Google Relaxed Its Product Image Quality Policy: Bad Photos Stay Listed, But Cost You Clicks
By Arash Latifi — Founder, The DevArt
Google rewrote the Merchant Center Low image quality doc: blurry or low-resolution product photos are no longer removed from ads and free listings — they just underperform. A new 500×500 minimum becomes mandatory January 31, 2027.
TL;DR — Google changed its Merchant Center "Low image quality" policy: poor product photos no longer get your product removed from ads or free listings. Instead, bad images silently burn your ad spend through lower CTR. Also, a new 500×500 pixel minimum becomes mandatory on January 31, 2027 — fix your old photos now.
If you run a shop and feed products to Merchant Center, this change hits your revenue directly.
What changed
Until recently, Google's official "Low image quality" help document said that if a product image had quality problems (blur, pixelation, low resolution), the product might be prevented from showing in ads and free listings until the image was fixed.
That's gone. The current document states: "Your product will continue to show in ads and free listings," adding that "high image quality correlates strongly with user engagement and clicks." Google no longer penalizes a bad photo with removal — it lets the market decide. Search Engine Roundtable (Barry Schwartz, October 12, 2026) covered the doc change and compared the old and new wording.
The logic makes sense: removal punished both the merchant and the shopper. Now the pressure moved from the algorithm to the market — a bad image stays listed but earns few clicks, making every useful click from your budget more expensive.
The new 500×500 minimum
Buried in the same document is the part most merchants will miss:
- New minimum size for all product images: 500 × 500 pixels
- Enforcement begins January 31, 2027
- Since July 2026, warnings appear for images above the old minimum but below 500×500
So if your images are 400px wide, you have until January — but every week you wait adds diagnostics noise and catch-up work later.
What a bad image actually costs you
| Image state | Listing status | Real cost | |---|---|---| | Blurry, pixelated, low resolution | Still listed (new policy) | Low CTR → higher effective cost per useful click | | Below 500×500 (after Jan 2027) | May be removed | Product drops out of ads and free listings | | Sharp, high-resolution, clean background | Still listed | Best CTR and best return on ad spend |
One more thing Google spells out in the doc: AI-generated or AI-edited images require disclosure labels in the EU, India, and New York. If you use AI tools for background removal or image generation, this is where it bites.
It also matters for your site's image SEO
Merchant Center is only one channel. Weak product photos simultaneously hurt your site's image search visibility — Google's Discover documentation explicitly recommends large, high-quality images (at least 1200px wide, over 300,000 total pixels, 16:9 ratio) to improve the odds of appearing. For a shop, one good photo set earns from two places: free listings and image-driven traffic.
Checklist: do this this week
- [ ] Audit feed images: at least 500px wide and standard ratios?
- [ ] List the blurry ones and book a reshoot with a photographer
- [ ] Check Merchant Center Diagnostics for image-quality warnings
- [ ] Label AI-generated or AI-edited assets where required
- [ ] Use the real product photo as
og:image, not the logo - [ ] Write real alt text for every product image, not "product photo 1"
After fixing the images, the product photography guide and the alt text guide cover the two halves of the same job.
FAQ
Q: If Google no longer removes the product, why bother fixing images?
The removal was at least a visible signal. Now a bad image silently eats your clicks: same ad spend, fewer results. And the 500×500 rule becomes enforceable in January 2027, which brings removal back for images below the minimum.
Q: How large should my images actually be?
500×500 is the Merchant Center floor. For Discover and image search visibility, Google recommends 1200px wide, 16:9, and more than 300,000 total pixels. The practical move: shoot big once, then downscale per channel.
Q: How do I find which products have image problems?
Merchant Center → Diagnostics. Google lists affected products with the reason for each quality issue. Check it weekly, since every feed update can introduce new problems.