How to Pass Google's Website Quality Assessment
What Google's quality reviewers actually check during a manual website review and how to prepare for it.
One missing policy page can suspend your account.
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What Is the Website Quality Assessment?
When you submit products to GMC or appeal a suspension, Google's quality team manually reviews your website. They're checking whether real shoppers can trust your site enough to make a purchase.
The review is done by a human visiting your live website — not just an automated crawl.
What Reviewers Check
Business legitimacy signals
- •Is there clear evidence of a real business? (About page, address, phone)
- •Does the business name on the site match GMC?
- •Can a customer reach you if something goes wrong?
Purchase safety signals
- •Is the checkout served over HTTPS?
- •Are payment methods visible?
- •Is guest checkout available?
- •Does the checkout actually complete?
Policy completeness
- •Return policy: specific timeframe, conditions, refund method
- •Privacy policy: what data is collected and how it's used
- •Shipping policy: countries, delivery timeframes, costs
Product representation accuracy
- •Do product pages show the same price as the feed?
- •Are product descriptions accurate and not copied from other sites?
- •Do products actually exist and are they in stock?
Preparing for a Review
Think of it as preparing for a secret shopper visit. Walk through your site as if you were a first-time customer who has never heard of your business:
- •Can you figure out who owns this business?
- •Can you contact them if the order goes wrong?
- •Can you understand the return and refund process before purchasing?
- •Can you complete a purchase without creating an account?
- •Does every price you see match what you pay at checkout?
If the answer to any of these is "no" or "I'm not sure," fix it before requesting a review.