Key takeaways
- Shopify's Google & YouTube app syncs your products to Google Merchant Center.
- Free listings show your products in Google's Shopping tab at no cost.
- Performance Max and Standard Shopping are the two main paid campaign types.
- Your product feed — titles, images, identifiers and attributes — decides how often you appear.
- Accurate conversion tracking is essential before you scale spend.
When someone searches for a product, Google shows Shopping results with images, prices and store names — often above everything else. For ecommerce brands, Google Shopping is one of the highest-intent advertising channels available. Here is how to set it up properly for Shopify.
Step 1: Connect Shopify to Google
Install Shopify's Google & YouTube app, connect your Google account and create or link a Merchant Center account. The app syncs your products, prices and stock to Merchant Center automatically and can set up conversion tracking.
Step 2: Free listings
Once your products are approved in Merchant Center, they can appear in free listings across Google's Shopping tab and other surfaces at no cost. It's free visibility — and a useful way to check your feed before you spend on ads.
Step 3: Choose a campaign type
- Performance Max: Google's automated campaigns that show your products across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display and more. Strong reach, with less manual control.
- Standard Shopping: Shopping-only campaigns with more control over bids, products and search terms. Useful for tight budgets and testing.
Many stores run both: Performance Max for scale and Standard Shopping for control over key products.
Step 4: Optimise your product feed
- Titles: Lead with what people search for: brand, product type and key attributes such as colour, size or material.
- Images: Clear product images on clean backgrounds, without text overlays.
- Identifiers: GTINs (barcodes) and brand fields where your products have them.
- Attributes: Colour, size, gender, age group and material — filled in, not left blank.
- Accuracy: Prices and stock that always match your store, or products will be disapproved.
Step 5: Measure and improve
Check that purchases and revenue are recorded correctly before scaling. Then review performance by product: push budget towards profitable products, fix or exclude those that don't convert, and keep landing pages fast — the product page guide helps here.
Want Shopping campaigns managed for you? Our Google Ads and PPC management team handles feeds, campaigns and reporting for Shopify stores. Talk to us.
Filed under
Jay Patel