Merchant Center: New security controls
Google has announced new security controls for Merchant Center for Agencies. The focus is on revised access rules for Agency Admins and Standard users. According to Ginny Marvin, Google Ads Liaison, the changes are intended to streamline workflows while improving security in agency structures. For e-commerce teams, performance marketers, and SEO leads managing shopping feeds and product data for multiple brands, the update marks an important step in account governance.
Merchant Center for Agencies centrally connects agencies to their clients' Merchant Center accounts. Feeds, price rules, and product attributes flow from there into Google Shopping, Performance Max, and organic product surfaces. Anyone accessing many client accounts needs clear role models—and above all controls that prevent sensitive data from being viewed or edited without oversight. The new security controls address exactly this gap between operational efficiency and protection needs.
What changes with the access controls
The core of the announcement is tighter rules for Admin and Standard roles within the agency account. Agency Admins retain responsibility for linking, user management, and central settings. Standard users receive only the rights required for their specific tasks. Google is thereby strengthening the principle of least privilege: not everyone on the team needs full access to the entire client portfolio.
According to Google, the controls aim to tighten workflows and reduce security risks. Instead of maintaining permissions scattered across personal profiles, access runs more strongly through the agency as an organizational unit. That simplifies onboarding and offboarding: when employees change teams, rights can be revoked centrally without opening each client account individually. For agencies with high turnover or international remote teams, this is an operational and security gain.
Relevance for agencies with large client portfolios
Agencies with dozens or hundreds of Merchant Center accounts know typical risks: forgotten access after a project ends, overly broad admin rights, or unclear responsibilities for feed errors. A Standard user with unnecessarily wide rights can accidentally change price rules, delete product feeds, or view sensitive client data. The new controls are meant to curb such scenarios through clearly bounded roles.
At the same time, day-to-day work stays productive. Feed specialists, analysts, and campaign managers should still work efficiently—but only in the accounts and areas their role requires. That supports client compliance requirements that demand demonstrable access controls. Especially in industries with strict data protection or brand policies, transparent role assignment becomes a trust factor in the agency-client relationship.
Agency Admin: central control with responsibility
Agency Admins manage links to client Merchant Center accounts, maintain user lists, and control which Standard users may access which accounts. With the new security controls, responsibility for this role moves further into focus. Google implicitly recommends assigning admin rights sparingly and binding them only to trusted people. Those acting as Agency Admins should establish internal processes for approvals, change logs, and regular access reviews.
Standard role: focused access without admin risk
Standard users work with restricted permissions on assigned client accounts. The security controls ensure this role does not accidentally receive administrative functions. An analyst sees only reporting-relevant areas, a feed manager only their brand accounts. That reduces attack and error potential without slowing operational throughput—provided labels and assignments are maintained cleanly.
Security and shopping visibility in tandem
Merchant Center is the data foundation for visible products in Google surfaces. Faulty feeds, blocked accounts, or unauthorized changes directly affect impressions, clicks, and revenue. Security controls are therefore not a pure IT topic but directly linked to marketing performance. Teams that segment access cleanly prevent not only data leaks but also accidental feed manipulation that can harm rankings and ad delivery.
| Role | Security focus | Operational benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Agency Admin | Central management, few trusted users | Fast adjustment during team changes |
| Standard | Minimal rights by task | Focused work without admin risk |
| Agency level | Access tied to organization, not person | Scalable management of large portfolios |
Practical steps for affected teams
Agencies should inventory existing access matrices before fully using the new controls. Which users still have admin rights they no longer need? Which Standard access rights are orphaned? A regular audit—quarterly, for example—prevents old permissions from remaining open. It also pays to document offboarding processes: who revokes access, who checks open links to former clients?
Training for project leads and team leads helps assign roles consistently. Clients can communicate more clearly in status reports or QBRs which people hold which rights in their Merchant Center. That builds trust and meets common requirements from data protection and security questionnaires. Agencies that adopt the new controls early in internal playbooks measurably reduce friction during the next personnel change or client onboarding.
- Limit admin rights to a few trusted people.
- Segment Standard access by brand, vertical, or team.
- Review access lists regularly and remove orphaned permissions.
- Adapt onboarding and offboarding processes to the role model.
- Inform clients transparently about active roles and access.
The security controls for Merchant Center for Agencies shift agency administration away from fragmented user maintenance toward scalable account governance. Teams that assign admin rights sparingly and use Standard roles consistently can roll out feed optimization and shopping campaigns faster without compromising access security.
