TL;DR
- Google's Merchant Center Help article for 'Low image quality [image_link]' now says affected products will continue to show in ads and free listings.
- Search Engine Roundtable reported the rewrite on 12 October 2026 with screenshots of the old wording, which said products may be prevented from showing until images improved.
- Google made no announcement; PPC Land noted on 13 October 2026 that the Help page has no date or change log, so the edit may be older.
- The separate 500 x 500 pixel minimum is unchanged: enforcement starts 31 January 2027, with warnings since July 2026 for smaller images.
Google Merchant Center no longer keeps products out of ads and free listings because of the "Low image quality [image_link]" issue. The Merchant Center Help article for that issue now states that an affected product will continue to show in ads and free listings, replacing earlier wording that said such a product may be prevented from showing until its image quality improved. Search Engine Roundtable reported the rewrite on 12 October 2026, and PPC Land followed on 13 October. The separate 500 x 500 pixel minimum for product images, enforced from 31 January 2027, is unchanged.
What the Help article says now
The Google Merchant Center Help article "How to fix: Low image quality [image_link]" describes the issue in one sentence: one or more of the images associated with a product has poor image quality, "such as blurriness, pixelation, or low resolution". Directly underneath sits a highlighted note: "Your product will continue to show in ads and free listings."
The rest of the section argues on performance rather than eligibility. Google writes that "High image quality correlates strongly with user engagement and clicks", and that improving image quality gives users a better experience and "may increase performance of your ads and free listings". There is no figure attached to that claim and no threshold that separates an acceptable image from a poor one. The article simply asks merchants to use clear, high-resolution images that showcase the product.
What it said before, and how the change surfaced
Search Engine Roundtable, in a report by Barry Schwartz published at 7:11 am on 12 October 2026, preserved screenshots of both versions of the page. According to that report, the older version told merchants that the product may be prevented from showing in ads and free listings until the image quality improves. The new version drops that consequence and replaces it with the note that the product will continue to show.
Google did not announce the change. PPC Land, reporting on 13 October 2026, pointed out that the Help page carries no date and no change log entry, so the date attached to the story is the date it was publicly reported, not the date Google edited the page. The edit could have happened earlier. According to PPC Land, Google has issued no blog post, changelog entry or statement explaining the revision.
The comparison is summarised below. Each "before" cell names its source: the first two come from the older wording as captured by Search Engine Roundtable, and the size row comes from PPC Land's August 2026 report, which Relevant Audience covered on 23 August 2026. The "now" column comes from the live Help article.
| Item | Before | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Effect of the low image quality issue on serving | Product may be prevented from showing in ads and free listings until image quality improves (old wording, per Search Engine Roundtable's capture) | Product will continue to show in ads and free listings |
| Reason Google gives for fixing the image | Serving was tied to the fix: "until the image quality improves" (old wording, per Search Engine Roundtable's capture) | Image quality "correlates strongly with user engagement and clicks" |
| Minimum image size | 500 x 500 pixel floor from 31 January 2027 (PPC Land, August 2026; Relevant Audience coverage, 23 August 2026) | Unchanged: enforcement from 31 January 2027, warnings from July 2026 for images above the old minimum but below 500 x 500 |
A warning instead of a possible block
The practical effect is a change in severity. Merchant Center lists product problems on the Needs attention tab, and the consequence attached to each issue is what tells a feed manager how urgent it is. Under the old wording, a low image quality flag carried a possible loss of visibility, so it sat close to a disapproval in any triage list. Under the new wording, the product stays eligible and the flag behaves like a warning: something to fix for performance, not something that stops sales today.
Two things are worth keeping apart here. The first is eligibility, which is now explicitly preserved for this issue. The second is performance, where Google still says image quality matters. A blurry or pixelated main image that keeps serving is still competing in a Shopping carousel next to sharper images from other sellers. The page's own claim, that quality correlates with engagement and clicks, is the reason to keep these products on the to-do list even though they are no longer at risk of being pulled.
The wording also says nothing about how Google detects "poor quality". The article gives examples, blurriness, pixelation and low resolution, but no metric. Merchants should not assume that a product without the flag has a good image, or that a flagged image is bad by any specific measure. The flag is Google's judgement, and the article does not explain how it is made.
What is new and what RA already covered
Relevant Audience covered the 500 x 500 pixel rule on 23 August 2026, following PPC Land's August report that Google would stop approving product images below that size from 31 January 2027. That rule is a separate requirement about image dimensions, and it still removes non-compliant products once enforcement starts. Nothing in this week's rewrite changes it.
What is new is the softer treatment of the quality flag. Before, a product could in principle lose visibility for two different image reasons: being too small, or being judged poor quality. After the rewrite, only the size rule carries a stated serving consequence on this page. The quality flag carries a performance argument instead.
