Google Shopping Feed Compliance: Why You Shouldn't Edit Product Images Directly

If you're running Google Shopping campaigns, your product images need to follow strict guidelines. Adding "SALE" text directly onto images can get your products disapproved. Here's the compliant way to do it.

Google's Image Requirements

Google Merchant Center has clear rules about product images:

• No promotional text ("Sale," "Free Shipping," "Buy 1 Get 1")
• No watermarks or logos overlaid on the product
• No borders, badges, or call-to-action buttons
• Clean, white or neutral backgrounds preferred

Violating these guidelines results in product disapprovals, which means your ads stop running.

The Problem: You Need Badges on Your Storefront

While Google wants clean images, your storefront benefits from visual merchandising. Sale badges, "New" labels, and bestseller tags all help customers browse and drive conversions. You need both: clean images for feeds and badged images for your store.

The Solution: Visual Overlays

Image overlay apps apply badges as a visual layer only. The underlying product image — the one that feeds into Google Shopping — remains completely clean and compliant.

How It Works

1. Your original product images stay untouched in Shopify
2. The overlay app renders badges on top when displaying on your storefront
3. Google Shopping pulls the original, clean image from your product catalog
4. Result: badged images on your store, clean images in your feed

Don't risk your Google Shopping campaigns for the sake of sale badges. Use overlays to get the best of both worlds — visually merchandised storefront, fully compliant shopping feed.