Merchant Center rejects product images: file type, size, URL rules, robots access and overlays

Five different reasons an image is rejected

Image disapprovals sound like one problem and are five. The file may be the wrong type or its extension may not match its real format. It may be too small. The address may break the URL rules. Google may be unable to fetch it. Or the picture may contain something Google does not allow. Each has a different fix and a different owner, so find which one the diagnostic names before changing anything. Google's help pages change; this guide reflects the pages as read on 11 October 2026.

• Type and extension: check the file's real format.
• Size: compare pixel dimensions with the minimum.
• Address: look at the URL rules.
• Access: check robots and server permissions.
• Content: look at the picture.

Type, extension and size

Google recommends JPEG and WebP and also accepts PNG, GIF, BMP and TIFF. The extension has to match the real format; a PNG saved with a .jpg name produces an Unsupported image type error. On size, the image_link page as published on 11 October 2026 states a minimum of at least 500 by 500 pixels and says this requirement applies to all products from 31 January 2027, with 1500 by 1500 or more recommended and an upper limit of 64 megapixels and 16 MB per file. Because limits like this change, confirm the current figure on Google's page before setting a rule.

The address, and whether Google can fetch it

The image address must start with http:// or https://, use ASCII characters only, be between one and 2,000 characters, and identify a single image. Spaces and symbols must be URL-encoded. The address should be stable: parameters such as timestamps or session identifiers that change on every feed submission are advised against. For access, the page says robots.txt must permit both Googlebot and Googlebot-image, and that changes can take 24 to 48 hours to apply. An image that loads for you in a browser may still be refused to a crawler, for instance behind a login or a hotlink rule. This guide can say that access fails; confirming why belongs to your host.

Content: overlays, placeholders and variants

Google does not allow promotional overlays on the main image, which include calls to action, price or shipping text, warranty claims, promotional adjectives, condition labels, barcodes and QR codes, watermarks, and added logos or store names. Placeholders such as a coming soon graphic or a shared stand-in photo are not allowed either, with exceptions for categories such as hardware. Additional angles belong in the separate additional_image_link attribute. Each variant should have its own distinct image. None of these can be fixed by changing a feed rule; they need a different picture.

• A supplier's watermarked image is not yours to edit away; ask the supplier for a clean one.
• A feed rule that substitutes a placeholder for a missing image can itself cause a disapproval.

A safe first investigation

Open the diagnostic for one flagged product and read the exact issue name. Open the image address in a private browser window. Note the final address, the type of file and its pixel size. Check the robots file of the image host for Googlebot and Googlebot-image. Send a redacted screenshot, not a login. If every flagged product shares a host or a pattern, the cause is likely one rule, not hundreds of images.

How the paid work is accepted

For flagged images in the file you send to Merchant Center, the work sits inside merchant-center-clear-disapproved-items, which starts from £1,900, quoted after we see the diagnostics. For each flagged image group it checks the address, file type and size against Google's published rules, fixes on the feed side what the feed controls, gives a change list for a host that blocks Google, and lists pictures that need replacing, such as overlays, watermarks, placeholders or images below the minimum size, as needing your action. Acceptance is the processed diagnostics showing no address, type or size issue for the group, or each product listed with the reason. The monthly service merchant-center-keep-feed-approved takes new image problems one cause at a time, up to five flagged addresses for each cause. If the bad addresses arrive in a supplier feed that you import, the fixed job feed-image-url-validation-before-import, £345 for one import path, checks them before they reach your store or your outgoing file. A local fixture of eight cases is classified, four refused-destination cases are refused, and a per-product report lists the final address, type, size and action. That job cannot judge content such as overlays, and a working address does not mean Google will accept the image. Prices are untested proposals, and payment follows the agreed checks and your sign-off. Nothing is booked or charged by an enquiry. Google's review and recrawl timing and decisions are its own, and approval is never promised.