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How to Run Google Shopping Ads: From Merchant Center to Campaign
Google Shopping ads put your product, photo and price at the top of search results. We walk through Merchant Center setup, the product feed, choosing a campaign type and bidding — step by step.
Google Shopping ads show your products with a photo, price and store name in Google search results and the Shopping tab. To run them, you first create a product feed in Google Merchant Center, link Merchant Center to Google Ads and then launch a Performance Max or Standard Shopping campaign.
This guide covers the setup step by step, the difference between campaign types, bidding strategy and why products get rejected.
How Google Shopping ads work
Unlike text ads, you do not choose keywords. Google looks at the title, description and category in your product feed and decides which searches to show your products for. That is why feed quality matters as much as campaign settings.
- Image and price up front — people see the product and price before clicking, so clicks come with more intent.
- Pay per click — you usually pay per click; cost depends on competition and bidding strategy.
- Free listings too — products in Merchant Center can also appear in free listings; ads scale the visibility.
Step-by-step setup
- Create a Merchant Center account — enter your business details, then verify and claim your website.
- Set up shipping and returns — shipping costs, delivery times and the return policy must be defined in Merchant Center.
- Upload the product feed — through your e-commerce platform's app, Google Sheets or a file; fill in the required fields.
- Wait for review and fix issues — check rejected products in the Products and Diagnostics screens.
- Link Google Ads — connect your Google Ads account from Merchant Center settings.
- Set up conversion tracking — track purchases with the order value; smart bidding cannot work without it.
- Launch the campaign — create a Performance Max or Standard Shopping campaign with a sales goal, then set budget and bidding.
The product feed fields that matter most
| Field | Why it matters | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Decides more than anything which searches you show for | Brand + product type + key attribute (colour, size, capacity) |
| Image (image_link) | Directly affects click-through rate | White or plain background; no watermarks, text or logos |
| Price and availability | Must match your website | A mismatch gets the product rejected |
| GTIN / brand / MPN | Helps Google match the product correctly | Always add GTIN for products that have a barcode |
| Category and product type | Used to group products and set bids | Put your own category tree in the product type field |
Performance Max or Standard Shopping?
- Performance Max — shows your products across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display and Gmail together. It is easy to set up and performs well with enough conversion data, but it is harder to see what each channel delivers.
- Standard Shopping — runs only on Shopping placements and gives more control over product groups and search terms. A good start for new accounts and tight budgets.
Many stores use both: best sellers in Performance Max, test or low-margin products in Standard Shopping. Still choosing between platforms? See Google Ads or Meta ads.
Bidding strategy and budget
- At the start — with little conversion data, begin with "maximise conversion value", or manual CPC in Standard Shopping.
- As data builds — once you have enough sales, move to target ROAS and keep the target realistic. Our guide what ROAS is and how to calculate it helps you set it.
- Budget — for the learning phase, the daily budget should cover several sales; see how to set an ad budget.
Common mistakes
- Uploading the feed once and forgetting it — as prices and stock change, products start getting rejected.
- Not tracking conversion value — counting only the number of sales stops smart bidding from telling expensive products apart.
- Poor images — watermarked or collage images are rejected and get fewer clicks.
- All products in one group — budget drifts to a few popular items and the rest never show.
Let's build your Google Shopping campaign
mistBOOST runs Google Shopping ads end to end: Merchant Center setup, feed optimisation, conversion tracking, and Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns. What to look for in an agency is covered in working with an e-commerce ad agency. Share your store and goals: get a free quote.
