google sees matches what a UK shopper sees.

2. Availability mismatch

Same idea, different field. The feed says "in stock", the page says "sold out" (or the other way round). This usually comes from stock changes that happen faster than the feed updates, or variants that are out of stock while the main product isn't. Keep inventory tracking on in Shopify and make sure each variant has its own stock level.

3. Missing or invalid GTIN

A GTIN is the barcode number (EAN in the UK) that identifies a branded product. If you resell branded goods, Google expects one. If you make your own products, you may not have one — and that's fine, as long as the feed says so.

  • Reselling a brand: add the manufacturer's barcode to the Barcode field on each variant in Shopify.
  • Your own products with no barcode: make sure brand and MPN are filled in, and tell Google the product has no identifier rather than leaving the field empty or inventing a number.

Never make up a GTIN. An invalid one causes more trouble than a missing one.

4. Missing shipping or return information

Google needs to know what delivery costs and how returns work. If shipping isn't set up for the UK in Merchant Center, or doesn't match what checkout charges, products get flagged. Set up shipping and a return policy in Merchant Center directly so they match your Shopify checkout and returns page.

5. Image problems

Product images get rejected for promotional overlays ("SALE", "Free delivery"), watermarks, borders, placeholder images, or being too small. Use a clean product shot on a plain background as the main image. Lifestyle shots can go in additional images.

6. Misrepresentation

This is the one that worries people most, because it can suspend the whole account. Google is checking whether your store looks trustworthy. The usual gaps on Shopify are easy to close:

  • Clear contact details — a real address, email and ideally a phone number.
  • Visible returns, refund, delivery and privacy policies, linked in the footer.
  • Prices, delivery costs and stock that match what the feed says.
  • No claims you can't back up, such as "best price guaranteed" or fake countdown timers.

Fix everything first, then request a review once. Repeated reviews without changes can make it slower to get approved.

Beyond errors: a feed that sells

An error-free feed only gets you into the auction. What you put in it decides how well you do there.

Write titles for search, not for your shop

"The Highland" means nothing to a shopper. "Men's Merino Wool Jumper – Navy – Highland" matches what people type. Lead with the product type and key attributes, then the name.

Fill in product type and category

A clear product category and product type help Google match products to the right searches, and make reporting cleaner.

Add a margin label

Custom labels let you group products — by margin, price band or best sellers. That's what lets Performance Max treat a high-margin product differently from a low-margin one. We explain why that matters in ROAS vs profit, and you can work out your own break-even ROAS with the ROAS vs profit calculator.

The short version

Feed errors are rarely a Google problem. They're a product data problem that shows up in Google. Fix data in Shopify, not in workarounds; fix best sellers first; and once the feed is clean, use it to tell Google which products are worth pushing.

If you'd rather someone else looked, our Google Ads for Shopify brands work starts with exactly this: a feed and account check, priced in £, before any spend changes.