diff --git a/plugins/modules/gcp_compute_instance_template.py b/plugins/modules/gcp_compute_instance_template.py
index d6b5d38..aa6b143 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/gcp_compute_instance_template.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/gcp_compute_instance_template.py
@@ -1086,14 +1086,19 @@ def raise_if_errors(response, err_path, module):
 
 
 def encode_request(request, module):
-    if 'metadata' in request and request['metadata'] is not None:
-        request['metadata'] = metadata_encoder(request['metadata'])
+    if 'properties' in request and request['properties'] is not None and 'metadata' in request['properties'] and request['properties']['metadata'] is not None:
+        request['properties']['metadata'] = metadata_encoder(request['properties']['metadata'])
     return request
 
 
 def decode_response(response, module):
-    if 'metadata' in response and response['metadata'] is not None:
-        response['metadata'] = metadata_decoder(response['metadata'])
+    if (
+        'properties' in response
+        and response['properties'] is not None
+        and 'metadata' in response['properties']
+        and response['properties']['metadata'] is not None
+    ):
+        response['properties']['metadata'] = metadata_decoder(response['properties']['metadata'])
     return response