Walmart listing optimisation: the Listing Quality score, images and the no-words rule

Walmart listing optimisation starts from Walmart's listing quality dashboard, which scores each item out of 100 on content and discoverability, the offer, ratings and reviews, and post-purchase quality. The content part is in your hands: a title within 150 characters, three to ten key features of up to 80 characters each, a one-paragraph description of at least 150 words, images with no claims, and every true attribute filled in, under content rules Walmart last updated on 6 October 2026.

Walmart grades your listings, and it tells you the grade. That makes Walmart one of the few marketplaces where you can see, item by item, where a listing falls short, and its content rules are some of the most specific of any marketplace.

This guide covers what the score measures, how to write titles, key features and descriptions Walmart's way, images, attributes, the conflicts that get items unpublished, and how to work through a catalogue starting with the weakest items.

What does Walmart's listing quality score measure?

Walmart's dashboard gives each item a score out of 100, built from four parts:

The first part, content and discoverability, is where listing work pays off directly, because every piece of it is something you write or upload. It is also the part sellers most often neglect, because the listing went live and seemed fine.

What are Walmart's title rules?

Walmart's product detail rules ask for "brief titles not exceeding 150 characters", clear and descriptive, "without repetitive keywords, multiple brands or multiple product types", in proper capitalisation. They rule out:

• writing in all capitals
• special characters such as ~ ! * $
• promotional claims, such as "free shipping" or "hot sale"
• URLs
• irrelevant information such as "coming soon", "out-of-stock" or "discontinued"
• Walmart's name or any other retailer's, unless licensed or part of the brand
• years, unless the content standards for your product type recommend them
• languages other than English, unless part of the item or brand name

On keywords, Walmart's advice is plain: "Select one or two primary keywords to use once in your product title, description and key features."

A structure that fits: the brand, the defining quality, what the item is, the style if any, and the pack count. For example: brand, "Stainless Steel", "Insulated Water Bottle", "32 oz", "2 Pack". Within 150 characters, a title that says that much in fewer words reads better on a phone.

How many key features can a Walmart listing have?

A Walmart listing has three to ten key features, Walmart's version of bullets, each no more than 80 characters. The rules:

• Three to ten of the item's most important benefits and features.
• No more than 80 characters each, spaces included.
• No HTML, numbered lists or special characters used as bullet points.

Eighty characters is short. Each key feature is one fact with its benefit: "Double-wall insulation keeps drinks cold for hours" is 50 characters. Lead with the feature a buyer would check first, and keep each to one idea.

How long should a Walmart description be?

Walmart asks for the description as "one paragraph with a minimum of 150 words", with requirements varying by category, and no bullet points, numbered lists, emojis or special characters.

Walmart's one-paragraph description is a different shape from most marketplaces. Write it as a short, flowing paragraph that says what the item is, who it is for, how it is used, what it is made of, its size, and what is in the box. Use your primary keyword once, naturally. Our guide on how to write product descriptions covers the method.

What are Walmart's image requirements?

Walmart's image guidelines, as search results quote them, ask for a main image on pure white (255, 255, 255), square, with at least four images; 2,200 pixels a side is recommended, and 1,500 is the minimum for zoom. Files should be 5MB or less, in JPEG, PNG or BMP.

The rule that changes how you design images for Walmart is that images "shouldn't include any claims or promotional language about the item". Images can show the item in use, its size and its features, but not words that promise results, compare with other products, or sell. A comparison chart against other brands is a claim about them; a chart of your range is not.

In practice, start Walmart images without words, and add only plain labels that describe what the image shows.

Why does the Walmart product type matter?

Walmart's content standards differ by product type: the attributes it asks for, whether years are recommended in titles, and the description length it expects. Choosing the right product type when you set up an item decides which of those apply, and which filters the item can appear in. If the attributes Walmart offers do not describe your item, check the product type before anything else.

How should you use keywords on Walmart?

Walmart's keyword advice is unusually direct: choose one or two primary keywords and use them once in the title, the description and the key features. Walmart's advice rules out the habit, common elsewhere, of repeating a phrase in every field to be safe. It also rules out repeated words in the title, which Walmart's rules ask you to avoid.

To choose the primary keywords, look at the words buyers use for your item, and pick the one or two that describe it most exactly. Supporting words belong in the attributes, where filters read them, rather than repeated in the text.

Do Walmart attributes affect search?

Yes. Walmart's attributes, such as colour, size, material, pack count and age range, are what its filters read, and they count toward content and discoverability. Fill every attribute your category offers that is true of your item. A buyer filtering by "2 pack" or "stainless steel" cannot find an item without them.

For textiles, Walmart also requires fibre content, country of origin and the responsible business at the point of sale.

What gets a Walmart listing unpublished?

