GMC Misrepresentation Audit Checklist
Check your store against the policies behind most Google Merchant Center misrepresentation suspensions. Work through six areas covering business information, website trust, policies, product data, pricing transparency, and secure checkout.
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Section A: Business Identity & Contact Information
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Section B: Website Trustworthiness & Professionalism
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Section C: Essential Policies
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Section D: Product Feed & Landing Page Congruence
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Section E: Pricing, Availability & Promotion Transparency
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Section F: Secure and Transparent Checkout
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Every check counts the same. This audits against Google's Misrepresentation policy, which suspends an account rather than disapproving a product, so there is no useful order to fix them in — the one you skip is the one that holds the account. Nothing you tick or type is stored or sent anywhere, because this runs entirely in your browser; the trade is that a refresh clears the sheet.
How to use this checklist.
An interactive audit rather than a PDF. Misrepresentation is the policy that suspends an account outright rather than disapproving a product, and it is judged on the whole store: who you say you are, what your policies promise, and whether the feed, the landing page and the checkout all agree. Every check carries a notes field, so this works as the audit document itself rather than a row of ticks.
What Misrepresentation Actually Means
Misrepresentation is Google's broadest policy. It covers any situation where a store gives buyers an incomplete or misleading picture of who it is, what it sells, or what happens after purchase.
Most suspensions are not deliberate deception. They come from missing contact details, unclear refund terms, prices that change at checkout, or product pages that do not match the landing page a shopper reaches.
The Six Areas Google Checks
Business identity and contact information, so buyers know who they are purchasing from. Website trustworthiness and professionalism. Essential policies covering returns, refunds, shipping, privacy, and terms.
Product and landing page congruence, so adverts match what shoppers find. Pricing, availability, and promotion transparency, with no surprise charges. And secure, transparent checkout throughout.
Frequently Asked Questions
It means Google judged your store to be giving buyers an unclear or misleading impression of your business, products, or terms. It suspends your account and stops all shopping campaigns immediately.
Missing or incomplete contact details, absent or unclear refund and shipping policies, prices differing between feed and website, and checkout costs that appear only at the final step.
Reviews typically take several business days. Repeated appeals without substantive changes extend the process and can make future reinstatement considerably harder to obtain.
Yes. All costs including shipping and taxes should be visible before the final step, and checkout must be secure. Unexpected charges appearing late are a common trigger.
Misrepresentation suspensions are usually issued without prior notice because the policy protects buyers. The notification rarely specifies the exact cause, which is why a full audit is necessary.
Audit your store against every policy area, fix each failing item genuinely, then submit one reinstatement request. Fixing only what you assume caused it usually results in another rejection.
Returns and refunds, shipping, privacy, and terms and conditions, all easy to find and written clearly. Contact details and business identity must also be visible without searching.
No. A suspension stops all Merchant Center listings and shopping campaigns, which is why compliance is worth auditing before it becomes urgent rather than after.
Merchant Center compliance sits in the Foundation Layer of your growth engine. A suspended account stops every shopping campaign instantly, which is why Growthmak treats compliance as infrastructure rather than an afterthought.
Is Your Merchant Center Account at Risk?
Book a free 30-minute diagnostic. We review your store against Merchant Center policy and show you exactly what needs fixing before you submit an appeal.
- Which policy areas your store currently fails, and why.
- What to fix before submitting a reinstatement request.
- Whether the issue sits in your feed, your website, or your checkout.
- A clear written action plan, with no obligation.