Common errors and how to resolve them

This page contains answers and next steps to take when faced with some common errors that you may have when setting up Google for WooCommerce.

The Continue button on the final step of the onboarding screen is greyed out when one of the pre-launch items has not been completed. The most common cause is an incomplete store address.

You can resolve this by navigating to WooCommerce > Settings in WP Admin and ensuring this information is complete — including address, city, postcode, and country.

This error is caused by products with missing product identifiers, such as Global Trade Item Number (GTIN), Manufacturer Part Number (MPN), and Brand. These identifiers distinguish products and help match them to related search queries.

Although adding these identifiers is not mandatory, not assigning them may result in less visibility for products on Google Shopping channels — while adding them increases performance.

Product identifiers can be assigned individually via the Google for WooCommerce tab in the Product data meta box while editing a product page. They can also be mapped at a store-wide or category level using the attribute mapping functionality. See attribute mapping use cases.

Below, you’ll find how to resolve this error for custom/homemade products, as well as items from other brands.

Custom/homemade products

If you’re selling custom/homemade products, follow these steps to ensure your products are not flagged:

• [gtin] — Leave blank.
• [mpn] — Assign the product SKU used in WooCommerce.
• [brand] — Assign your domain name (excluding https://www.).

Products from known brands

If you’re selling products from known brands, identifiers are usually assigned by the manufacturer. 

• [gtin] — GTINs are provided by the manufacturer and are usually available on a product’s barcode or packaging. If you can’t find the GTIN, please contact the manufacturer. 
• [mpn] — An MPN is a manufacturer-assigned alphanumeric value used to identify items from the same manufacturer. If your product does not have an MPN, leave this field blank. 
• [brand] — Enter the brand of the product, e.g. Adidas, etc. This is used to match products to searches.

Unable to update your contact information errors usually occur when Google for WooCommerce cannot communicate with your site’s XML-RPC URL. An XML-RPC connection is used to communicate with WordPress.com; when this connection is blocked, communication is not possible. A common cause is your web hosting provider, firewall, or a security plugin blocking XML-RPC requests to your site. 

The first step to troubleshooting this issue is confirming that your site’s XML-RPC URL —  example.com/xmlrpc.php — is working properly. It should display the message XML-RPC server accepts POST requests only. If this message is not displayed, your XML-RPC URL is blocked.

Next, you’ll need to contact your web host to unblock the connection or check that a security plugin (or your site’s firewall) isn’t blocking the URL. If your web host confirms that they’re not blocking the URL, perform a conflict test to help you check whether your theme or a plugin is blocking the connection.

Sites intentionally blocking the XML-RPC connection can:

1. Add Jetpack’s IPs to the allowlist. This ensures that only Jetpack can use the XML-RPC connection. Learn more about Jetpack and XML-RPC.
2. Allow access to the Jetpack endpoint. Jetpack defines a custom XML-RPC endpoint — https://example.com/xmlrpc.php?for=jetpack or https://example.com/?for=jetpack&jetpack=comms — that behaves mostly the same as the canonical WordPress one. This XML-RPC endpoint only works for Jetpack XML-RPC methods.

Note: Google for WooCommerce uses Jetpack services to initiate the connection to WordPress.com; the Jetpack plugin is not required.

Typically, this error occurs when the status for a product marked as synced on your site cannot be found in Google Merchant Center. This may be due to the product being deleted directly in Google Merchant Center, resulting in the Google for WooCommerce extension being unable to find a product with a matching ID in Google Merchant Center.

This error is not a cause for concern, as all products are automatically synced to Google Merchant Center when updated. The Sync All Products with Google Merchant Center option on the debug page — accessible at wp-admin/admin.php?page=connection-test-admin-page — can be used to push a sync for all products to Google Merchant Center.

This error results from an issue with the Google Merchant Center connection; it can be resolved by disconnecting the extension connections and reconnecting them. 

To disconnect the connection, navigate to Marketing > Google for WooCommerce > Settings in WP Admin and click Disconnect from all accounts.