Photo too small for Google

The symptom

Nothing in the shop looks wrong. The photo shows on the product page, sharp enough on a phone, and the product sells. The problem is in a place you rarely open: Merchant Center may already list the product under Needs attention with Image too small for upcoming enforcement.

From 31 January 2027 Google Merchant Center requires a product image of at least 500 × 500 pixels for every product (image requirements). Until then the minimum is 100 × 100 px, and 250 × 250 px for apparel. Both sides count: an 800 × 450 px photo fails, even though it is wide.

The image that decides is the one the feed sends as the main image — the product photo, or the photo of a variation that has its own.

What it costs

• The offer disappears from Google. After 31 January a product whose main image is too small gets Image too small and is disapproved: it shows neither in Shopping ads nor in free listings. The shop still sells it; Google stops sending people to it.
• You find out after the fact. The account says so in its diagnostics, once the products are already out. A shop that does not open Merchant Center every week learns it from falling traffic.
• It is the one feed requirement with a date. Most feed problems are found when they happen. This one can be fixed before it happens, which is the reason to know which photos it hits now.

Google enlarges some smaller images itself and marks them with Image resolution optimizations applied — such a product stays. Which ones it picks is Google’s decision, so do not plan on it. What the two warnings mean.

How to check it yourself

• One image at a time. In Media → Library click the image: the attachment details show its size, for example “Dimensions: 800 by 800 pixels”.
• The whole catalogue, with WP-CLI. Google Merchant Center image size has a one-line command that lists published products and variations whose own image is under 500 px on either side, with the ID, name and size.
• Without installing anything. The store check reads the main images of up to 150 products from your shop’s public catalogue and lists the ones under 500 × 500 px.
• In Merchant Center, under Needs attention: it shows the products Google has already received, not the ones you add or change before the next sync.

How to fix it

1. Replace the photo with a larger original — at least 500 pixels on each side; Google recommends around 1500 × 1500.
2. One photo used by many products is one fix: replace the file once and every product that uses it is done.
3. If many photos show up at once, check where they came from. A supplier feed or an old import that delivered thumbnails is easier to run again with the originals than to fix one photo at a time.
4. Check what your feed plugin sends. Some let you choose which image size goes into the feed; if yours sends a smaller size, Google gets that smaller image. Set it to the full size.
5. Then wait for the sync. Your feed plugin sends the new image on its next run, and Google says changes can take 24 to 72 hours to show.

When it is a false positive

• A store that does not send products to Google, or sends them through a feed that uses separate, larger images. Then silencing this check is the right answer.
• An image Google has already enlarged itself (Image resolution optimizations applied). The product stays for now, but the photo is still under the requirement — replacing it is the safe fix.

How Merchlint finds it

Merchlint takes the main photo of every published product, and the photo of each variation that has its own, and reads the dimensions from the full-size file. A photo is reported when its width or its height is below 500 pixels. Exactly 500 × 500 passes — Google asks for “at least”. The evidence gives the width and height it found and the threshold.

A photo used by many products is one finding, because replacing the file fixes all of them. A missing or empty file is left to The database row outlived the image file and The image is there and cannot be shown. Formats this PHP build cannot read — SVG, AVIF on older versions — are left alone rather than guessed.

Gallery photos are not checked. To check the gallery as well, use the free Product Image Size Checker, which also finds the larger original when it is already on the server.

Confidence: F — fact from the image file. The photo is at least 500 × 500 pixels or it is not.

New in version 0.3.9. This check runs in the free version, on every product, with no cap.