I see Google rolling out new Agency Admin and Standard roles in Merchant Center for Agencies, giving agencies a more centralized way to control client access while improving security and day-to-day efficiency.
What is new: I can now look at client access differently because clients are linked directly to an agency instead of being tied to individual users. That makes it easier to manage permissions from one place, especially when team members join, move roles, or leave.
I also see custom labels becoming a useful part of this update. Agency Admins can organize client accounts by brand, business vertical, internal team, or another structure that fits how the agency works.
Those labels can then be used to give Standard users access to groups of accounts in bulk. For me, that is the practical improvement: agencies no longer need to configure access one account at a time when the same permission logic applies across multiple clients.
Why I care: Agencies managing several Merchant Center accounts have often had to depend on user-level permissions, which can make onboarding, offboarding, and account management more cumbersome than they need to be. This role-based structure moves client management to the agency level, which should reduce administrative work and strengthen access controls.
How it works: Agency Admins get full administrative privileges inside the Merchant Center agency account. In that role, I can link and unlink clients’ Merchant Center accounts, add or remove Standard users, modify Standard users, manage their access to client accounts, and create custom labels for organizing clients.
Standard users receive more limited permissions, which helps agencies follow stronger security practices. I see this as a way to make sure team members only access the client accounts they actually need.
Bottom line: For agencies managing large client portfolios, I expect centralized client linking, bulk access management, and customizable account labels to reduce manual work while making Merchant Center administration more secure and scalable.
Dig deeper: Managing user access in Merchant Center for Agencies
Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.
Leave a Reply