Pre-Launch Website Audit for Google Shopping (8 Checks)

A pre-launch website audit for Google Shopping checks your ecommerce site against the Merchant Center policy and feed requirements before you ever submit a feed. The goal: catch and fix every issue Google would flag, so your first feed approval lands clean. Stores that audit first tend to clear Google's initial review far more often than stores that connect and hope. The 8 checks below cover the failure patterns that most often block a first feed approval.

Why audit before connecting to GMC

Three reasons:

1. First impressions matter to Google. A new account that connects and immediately fires a wave of disapprovals gets tighter manual review for a stretch afterward. A clean first connection sails through.
2. Fixing in advance is faster. Issues caught pre-launch get fixed quickly. The same issues post-launch require waiting for re-review cycles, which take considerably longer per round.
3. Compounding disapprovals trigger escalation. When the same SKU is repeatedly disapproved within a short window, Google's account-level review opens. Pre-launch fixes prevent the disapproval pattern from ever starting.

1. Domain and HTTPS

Confirm:

• Custom domain registered (not yourstore.myshopify.com or similar platform subdomain)
• HTTPS enabled across every page (no mixed-content warnings)
• WWW vs non-WWW canonical chosen and consistent
• SSL certificate valid (no expired or self-signed cert warnings)
• Domain ownership verifiable via WHOIS (at least registered agent visible)

2. Policy pages and contact info

Required pages (each must be unique and customized, not template-generated):

• Privacy policy (specific data-collection details, business name, dated)
• Terms of service (customized, dated)
• Returns/refund policy (window length, accepted reasons, who pays return shipping)
• Shipping policy (carriers, time estimates, costs)
• Contact page with email at domain, phone, and physical address
• About page with founder name(s), location, and history

3. Business name consistency

Check the business name on:

• Header logo
• Footer copyright line
• About page
• Contact page
• Privacy policy
• Terms of service
• Returns policy
• Shipping policy
• Merchant Center business info (set this to match)

All instances must be identical, including casing and legal entity (Ltd, LLC, Inc).

4. Product schema and JSON-LD

Pick 5 random products and run each through Google's Rich Results Test [3]. Each must include:

• name, image, brand, description
• offers.price, offers.priceCurrency, offers.availability
• gtin, mpn, or identifier_exists=false
• No duplicate Product schemas on the same page

5. Image quality and coverage

Per-product image checklist:

• Minimum 800x800 pixels (1200x1200 preferred)
• At least 3 distinct images per SKU
• Primary image on plain background for most categories
• No watermarks, promotional text overlays, or borders
• HTTPS URLs that return HTTP 200 without auth
• JPG, PNG, or WebP format

6. Pricing and currency rendering

Test pricing on a sample of 5 products:

• Use Search Console URL Inspection to fetch as Googlebot. Confirm the price is in the server-rendered HTML, not just client-side JavaScript.
• Confirm priceCurrency is populated in JSON-LD with a valid ISO 4217 code.
• Check multi-currency apps (if any) do not interfere with the canonical price.
• For sale prices, confirm sale_price and sale_price_effective_date are present.

7. Shipping and returns configuration

Reconcile between site and checkout:

• Shipping rates configured in Merchant Center match checkout exactly
• Free shipping threshold (if any) matches between site banner, policy page, and Merchant Center
• Return window length matches between site policy and order confirmation emails
• Returns policy declared on every product page (not just the policy page) for PMax eligibility

8. Mobile performance and LCP

Run a sample of 5 product pages through PageSpeed Insights [4]:

• LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) under 2.5 seconds on mobile
• CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) under 0.1
• INP (Interaction to Next Paint) under 200ms
• No mixed-content warnings or render-blocking issues

After the audit

Once every check passes, you are ready to connect to Merchant Center. The first feed approval usually lands within 24-72 hours. From there, set up weekly monitoring so you catch new issues before they escalate.

Bottom line

Pre-launch audits are the difference between a clean approval and a long stretch of disapproval cycles. Eight checkpoints, a couple hours of work, dramatically better odds of clearing Google's first review.