{"id":34382,"date":"2022-08-26T11:50:03","date_gmt":"2022-08-26T08:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/?p=34382"},"modified":"2023-07-17T16:20:34","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T13:20:34","slug":"google-merchant-updated-their-editorial-technical-requirements-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/google-merchant-updated-their-editorial-technical-requirements-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Merchant Updated Their Editorial &#038; Technical Requirements Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"34382\" class=\"elementor elementor-34382\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-4d7b9be2 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"4d7b9be2\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-62e6fcc5\" data-id=\"62e6fcc5\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-33a8a33 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"33a8a33\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.22.0 - 24-06-2024 *\/\n.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Everything You Need To Know in 50 Words or Less<\/span><\/h2><p><b>Google has updated its editorial and technical requirements policy for the Merchant Center. Previously, the Merchant Center removed free listings that didn&#8217;t have a return and refund policy or had been posted with insufficient contact information.<\/b><\/p><h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tell Me More<\/span><\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What used to happen with free listings that didn&#8217;t have a return and refund policy or had posted insufficient contact information was that automatically they were removed. These products will now remain listed, but they&#8217;ll have limited visibility to consumers.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These listings are supposed to have this information, but Google will no longer be actively removing them. Instead, they&#8217;re taking a passive route by giving them limited visibility.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What&#8217;s Insufficient Contact Information<\/span><\/h3><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google&#8217;s definition of insufficient contact information is a site missing adequate contact information and\/or that has unverified business information. The listed website may be missing things, like not having a link to social media, phone number, address, or email address. Merchants will need at least one way for customers to contact them.<\/span><\/p><h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Examples of What&#8217;s Not Allowed<\/span><\/h4><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Regarding its editorial and technical requirements, Google has several things that won&#8217;t fly. For example, while not having sufficient contact information won&#8217;t get your listing removed, these might. Here&#8217;s a list of a few of them.<\/span><\/p><h5><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Websites Needing Improvement<\/span><\/h5><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google defines this as a site that isn&#8217;t fully functional, doesn\u2019t have business-specific content, has information that is challenging to understand, or displays incomplete product content. For users, these are websites with broken templates or links that don&#8217;t go anywhere.<\/span><\/p><h5><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Usefulness<\/span><\/h5><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If your website is too hard for the everyday user to navigate, that will not be allowed. This could be the case if logging in to the site is required or the content is unwarrantedly hard to understand. Websites with too many pop-ups, requiring a login to see basic information, or whose layout is needlessly frustrating fall under these guidelines.<\/span><\/p><h5><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spelling and Grammar<\/span><\/h5><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google requires that standard spelling and grammar conventions apply and that the website is easy for users to read.<\/span><\/p><h5><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unclear Relevance<\/span><\/h5><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What you list and what&#8217;s on your website should be related. If your listing and website are two different things, Google could remove your listing.<\/span><\/p><h5><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Style Requirements<\/span><\/h5><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your website doesn&#8217;t need to be the most beautiful of websites. But it does need to look like you filled out the information.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google defines this as generic text on a website, such as sites that say \u201cadd customer reviews and testimonials here\u201d or an empty box with placeholder text like \u201clorem ipsum.\u201d You must also ensure that the website&#8217;s text and images are tailored to your business.<\/span><\/p><h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Return and Refund Policy<\/span><\/h3><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google defines this as a website with missing return and refund information. If the website doesn&#8217;t provide adequate information on how to pursue a return or refund, that will count against them. Leaving that information blank will result in the listing having limited visibility.<\/span><\/p><h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What Does It Mean?<\/span><\/h3><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google will no longer be removing these free listings. That doesn&#8217;t mean they&#8217;re going to be causing bloat and instead be deprioritized. Without that priority, the merchants will receive fewer customers.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sources: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/merchants\/answer\/12464757\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google<\/span><\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b7f2cd8 elementor-widget elementor-widget-template\" data-id=\"b7f2cd8\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"template.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-template\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"section\" data-elementor-id=\"29332\" class=\"elementor elementor-29332\" data-elementor-post-type=\"elementor_library\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-6c9eca04 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"6c9eca04\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-4798cb28\" data-id=\"4798cb28\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-65cc919a elementor-hidden-desktop elementor-widget elementor-widget-shortcode\" data-id=\"65cc919a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"shortcode.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-shortcode\">\n<div class=\"wpcf7 no-js\" id=\"wpcf7-f28319-o1\" lang=\"en-US\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<div class=\"screen-reader-response\"><p role=\"status\" aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\"><\/p> <ul><\/ul><\/div>\n<form action=\"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34382#wpcf7-f28319-o1\" method=\"post\" class=\"wpcf7-form init\" aria-label=\"Contact form\" novalidate=\"novalidate\" data-status=\"init\">\n<div style=\"display: none;\">\n<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wpcf7\" value=\"28319\" \/>\n<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wpcf7_version\" value=\"5.9.6\" \/>\n<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wpcf7_locale\" value=\"en_US\" \/>\n<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wpcf7_unit_tag\" value=\"wpcf7-f28319-o1\" \/>\n<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wpcf7_container_post\" value=\"0\" \/>\n<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wpcf7_posted_data_hash\" value=\"\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"yos mobile\">\n\t<div class=\"post-contact\">\n\t\t<p class=\"title\">Get exclusive CMO tips that I only share with email subscribers.\n\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t<div class=\"form-item\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"input\"><span class=\"wpcf7-form-control-wrap\" data-name=\"email-001\"><input size=\"40\" maxlength=\"80\" class=\"wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-email wpcf7-validates-as-required wpcf7-text wpcf7-validates-as-email\" aria-required=\"true\" aria-invalid=\"false\" placeholder=\"Email address\" value=\"\" type=\"email\" name=\"email-001\" \/><\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"send\"><input class=\"wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-submit has-spinner\" type=\"submit\" value=\"SUBSCRIBE\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<p class=\"yos-img\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/NEW_YOS.png\" \/>\n\t\t<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><div class=\"wpcf7-response-output\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<\/form>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-dcf3f00 elementor-widget elementor-widget-menu-anchor\" data-id=\"dcf3f00\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"menu-anchor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.22.0 - 24-06-2024 *\/\nbody.elementor-page .elementor-widget-menu-anchor{margin-bottom:0}<\/style>\t\t<div class=\"elementor-menu-anchor\" id=\"printful\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Google has updated its editorial and technical requirements policy for the Merchant Center. Previously, the Merchant Center removed free listings that didn&#8217;t have a return and refund policy or had been posted with insufficient contact information. What used to happen&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":34383,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[{"category_link":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/all\/","category_name":"All"},{"category_link":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/e-commerce\/","category_name":"E-Commerce"},{"category_link":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/marketing\/","category_name":"Marketing"},{"category_link":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/marketing\/marketing-news\/","category_name":"Marketing News"},{"category_link":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/e-commerce\/merchant-centers\/","category_name":"Merchant Centers"}],"tags":[],"authors":[],"article_types":[180],"staff_picks":[],"promotions":[178],"class_list":["post-34382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-e-commerce","category-marketing","category-marketing-news","category-merchant-centers","article_types-news","promotions-microsoft-coupon"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34382"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36283,"href":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34382\/revisions\/36283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34382"},{"taxonomy":"authors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/authors?post=34382"},{"taxonomy":"article_types","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_types?post=34382"},{"taxonomy":"staff_picks","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/staff_picks?post=34382"},{"taxonomy":"promotions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adcore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/promotions?post=34382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}