Is the AI label required in Merchant Center?

Google requires the metadata on every AI image. The label setting is Google’s tool for places where a law calls for a visible AI label, and its ads help names the European Union, India and New York. Google also says that using the setting does not by itself guarantee you comply with a given law.

Can the main image be a lifestyle photo?

Google’s minimum rule asks for the entire product with minimal or no staging, while its best practices accept staged images that show the product clearly. Keep the main image clean and put scenes in the lifestyle image link attribute, which takes up to five images.

Does Merchant Center accept AVIF?

AVIF is not on Merchant Center’s list, which covers JPEG, WebP, PNG, GIF, BMP and TIFF. Google Search supports AVIF on web pages, but for your product data, use one of the listed formats.

How long does a new image take to show?

Google usually crawls a new image URL within three days. If you replace an image but keep the same URL, detection can take up to six weeks, so give every new image a new URL.

Google Shopping image rules, including AI images

Checked September 24, 20266 min read

Short answer

Google Merchant Center needs a main image that shows the whole product, with no promotional text, added logos, watermarks or borders. From January 31, 2027, every image must be at least 500 x 500 pixels; Google recommends 1500 x 1500 or more, up to 64 megapixels and 16 MB. Images made with generative AI must keep their AI metadata, such as the IPTC DigitalSourceType value TrainedAlgorithmicMedia, and you can also label them in Merchant Center.

Merchant Center image specs

Setting	Google’s rule
Main image [image_link]	Required, one per product
Minimum size	500 x 500 px for all products. Google has warned about smaller images since April 14, 2026 and enforces the rule from January 31, 2027.
Recommended size	About 1500 x 1500 px or larger
Maximum	64 megapixels and 16 MB per file
File types	JPEG, WebP, PNG, GIF, BMP and TIFF. The file extension must match the real format.
Additional images [additional_image_link]	Up to 10
Lifestyle images [lifestyle_image_link]	Up to 5, at least 600 x 600 px, with no padding added to reach the shape
Product size in the frame	75% to 90% of the image (best practice)
Background	Solid white or transparent recommended. Avoid transparent backgrounds for light-colored products, which can show on black.
Image URL	Crawlable by Googlebot and Googlebot-image, up to 2,000 characters

From Google Merchant Center Help, checked September 24, 2026. The lifestyle image page gives the aspect ratio as "between 2:0 and 2:3", which is not a usable ratio as printed, so check the current wording before you crop.

Until January 31, 2027, a smaller image gets a warning, "Image too small for upcoming enforcement", in the Needs attention section. Google says it will also optimize some smaller images itself so they meet the new minimum. Replace them with real larger files instead, since Google’s own image page says not to scale up images or submit thumbnails.

What gets a product disapproved

These are Google’s minimum image requirements. Break one and the product is disapproved until you fix it:

The image meets the size rules: 500 x 500 px or larger (enforced from January 31, 2027), under 64 megapixels and 16 MB.
It shows the entire product with little or no staging. Packaged products show more than the flat front of the box, and bundles show every item.
It is not a placeholder, a generic illustration or a logo. Hardware, vehicle parts and software have limited exceptions.
It carries no promotional elements: no calls to action such as "buy", no prices, no "free shipping", no warranty offers, no words like "best" or "cheap", no condition or compatibility words such as "new" or "2-piece", and no barcodes.
Nothing is laid over it: no watermarks, and no brand names or logos unless they are printed on the product itself.
It has no border.
It keeps any AI-generated metadata it was created with.

Merchant Center can remove promotional overlays for you. The automatic image improvements setting is off by default; turn it on under Products, in the Automations tab.

Google’s rule on AI-generated images

Google’s image page says every image created with generative AI "must contain meta data indicating that the image was AI-generated", and that you must not remove it. The metadata it names is the IPTC DigitalSourceType field, part of the photo metadata standard kept by IPTC, a standards body for the news media. The rule covers main, additional and lifestyle images, and Google announced it in February 2024.

IPTC value	What it means	Named on Google’s page
trainedAlgorithmicMedia	Created by a generative AI model	Yes
compositeSynthetic	A composite in which at least one element is generative AI	Yes
algorithmicMedia	Made purely by an algorithm with no training data, such as a pattern from a formula	Yes
compositeWithTrainedAlgorithmicMedia	A real image edited with generative AI, for example by inpainting or outpainting	No, but IPTC defines it for AI edits
digitalCapture	A photo taken with a digital camera	No

Meanings from the IPTC Digital Source Type vocabulary. Google’s page capitalizes the first three names.

