Google Merchant Center: Promotional overlay on image
Promotional overlay on image [image link]What's happening
Google Merchant Center prohibits promotional text or graphics on the image_link image. "SALE", "20% OFF", "Free shipping", price stickers, urgency banners — all rejected. The rule applies even when the overlay is small or in a corner. This rule does not apply to additional_image_link, but most placements use the primary image_link.
image_linkManual fix
Open every product image, remove the overlay in Photoshop or your editing tool, re-export, re-upload to your CDN, wait for the feed to refresh, then wait for Google to re-fetch and re-validate. Hours of work if the overlay was burned into thousands of product photos.
Fix it with Emberfeed
Create a Google-specific profile in Emberfeed with a clean template (logo only, no promotional text, white background, product fills 80%). Keep your aggressive promo template on the Meta profile. Same source feed, two output URLs — Google sees the clean version, Meta sees the promo version. Switch in 30 seconds.
Full platform spec
Related rejections
Catch every Google Merchant Center issue before they do.
Emberfeed validates your feed against Google Merchant Center's rules in real time. Each issue includes a one-click fix or a clear path to the right rule. Free for 6 months on one feed up to 1,000 products.