Short answer. Merchant Center shows “Image not crawlable due to robots.txt” when the robots.txt on the image host disallows Googlebot from the image path. Allow Googlebot on that path (or the whole host) in robots.txt, and Google picks the change up on its next crawl without a resubmission.
| Shown in Merchant Center as | Image not crawlable due to robots.txt |
|---|---|
| Attribute | image_link |
| Effect | Product disapproved |
| Where to find it | Products → Needs attention, then filter by this issue |
| Free check | Not something a feed file shows; see below for what the check can tell you instead |
What Merchant Center means by “Image not crawlable due to robots.txt”
Before fetching an image, Google reads the robots.txt of the host that serves it. If a rule there disallows Googlebot from the image’s path, Google obeys it and does not fetch, and the product cannot be approved without an image. The Content API lists the issue as image_link_roboted, “Image not crawlable due to robots.txt”, in its product issues reference; the same reference has sibling issues for the landing page (“Desktop page not crawlable due to robots.txt”). Google’s help page for robots.txt errors gives the two lines that fix it.
The rule that matters is the one on the image host. A store whose own robots.txt allows everything can still hit this when images are served from a CDN, a media subdomain or a third-party host with its own, stricter file.
Why it happens
- A blanket disallow on the media host.
User-agent: */Disallow: /on a CDN or an images subdomain, put there to keep the host out of search results. - An uploads folder disallowed on purpose. A rule blocking
/wp-content/uploads/or/media/, often copied from an SEO checklist. - A staging robots.txt shipped to production. The file that blocked crawlers on the test site went live with the launch.
- A rule for Googlebot specifically, left over from an attempt to slow crawling.
How to fix it
In Shopify
Shopify-hosted images live on cdn.shopify.com, whose robots.txt Google can read, so this issue on a Shopify store almost always means the feed points at images hosted somewhere else. Move the images into Shopify’s media or fix the robots.txt on the external host. Shopify’s own robots.txt.liquid controls your storefront, not the CDN.
In WooCommerce
Open https://your-domain/robots.txt and, if images come from a CDN, the CDN host’s robots.txt too. Remove any Disallow that covers /wp-content/uploads/, or add an explicit allowance for Googlebot above it, as Google’s page shows: User-agent: Googlebot followed by Disallow: with nothing after the colon. WordPress generates a virtual robots.txt when no file exists; an SEO plugin may be writing the offending rule.
In a CSV or XML feed
For each distinct image host in the feed, fetch its robots.txt and test an image URL against it with Search Console’s robots.txt report (for hosts you own) or by reading the rules. Where a host you do not control blocks Google, the only fix is to host the images yourself and change image_link.
How long until Merchant Center clears it
No resubmission needed for the robots.txt change itself: Google’s crawlers find and use the new file on their own, and Search Console’s robots.txt report lets you request an immediate re-read. The image is then fetched on Google’s next attempt, and the product re-approved; a feed re-fetch prompts that attempt sooner.
What FeedRobin does about it
The free check fetches a sample of your images to measure them, from our servers rather than Google’s, so a robots.txt rule aimed at Googlebot does not stop us and this issue is not something the check reports. What the check does show is whether the sampled images could be fetched at all and how large they are, which narrows the search to the hosts that fail. For connected stores the images are the platform’s own, and a robots.txt problem is then a problem with your storefront’s file, which the WooCommerce steps above cover.
Questions merchants ask
My site’s robots.txt allows everything. Why is Google still blocked?
The rule that matters is the robots.txt on the host that serves the image, which is often a CDN or a media subdomain with its own file. Check the robots.txt at the image URL’s domain, not your storefront’s.
Which user agent needs access?
Googlebot. Google’s help page gives the two lines: “User-agent: Googlebot” followed by an empty “Disallow:”. A rule for Googlebot-Image alone is not enough if a broader rule blocks Googlebot.
Do I need to resubmit the feed after fixing robots.txt?
No. Google’s crawlers pick up the new robots.txt on their own; a resubmission does not speed that up. If you want it re-read immediately, use the robots.txt report in Search Console to request a recrawl.
Sources
- How to fix: Robots.txt error — Google Merchant Center Help
- Product issues (Content API for Shopping): the issue codes and the titles Merchant Center shows — Google Merchant Center Help
- Image link [image_link] — Google Merchant Center Help