Incorrect Language in Google Merchant Center: How to Fix It

What this issue means

Every data source in Merchant Center has a content language, and every product targets one or more countries. Google checks three things line up:

1. The language you declared for the data source.
2. The actual language of your titles and descriptions.
3. The language of the landing page and checkout the shopper reaches.

If most of a product's data is in another language, the product may be disapproved. Google also uses automated language detection, which occasionally gets it wrong, especially for short titles, brand-heavy names or technical product codes.

This often appears when a store starts selling in a new country, for example adding Canada, Mexico or European markets to a US English feed.

Why it happens

• Wrong data source language setting. The feed is in English but was created with Spanish or French as its language, or the reverse.
• Adding countries without translating. Sending an English feed to a country where English isn't a supported language for Shopping.
• Mixed-language feeds. Some products were translated, others weren't, or descriptions are copied from suppliers in another language.
• Landing page language doesn't match. The feed is translated, but the product page and checkout are still in the original language (or are auto-redirected by browser language).
• Brand names and model numbers dominate short titles, confusing language detection.
• Translation apps serve the translated page only via cookies or JavaScript, so Google's crawler sees the original language.

How to fix it

1. Identify the affected country and language. In Products > Needs attention, filter by Incorrect language. Note which country the product is disapproved in and what language Google expects.
2. Check supported languages. Google publishes the supported languages and currencies for each country. If your feed's language isn't supported in that country, you'll need a translated feed for it. Some countries support English in addition to local languages; check the current list.
3. Correct the data source setting. In your data source settings, confirm the content language matches the text in the feed. If you mislabeled it, you may need to create a new data source with the correct language.
4. Translate where needed. Create a separate data source per country and language with translated titles, descriptions and local-currency prices, plus matching shipping.
5. Match the landing page. Each product's link should point to the page in the same language as the feed, through checkout. Use language-specific URLs (/fr/, fr.example.com) rather than cookie-based switching.
6. Platform specifics.
   • Shopify: With Shopify Markets and the Translate & Adapt app (or another translation app), you get language-specific URLs per market. In the Google & YouTube app, check which markets and languages you're syncing so each country gets the right language and URL.
   • WooCommerce: Multilingual plugins like WPML or Polylang need a compatible feed setup that exports each language separately with its own URLs. Generate one feed per language.
   • Feed files: Fix untranslated items directly, or use a supplemental data source to overwrite titles and descriptions for a specific language feed.
7. Fix titles that confuse detection. Add a few descriptive words in the target language to titles that are only a brand and model number.
8. Request a review if detection is wrong. If your data is in the correct language and Google still flags it, request a review from the issue panel.

How long until it's fixed

Edits to individual products process quickly, but the Needs attention page can take time to update. New translated data sources go through processing, and new countries may take longer while Google reviews them. Plan for a few days when launching a new language.

How to prevent it

• Set the content language correctly when creating each data source.
• Launch new countries with translated feeds and landing pages, not just added target countries.
• Avoid browser-language or IP redirects that send crawlers to a different language version.
• Keep supplier copy in the original language out of translated feeds.
• Spot-check feeds per market with our Merchant Center feed checker.

International Shopping needs a feed, landing page and campaign strategy per market. Mercantads builds them for growing stores. Explore our Google Shopping ads management or contact us.