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Did you know that Digital Phablet’s Merchant Center automatically crops product images in Google Shopping if it believes the edits will improve their appearance in Google Search? Additionally, businesses can choose to opt out of this feature, which Google calls “Smart Cropping.”
This was highlighted by Kirk Williams, who shared on LinkedIn that after investigating for a client, Google informed him about Smart Cropping and that opting out is indeed possible.
The correspondence from Google explained:
This is a follow-up regarding issues with images displaying incorrectly on Google Shopping. As discussed earlier, here’s what you can do: Opt out of Smart Cropping.
Please confirm your desire to opt out, stating that the crop modifications do not meet your preferences. Note that opting out applies at the account level rather than per individual product. To authorize this change, please use the provided approval template, which should come from the admin of your Merchant Center account.
A screenshot of this email from Kirk shows the instructions clearly, including the one-time approval template.
[Link to the image of the email.]
Prior to this, I was unaware of this automatic cropping, and I suspect many others might not be either. This discovery was shared on LinkedIn’s forum discussion.
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