DisapprovalImage

Fix "Text on image" / "Promotional overlay on image" on Shopify

The error

Text on image

What it means

Google's image policy disapproves products whose image contains promotional text or obstructing elements: things like "Sale", "50% off", a retailer logo, a call to action, or a watermark baked into the picture. Per policy, the product stays disapproved until the image is replaced with a clean version that shows only the product.

Why it happens on Shopify

On Shopify these images usually come from designer or supplier assets that already have promotional badges, price stickers, or watermarks burned in, or from variant images created for on-site marketing. Because the text is part of the image file rather than overlaid by the theme, Google's policy treats it as a violation.

How to fix it

  1. Replace the image with a version that has no promotional text, badges, logos, watermarks, or borders, just the product on a clean background.
  2. If your supplier only provides badged images, crop or re-export a clean version, or request unbranded assets.
  3. Turn on Automatic image improvements in Merchant Center so Google can attempt to remove text, watermarks, overlays, or logos it detects (it is not a substitute for a clean source image).
  4. Reupload the clean image, let Google re-crawl, and request a review.

Google's documentation titles this "Text on image"; the issue also surfaces as "Promotional overlay on image [image link]". The clean-image fix is the safe path: run promotions through Google's promotions or sale-price features instead of baking them into the photo.

Check your store for this issue

Paste a product URL to see whether it has this problem — and what else might be putting your Google Shopping listings at risk.

More fixes