What to check first
- Open the image URL submitted to Google and confirm it loads publicly.
- Confirm the URL starts with HTTPS and does not require cookies or login.
- Check whether the image includes promotional text, badges, borders, or watermarks.
- Confirm the image matches the submitted product variant.
- Check if Shopify CDN images were recently changed but the feed has not refreshed.
Common Shopify causes
Common causes include missing product images, variant images not mapped correctly, app-generated image URLs, low-quality supplier images, duplicate placeholder images, and theme or app behavior that blocks Google from crawling final image URLs.
Fast diagnosis method
- Export affected Merchant Center items and Shopify product CSV rows.
- Copy the submitted image links into a spreadsheet.
- Open a sample of affected URLs in a private browser.
- Check if the image is product-only, crawlable, and matched to the right variant.
- Replace repeated bad images at the Shopify source when possible.
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