The platform advertisers have used since 2023 finally gets its permanent name. Google confirmed it is stripping “Next” from Merchant Center branding across the product interface, Help Center documentation, and email notifications, with the change rolling out over the coming weeks.
The shift traces back to March 2023, when Google introduced Merchant Center Next as the successor to the original console, migrating merchants over roughly a year before retiring the legacy version entirely. Dropping the qualifier now signals that transition is fully behind Google, not a new feature launch.
Advertisers do not need to take any action. Google says accounts, product feeds, and active campaigns carry over untouched, and login credentials and saved bookmarks stay the same. This is a naming cleanup, not a platform change.
For shopping and e-commerce teams, the only real to-do is cosmetic: update internal documentation, screenshots, or training material that still references “Merchant Center Next” so onboarding stays accurate.
Search Engine Roundtable’s Barry Schwartz reported the branding update on July 9, 2026, citing Google’s own announcement of the change.
