Ad networks reject product titles that contain promotional wording — SALE, free shipping, best, prices, all-caps hype. Strip it with one rule: a Set field action on your title with a Replace or RegEx replace step that removes the offending text. One rule cleans every product, and keeps new ones clean on each import.
Why ad networks reject promotional titles#
Google Merchant Center in particular treats the product title as descriptive data, not ad copy: promotional wording — sale callouts, shipping or price claims, superlatives, all-caps hype — is a policy violation in the title field, and products carrying it get disapproved. Meta applies similar content rules to catalog titles [VERIFY: Meta's equivalent title-content policy]. Removing the wording manually across a client's catalog doesn't scale, and the next import overwrites your edits anyway. A rule fixes the whole catalog at once and re-applies on every import, so new products arrive clean without you touching them.
The shape of the fix#
Cleaning wording out of the title is one rule with one action: a Set field action that writes the Title field back to itself, with one or more value steps that strip the offending text. You don't rewrite the title by hand — you start from the current title value and transform it step by step.
The value-step mechanics — how the value editor works, how "+ Add step" chains transforms — are covered in Fixing your feed data with rules. Here's how to aim those steps at promotional wording.
Worked example: strip "SALE" and "Free Shipping"#
Say a supplier's feed ships titles like SALE! Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 40 — Free Shipping and the ad network is disapproving them.
- Open the catalog and go to the Rules tab.
- Add a rule. Leave the conditions empty so it runs for every product — the editor shows "Always — no conditions, this runs for every product." (A Replace step does nothing when the word isn't there, so running it on every product is safe.)
- Add a Set field action targeting the Title field, starting from the current title value.
- Add a Replace step that replaces
SALE!with nothing (an empty value). - Add a second Replace step that replaces
Free Shippingwith nothing. - Add a Trim whitespace step last, to clean up the leftover spaces and stray separators.
- Publish the catalog so the change goes live. Nothing reprocesses until you publish.
Before and after:
- Before:
SALE! Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 40 — Free Shipping - After:
Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 40
The rule then shows how many products it matched on the last import, so you can confirm it swept the whole catalog.
Removing several phrases at once with RegEx replace#
A separate Replace step per phrase is fine for a handful of words. When you're stripping a longer list — SALE, best, cheapest, free shipping, buy now — reach for a single RegEx replace step instead. Where Replace matches one literal phrase, RegEx replace matches a pattern, so one step can remove any word in a list at once. Enter the pattern that matches the words you want gone and replace it with nothing, then follow it with a Trim whitespace step to tidy up.
Keep the pattern tight — match whole words so you don't accidentally chop a real word that happens to contain "best" or "sale". The step editor is where you build and preview the pattern; see Fixing your feed data with rules for how value steps work.
What counts as prohibited wording#
Both Google Merchant and Meta disallow promotional and attention-grabbing text in the title. The categories to strip are broadly:
- Sale and discount callouts — "SALE", "% off", "discount", "clearance".
- Shipping and price claims — "free shipping", "cheapest", "lowest price".
- Superlatives and hype — "best", "#1", "amazing", "must-have".
- All-caps words used for emphasis, and stray punctuation like
!!!. - Contact details — phone numbers or URLs in the title.
The exact phrases and thresholds are the ad network's, not Renable's, and they change over time. [VERIFY: Google Merchant Center's current published list of prohibited promotional phrases in titles, and the exact policy name.] [VERIFY: Meta Commerce Manager's equivalent title-content policy wording.] Treat the list above as the shape of what to remove, and let the ad network's disapproval messages tell you what specifically tripped a product.
Or ask Aimée#
You don't have to build the rule yourself. Describe the job in plain language — "remove the word SALE and any free-shipping mention from every product title" — and Aimée can set up the Set field action, add the Replace steps, and publish once you approve.
FAQ#
Does this permanently change my product data?
No. Rules reshape your feed as it flows into your ads — your source feed is untouched. Your edits also stay in a draft until you Publish, so nothing changes for your ads until you approve it.
There's a double space or a stray dash left after the word is gone — how do I clean it up?
Add a Trim whitespace step after your Replace or RegEx replace steps. Steps run in sequence, so the trim works on the already-stripped title and removes the leftover spacing.
Do I need a separate rule for each phrase?
No. Add several Replace steps to one Set field action, or use a single RegEx replace step to match a whole list of words at once — one rule handles them all.
I removed the wording but products are still disapproved — why?
Publish the catalog so the change goes live, then wait for the next import and channel regeneration; ad networks also re-review on their own schedule. Confirm you cleaned the Title field the channel actually uses. See Products disapproved by Google.
Related articles#
- Fixing your feed data with rules — the full set of conditions, actions, and value steps.
- Write product titles that convert — what to put in a title once the promotional wording is gone.
- Products disapproved by Google — other reasons a product gets rejected, and how to fix them.