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Google Merchant Center Image Requirements: 500×500 Minimum From 2027, No Promo Text or Watermarks

Published 13 October 2026 · by Tekiba

As of October 2026, Google asks for at least 500×500 pixels, and from January 2027 for every product. It recommends 1500×1500 or more, and caps an image at 64 megapixels and 16MB. A main image with text such as "Buy" or "Shop now", a price or "Free shipping", a watermark, a copyright symbol, a border, a logo or store name added afterwards, or a barcode laid over the photo is disapproved. The file's extension has to match its format. If your photos carry your mark, the fix is a second, unmarked set made from the originals — SignetDrop writes one in your browser, ten photos at a time for free.

What Google's page says about size

The rules are on Google's help page for the image link [image_link] attribute, which we read on the day this was published. At the top, Google says:

We recently announced new image size requirements of at least 500 x 500 pixels for all products beginning January 31, 2027.

The same note recommends 1500x1500 pixels or above "to ensure best performance in all listing formats". The size row of the attribute's table adds two ceilings: "No image larger than 64 megapixels" and "No image file larger than 16MB".

Google lists JPEG, WebP, PNG, GIF, BMP and TIFF as supported and does not prefer one. What it does insist on is that the name tells the truth about the file:

The image's file extension should correspond to its format.

A PNG saved as .jpg is the example Google gives of an "Unsupported image type" error.

What gets a Google image disapproved

Google's list is headed "Don't use an image that contains promotional elements or overlays", and it is specific. Among the things to avoid:

Two more lines matter to anyone who brands their photos. Added logos and store names are out unless they are part of the product itself:

Superimposed logos or store names added in post-production (allowed only if they are an inherent, physical part of the product itself).

And a frame is a separate rule: "Don't use an image with a border." An image that breaks these, Google says, "won't appear on Google surfaces", and the reason shows in the Diagnostics section of Merchant Center.

The same page offers a setting, automatic image improvements, that it says lets Google "automatically fix minor image policy issues (like promotional overlays)". It does not say which overlays count as minor, or whether a watermark across the middle of a photo is one. Sending a clean image in the first place does not depend on the answer.

Images from an image generator are the exception

One section of Google's page asks for metadata to stay in. Images made with generative tools are to carry a tag that says so — Google names the IPTC DigitalSourceType property — and Google asks you not to remove it. SignetDrop writes every photo as a new file from its pixels, so that tag does not come across. Leave generated images out of the batch and send them as they are.

Make the unmarked set in one batch

The image_link attribute is a link: in a feed, Google fetches the image from wherever you host it. So what you need first is a folder of clean files to put there.

Start from the originals. Use the photos as they came off the camera or out of the studio, not the copies you have already marked.

Size them. Drop the photos into SignetDrop and set a longest edge. The free version goes up to 2048px, and nothing is ever enlarged: a 4032×3024 photo becomes 2048×1536, which is over Google's recommendation on both sides. A photo smaller than that stays its own size, so check that it meets the minimum before it goes into the feed.

Leave the mark off. With no watermark set, nothing is drawn on the photo. The free version does not write our name on it either; there is no SignetDrop badge to remove.

Pick JPEG or WebP. Both are on Google's list and both compress a photo well, but neither keeps a file under the 16MB cap by itself: check the sizes in the ZIP, and lower the quality or the longest edge for any file that is over. The extension always comes from the output format, so a file SignetDrop names .webp is a WebP.

Download and host. The batch comes back as a ZIP. Put the files where your image links point.

Open SignetDrop, drop the unmarked originals, set the longest edge and leave the watermark empty. The photos are processed in your browser and stay on your disk.

Where the watermarked copies still belong

Google's rule is about the images in your product feed. Your own shop pages, a portfolio or a social account are a different matter, and a mark there tells an honest visitor where the picture came from. How to watermark many photos without uploading them covers making that set. Marketplaces have their own rules: can you watermark eBay or Etsy listing photos? quotes Etsy saying that watermarks make photos ineligible for off-site advertising programs like Google Shopping, and eBay photo requirements covers eBay's rule against watermarks along with its sizes.

What this page does not do

It reports one Google help page, read on one day, and Google can revise it without notice. Whether a particular image is approved is Google's decision, not ours. SignetDrop cannot take a watermark off a photo that already has one — it writes new files from the pixels it is given — so the clean set has to start from clean originals.

Where the free version stops

The free version does ten photos at a time, up to 2048px on the longest edge, with no account, and it does not write our name onto your photos: the only mark that comes out is yours. The paid version is $29 once, not a subscription, and lifts the limits we impose. The full split is on the pricing panel.

Questions

Does the 500-pixel minimum apply to products already in my feed?

Google's announcement says "for all products", from the end of January 2027, and it does not exempt existing listings. The page does not say what happens to an image below the minimum before then. If your oldest product photos are small, find them now: Merchant Center reports image problems in its Diagnostics section.

Does Google require a white background?

The image link page we read does not ask for one. It asks for "an unobstructed, clean view of the item for sale", and one product unless the others are sold with it. A plain background makes that easier; the page does not make it a rule.

Can my logo appear if it is printed on the product?

Yes, by Google's own wording: brand and store names are refused when they are added afterwards, and allowed "if they are an inherent, physical part of the product itself". A logo on the label of the bottle is the product. The same logo stamped in the corner of the photo is an overlay.

Will Google crop my image?

It might. The page says Google "may test subtle cropping on your image to better frame the item". It also suggests the product take up no less than three quarters of the image and no more than nine tenths of it, which leaves room for a crop without losing the edges of the product.

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