Activate Redbrain CSS.
Get the CSS bidding advantage on the Google Shopping campaigns you already run. Your campaigns, feeds, budgets and bidding strategies stay exactly as they are.
No migration, no rebuild
Switching CSS changes who your listings run through. Nothing else.
Your Google Ads account
It stays exactly where it is. Google ties a Shopping campaign's CSS to the Merchant Center, not to the Ads account, so nothing moves and nothing is recreated.
Your campaigns and bidding
Budgets, bid strategies, structure and history all carry on untouched. There is no pause, no relearning period and no rebuild.
Your product feed
The same feed, in the same Merchant Center, on the same schedule. You do not re-upload anything or point a feed somewhere new.
Your team’s workload
One approval click from a Merchant Center admin is the only action on your side. We do the rest from the CSS Centre.
How it works
Five steps. Two need anything from you, and neither takes long.
- #1You do this
Find your Merchant Center ID
It sits in the top-right of your Merchant Center account, underneath the account name. If you run a multi-client account, it is the MCA ID we need — we will confirm which sub-accounts move before anything is requested.
Your account name
123456789
The number sitting under your account name, top-right of Merchant Center. It is 123456789 in this example — yours will be your own, and it is the only thing we need to start the switch. - #2You do this
Email it to your account manager
One line to your Redbrain account manager is enough. That ID is the only Google-specific thing we need from you — no feed exports, no campaign details, and no access to your Google Ads account.
- To
- Your Redbrain account manager
- Subject
- Redbrain CSS switch
- Account ID
- 123456789
That is the whole message. No attachments, no feed exports, nothing else to prepare. No account manager yet? - #3We do this
We request the switch
This one is ours. We add your merchant ID in Google’s CSS Centre and submit the request — it happens on a screen you never see, and there is nothing for you to do while it does.
- #4You do this
An admin approves it in Merchant Center
Go to Settings → General and find the Comparison Shopping Services section. A banner there asks you to review a request from Redbrain Limited to switch your account to our CSS — open it and accept. Google requires this to come from an administrator on the account, which is why it is the one step nobody can do for you.
Settings General
Comparison Shopping Services
Review a request from Redbrain Limited to switch your account to their CSS
Review requestIt appears in the Comparison Shopping Services section once we have raised the request. An administrator opens it, checks the details and accepts — that is the whole approval. - #5Nothing to do
Your listings move to Redbrain CSS
Once Google processes the approval, your Shopping listings run through Redbrain CSS — Settings → General will name us as your CSS, and the line under your listings on Google reads Redbrain. Your campaigns keep serving the whole way through.
Before
Your product
£429.00
Your store
By Google
After
Your product
£429.00
Your store
By Redbrain
The line under each Shopping listing names the CSS it was placed through. After the switch it reads Redbrain. Your product, your price and your store name are untouched.
While you wait
What happens between the request and going live.
A CSS switch is not instant, and Google says very little while it runs. Here is the whole sequence, so a quiet few days does not read as something having gone wrong. We tell you each time it moves on.
-
Requested
We submit the association request to Google through the CSS Centre, against the merchant ID you sent us.
-
Awaiting your approval
Google notifies your Merchant Center administrators. This is the stage that waits on you — one click from an admin on the account.
-
Grace period
Often skippedThis stage only exists if you are moving from another CSS. Google allows up to 14 days before the move completes.
Often skipped. Your outgoing CSS can waive the wait, and we ask them to as a matter of course.
-
Live on Redbrain CSS
Your Shopping listings run through us. Your campaigns keep serving the whole way through — there is no dark period.
Before we send anything
We check the things that quietly go wrong.
Where you sell
CSS applies to Google Shopping in Europe. If you also advertise outside the CSS programme’s countries, we confirm how those destinations are served before we request anything.
Free listings and other surfaces
Free listings and surfaces beyond Google Search can behave differently depending on how a CSS account is configured. We check your setup against how you actually sell.
Who can approve
We confirm your Merchant Center has a reachable administrator before we send the request — a request nobody can approve is the most common way a switch stalls.
Where you are coming from
If you are leaving another CSS, we tell you whether a grace period applies and how long it is likely to be, rather than letting you find out from a Google email.
Common questions.
There are several pricing options and packages, and the right one depends on how you sell and what you want from us. Get in touch and we will talk you through them and find the best fit for you before anything is switched.
No. A CSS switch happens entirely through Merchant Center, so we do not ask for Ads access to activate you. We only ask later, and only if you want benchmarking, feed work or auction analysis from us.
No. Your campaigns keep serving through the switch, and your Ads account, history and bid strategies are untouched because they never move.
The request and approval take minutes. If you are moving from another CSS, Google can apply a grace period of up to 14 days before the move completes, which your outgoing CSS can shorten or waive.
Yes. You can move your Merchant Center to a different CSS whenever you want, using the same process in reverse. Nothing about the switch locks you in.
The account your Shopping campaigns run from. If those sit under a multi-client account, send us the MCA ID and we will confirm which sub-accounts the switch should cover before we raise anything with Google.