// Website needs improvement
Merchant Center says website needs improvement — here's what they mean
The 'website needs improvement' flag is Merchant Center's way of saying your storefront doesn't yet meet their review standards. The problem is they don't tell you which part. This page walks through the specific signals reviewers check, and lets you scan your store against all of them in 60 seconds.
// Scan your live store
Check the same signals Merchant Center reviewers check
Free independent scan reads your live store and reports possible website improvement issues — trust, policy, contact, checkout, identity. 60 seconds, no signup.
Run the website check →What "website needs improvement" usually means
From reviewing thousands of stores carrying this flag, the underlying issues almost always fall into one of these buckets:
- Trust pages missing or thin — About, Contact, Privacy, Terms, Refund, Shipping. Each must be reachable, real, and specific.
- Contact information missing or inconsistent — phone, address, email, hours. Must match across store + policies + footer.
- Business identity unclear — no real About page, stock-photo "team", brand name inconsistent across store/social/WHOIS.
- Checkout flow incomplete or insecure — broken cart, missing SSL, mixed-content warnings, no visible payment method icons.
- Product page quality low — short descriptions, stock images, missing reviews, identical content across many products.
- Refund / shipping policy too vague — no specific timeframes, no country-by-country shipping, no exchange process.
- No third-party trust signals — no Trustpilot profile, no social presence, no DMCA badge, new domain with privacy WHOIS.
Recovery steps in order
- Run the scan and identify the specific signals failing on your store.
- Fix policy pages first (highest reviewer weight).
- Fix contact and business identity signals next.
- Build third-party trust signals (Trustpilot, social, DMCA).
- Verify all changes are live and consistent across pages.
- Request review only after all fixes are confirmed.