Google Merchant Center: New agency roles
Google is expanding Merchant Center for Agencies with a role-based permission model. Agencies receive two clearly defined roles, Agency Admin and Standard, which centralize access to client accounts while addressing security and efficiency requirements. For e-commerce teams, performance marketers, and SEO leads managing shopping feeds and product data for multiple brands, day-to-day account administration changes noticeably.
Previously, many permissions were tied to individual user accounts. When an employee changed teams or left an agency, access often had to be adjusted manually for each Merchant Center account. The new structure links clients directly to the agency as an organizational unit. Permissions can be granted or revoked from a central location when people join or leave. In growing agency structures with remote teams and international clients, this centralization is a clear operational advantage.
What changes concretely with the new roles
The core of the update is the shift from user-centric to agency-centric administration. Instead of every account manager holding individual rights across dozens of client accounts, the agency organizes access through roles and labels. That reduces onboarding and offboarding errors and makes audit trails easier to follow because permissions no longer sit scattered across personal profiles.
Google is also introducing custom labels. Agency Admins can categorize client accounts by criteria such as brand, industry, or internal team. These labels are not just for overview; they also enable bulk assignment of Standard users to entire account groups. Teams that previously maintained permissions account by account save significant administrative effort and can invest more resources in feed quality, price optimization, and campaign management.
Relevance for agencies with large client portfolios
Agencies with many Merchant Center accounts know the pattern: high team turnover, parallel projects across verticals, and strict client security policies. The old user-based permission model scaled poorly. A forgotten access right after a project ended could create security risks; conversely, missing permissions delayed optimization of feeds, prices, or product titles.
The role-based setup shifts responsibility to the organization level. Clients are bound to the agency, not to individual people. Access remains more stable during personnel changes, while sensitive accounts can be restricted to a small number of admin users. This matters for shopping visibility because Merchant Center is the data foundation for Google Shopping, Performance Max, and organic product surfaces. Faulty feed data or blocked accounts directly affect impressions and clicks.
Agency Admin: full administrative rights
Agency Admins receive full administrative rights within the agency account in Merchant Center. They can link and unlink client Merchant Center accounts. Standard users can be added, removed, and edited. Admins also control which Standard users may access which client accounts and maintain the new custom labels for internal structure. In practice, only a few trusted people should hold this role.
Standard users: restricted access as needed
Standard users work with reduced permissions. Agencies can follow the principle of least privilege: a feed specialist sees only their brand accounts, an analyst only the properties relevant for reporting. That supports compliance requirements and prevents entire client portfolios from remaining unnecessarily open. Day-to-day work for specialists stays productive as long as labels are maintained cleanly.
Custom labels as an organizational lever
The label feature is more than a folder structure. It reflects real agency logic: teams by industry, client size, or internal squads. When a new employee joins a squad, assigning them to the corresponding label is enough instead of opening individual accounts manually. In growing portfolios, that is a measurable efficiency gain that shows up in faster response times to feed warnings or policy violations.
| Role | Main tasks | Typical benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Agency Admin | Link clients, manage users, maintain labels | Central control and security |
| Standard | Work on assigned client accounts | Focused access without admin risk |
| Custom Labels | Group accounts by brand, vertical, or team | Bulk assignment instead of one-by-one setup |
Practical steps for affected teams
Agencies should inventory existing access matrices before switching to the new model. Which users truly need admin rights? Which accounts belong to which label? Clean mapping prevents gaps after migration. It also pays to document offboarding processes: who revokes Standard access, who checks open links to former clients? Training project leads to name labels consistently also helps.
For clients, the change means more transparency about who accesses merchant data. Agencies can communicate more clearly in QBRs or status reports which roles are active. That builds trust, especially when product feeds, price rules, and structured data directly affect visibility in Google search and shopping surfaces. Clients with strict data protection or brand policies benefit from demonstrable access controls.
- Link client accounts at agency level instead of to individual users.
- Use Agency Admins for linking, user management, and labels.
- Segment Standard roles by brand, vertical, or team.
- Adapt onboarding and offboarding processes to the role model.
- Review access lists regularly to avoid orphaned permissions.
The introduction of the new Merchant Center agency roles marks a move away from fragmented user administration toward scalable account governance. Teams that use custom labels consistently and assign admin rights sparingly can roll out feed optimization and shopping campaigns faster without compromising access security. Agencies that adopt the role model early in internal playbooks measurably reduce friction during the next team change or client onboarding.
