Marketing popups on policy pages: what Google allows

A newsletter or discount popup is allowed on a Google Shopping store, but it has to close easily and stay off the text of your policy pages. Exclude returns, shipping, privacy, terms and contact from every popup app, and make the close button work on a phone.

Major4 min read

By Edvinas Ivanauskas How the guides are reviewed

Why this matters

Google does not ban popups. Its “About landing page requirements” page names them directly: “If you show a pop-up on your landing pages, such as for newsletter signups or language preferences, make sure the boxes can be closed and aren't blocking product details.” The same page asks you to “Avoid layouts that hide key elements of the page”. Google Search Central’s page on intrusive interstitials gives the reason in one line: “interrupting users with intrusive interstitials may frustrate them and erode their trust in your website.”

Policy pages get the same treatment in the “Editorial and professional requirements”, which list “Websites with pop-ups or interstitial ads that interfere with the customer’s ability to view the content requested”. A shopper who clicks “Returns” has requested the returns policy, and a discount wheel spinning on top of it is in the way, however good the discount. The Misrepresentation policy also counts a return policy that is “not easily discoverable” as an omission of relevant information.

Product Experts on Google’s Merchant Center Community are blunter than Google’s help pages. Their plain-language suspensions guide says pop-ups should not block important content and should offer an easy way to close them, and their 2026 misrepresentation guide tells merchants recovering from a suspension to take pop-ups and overlays off the site altogether. That goes further than Google’s own wording; if you are mid-appeal, it is the cautious route.

The free scan opens your returns, shipping, privacy and contact pages as a new visitor and flags a marketing popup that covers them. Cookie and age banners are left out of that check. It also flags a popup on the home page that shows no way to close it. The popup checks are listed on the misrepresentation checker; consent banners have their own guide, cookie banners over policy pages.

Typical evidence

An email-capture modal over the one page that matters

Check policy URLs in a fresh browser session for overlays. A popup set to fire site-wide can cover refund terms that are technically in the DOM but unavailable in practice.

Returns Policy

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0%of this example’s content area is covered on first render — inspect whether the public wording remains usable

Where the platform permits it, exclude relevant policy paths or make the overlay plainly dismissible. Test each public policy URL in a fresh browser afterward.

The public signals this check looks for:

An email-capture popup is set to “all pages” and opens on the returns, shipping and contac…
An email-capture popup is set to “all pages” and opens on the returns, shipping and contact pages as well as the home page.
A spin-to-win wheel or exit-intent box covers the returns text just as the shopper starts …
A spin-to-win wheel or exit-intent box covers the returns text just as the shopper starts reading it.
On a phone, the popup’s close “×” is off-screen or too small to tap, so the only way out i…
On a phone, the popup’s close “×” is off-screen or too small to tap, so the only way out is to type an email address.
The popup comes back on every page view after it has been closed once
The popup comes back on every page view after it has been closed once.
A second app, such as reviews, chat or an upsell, opens its own box over the same policy p…
A second app, such as reviews, chat or an upsell, opens its own box over the same policy page.

What it looks like once it is right

The popup shows once per visit, on the home page and collection pages only. Policy, contact, cart and checkout pages are excluded, and the close button is a large “No thanks” that works in one tap.

Common mistakes

Common mistake

A 15%-off email popup fires on every page after three seconds. A shopper clicks “Returns” in the footer, the box lands on top of the policy, and on a phone the close “×” hides under the browser bar.

Fix checklist

List every app that can open a popup: email capture, discounts, exit intent, upsell, chat and reviews. It is easy to have more than you remember.
In each app’s targeting or display settings, exclude the returns, shipping, privacy, terms and contact page addresses, and the cart and checkout.
Set each popup to show once per visitor or once per session, not on every page view.
Check the close control on a phone: visible without scrolling, big enough to tap, and it closes the box without asking for an email address first.
Delay any timed popup until the shopper has had a chance to see the page they came for, and switch exit-intent popups off on policy pages.
Open each policy page in a private window on a phone and a laptop and confirm the text is readable and scrollable with no box in the way.
Repeat the test after installing or updating any marketing app; new apps often arrive with “show on all pages” switched on.

One way to configure a popup exclusion

Some popup tools offer URL targeting. If yours does, use it or another supported method to keep the relevant policy wording usable, then test the fresh-browser result.

Popup app · page targetingpolicy paths excluded

/ (homepage)fire

/collections/*fire

/products/*fire

/policies/returnsnever

/policies/privacynever

/pages/termsnever

Re-check after installing any new popup or marketing app — a fresh tool often re-enables site-wide firing and quietly re-covers the pages you'd cleared.

Questions merchants ask

Are popups allowed on Google Shopping landing pages?

Yes, with conditions. Google’s landing page requirements say that if you show a pop-up, such as for newsletter signups or language preferences, the box must be closable and must not block product details. Keep it off the key information and make the close button easy to use on a phone.

Should I remove popups from my returns and privacy pages?

Exclude them from those pages. The Editorial and professional requirements name pop-ups that interfere with the customer’s view of the content requested, and a returns page is requested for its policy. Most popup apps have a page-targeting setting that lets you leave out policy, contact and checkout pages. See making policy and contact information easy to reach for the links themselves.

Does StoreVerifier count my cookie banner as a popup?

No. Cookie and age-verification banners are left out of the popup check on policy pages, and the scan does not grade consent banners on their own. Whether yours blocks the page is covered in cookie consent without a wall.

Remediation

Risk signal

Marketing popups multiply quietly: one app for email, one for discounts, one for exit intent, each set to every page by default. Keep them off the pages people read when they are deciding whether to trust you, make every box easy to close, and let the discount wait its turn.

PriorityAddress and document this finding as part of the store’s remediation work.

EvidenceRecord the current state before each change, apply the fix, then capture the corrected state so every change is evidenced.

Similar cases

Sources

Community guidance

Written by Product Experts, the users Google recognises for their answers on its Merchant Center Community forum. Often stricter than Google’s help pages, and not Google policy.

Last reviewed 29 Sep 2026.

That is one issue. The library documents 134.

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