Google has rewritten its Merchant Center help page on low image quality, and the new text drops the threat of suppression. Products with blurry, pixelated, or low-resolution photos are now described as remaining eligible for ads and free listings.
The earlier wording warned that such a product might be held back until its pictures got better. Search Engine Roundtable’s Barry Schwartz reported the edit on October 12 and credited Hana Kobzova of PPC News Feed with spotting it.
Schwartz reads the change as meaning affected items can keep appearing while click-through rates may suffer. That is his inference, not a Google statement, and the page does not say whether image quality still influences ranking or ad performance. He also noted that Google recently updated the minimum product image size to 500x500 pixels.
Retailers should stop treating an image-quality flag as an eligibility emergency. Before paying for reshoots, compare click-through on flagged items against the rest of the feed.
Search Engine Roundtable, Barry Schwartz, October 12, 2026.
