Google’s ‘Merchant Center Next’, Now in Play

Google has completed the rollout of Merchant Center Next, providing retailers with an improved interface that applies to all existing Merchant Center accounts.

Google says the revamped version will make it easier for retailers to promote their businesses and products; however, early users report transitional problems.

Google Merchant Center recap

Google’s free Merchant Center tool enables retailers to upload and manage their product information, display it on Google Search, YouTube, and Maps, and monitor data performance.

Google announces Merchant Center Next update

Google announced the update from Merchant Center to Merchant Center Next at its Google Marketing Live event in 2023, promising better features and easier product management to streamline retailers’ online operations.

Here’s a screenshot of Google’s announcement:

At Google Marketing Live 2023, we introduced Merchant Center Next, a simpler way for retailers of all sizes to show their business and products more easily to consumers across Google.

Google said it would complete the global rollout in 2024 and notify merchants when the update is available.

What to expect from Merchant Center Next

Google aimed to make it easier for less technically minded retailers to use Merchant Center by eliminating the product feed manual process, which required adding product descriptions, pricing, and imagery.

The revamped Merchant Center Next detects all the product information on your website and uploads it automatically. Retailers can, however, continue to edit their product data manually and, for now, choose to turn the new feature off.

Additionally, Merchant Center Next also provides retailers with better performance insights.

Google Merchant Center explains it as:

Retailers report issues

Advertisers already using Merchant Center Next have reported issues using the revamped interface.

Here’s a screenshot from the Google Merchant Center Help page to show some problems merchants are experiencing:

If you’re experiencing any of those issues, visit the FAQs page, and for transitioning information, the Merchant Center Help Page-Switching between Merchant Center Next and classic Merchant Center.

The breakdown

For now, you can switch between the original and new versions of Merchant Center, allowing you to familiarize yourself with the new interface until the old one is no longer available.

However, Google recommends a quick transition.

The question is, will Google fix the issues advertisers are experiencing before they deprecate the original Merchant Center?

Google has said:

“The features of Merchant Center that larger retailers know and love won’t be going anywhere either.”

Hopefully, that applies to retailers of all sizes who can expect the transition to the new Merchant Center Next platform any day now.

Terry O'Toole

Terry is a seasoned content marketing specialist with over six years of experience writing content that helps small businesses navigate where small businesses meet marketing - SEO, Social Media Marketing, etc. Terry has a proven track record of creating top-performing content in search results. When he is not writing content, Terry can be found on his boat in Italy or chilling in his villa in Spain.