Does your site look legitimate enough to trust?

What the trust page checker looks for

The trust page checker reads the addresses of the pages it knows about, from your sitemap and the pages it samples, and looks for paths that match a set of policy types. It checks for a privacy policy, terms of service, a contact page and a returns or refund policy. If the site looks like a store, it also checks for a shipping or delivery policy.

A match is made on the URL path, so it finds pages whose address contains the expected words even if the labels differ. Where a type has no matching path anywhere in what it read, it reports that the page could not be found. It reads addresses only and does not open the pages to judge their content.

How to read a trust page result

A finding means no address in the set matched that policy type. That is a strong signal the page is missing or not linked in a way the crawl could see, and it is worth acting on. A clean result means a matching address was found for each expected type.

The check cannot confirm that a policy page is complete, accurate or legally sufficient, and it does not read a private merchant account. A page can exist at a different address that the matcher does not recognise, or behind a link the sample did not follow. Treat a finding as a prompt to look, and a pass as a floor rather than a full review.

Common causes and why they matter

New stores often launch with products and checkout working but the policy pages still to be written, or written but not linked from the footer. A store built on a platform may use a differently worded path, so a real returns page exists while the checker looks for a path it does not recognise. Migrations sometimes drop pages that were present before.

Ad and marketplace policies expect these pages, and missing business information is treated as a trust and representation issue. It is a common reason a new store or campaign is rejected or suspended. The pages also serve shoppers who want to know who they are buying from and how returns work, which is a conversion concern as much as a compliance one.

How to fix missing trust pages

Create each missing page and link it from the footer on every page so both visitors and crawlers can reach it. Include the business name, a contact method and the relevant policy text. On a store platform, these are usually built-in page types; publish them and place them in the footer menu rather than leaving them as drafts.

If a page already exists at an unusual address, either move it to a more conventional one or add it to the footer so it is clearly part of the site. After publishing, re-run the check and confirm each expected type is found. Keep the pages current, because an outdated policy is its own trust problem.

When to use related checks

The trust pages guide covers which pages are expected and where they belong. The missing trust pages fix walks through publishing them on a store.

Use domain and email safety for the technical trust signals that sit in DNS and at the registrar, such as registration expiry and mail authentication. Page policies and domain health are different layers of the same question: whether the site looks legitimate and well run.

Errors this check finds, and their fixes

• Store not fully functional: Why Google says your store needs improvement, and what reviewers actually look for
• Trust pages missing: Why Google rejects a store with no privacy, returns or contact pages
• Misrepresentation: Why Google suspended your Merchant Center account for misrepresentation, and what to fix before appealing