Merchant Center image quality: what to fix before 2027

Short answer: Products that Google Merchant Center flags for low image quality (blurry, pixelated or low resolution) still show in ads and free listings for now. A separate rule says every product image must be at least 500 x 500 pixels, and Google starts enforcing it on January 31, 2027. Find your undersized images now and fix them at the source.

What exactly did Google change?

Google’s Merchant Center Help page now says that products flagged for low image quality “will continue to show in ads and free listings.” A blurry photo is no longer a reason for a product to disappear from Shopping.

Google defines low image quality as problems such as blurriness, pixelation or low resolution in one or more product images. The flag still appears in your account. It just does not block the product.

There is a second, separate change. All product images must be at least 500 x 500 pixels. Since July 2026, Merchant Center has shown warnings for images that pass the current minimum size but are still smaller than 500 x 500. Enforcement of the 500 x 500 requirement begins on January 31, 2027.

So you are dealing with two things:

• The quality flag (blurry, pixelated, low resolution): products keep showing.
• The size requirement (500 x 500 pixels minimum): a warning today, enforced from January 31, 2027.

You can read the official wording on the Merchant Center Help page about image requirements.

Why fix images if your products still show?

“Still showing” does not mean “no problem.” In a Shopping ad, the image is the first thing a shopper judges your product by, often before the price and title. A blurry photo next to a sharp competitor photo is a weak position whatever your bid is.

The timing matters too. The deadline lands right after the busiest selling season. If you leave this until January, you will be changing image URLs across your whole catalogue while you are also handling returns, sales and new-year campaigns.

Finally, a pile of open warnings in the Needs attention tab hides the issues that do cost you money. A clean diagnostics view is easier to watch. If you are already doing your pre-season feed work, add this to the list from Merchant Center holiday feed updates to make before Q4.

How to find and fix affected products step by step

1. Open the Needs attention tab in Merchant Center and filter it by the image quality or image size issue.
2. Download the list as a CSV. This gives you every affected product ID and image URL in one file.
3. Open five or six flagged image URLs in your browser and check the real pixel dimensions. This tells you where the problem comes from before you change anything.
4. Group products by cause: wrong image size in the feed, small supplier images, or old product photos.
5. Fix the image at the source (your e-shop, feed plugin or supplier files), not only inside Merchant Center.
6. Re-upload the corrected product data using the CSV, or let your regular feed fetch pick up the new URLs.
7. Check the Needs attention tab again after Google has processed the new data, and work through whatever is left.

Do not forget additional images

The 500 x 500 rule applies to all product images, not just the main one. If your feed sends extra gallery images, check those URLs too. A product with a perfect main image can still carry a warning because the fourth gallery photo is a small detail shot.

Symptom, cause and fix: a quick checklist

What you see	Likely cause	Fix
Warnings on hundreds of products, but photos look sharp on the website	The feed sends a thumbnail or medium-size image URL instead of the original	Change the image size setting in your feed plugin or export so it uses the full-size file
Warnings only on products from one brand or supplier	Supplier provided small images	Ask the supplier for originals or reshoot your best sellers first
Warnings mostly on older products	Photos uploaded years ago under older standards	Replace images on products that still sell; remove discontinued products from the feed
Main image is fine, warning stays	One additional image is under 500 x 500	Replace or remove that additional image
Image is large enough but flagged as blurry or pixelated	A small file was upscaled	Export again from the original photo; upscaling adds pixels, not detail
You fixed images, but the warning is still there	Google has not processed the new data yet, or only the website was updated	Make sure the feed carries the new URLs, re-upload, then check again later

What I see in the accounts I run

In the e-shops I work with, undersized product images almost never come from bad photography. They come from the feed. An e-shop theme generates several sizes of every photo, and the feed plugin often picks a mid-size or thumbnail version by default because it loads faster.

The result looks like a catalogue-wide image problem, when in reality it is one setting. Changing which image size the feed exports can clear warnings on hundreds of products at once, without a single new photo.

That is why my first step is never “book a photographer.” I open a handful of flagged image URLs, check their size, then compare them with the same photo on the product page. If the website shows a big sharp photo and the feed sends a small one, the fix takes minutes. Only the products that are still small after that need new images, and those are usually supplier photos for resold brands.

Most common mistakes

• Upscaling small images to hit 500 x 500. The file passes the size check, but you trade a size warning for a blurry or pixelated image, which is exactly the quality issue Google flags.
• Fixing images only with feed rules or a supplementary feed. If the website still serves small images, the problem comes back with every new product.
• Waiting for January. The deadline is January 31, 2027. Bulk changes during peak season, or in the last week before enforcement, leave no time to check the result.
• Ignoring additional images. The requirement covers all product images.
• Fixing products that no longer sell. If a product is discontinued or has not sold in a long time, remove it from the feed instead of reshooting it.

When this is not a priority

If your Needs attention tab shows no image issues, there is nothing to do except check that new products are uploaded at full size. If only a few discontinued products are flagged, remove them and move on.

And if your Shopping campaigns struggle with a clean feed, images are probably not the main problem. Look at pricing, margins and how your campaigns split budget first. If you are unsure whether Merchant Center can work for you without paid campaigns, see Merchant Center loyalty program: do you need Google Ads?

What to do first

This week, filter the Needs attention tab by the image issue, download the CSV and check five flagged image URLs to find the real cause. If it is the feed export setting, fix that first. Then plan new images only for products that actually sell, well before January 31, 2027.

If you want someone to go through your feed and Shopping campaigns with you, take a look at my PPC specialist services or the full list of performance marketing services. Email me and I’ll reply within 24 hours.