Google Ads · Ecommerce · Shopify

Google Ads for Shopify Stores

For a store, Google Ads starts with the product feed. Get that right and the campaigns have something to work with.

What it costs

These are search advertising benchmarks for the retail categories. For a store, the number that matters is return on ad spend at your margins, not cost per lead. Source: LocaliQ and WordStream, see the sources at the bottom of the page.

The feed comes first

Shopify sends your products to Google Merchant Center through the Google and YouTube app. Whatever is in your product titles, descriptions and attributes is what Google uses to decide which searches you show up for.

I start every store by fixing the feed: titles that lead with what people search (product type, key attribute, size or fit), complete attributes like color, material and gender, real GTINs where they exist, and no disapproved products quietly dropping out.

Shopping or Performance Max?

Performance Max is where Google wants every store to go, and for many stores it works. The catch is that it mixes your brand searches and remarketing into the results, which can make performance look better than the new customers it actually brings.

I usually run brand search separately, keep a Standard Shopping campaign where I need query-level control, and use Performance Max with clean value tracking. I wrote about the trade-offs in more detail in PMax vs Shopping remarketing and the non-brand halo effect.

Track revenue, not just orders

Send the order value with every purchase conversion, and check that it matches what Shopify reports. Without values, Smart Bidding treats a $15 accessory and a $300 order the same. With them, you can set a target ROAS that reflects your margins.

If your margins differ a lot by product, consider bidding on profit instead of revenue. That takes extra setup but stops the account from pushing high-revenue, low-margin products.

Common leaks in Shopify accounts

Out-of-stock products still getting clicks, brand searches counted as wins for prospecting campaigns, duplicate purchase tracking from both the Google app and a manual tag, and no negative keywords on Shopping for searches you never want to pay for.

• free, used, second hand (if you only sell new)
• repair, manual, replacement part (unless you sell them)
• competitor brand names you do not stock
• jobs, wholesale, supplier

When to hand it off: Google Ads management for Shopify stores

For a store, management starts with the feed: product titles, attributes and disapprovals. Then the campaign split between brand, Shopping and Performance Max, and conversion values that match what Shopify reports. That is the work I take on.

I work by the hour at $50, with no retainer. Stores usually need a feed and tracking setup first, then a monthly review of search terms, ROAS by product and feed issues.

Other industries: Google Ads management by industry.

FAQ