Everything you need to get your store approved
MerchantLion audits your website against Google Merchant Center requirements, explains every problem with evidence, and tells you exactly how to fix it on your platform.
Readiness score & clear verdict
A 0–100% website readiness score, a category breakdown and a plain answer: ready, fix first, or not ready to request a review.
See exactly where to fix
Deep scans mark each problem on a screenshot of your own page — the wrong price, the broken link, the placeholder text.
Step-by-step fixes for your platform
We detect Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Wix and more, then tell you where to click and the exact HTML to change.
Smart crawl of big catalogues
Policy and trust pages first, then a sample across every category and template — expanding only where problems appear.
Feed vs landing page
Upload your product feed and we compare price, currency and availability with what shoppers actually see.
Appeal kit & monitoring
A PDF report, Plan of Action and review-request drafts, and scheduled re-scans that verify every fix.
Three steps to a store Google can trust
- 1
Enter your store
Paste your domain. Optionally add what Google reported, your target country and your product feed.
- 2
We scan safely
Policy and trust pages first, then a smart sample of products and the cart — like a reviewer, without placing orders.
- 3
Fix & verify
Follow the step-by-step guide for your platform, then re-scan: fixed issues disappear and your score updates.
9 audit areas
Each rule records its official source and the date it was last verified. Best practices are labelled as recommendations, never as Google requirements.
Misrepresentation & business trust
Business identity, contact details, location and ships-from claims, affiliation and unreliable claims, placeholder text.
Price & availability consistency
Visible price vs structured data vs feed, currency, stock status, price changes after JavaScript loads.
Shipping & delivery
Shipping policy, costs, delivery times, destinations, and conflicting free-shipping promises.
Returns, refunds & legal pages
Return window, refund method and timing, return costs, terms and privacy — and broken policy links.
Cart & checkout
A non-destructive add-to-cart and checkout-entry test: price changes, hidden fees, required business fields.
Payment methods & security
Advertised payment options, unusual-only payment methods, HTTPS on cart, checkout and payment forms.
Language consistency
Product pages, cart, checkout and policies in the language of your product data.
Product feed & data
Required attributes, formats, GTIN check digits, duplicates, placeholder brands and feed-to-page mismatches.
Technical & crawlability
Broken pages and links, redirects, robots.txt for Googlebot and Storebot-Google, login walls, mobile layout.
Made for Merchant Center — not for SEO scores
| MerchantLion | Typical website checker | |
|---|---|---|
| Built around Google Merchant Center requirements | Yes | Usually SEO-focused |
| Official Google source for every issue | Yes | Rarely |
| Evidence: page URL, exact HTML and screenshots | Yes | Often a pass/fail list |
| Step-by-step fixes for your store platform | Yes | Generic advice |
| Safe cart & checkout test (no orders placed) | Yes | Not covered |
| Honest about pages it could not check | Yes | Not shown |
General comparison with typical SEO/website checkers; individual tools differ.
Questions merchants ask
Will you tell me the percentage chance Google approves my store?
You get a website review-readiness score from 0 to 100%: how well your public website meets the Merchant Center requirements we can check, weighted by how serious each issue is. 90%+ means strong readiness; below 50% means significant issues. It is not a probability of approval — Google doesn’t publish how it decides, and it also reviews things a website scan can’t see (your account, feed and history). Fixing the issues the score points to is the best way to improve your chances.
Is MerchantLion affiliated with Google?
No. It is an independent tool. It reads public Google documentation and your public website; it has no access to Google’s systems or your Merchant Center account unless you upload an export yourself.
Can you tell me exactly why my account was suspended?
Not with certainty — Google doesn’t publish the internal reasons for its decisions. MerchantLion shows which website conditions could plausibly explain the reported issue, how strong the evidence is, and what remains unverified.
Will the scan place orders or affect my store?
No. The cart test adds one product to a cart in an isolated browser session and stops at checkout entry, before any personal or payment data. You can switch the cart test off.
How long does a scan take?
Quick scans usually finish in about a minute, Standard in a few minutes, and Deep scans can take longer depending on the size of your catalog and how fast your server responds.
What if my site blocks bots?
We use an identifiable user agent, respect robots.txt and never bypass CAPTCHAs or bot protection. Blocked pages are reported as inspection limitations, not as violations.
How current are the rules?
Each rule records its official source and verification date. The latest policy review was on 13 October 2026; rules whose sources couldn’t be fully re-verified are marked “needs review” and their findings are downgraded to possible risks.