Finding the right CSS partner and migrating your Merchant Center cleanly

You can find suitable CSS partners in Google's Comparison Shopping Partners portal

You can find suitable CSS partners in Google's Comparison Shopping Partners portal. Use filters such as country, industry or supported language to identify CSSs that match your business needs.

You can also filter for partners that offer API feed technology, or for Premium Partners with additional technical certification and support for conversion tracking for merchants.

How to switch your account from one CSS to another

So you can keep your existing Merchant Center account while working with a different CSS, Google migrates your account from one CSS to another. This migration is only possible if both CSSs agree.

Ask your new CSS to contact Google Support to request the migration. A Merchant Center account can only ever be linked to one CSS at a time.

Google Ads accounts don't need to be migrated for this. Your Merchant Center account determines which CSS your ads and free listings are linked to.

If a campaign in a Google Ads account uses product data from a Merchant Center account linked to a particular CSS, that campaign belongs to exactly that CSS.

Two checks are worth doing before switching from Google Shopping to a CSS

These two areas often cause surprises after switching.

Not every CSS delivers on display remarketing and other surfaces

If the CSS you're migrating to isn't enabled to serve ads on display remarketing or surfaces beyond general search, your ads will only appear on the general Google search results pages. On other surfaces, they'll stop being served.

In countries without a CSS programme, you need an additional solution

If the migrated Merchant Center account contains product data for countries where the CSS programme isn't available, ads and free listings for those countries can drop out if the new CSS doesn't serve ads and free listings there.

To keep serving ads and free listings both in countries with and without a CSS programme, you have two options:

• Create a new Merchant Center account with Google Shopping for your product data in countries where the CSS programme isn't available.
• Use separate Merchant Center accounts for different country groups. For example, migrate or create an account with the new CSS for countries with a CSS programme, and keep a Google Shopping Merchant Center account for countries without one.

You have two setup options for the migration

When switching a Merchant Center account from one CSS to another, two setup options are available.

As a sub-account, the CSS automatically gets access to your account

The account can be migrated as a sub-account of the CSS's multi-client account (MCA). In this setup, the CSS automatically gets access to your account.

The CSS linked to the multi-client account and the CSS linked to the sub-account must be identical.

As a standalone account, you grant CSS access manually

The account can also be migrated as a standalone Merchant Center account. In this setup, the CSS doesn't automatically get access to your account.

CSS staff need to be added manually as users in the Merchant Center account.