Contents of the case
Initial data
Issues and strategy
The project was an online store in the spiritual well-being and mentoring niche (USA) using the Shopify platform. Merchant Center was blocked with the status “Misleading,” which is one of the most difficult types of blocks: the system believes that the user may receive incomplete or unclear information about the company, the terms of purchase, or the product itself.
Our strategy was not to make “spot corrections,” but to fully optimize the site to Google’s requirements: make the offer transparent to the user and algorithms, remove any triggers of mistrust, confirm the reality of the store, and make the rules of interaction with the customer clear. At the same time, we prepared the site so that after moderation there would be no repeated blocking — that is, we laid the foundation for long-term work with advertising for the US.
The unblocking period was 92 days, which corresponds to a realistic cycle of checks and resubmissions in cases involving the “Misrepresentation” policy.
What has been done
Main areas of work:
- conducted an audit of the reasons for blocking under Merchant Center policies for the status “Misleading” and compiled a list of potential risks on the website and in the store structure;
- We strengthened trust in the store at the website level: we put key pages and elements that affect the transparency of the business for the user (terms of service, purchase logic, clarity of the offer) in order.
- updated the content on the website so that the wording was clear, unambiguous, and corresponded to the actual terms of the service/product without “marketing exaggerations” that could be interpreted as misleading;
- We unified the presentation of information about products/services: we removed ambiguous promises, clarified descriptions, and structured blocks so that users immediately understand what they are buying and what they are getting.
- checked compliance with Google’s requirements and policies throughout the entire interaction chain (from the first visit to the site to placing an order) to remove questions about transparency and reliability;
- prepared the platform for re-moderation and accompanied the process until a positive decision was received.