The same Help article now places the size requirement in an "Important" box at the top. It says Google recently announced image size requirements of at least 500 x 500 pixels for all product images, that enforcement begins on 31 January 2027, and that from July 2026 merchants receive warnings on images larger than the minimum requirements but smaller than 500 x 500. The two issues can overlap: an image that is small enough to be flagged for low resolution may also fall below the new size floor. In that case the size rule, not the quality flag, is the one with a hard deadline.
The fix steps are still in place
PPC Land noted that nothing in the remediation section was loosened. For individual products, Google tells merchants to go to Products in Merchant Center, open the Needs attention tab, filter by the issue title "Low image quality [image_link]", click the product, choose Edit product, upload a higher-quality image and save.
For many products at once, the steps are to filter the Needs attention tab by the same issue title, download the list of affected products as a .csv, cross-reference it with the uploaded product data to make sure each product has images that meet the requirements, and re-upload the corrected data through the usual upload method. Google adds that it may take some time for a fix to be reflected on the Needs attention page.
The AI image labelling note on the same page
The Help article also carries a box about AI-generated or AI-edited images. It says AI regulations in the European Union, India and New York require that ads with certain AI-generated or edited assets include disclosures or labels. Merchants can add labels directly to creatives or use the AI label setting in Google Ads, Display & Video 360, Campaign Manager 360, Merchant Center and Ads Editor. Google states that these labels will not violate its policies on text overlays and watermarks, and that using the setting does not guarantee compliance with any specific regulation, so merchants should seek legal guidance. For retailers who use AI tools to clean up or upscale product photos, this is the part of the page with a legal dimension, and it applies regardless of the quality flag.
How to reprioritise a product image backlog
For teams that work through the Needs attention tab in order of risk, the change suggests a different order:
- Images below 500 x 500 pixels first, because those face disapproval from 31 January 2027 and Merchant Center has been warning about them since July 2026, according to the Help article.
- Low image quality flags on high-volume or high-margin products next, because those products still serve and Google ties image quality to engagement and clicks.
- Remaining low image quality flags after that, as routine catalogue maintenance.
Anyone who replaces images to clear either issue should check that the replacements meet both requirements at once, so the same products do not come back to the queue under the other flag.
What Google has not said
- When the Help article was edited. The public reports date from 12 and 13 October 2026; the edit itself is undated.
- Whether products previously held back for low image quality have already resumed serving, or how quickly.
- How "poor image quality" is measured, or what score or threshold triggers the flag.
- How much performance improves when a flagged image is replaced. The page says only that it "may" improve.
What this means for Thai marketers
The change applies to the global Help article, and nothing in it is specific to Thailand. For Thai retailers running Shopping ads or Performance Max with a Merchant Center feed, the immediate risk from this flag has eased: a product flagged for low image quality should keep appearing in ads and free listings. The deadline that still matters is 31 January 2027 for the 500 x 500 pixel floor. Catalogues that reuse compressed or resized photos across several sales channels are the ones to audit for size first, then for quality.
The better commercial question is whether a weaker image is costing clicks on products that matter. That is a performance problem, and it sits in the same workstream as feed titles, pricing and campaign structure. Teams reviewing their ecommerce marketing set-up can fold the image audit into that work rather than treating it as a compliance emergency.
FAQ
Will a low image quality flag in Merchant Center stop my products from showing?
No, the Merchant Center Help article now says a product with the low image quality issue will continue to show in ads and free listings. The earlier version of the page, as captured by Search Engine Roundtable, said such products may be prevented from showing until the image improved.
Is the 500 x 500 pixel image requirement still coming?
Yes, the same Help article states that enforcement of the at least 500 x 500 pixel requirement begins on 31 January 2027. It also says merchants have received warnings since July 2026 on images that meet the old minimum but are smaller than 500 x 500.
Should I still fix images flagged for low quality?
Yes, because Google says high image quality correlates strongly with user engagement and clicks. The flag no longer threatens eligibility, but it still marks images that Google judges to be blurry, pixelated or low resolution.
When did Google make this change?
Google has not said when it edited the page. Search Engine Roundtable reported the new wording on 12 October 2026 and PPC Land on 13 October 2026, and PPC Land noted that the edit may have happened earlier because the Help page has no date or change log.
Does this change apply to merchants in Thailand?
Yes, as far as the source shows, because the change is in the global Merchant Center Help article and it lists no country exceptions. Thai merchants are covered by the same wording and the same 31 January 2027 size deadline.
Turning a softer rule into better listings
A flag that no longer blocks products is easy to ignore, and that is the risk. The products keep serving, but with images that Google itself links to weaker engagement. The sensible order is to clear sub-500 pixel images before 31 January 2027, then upgrade the flagged images on the products that drive revenue. If you would like help reviewing your feed, Shopping campaigns and Performance Max set-up together, the Google Ads team at Relevant Audience can take a look.
