Search Console's Product snippets and Merchant listings reports often show missing field warnings, like aggregate rating or shipping details. Most are optional. Here's what causes them and how to fix the ones worth fixing.
Critical versus non-critical
These reports read the product structured data on your pages, hidden code that describes the product, its price, and availability. Google splits issues into critical and non-critical. Fix critical issues first, because they stop a page being eligible for rich results. Non-critical warnings don't.
- Reports: Product snippets, Merchant listings
- Reads: Product structured data on the page
- Critical: Blocks rich result eligibility
- Non-critical: Optional: page stays eligible
What the theme can't know
Shopify themes output the basics, like name, price, availability, and images. They often leave out ratings, reviews, shipping, and return policies, because the theme doesn't know those facts. So those fields show up as missing.
- Ratings: aggregateRating, review
- Shipping: shippingDetails
- Returns: hasMerchantReturnPolicy
- Why: Not in the theme's product data
Find the warnings
To find them, open Search Console, then the Shopping section, and pick Product snippets or Merchant listings. Click an issue to see the affected pages. Then test one page in Google's Rich Results Test to see exactly what's there.
1. Search Console → Shopping
2. Product snippets or Merchant listings
3. Click an issue → affected pages
4. Test a page in the Rich Results Test
Shipping and returns, no code
Shipping and returns can be set without code. Google lets merchants add shipping and return policies in Search Console settings, under Shopping, or in Merchant Center if you use it. Google says those settings take precedence over markup on your site.
- Search Console: Settings → Shopping → Shipping and returns
- Merchant Center: Shipping and return policies
- Precedence: These settings override site markup
Real reviews only
Ratings and reviews only belong in markup if they're real. A product reviews app that outputs review markup fills these fields as reviews come in. Never add made-up ratings to clear a warning. That breaks Google's structured data guidelines.
| Don't | Do |
|---|---|
| A hard-coded 5-star rating added to the theme | A reviews app outputs real ratings as reviews arrive |
Keep the markup clean
To keep it clean, recheck these reports after you change themes or apps, because both can change your markup. Update shipping and return settings when your policy changes. And avoid two apps adding duplicate product markup.
- ✅ Recheck after theme or app changes
- ✅ Update policies when they change
- ❌ Two apps adding product markup
- ❌ Clearing warnings with made-up data
Doing this at scale
ConvertLens helps indirectly. It doesn't edit structured data, or clear these warnings. It audits the visible product page, flagging missing specs, weak titles, and images without alt text, and drafts fixes you approve. A complete page is what good markup describes. See ConvertLens.