diff --git a/metricbeat/docs/modules/googlecloud.asciidoc b/metricbeat/docs/modules/googlecloud.asciidoc
index bf4ea8404f2..fd0bd772cd4 100644
--- a/metricbeat/docs/modules/googlecloud.asciidoc
+++ b/metricbeat/docs/modules/googlecloud.asciidoc
@@ -244,14 +244,15 @@ metricbeat.modules:
   credentials_file_path: "your JSON credentials file path"
   exclude_labels: false
   period: 1m
-  service: compute
-  metrics:
-    - aligner: ALIGN_NONE
-      metric_types:
-        - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/reserved_cores"
-        - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/usage_time"
-        - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/utilization"
-        - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/uptime"
+  stackdriver:
+    service: compute
+    metrics:
+      - aligner: ALIGN_NONE
+        metric_types:
+          - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/reserved_cores"
+          - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/usage_time"
+          - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/utilization"
+          - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/uptime"
 ----
 
 [float]
diff --git a/x-pack/metricbeat/metricbeat.reference.yml b/x-pack/metricbeat/metricbeat.reference.yml
index 6a2582a6c49..1b5327397a4 100644
--- a/x-pack/metricbeat/metricbeat.reference.yml
+++ b/x-pack/metricbeat/metricbeat.reference.yml
@@ -530,14 +530,15 @@ metricbeat.modules:
   credentials_file_path: "your JSON credentials file path"
   exclude_labels: false
   period: 1m
-  service: compute
-  metrics:
-    - aligner: ALIGN_NONE
-      metric_types:
-        - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/reserved_cores"
-        - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/usage_time"
-        - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/utilization"
-        - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/uptime"
+  stackdriver:
+    service: compute
+    metrics:
+      - aligner: ALIGN_NONE
+        metric_types:
+          - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/reserved_cores"
+          - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/usage_time"
+          - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/utilization"
+          - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/uptime"
 
 #------------------------------- Graphite Module -------------------------------
 - module: graphite
diff --git a/x-pack/metricbeat/module/googlecloud/_meta/config.yml b/x-pack/metricbeat/module/googlecloud/_meta/config.yml
index 6a56af4e1bd..8103b2c111a 100644
--- a/x-pack/metricbeat/module/googlecloud/_meta/config.yml
+++ b/x-pack/metricbeat/module/googlecloud/_meta/config.yml
@@ -32,11 +32,12 @@
   credentials_file_path: "your JSON credentials file path"
   exclude_labels: false
   period: 1m
-  service: compute
-  metrics:
-    - aligner: ALIGN_NONE
-      metric_types:
-        - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/reserved_cores"
-        - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/usage_time"
-        - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/utilization"
-        - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/uptime"
+  stackdriver:
+    service: compute
+    metrics:
+      - aligner: ALIGN_NONE
+        metric_types:
+          - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/reserved_cores"
+          - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/usage_time"
+          - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/utilization"
+          - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/uptime"
diff --git a/x-pack/metricbeat/module/googlecloud/stackdriver/metricset.go b/x-pack/metricbeat/module/googlecloud/stackdriver/metricset.go
index 7bc70929686..e31aa96202c 100644
--- a/x-pack/metricbeat/module/googlecloud/stackdriver/metricset.go
+++ b/x-pack/metricbeat/module/googlecloud/stackdriver/metricset.go
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ func New(base mb.BaseMetricSet) (mb.MetricSet, error) {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "error creating Stackdriver client")
 	}
 
-	m.metricsMeta, err = metricDescriptor(ctx, client, m.config.ProjectID, m.stackDriverConfig)
+	m.metricsMeta, err = m.metricDescriptor(ctx, client)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "error calling metricDescriptor function")
 	}
@@ -205,13 +205,13 @@ func (mc *stackDriverConfig) Validate() error {
 
 // metricDescriptor calls ListMetricDescriptorsRequest API to get metric metadata
 // (sample period and ingest delay) of each given metric type
-func metricDescriptor(ctx context.Context, client *monitoring.MetricClient, projectID string, stackDriverConfigs []stackDriverConfig) (map[string]metricMeta, error) {
+func (m *MetricSet) metricDescriptor(ctx context.Context, client *monitoring.MetricClient) (map[string]metricMeta, error) {
 	metricsWithMeta := make(map[string]metricMeta, 0)
 
-	for _, sdc := range stackDriverConfigs {
+	for _, sdc := range m.stackDriverConfig {
 		for _, mt := range sdc.MetricTypes {
 			req := &monitoringpb.ListMetricDescriptorsRequest{
-				Name:   "projects/" + projectID,
+				Name:   "projects/" + m.config.ProjectID,
 				Filter: fmt.Sprintf(`metric.type = "%s"`, mt),
 			}
 
@@ -228,10 +228,12 @@ func metricDescriptor(ctx context.Context, client *monitoring.MetricClient, proj
 			}
 
 			if out.Metadata.SamplePeriod != nil {
+				m.Logger().Debugf("For metric type %s: sample period = %s", mt, out.Metadata.SamplePeriod)
 				meta.samplePeriod = time.Duration(out.Metadata.SamplePeriod.Seconds) * time.Second
 			}
 
 			if out.Metadata.IngestDelay != nil {
+				m.Logger().Debugf("For metric type %s: ingest delay = %s", mt, out.Metadata.IngestDelay)
 				meta.ingestDelay = time.Duration(out.Metadata.IngestDelay.Seconds) * time.Second
 			}
 
diff --git a/x-pack/metricbeat/modules.d/googlecloud.yml.disabled b/x-pack/metricbeat/modules.d/googlecloud.yml.disabled
index 2ad466ac15d..aecd41c1ee3 100644
--- a/x-pack/metricbeat/modules.d/googlecloud.yml.disabled
+++ b/x-pack/metricbeat/modules.d/googlecloud.yml.disabled
@@ -35,11 +35,12 @@
   credentials_file_path: "your JSON credentials file path"
   exclude_labels: false
   period: 1m
-  service: compute
-  metrics:
-    - aligner: ALIGN_NONE
-      metric_types:
-        - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/reserved_cores"
-        - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/usage_time"
-        - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/utilization"
-        - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/uptime"
+  stackdriver:
+    service: compute
+    metrics:
+      - aligner: ALIGN_NONE
+        metric_types:
+          - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/reserved_cores"
+          - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/usage_time"
+          - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/utilization"
+          - "compute.googleapis.com/instance/uptime"