4 min read
Fix library - Diagnostics
Feed warnings vs errors: which ones kill your products
Merchant Center Diagnostics shows every issue in one list, and they are not equal. Errors disapprove products, warnings limit them, expiring items disappear on a date, and account-level issues can stop everything. Here is how to read the list and what to fix first.
Last verified: 2026-08-10
The problem
The Diagnostics page lists dozens of issues and merchants understandably fix the loudest one. But a "missing sale price" warning is not the same weight as a "missing GTIN" error, and a feed fetch failure is a different class again: it stops every product, not one. Fixing in the wrong order means the products that could serve stay dead while you tidy the cosmetic stuff.
Why the distinction matters
Google's help describes the Diagnostics page as the place to review what is happening with your products and account, and the states map to real serving consequences. The working distinction in practice:
- Errors - the item is disapproved and does not serve. Missing GTIN, missing brand, invalid price, wrong availability. These kill the product outright.
- Warnings - the item still serves, but with limited visibility or performance. A missing sale price, a short description, an identifier that could be richer. These cost you reach, not existence.
- Expiring / expiring soon - the item has a date attached, and when it passes, the product stops serving until the feed refreshes it. The classic silent killer: whole catalogues that expired while nobody watched the calendar.
- Account-level issues - a policy violation or suspension that takes down everything underneath it, regardless of the item list.
- Feed-level issues - a fetch error (403, 404, 500), a feed that stopped updating, or a file with zero products. Google cannot read it, so nothing in it serves.
Google Merchant Center Help, "Issues in Merchant Center" (the Diagnostics help page): https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/2948694
This is the page Google points you to for reviewing disapproved products, requirements, and account-level issues, and it is the reference for the states described above.
How to fix it, in the right order
- Fix the feed-level issues first. If the feed is not fetching, or fetching a stale or empty file, nothing else on the list can resolve: every product is downstream of the fetch. Check the fetch status, regenerate, and confirm Google read the new file.
- Then the account-level issues. If there is a policy or suspension issue, that is the ceiling: items below it will not serve no matter how clean they are. See the suspended account guide.
- Then errors, top of the list down. Clear the biggest error class first. In practice the top error on the list is usually the one with the most products attached, and fixing its root cause often clears a cascade of smaller ones.
- Then expiring items. Push the feed refresh through so nothing drops off on a date. A feed that updates on a schedule should never let items expire between runs.
- Then warnings, in your own time. Warnings cost reach, not existence, and they are the ones worth fixing while the product is already serving. Start with the warnings on your best sellers.
When to get help
If the list has all four layers at once, or the feed keeps wedging between fixes, that is a feed problem in need of a rebuild rather than a patch. The £99 rescue plus feed fix finds the underlying cause, fixes it, and verifies the feed is serving again. If your account is suspended on top of it, the £79 rescue covers the account side.
Run the checks yourself first
The free feed health check walks through the same ordering: feed fetch, account state, errors, expiring items, warnings. Ten minutes, runs in your browser, nothing uploaded.
Run the free feed health check →Can a warning turn into an error?
Yes. A warning on a field can escalate if the underlying data gets worse, and an expiring item becomes a dead item when its date passes. Warnings are the cheap time to fix things.
Why does my feed look fine but products are not serving?
Check the fetch status and the item count first. A feed that fetches but contains zero products, or a file that stopped updating while Google still holds the old copy, produces exactly that symptom: no errors, no serving.