Start your migration

In this page, we provide guidance on planning your API migration.

Then we take an overview of the steps you'll need to migrate.

Plan your migration

  1. Map your Content API for Shopping methods to Merchant API methods.

    It's very helpful to clearly understand the new methods and resources you need for Merchant API.

  2. Understand the most significant changes that apply to your migration.

    We recommend reviewing and keeping in mind the following resources as they will be helpful for your migration:

    • Migrate from Content API overview: This details the major changes to be aware of in Merchant API
    • Sub-API specific migration guides: Review the specific sub-API migration guides you need as they provide critical information such as new field mappings. For an example, see Migrate products management.
    • Merchant API reference provides the details of Merchant API resources and methods.
    • The Quickstart guide shows how to quickly start using Merchant API to create an account and upload a sample product.
    • Feature-specific guides: For new feature implementation or for more clarification, you can review the feature guides provided in the navigation.

  3. Identify the sub-APIs that you plan to migrate and want to implement.

    Determine two things:

    • The Merchant API features you need to migrate
    • The new features you want to implement

    Once you've done this, you can determine the amount of effort and a priority list of sub-APIs to work on.

    We recommend migrating everything, or as much as possible. If you aren't able to migrate your entire Content API implementation initially, due to importance and complexity, prioritize the following sub-APIs.

Migration steps

  1. Test different methods to help you ramp up. We recommend using Google APIs Explorer to perform basic tests.

    The format of request URLs for Merchant API is

    https://merchantapi.googleapis.com/{SUB_API}/{VERSION}/{RESOURCE_NAME}:{METHOD}…

  2. Leverage our code samples and client libraries.

    To help reduce the implementation time and benefit from gRPC, use the client libraries and code samples.

    We also embed code sample snippets in our guides. For example, see Upload product input.

  3. Test simple user journeys.

    Conduct user journey testing on all the sub-APIs and functionality you plan to migrate with the following goals:

    • Your migrated resources and calls have correct response results.
    • The error ratio remains low.

Plan your roll-out

We recommend the following approach:

  • Implement one sub-API or method at a time.
  • Implement to only a small segment of the business at a time.
  • Monitor for issues at all times.

Implement your migration

  1. Work on coding using the new resources and endpoints.

    After initial testing and development of a release plan, integrate Merchant API into your workflows.

  2. Monitor.

    Prepare to address potential issues.