Fix: image link / promotional overlay disapprovals
Image disapprovals come from broken links, low resolution, or promotional overlays. Here is what Google allows and how to fix each cause.
Why image disapprovals happen
Images are one of the most common sources of disapproval because Google has firm rules about what a product image may show and how it must be delivered. An image disapproval falls into two broad groups: the image link itself is broken or unusable, or the image content violates policy (most often a promotional overlay).
Both groups are fixable, but the fixes are different, so the first step is to read which type of image error Google reported.
Image link problems
These are technical failures. Google could not fetch a usable image from the URL in your image_link attribute. The usual causes:
- Broken or dead URL: the link returns an error or points to a missing file.
- Blocked crawler: your server or CDN blocks Google's crawler from fetching the image.
- Too small: the image is below Google's minimum size (non-apparel and apparel have minimums; bigger is better).
- Wrong or generic image: a placeholder, a no-image graphic, or the wrong product.
- Unstable URL: the link changes or expires, so the image works at submission but breaks later.
Promotional overlay problems
This is the rule that catches the most people. Google does not allow promotional text or graphics overlaid on the product image. That means no Sale, Free Shipping, percentage-off badges, watermarks, logos, borders, or call-to-action text burned into the main image. The product image must show the product, cleanly, usually on a white or plain background.
The reason merchants trip on this is that overlays genuinely help on social ads, so the same badged image gets reused on Google, where it is disallowed. The fix is not to drop badges everywhere. It is to use a clean image for Google and a badged image for the channels that allow it.
Important: Google has its own approved ways to communicate discounts, namely the sale_price attribute and merchant promotions, which show a strikethrough or a special offer without altering the image. Use those for Google instead of an overlay.
How to fix each cause
Match the fix to the error type:
- 1For a broken link: confirm the image_link URL loads publicly, is not crawler-blocked, and points to a stable, permanent URL.
- 2For low resolution: supply a larger, high-quality image that meets or exceeds Google's minimum size.
- 3For an overlay: replace the Google image with a clean, overlay-free version of the product.
- 4To still show a discount on Google: use sale_price and promotions instead of a badge on the image.
- 5Keep the badged version for Meta, TikTok, and Snapchat, where overlays are allowed.
- 6Re-run the feed and request re-review.
Clean for Google, badged for social, automatically
Maintaining two image sets by hand (clean for Google, badged for social) does not scale and breaks every time prices change. This is exactly the gap MartechFlow's built-in image creative closes. From one source image, MartechFlow renders a clean, compliant image for Google and a badged version for social channels, with the discount computed live from your feed's sale and original prices.
Because the creative runs server-side inside the feed pipeline, it applies across your whole catalog and updates automatically when prices change. Google gets an overlay-free image that passes review; Meta, TikTok, and Snapchat get a badge that lifts performance. You fix the image disapproval once and never re-touch images by hand.