Why Google Says “Your Shopify Website Needs Improvement” — Full Fix Guide

Why Google Says “Your Shopify Website Needs Improvement” — Full Fix Guide

If you’ve ever connected your Shopify store to the Google Sales Channel and received the dreaded notice that your “website needs improvement,” don’t panic — you’re not alone. This is one of the most common issues merchants face when submitting products to Google, and thankfully, it’s very fixable.

Google sends this warning when your store doesn’t meet their minimum content or quality guidelines for being displayed across their platforms. This includes missing legal pages, broken links, placeholder images or text, or incomplete product descriptions. Essentially, Google only wants to promote complete and trustworthy stores.

1. Why You’re Seeing This Warning

When you apply your Shopify store to Google’s Sales Channel, your website is being reviewed by Google as if it’s part of their own product ecosystem. Since Google wants to ensure customers only interact with high-quality stores, any sign of incompleteness or poor user experience triggers the “needs improvement” message.

In most cases, this comes down to missing key website elements such as your refund policy, privacy policy, and terms of service. Make sure these pages exist and are visible on every page of your site — typically by placing them in your footer and checkout pages.

2. Common Causes and Fixes

  • Missing Legal Pages: Shopify can generate your legal policies automatically. Add them to your footer so they’re clickable on all pages.
  • Broken Links (404 Errors): Regularly test your URLs. Use Shopify’s URL Redirects feature to redirect deleted or renamed pages.
  • Placeholder Content: Remove any “Lorem Ipsum” text or default template images. Replace them with real photos and descriptions that represent your products.
  • Outdated Sitemap: Resubmit your sitemap in Google Search Console after any domain or page changes.
  • Incomplete Product Pages: Write clear, descriptive titles and full product details. Avoid vague, generic text.

3. My Personal Experience

When one of my stores was flagged, the root cause was that my refund and privacy policies weren’t visible on every page. Once I added them to the footer and resubmitted my site, the warning disappeared within days. This simple change not only fixed the issue but improved my store’s professionalism and trust score with customers.

4. Best Practices Moving Forward

Always maintain your website’s completeness and accuracy. A good rule of thumb: if something looks unfinished to you, Google probably agrees. Keep your store streamlined and avoid unnecessary clutter. For small businesses, fewer products with strong optimization often outperform massive, unoptimized catalogs.

If you’re new to Shopify or still building your first store, join the 30-Day Beginner’s Shopify Program — it’ll walk you step-by-step through store setup, legal pages, and optimization so you can launch confidently.

And if you’d like to support our content or get your Shopify brand featured for SEO exposure, you can visit our Patreon page.

For more tutorials and updates, check out the main site at professorcommerce.com.

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