For Shopify and DTC brands, Google Shopping is one of the most reliable ways to get in front of high-intent buyers:

• They’re actively searching for products
• Your price, image, and brand appear before they even click
• You only pay when someone engages

The setup can feel intimidating the first time, but it’s more methodical than mystical. Here’s a practical walkthrough you can hand to your team.

Step 1: Get the Plumbing Right

Google Shopping campaigns are powered by product feeds, not manual keywords. That means you’ll need:

1. A Google Ads account – where your campaigns live
2. A Google Merchant Center (GMC) account – where your product data lives
3. A connection between your store and GMC – often via an app or direct feed

The basic flow:

• Your store sends product data (titles, descriptions, prices, availability) to Merchant Center
• Merchant Center syncs with Google Ads
• Your Shopping campaigns use that data to show relevant products for relevant searches

If you’re on Shopify, there are several apps that simplify this; if you’re custom, you may need a developer to help structure and submit the feed.

Step 2: Clean Up Your Product Data

Feed quality is ad quality.

To give your products a fair shot:

• Write descriptive, keyword-rich product titles that still sound human
• Use clear, accurate product types and categories
• Make sure GTINs, prices, and availability are correct and updated frequently
• Use high-quality images that match the product and comply with Google’s policies

Poor feed hygiene leads to disapprovals, low impressions, and wasted spend.

Step 3: Create Your First Shopping Campaign

Inside Google Ads:

1. Click the “+ New Campaign” button
2. Choose a goal like “Sales”
3. Select “Shopping” as your campaign type
4. Link the correct Merchant Center account and country
5. Choose between Standard Shopping (more control) and Performance Max (more automation across channels)

For your first go, many brands prefer Standard Shopping to learn the basics before layering automation.

Step 4: Set Budget and Bidding Strategy

Decide:

• A daily budget that you’re genuinely comfortable testing for at least 2–4 weeks
• A bidding strategy such as Manual CPC, Maximize Clicks, or Maximize Conversion Value (with or without a ROAS target)

If you’re new:

• Start with a moderate daily budget (e.g., $20–$50)
• Use a simple bidding strategy while your pixel and account gather data
• Watch search terms and product performance closely in the first couple of weeks

Step 5: Structure Campaigns for Control

There’s no single “right” structure, but a few patterns work well for DTC brands:

• By margin: separate high-margin and low-margin products so you can bid more aggressively on the former
• By brand or category: if you carry multiple brands or wide categories, give each its own campaign or ad group
• By lifecycle: group bestsellers, new products, and clearance items separately

The key is to avoid one giant campaign where a few high-volume products soak up all the spend.

Step 6: Keep an Eye on Search Terms and Negative Keywords

Even though Shopping uses your feed instead of manual keywords, you can still:

• View the actual search queries that trigger your ads
• Add negative keywords for irrelevant terms that spend but don’t convert

This keeps your budget focused on buyers, not browsers.

Step 7: Connect Spend to Real Business Numbers

For Shopping to earn a permanent place in your growth strategy, you need clean visibility into:

• Revenue and ROAS by campaign and product group
• Blended CAC across channels (Shopping + Meta + email, etc.)
• Profitability after COGS, shipping, and fees

That means pairing Google’s conversion tracking with your ecommerce platform data and finance stack.

Step 8: Control Payment and Risk at the Card Level

There’s one last, often overlooked piece: how you pay for all this testing and scaling.

If you’re serious about paid growth, you’ll eventually run:

• Multiple Shopping campaigns
• Performance Max
• Experiments by region or product line

Running everything off a single corporate card is risky:

• You can hit card limits at the worst possible time (big sale, Q4)
• Fraud or card compromise can pause all campaigns until you swap details everywhere
• Reconciling ad spend by brand or country becomes messy

A more scalable, finance-friendly pattern is to use virtual cards for google ad campaign and assign them to specific campaigns, markets, or business units:

• Each card gets a budget aligned to your plan
• You can freeze or adjust limits without logging into every ad account
• Statements map neatly to your internal P&L structure

For fast-moving ecommerce teams, this is the difference between “we spent roughly X on ads last month” and “we know exactly what we invested in each growth bet and what it returned.”

Google Shopping isn’t magic — it’s plumbing, product data, structure, and disciplined iteration. Get those pieces in place, and you’re not just “running campaigns.” You’re building a predictable acquisition engine that your brand, your investors, and your finance team can all get behind.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes Google Shopping better than typical search ads for finding buyers?

Google Shopping ads show high-intent buyers your exact price, image, and brand information before they even click. This quality shows users what they will get right away. You only pay when someone engages, which avoids wasted spending on low-intent clicks.

Do I need to create a new list of keywords for my Shopping campaigns?

No, Google Shopping campaigns do not use the manual keyword lists you create for text ads. They use the product data feed from your store instead. This feed includes titles, descriptions, and categories to match your products to relevant searches automatically.

What is the most important step for improving the quality of my Shopping advertisements?

The most important step is cleaning up your product data feed. Write descriptive, keyword-rich product titles that still sound natural to people. Use clear images and make sure details like prices and availability are always correct.

How are Google Merchant Center and Google Ads different, and why do I need both?

Google Merchant Center (GMC) is the place where all your product information is stored and checked. Google Ads is the platform where you set up budgets, select bidding strategies, and manage how your ads display. You need both accounts linked together for Shopping ads to run.

Should I choose a Standard Shopping campaign or a Performance Max campaign first?

If you are new to Google Shopping, it is best to start with a Standard Shopping campaign. This type gives you more control over the settings and performance details. You can learn the basics before switching to the more automated system of Performance Max.

How can I stop my Google Shopping ads from showing up for irrelevant searches?

You control which searches appear for your ads by adding negative keywords. You can view the actual search terms that trigger your ads in Google Ads. Check this list often and add any terms that are spending money but are not leading to sales.

How much money should I set aside for a starting daily budget?

When you start, set a moderate daily budget that you are comfortable spending for at least two to four full weeks. A common starting range for testing is around $20–$50 per day. This allows your campaigns and conversion tracking to gather enough data to perform well.

How can I organize my campaigns to make sure my high-profit products get more visibility?

A smart way to organize your campaigns is to structure them by margin. Separate your high-margin products into their own campaign. This separation lets you bid more aggressively on the items that bring in the most profit, preventing a few popular, low-margin products from taking all of your ad spend.

Is there a good way to track the ad expenses for my different product lines or regions?

Yes, a highly effective method is to use virtual cards for your ad spending. You can assign each card a specific budget and link it to different campaigns or business units. This aligns your ad spend exactly with your internal profit and loss statements.

Does the title I use in my store matter for how my Google Shopping ad performs?

Yes, the product title from your store is crucial because it goes directly into your product feed. Google uses this title to match your ad to the user’s search query. A good title should be descriptive, include important keywords, yet still be easy for a customer to read.