Walmart acts on listings whose details disagree, which is how conflicting information gets items unpublished:

• It bars a "Made in USA" claim when the images, packaging and attributes conflict.
• For supplements, the label, the product information and the images must agree, and must be in English.
• Its AI content guidelines say "All claims, images, and descriptions must match the actual product including size, color and other features."

Walmart also restricts claims such as "biodegradable" and "compostable", bars "PFAS-free" wording and calling rayon "bamboo", and bars FDA logos and false FDA claims. Its prohibited products policy lists the categories it does not allow at all.

The fix is the same each time: one set of facts, used everywhere. Our guide to listing on several marketplaces explains how.

Before and after

A listing written for another marketplace, pasted into Walmart:

Title: BEST Water Bottle!!! Insulated Stainless Steel 32oz Leak Proof BPA Free Gym Bottle Water Bottle for Kids Adults, Free Shipping

Key features: a pasted list of six long sentences with emojis.

The same item, written to Walmart's rules:

Title: Brand Stainless Steel Insulated Water Bottle, 32 oz, Leak-Proof Lid, 2 Pack

Key features: Double-wall insulation keeps drinks cold for hours Leak-proof screw lid with a carry loop 18/8 stainless steel body, BPA-free lid Fits most car cup holders Two bottles in each pack

The new title drops the capitals, the exclamation marks, the repeated "water bottle" and the shipping promise. Each key feature is one fact, well within 80 characters, with no symbols or emojis. Every fact in it still has to be true of your bottle before you use it.

How does Walmart handle variants?

Walmart groups sizes and colours of one item as variants. Each variant is still a separate item, with a separate title, images, attributes and score. Two habits help:

• Give each variant a main image that shows that colour or size.
• Put the variant in the title and the attribute: "32 oz" in both, "Navy" in both.

Can listing content improve Walmart reviews?

Listing content can help Walmart reviews indirectly. Two of the four parts of the score, ratings and post-purchase quality, depend on what happens after the sale. Content still plays a part: a buyer who received exactly what the listing described is less likely to leave a poor review or return the item. Accurate sizes, true colours and a clear list of what is in the box are the content changes most likely to help there.

Which Walmart items should you fix first?

Fix the lowest-scoring Walmart items that sell, or should sell, first, working in the order the dashboard shows:

1. Sort items by score, lowest first.
2. Start with the items that sell or should sell. A low score on a best seller costs more than one on an item nobody looks at.
3. Fix content first. Title, key features, description, images and attributes are fully in your control.
4. Check for conflicts. Make the title, attributes, images and packaging agree.
5. Then look at the offer: price and shipping against similar items.
6. Recheck the score after the changes have had time to show.

A batch of ten items a week, done properly, improves a catalogue faster than a rushed pass over all of them.

Keep a simple log as you go: the item, the date, what you changed and the score before. When the score moves, you will know which change moved it, and you can apply the same fix to similar items in one go. For large catalogues, the changes that repeat most, such as a missing attribute or a title with capitals, are often quickest to fix in bulk through Walmart's item upload files rather than one item at a time.

A Walmart listing checklist

1. Title within 150 characters, no capitals throughout, no special characters, no promotions.
2. One or two primary keywords, used once in the title, description and key features.
3. Three to ten key features, each within 80 characters, no HTML or lists.
4. A description of one paragraph, at least 150 words, no lists or emojis.
5. A pure white, square main image and at least four images, with no claims or promotional words.
6. Every true attribute filled in.
7. No conflict between title, attributes, images and packaging.

How Commicorn helps

• Walmart's shapes, written for you. A title within Walmart's limit, three to ten key features within 80 characters each, and a description written as one paragraph, all from your facts.
• Wording Walmart bars kept out, such as promotional phrases and "PFAS-free", with the reason shown, and claims that need proof marked.
• Images Walmart accepts. A pure white, square main image, and other images where comparison charts against other products are left out of your Walmart folder; a chart of your range stays in.
• One set of facts behind your Walmart listing and every other marketplace you sell on.

Commicorn makes Walmart images and copy to Walmart's rules. Start free.

Questions sellers ask

How many characters can a Walmart title have?

Up to 150 characters, in proper capitalisation, with no repeated keywords, no special characters such as ~ ! * $ and no promotions.

Can Walmart listing images have text?

Walmart's image guidelines say images "shouldn't include any claims or promotional language about the item". Start Walmart images without words, and leave out comparison charts against other brands.

How long should a Walmart product description be?

One paragraph of at least 150 words, with requirements varying by category, and no bullet points, numbered lists, emojis or special characters.

How many key features does Walmart allow?

Three to ten, each no more than 80 characters, with no HTML, numbered lists or special characters used as bullet points.

What image size does Walmart recommend?

Walmart recommends 2,200 pixels a side, square, with the main image on pure white; 1,500 pixels is the minimum for zoom, and files should be 5MB or less, in JPEG, PNG or BMP.