Image Requirements and Avoiding Promotional-Overlay Disapprovals

The image_link attribute basics

The image_link attribute in Google's product feed must point to a URL Googlebot can actually crawl, serving the primary product image at a minimum resolution — 100x100 pixels for most categories, though apparel requires at least 250x250 pixels. Google recommends significantly higher resolution than the minimum for better quality display in ad placements. Shopify automatically populates this from a product's main image, but variant-specific images need to be mapped correctly if you sell size or color variants with distinct photography.

Non-apparel product images generally can't be smaller than 100x100px and can't exceed 64 megapixels or 16MB file size; Google also disallows generic placeholder images, stock 'coming soon' graphics, or images that are just a logo with no product shown, since these fail to represent the actual item a shopper would receive.

What counts as a promotional overlay

Google's Shopping ads image requirements explicitly prohibit promotional text or graphics overlaid on the product image itself — things like a 'SALE' banner, a percentage-off badge, a price tag graphic, a watermark, or a border/frame added by the merchant. This is a distinct violation from image quality issues and is flagged specifically as promotional overlay text in Merchant Center's Diagnostics.

The policy exists because the product image is meant to depict the actual physical item as it would be delivered — overlays make it unclear what's really included, and can mislead shoppers into thinking a discount graphic is part of the product itself (like packaging) rather than marketing decoration added after the fact.

Where these images usually come from

In a Shopify store, promotional overlays typically end up in the main product image because a merchandising team reused a marketing asset (originally made for an email banner or social post) as the primary product photo, rather than uploading a clean product-only shot. This is especially common right before sale events, when a 'Black Friday 20% off' badge gets slapped on as a quick visual cue for on-site shoppers, without realizing that same image feeds directly into the Shopping feed.

The fix is maintaining two separate assets: a clean, overlay-free product photo used as the Shopify product's primary image (which becomes image_link), and any promotional graphics used elsewhere on the storefront (banners, collection page headers) that are never set as a product's featured image.

Additional_image_link for context

If you want to show a lifestyle shot, a size chart, or an infographic with the product, use the additional_image_link attribute (up to 10 per product) rather than replacing the primary image_link with a promotional graphic. Google is more lenient toward informational overlays like a size chart in additional images than in the primary image, but promotional/marketing overlays are discouraged across all image types under the same policy.

Watermarks and branding text

Small, unobtrusive brand logos are generally tolerated if they're a normal part of the product itself (e.g., a logo embroidered on a garment shown in the photo), but a merchant-applied watermark stamped across the image for copyright or brand purposes is treated the same as a promotional overlay and can trigger disapproval.

How Merchant Center flags it

In Merchant Center Next's Diagnostics tab, look for the issue labeled around 'promotional overlay text' or 'image doesn't meet requirements' under the Image and image_link category. Clicking into the issue usually shows a sample of affected product IDs; visually reviewing five or six of them quickly reveals whether it's a systemic problem (a batch of products from one collection) or scattered one-offs.

Fixing at scale in Shopify

If the issue is a batch of products sharing one problematic image (common when a whole collection was updated with a sale graphic at once), the fastest fix is bulk-editing those products in Shopify admin (via Products > select all in a saved filtered view > Bulk edit) to swap the featured image back to a clean version, then triggering a manual feed refetch in Merchant Center under Products > Feeds > the specific feed > Fetch now.

Re-review turnaround

After correcting flagged images and re-fetching the feed, Google typically re-crawls and re-reviews affected items within a day or two, though during high-volume periods like major shopping holidays, review queues can take longer — planning image cleanup a week or more before a sale event, rather than the same day, avoids ads going dark during the event itself.

Apparel-specific nuance

For apparel, Google also has separate requirements around showing the product against a plain background versus on a model, and the age_group/color attributes must correspond visually to what's shown. Combining a promotional overlay violation with a mismatched color attribute (image shows blue, feed says red) compounds review friction, since both are checked in the same image-quality pass.

Meta's parallel rule

Meta's Commerce/catalog policies similarly restrict overlaid text, watermarks, and price/discount badges on product images used for Advantage+ shopping and catalog ads, under its Ad Policies for images and commerce eligibility. The rationale is the same — the image should represent the product, not carry marketing copy that belongs in ad text instead.

Because both platforms enforce a version of this rule, keeping one clean, overlay-free hero image per product as the canonical source used by both the Google and Meta channels avoids maintaining separate 'ad-safe' image sets — one clean image serves both feeds without extra work.