5 min read
Fix library - account-level
Suspended account: what to actually do first
An account-level suspension stops everything: Shopping ads, free listings, the lot. Most suspensions are fixable, but only if the order of operations is right. Diagnose before you appeal, fix the root cause, then request a review once with evidence.
Last verified: 2026-08-10
The problem
Your Merchant Center account is suspended, or in a state that behaves like one: ads stopped serving, and the account page names a policy. The single biggest mistake at this point is appealing immediately with no changes behind it. A review request with nothing to point at does not reopen the account; it burns a review cycle.
Why it happens
Account-level suspensions come from the Shopping ads policies. Google's policy index names the categories: misrepresentation of self or product, inappropriate content, counterfeit goods, dangerous products, abuse of the ad network, and the rest. In practice, most merchant suspensions we are asked to look at are misrepresentation of self or product, which covers the trust gaps: missing contact details, no shipping or returns policy, prices that do not match, a checkout that does not work, or a site that misleads about what is being sold.
Google Merchant Center Help, "Shopping ads policies": https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6149970
Google Merchant Center Help, "Misrepresentation" (policy page): https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6150127
The policy index is the map: your notice names one of the policies listed there, and that page defines exactly what compliance looks like for your case.
What to do first, in order
- Copy the notice wording verbatim and screenshot it. The exact sentence tells you which policy class you are in. "Misrepresentation of self or product" is a different fix path than a named policy violation or an item-level disapproval cascade. Keep the notice text; the review form and your appeal both hinge on it.
- Find the policy on Google's index and read the actual requirements. Open the Shopping ads policies page, find the policy your notice names, and read its conditions cold. What you thought the policy said is usually not what it says.
- Diagnose the root cause before touching anything. Check the site like a stranger would: contact details that match your registered business, shipping and returns policy pages, one product's price in the feed vs on the page, and the checkout end to end. Check the feed fetch status in Merchant Center. Read the Diagnostics page for item-level patterns underneath.
- Fix the root cause, one change at a time. Site trust gaps first, then feed and item issues. Record each change with its date: your review request has to point at verifiable changes, and screenshots with dates are the evidence.
- Then request the review, once. Google's help describes the review request path for issues ("Request a review of your issues"). Submit after the changes are live and verified, not before. The request should name what changed, with dates, and attach the evidence.
- Follow up inside the stated window. If Google asks for more information, answer within the window with the same evidence structure. Do not resubmit the same text hoping for a different result.
Google Merchant Center Help, "Request a review of your issues": https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6109185
This is the current review request path in Google's help. It is also where the "account owner files" requirement lives in practice: the request is tied to the account, so it has to go out under the owner's access.
What does not work
Appealing with no changes behind it. Repeating the same appeal after a rejection. Paying anyone who promises reinstatement before reading your notice: a promise made before anyone has read your case is a guess, not a guarantee. And any service that offers to "work around" a policy: the fix is compliance, not a workaround.
And some cases are not fixable by anyone: suspensions for fraud or invalid traffic, catalogues built on counterfeit or restricted products, policy violations built into the business model, and accounts where the owner has lost access. No appeal letter changes those, and any service that says otherwise is selling hope.
When to get help
The £79 suspension rescue covers the whole sequence: root cause diagnosis from your notice, account, and feed, the appeal letter drafted in your voice with the exact changes and dates, the submission checklist, and follow-up until reinstated or refunded. The £99 rescue plus feed fix adds the underlying feed problem being found and fixed when the feed is part of the case. If your case is unfixable, we tell you before you pay.
Not sure where your case lands?
Take the free 5 question audit. It runs in your browser, takes two minutes, and gives a straight verdict: fixable, likely fixable, or unlikely. If your case is one of the unfixable kinds, it tells you that too, free.
Take the free audit →Should I appeal the same day I am suspended?
No. Diagnose, fix the root cause, then request the review once with evidence. Reviewing with no changes behind it does not work, and resubmitting the same request after a rejection does not work either.
My notice does not name a policy. What now?
If the notice is generic, the diagnosis matters more, not less: check the site trust basics, the feed fetch status, and the Diagnostics page for item-level patterns. The review request still has to point at concrete, dated changes.