Product images: size, number and Google's 500 px minimum

Product images do two jobs: they convince shoppers, and they feed shopping surfaces like Google Shopping. Both now push in the same direction. Google Merchant Center has announced that product images must be at least 500 × 500 pixels from January 31, 2027, and it recommends 1500 × 1500 pixels or more for the best results.

What changes with Google's 500 px minimum

Until now, Merchant Center accepted much smaller images: usually 100 × 100 pixels, or 250 × 250 for apparel. From January 31, 2027, the minimum rises to 500 × 500 for all products, according to Google's image link documentation. Images below the threshold put the affected products at risk of not showing in Shopping results and free listings.

What to do now:

• Check product diagnostics in Merchant Center for image-size warnings, and fix the flagged products first.
• Export your feed and list the image URLs with their pixel dimensions, so you can spot small originals in bulk.
• Replace small images at a new URL when you upload a better version. Google re-crawls a new URL faster than a changed file behind the same URL.

How many product images you need

Shoppers can't touch the product, so photos do the work of the fitting room. A single photo rarely answers enough questions.

• Main image: the product alone, on a clean background, filling most of the frame.
• Angles: front, back and side, so nothing is left to guess.
• Details: close-ups of materials, finishes, labels or ports.
• In use: the product worn, held or placed in a real setting, which shows scale.

Three to six images is a common target for most products. Every image should show the actual item sold, in the colour or variant selected.

Size the files for speed, not just quality

Large dimensions don't have to mean heavy pages. The trick is to separate the original from what the page loads.

1. Keep a large original (1500 px or more on the long side) for your feed and zoom.
2. Serve responsive sizes with srcset, so a phone downloads a phone-sized image.
3. Use modern formats such as WebP or AVIF, with a JPEG fallback if needed.
4. Lazy-load the gallery below the first image, but never the main product image.

<img src="/img/linen-shirt-800.webp"
     srcset="/img/linen-shirt-400.webp 400w, /img/linen-shirt-800.webp 800w, /img/linen-shirt-1600.webp 1600w"
     sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 50vw"
     width="800" height="800"
     alt="Sky blue linen shirt, front view">

Setting width and height also prevents layout shift, one of the Core Web Vitals. And list the same images in your Product structured data so search engines and AI answers find them.

How Averifly helps

Averifly's catalog rules flag product pages with no images, with only one image, with images over 500 KB, and with sizeable JPEG or PNG files that have no modern-format alternative. See every check in our rules, then run a free scan to find the product pages that need better photos.