How do I create a Google Shopping campaign?

Google Shopping ads show your product image, price, and store name directly in search results, which is why they convert so well for ecommerce. But Shopping is different from text ads in one key way: you do not pick keywords. Google decides when to show your products based entirely on your product feed. That means the feed is the campaign. A messy feed with vague titles and missing attributes will quietly cap your performance no matter how good your bidding is, so most of the real work happens in Merchant Center, not in the campaign itself.

Start by creating a Google Merchant Center account and verifying and claiming your website. Merchant Center is where your product data lives and where Google checks that your store meets its policies (clear pricing, a refund policy, working checkout, accurate shipping). If you run Shopify, WooCommerce, or most major platforms, there is an app or built-in integration that pushes your catalog to Merchant Center automatically and keeps it in sync. That is far better than a manual spreadsheet feed, which goes stale the moment a price or stock level changes.

Your product feed is the single biggest lever on Shopping performance. Product titles should front-load what people actually search: brand, product type, key attribute, then model. A title like Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 41 Men's Running Shoe Black beats Pegasus 41 every time because it matches more queries. Fill in GTIN, brand, product type, color, size, and the Google product category. Use high-quality images on a white background. Keep price and availability accurate, because a mismatch between your feed and your site gets products disapproved.

Once the feed is approved, link Merchant Center to your Google Ads account, then choose your campaign type. Standard Shopping gives you transparent control: you see exactly which products and search terms spend money, and you can segment by product into priority tiers. Performance Max folds Shopping into a single automated campaign that also runs Display, YouTube, and Gmail inventory. PMax often gets more total volume but hides where spend goes, so for a first campaign or a tight budget, Standard Shopping is easier to learn from and control.

For bidding, do not start with Target ROAS on day one. Google needs conversion history to hit a ROAS target, and forcing one too early starves the campaign of data. Begin with Maximize Conversion Value (or Maximize Clicks if you have almost no history), let it gather two to three weeks of conversions, then switch to Target ROAS once the data is there. Set the target based on your actual margin: a 4x ROAS on a product with 25% margin is breaking even, not winning, so know your numbers before you set a goal.

Structure matters once you scale. Splitting your catalog by margin, brand, or bestseller status lets you push budget toward profitable products and pull back on losers, instead of letting one blended ROAS hide the truth. Negative keywords still work in Standard Shopping to block irrelevant queries. And accurate conversion tracking with purchase value is non-negotiable: without item-level revenue feeding back, your ROAS bidding is guessing. Get the feed and the tracking right and Shopping becomes one of the most reliable channels in ecommerce.