Broken links and 404s in Google Merchant Center
By Terry Ecom · Last reviewed 2026-08-20 · Source: Google Merchant Center Help
A 404 on a product you submitted is a landing-page failure. A 404 on Contact or Returns is a website-audit failure. Both are on the published lists.
What Google published
The fully-functional-store article: links must work; they must not 404 or redirect back to the homepage instead of the intended destination. The misrepresentation / website-needs-improvement audit: fix broken links; checkout on HTTPS. Landing pages you submit must show the product and a buy path.
Why “we checked the homepage” is not enough
The feed can point at hundreds of product URLs. Collections go empty after a season. Apps rewrite paths. A storefront scan that only samples the home page will miss the destinations Google actually loads.
GMC Scout’s invariant is full HTTP coverage: every seeded and discovered URL gets a status check. Direct HTTP first, ZenRows if the storefront blocks. We do not shrink the queue to save crawl cost.
FAQ
Is a 301 to a new product URL OK?
A working redirect to the correct product is different from a bounce to the homepage. Update the feed to the final URL when you can so the landing page still matches the submitted product.
Do collection 404s matter if those URLs are not in the feed?
In-feed destinations matter most for item approval. Site-wide broken navigation is still on the functional-store list. Fix both.
Does Scout check checkout end-to-end?
We confirm HTTPS and crawl publicly reachable pages. We do not complete a test purchase or enter payment details.
Sources
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