Frequently Asked Questions about transition to Merchant Center Next

Merchant Center Next is an updated, “fresher” user interface for Merchant Center, simplifying our platform for businesses to manage how their products show up on Google. Merchant Center Next is easier to use, lets you control how your products appear across Google, and gives you valuable insights about your business, products, and market. We’ll continue to build more features and improvements into this redesigned experience.

Classic Merchant Center is a previous version of Merchant Center experience.

Merchant Center allows you to manage how your products and stores appear on Google. Business Profile is a representation of your physical store on Google. Google Ads can be connected to both to boost visits to your website and store. You can keep using Merchant Center together with Business Profile and Google Ads.

Merchant Center Next makes it easier to manage your products, fix product data errors, and set up automated ads campaigns, all of which can ultimately drive traffic to your website.

No, Merchant Center remains free to use.

To ensure the best experience for all users, we will transition all accounts to Merchant Center Next. As long as the classic Merchant Center is still available, you can choose to switch to the classic experience if you prefer. Please note that the classic Merchant Center will eventually be retired.

Since the navigation experience between Merchant Center Next and classic Merchant Center has changed, the same functionality may be found in a different area of Merchant Center Next. To familiarize yourself with Merchant Center Next, you can switch back and forth between classic Merchant Center and Merchant Center Next.

In general, there's no need to switch from Merchant Center Next back to classic as all features used in classic Merchant Center will be also available in Merchant Center Next. Nevertheless, some users might find it useful to check some functionality in classic Merchant Center. Therefore we’ve added the ability to switch between two versions of Merchant Center.

The switching option is only available temporarily throughout the transition period and we recommend merchants to stay on Merchant Center Next since all accounts will move over to the Merchant Center Next experience.

Merchant Center Next is rolled-out progressively over time to all accounts. You’ll receive information via an in-product notification and an email when the new experience is ready for you. You can also start trying out Merchant Center Next when bi-directional switching functionality is available to you.

When creating a Merchant Center account, there’s no option to choose the version of Merchant Center. However, for a limited time period, you can switch your account back and forth between classic Merchant Center and Merchant Next experiences.

Ultimately all your accounts will transition to the Merchant Center Next experience. The transition to Merchant Center Next happens progressively over time, ensuring Merchant Center features are ready in the new experience. Throughout the transition period, it is expected some accounts use Merchant Center Next and some still classic Merchant Center.

The transition to Merchant Center Next, happens progressively over time, ensuring Merchant Center features are ready in the new experience. If you manage several accounts, it is expected that you are invited to transition at different times, depending on the feature readiness. And newly created accounts are Merchant Center Next accounts by default.

Eligible accounts can switch to Merchant Center Next from classic Merchant Center by clicking on the banner on the home screen of classic Merchant Center. You can switch back and forth between Merchant Next and classic Merchant Center for a limited time. Eventually, all accounts will be moved over to Merchant Center Next and classic Merchant Center will be retired.

A functionality that has been retired in previous months in classic Merchant Center won’t be available in Merchant Center Next. Existing functionalities used by eligible for transition accounts are available in Merchant Center Next.

Some functionality from Merchant Center Next may not be available in classic Merchant Center.

No special action is required. You’ll be notified when your account is eligible to transition to Merchant Center Next. After that you can transition immediately or we will transition you automatically after some time. Your products and advertising campaigns won't be affected or changed in any way during the transition.

Regardless of whether you have a classic Merchant Center or a Merchant Center Next version, your third-party integration will continue to function independently.

Switching between classic Merchant Center and Merchant Center Next is available for admin users to make transition easier. Learn more about switching back and forth between classic Merchant Center and Merchant Center Next.

You may see Help Center articles for both versions, and you should use the version that matches your current Merchant Center version. Check that the brand name on the product you’re using (see the top menu bar in Merchant Center) matches the Help Center article you are using. Additionally, use the banners at the top of our Help Center articles to identify if this article is for your product:

• If you’re using the Merchant Center Next experience, you should use articles relevant to that specific experience, all tagged with this brand at the top. Help Center articles for Merchant Center next will be tagged with a banner stating “This article is intended for Google Merchant Center Next”.
• If you’re using the classic Merchant Center experience, don’t use the articles with the “Merchant Center Next” brand at the top. Help Center articles for the classic Merchant Center experience will be tagged with a banner stating “This article is intended for the classic Merchant Center experience”.

We recommend reading this list of key Help Center articles to get up to speed.