Two things follow. Keep the metadata that AI tools such as Product Studio embed, and check the final file you upload rather than the one the tool produced. And if an AI image reaches you without the field, add it before upload. With ExifTool, a free metadata tool, exiftool -XMP-iptcExt:DigitalSourceType product.jpg prints the value, a web address ending in one of the names above, and exiftool -XMP-iptcExt:DigitalSourceType=http://cv.iptc.org/newscodes/digitalsourcetype/trainedAlgorithmicMedia product.jpg writes it. For the wider system of provenance labels, see Content Credentials (C2PA).

The AI label setting in Merchant Center

Merchant Center also has an AI label setting, separate from metadata. Google says AI regulations in certain regions require labels on some AI-generated or edited content, and its Google Ads page names the European Union, India and New York. A labeled asset shows the disclosure in the "How this ad was made" panel, and, in regions that require it, a visible label on the ad itself.

In Merchant Center, open the product and go to Manage images.
Select the image, open the three-dot menu in its top right corner, and choose Manage AI label.
Choose "Label this asset as created or edited with AI", select Apply, then Save.

You can also add your own "AI-generated" label to the image in a design tool. Google says such labels do not break its rules against text overlays and watermarks; keep them away from corners and edges, where crops can cut them. Google also notes that labeling may affect where content appears, that it may label assets itself, and that those labels cannot be overwritten. When it detects a label, the automatic overlay cleanup does not run. For ads, see do you need to label AI images in ads.

Google’s own AI image tools

Product Studio, inside Merchant Center and the Google & YouTube app on Shopify, is free. It can change or remove a background, increase resolution, create images from a prompt plus up to three uploaded JPEG or PNG images, and animate still images. Video generation is limited to merchants in Australia, Canada, India, Japan, the UK and the US, and the tool is not available to merchants based in Russia or France.

Google lists these limits: the tool may produce inaccurate content; it does not support images with hands, wall art or light fixtures; and it will not create images for alcohol, drugs, pharmaceuticals, gambling products, weapons, tobacco, fireworks, or health and medical devices. Once a product has 70 images, Product Studio cannot save another. Google adds SynthID watermarks and C2PA data to images made with its AI tools.

Apparel, variants and multipacks

Clothing: show it worn by a person, and do not crop the model’s head or feet in a full-body shot. See ghost mannequin, flat lay or on-model.
Shoes, handbags and accessories: show the item alone in the main image and on a model in additional images.
Variants: give each color its own image in the right color, pattern and material, one variant per image.
Multipacks: the main image shows a single unit, and the pack goes in additional images.
Cropping: Google may crop images automatically to focus on the product, so leave an even margin.

If the same files go to Amazon and your own store, compare the rules in Amazon product image requirements and the best file format and size for product images.

Questions people also ask

Is the AI label required in Merchant Center?: Google requires the metadata on every AI image. The label setting is Google’s tool for places where a law calls for a visible AI label, and its ads help names the European Union, India and New York. Google also says that using the setting does not by itself guarantee you comply with a given law.
Can the main image be a lifestyle photo?: Google’s minimum rule asks for the entire product with minimal or no staging, while its best practices accept staged images that show the product clearly. Keep the main image clean and put scenes in the lifestyle image link attribute, which takes up to five images.
Does Merchant Center accept AVIF?: AVIF is not on Merchant Center’s list, which covers JPEG, WebP, PNG, GIF, BMP and TIFF. Google Search supports AVIF on web pages, but for your product data, use one of the listed formats.
How long does a new image take to show?: Google usually crawls a new image URL within three days. If you replace an image but keep the same URL, detection can take up to six weeks, so give every new image a new URL.

Where Overs fits

Overs exports files for you to upload; it does not submit products to Merchant Center. Before an Overs image goes into your product data, check whether the file carries AI metadata, and use Merchant Center’s AI label setting where your market requires a label.

Free for 40 photos a month. The AI that makes the photos is billed separately, on your own key, with no markup from Overs.

Start free How it works

Sources

Checked on September 24, 2026. Prices, specs and rules change; follow the links for the current versions.