Website needs improvement in Google Merchant Center: Shopify checklist

Use this Shopify checklist when Merchant Center says Website needs improvement. Fix store completeness, business details, policies, broken paths, checkout, and product consistency before requesting a website check.

Parent hub

Shopify Google Shopping and Merchant Center fixes

Use the parent hub to route GTIN, attribute, feed, disapproval, diagnostics, policy, shipping, promotion, domain, and crawler-access fixes.

What this issue means

Website needs improvement means Google found that the online store may not provide the complete, functional, and trustworthy shopping experience required for Shopping surfaces. The issue can appear with a warning, limited visibility, product disapproval, or account suspension; it is not always a warning-only state.

This page focuses on the public website-quality work behind that named issue. Use the Misrepresentation guide when Google names that account-level policy instead, and use the pending-review guide only when no concrete issue is available yet.

Shopify website checklist

Publish an About page that identifies the real business and matches the name shoppers see throughout the storefront.
Make at least one reachable contact method easy to find before checkout, and keep the business name, address, phone, and email consistent with Merchant Center.
Publish clear shipping, return and refund, privacy, and payment information. State clearly when returns or refunds are not accepted.
Remove Lorem Ipsum, demo products, default review prompts, stock template images, unfinished sections, and other placeholder content.
Test navigation, product, policy, contact, and social links. Fix 404s and links that unexpectedly redirect to the homepage.
Confirm the storefront uses HTTPS and that cart and checkout work from product selection through payment without dead ends.
Review product titles, descriptions, categories, images, prices, availability, and variants for useful, consistent information.

Where to make the Shopify edits

Pages and navigation: create or update About, Contact, shipping, and support pages, then add them to the header or footer navigation.
Policies: use Shopify Settings > Policies for the store terms, then verify the published policy links and wording on the live storefront.
Theme content: remove placeholder sections, default text, template images, empty review blocks, and broken theme links.
Products: correct descriptions, categories, media, prices, inventory, variants, identifiers, and attributes in the Shopify source that feeds Merchant Center.
Domains and checkout: verify the primary domain, HTTPS storefront, cart behavior, payment path, and market-specific URLs as an anonymous shopper.
Google & YouTube channel: confirm the intended Merchant Center account and data source receive the corrected Shopify product information.

Keep public and private checks separate

StoreSteady can inspect crawled public pages for visible policy evidence, placeholder content, crawl access, and product-page evidence. That can make a pre-review audit faster, but it is not a complete site-wide link audit.

A public scan cannot confirm Merchant Center business information, phone verification, identity verification, review eligibility, warning status, suspension status, or whether Google will accept the website check.

Before requesting a website check

Open the exact Website needs improvement issue in Merchant Center and record the affected country, products, and any examples Google provides.
Complete the public Shopify checklist and the private Merchant Center business or identity actions shown for the account.
Check representative products against their live landing pages so price, availability, descriptions, and attributes agree.
Request the website check only after the changes are live. Merchant Center remains the source of truth for review availability and status.
If the issue remains and the instructions are unclear, contact Google or Google & YouTube app support with the account evidence.

Related StoreSteady help

Google Merchant Center Misrepresentation on Shopify
Use the account-policy guide when Google names Misrepresentation rather than a general site-quality issue.
Policy review pending in Merchant Center
Use the wait-state guide only when Merchant Center has not provided a specific actionable issue.
Audit public trust signals
Check the public policy, contact, and storefront evidence StoreSteady can actually observe.

Official Google source context

Common questions

Is Website needs improvement only a Merchant Center warning?

No. Google documents the issue in warning, limited-visibility, disapproval, and suspension contexts. Use the exact account status and actions shown in Merchant Center.

Can a public scan verify my Merchant Center business information?

No. A public scan can check what shoppers can see on the storefront, but Merchant Center business details, phone verification, identity verification, and review status require private account access.

Does passing this checklist guarantee approval?

No. The checklist covers public website and consistency work Google documents, while Merchant Center may require additional private account or identity actions and Google controls the final decision.

Free Scanner