How to Set Up Google Ads for an E-Commerce Store

Setting up a scalable customer acquisition channel is a critical objective for online retailers, and learning how to set up Google Ads for an e-commerce store is the standard framework for achieving predictable growth. This comprehensive operational guide outlines the complete technical pipeline required to deploy, optimize, and scale highly profitable campaigns. It covers everything from establishing a robust data tracking foundation utilizing Google Analytics 4 to integrating your inventory with Google Merchant Center and launching advanced campaign structures. By executing these precise, battle-tested methodologies, business owners and digital product managers can minimize wasted ad spend, secure reliable data attribution, and maximize their return on ad spend (ROAS) across all Google networks.

The Prerequisites: Securing Your E-Commerce Data Foundation

Creating and Configuring the Google Ads Account

The initial setup of a Google Ads account establishes the administrative and structural foundation for all subsequent e-commerce advertising efforts. When initializing the account, decision-makers must choose between a standard individual Google Ads account and a Google Ads Manager Account (MCC - My Client Center). For businesses managing a single storefront, a standard account is typically sufficient. However, if your enterprise operates multiple regional stores, distinct sub-brands, or requires external agency oversight, utilizing an MCC account provides centralized access management, aggregated billing options, and streamlined cross-account reporting.

A critical, irreversible decision during the account creation process is the selection of the account currency and timezone. Once these parameters are finalized and the account is saved, they cannot be altered. Selecting a timezone that differs from your core customer base or your primary warehouse operations can lead to major discrepancies when auditing daily ad spend against backend order processing times. Similarly, matching the account currency to your functional business currency prevents exchange-rate fluctuations from complicating financial reconciliation and margin calculations.

To ensure administrative security, configure Google Ads with multi-factor authentication (MFA) enabled for all users. Grant access based on the principle of least privilege, separating administrative roles from standard read-and-write permissions. Additionally, check that your billing profiles are correctly configured, incorporating a primary payment method, a secondary backup credit card to prevent campaign downtime, and proper tax registration information (such as VAT or local sales tax identification numbers) to comply with local financial regulations.

Linking Google Analytics 4 (GA4) for Accurate Attribution

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) acts as the central intelligence engine for your e-commerce operations. Linking Google Analytics 4 (GA4) linking to your Google Ads account is a foundational task that enables cross-channel attribution, custom audience synchronization, and comprehensive post-click behavioral analysis. This integration allows Google Ads to import valuable conversion events and audience signals directly from GA4, providing the machine-learning bidding algorithms with high-quality data to optimize performance.

To initiate the link, navigate to the "Admin" panel of your GA4 property, select "Google Ads Links" under the product links section, and choose the correct Google Ads account ID. Once connected, enable both "Personalized Advertising" and "Auto-tagging." Auto-tagging automatically appends the Google Click Identifier (@@CODE0@@) or privacy-compliant alternative parameters (such as @@CODE1@@ and wbraid for iOS devices) to your landing page URLs. These parameters carry critical campaign data—including campaign source, ad group, keyword, and creative ID—from Google Ads directly to GA4.

After establishing the technical link, configure the conversion settings within GA4 to align with your business goals. By default, GA4 uses a fractional, data-driven attribution model. This model analyzes the entire customer journey to distribute conversion credit dynamically across touchpoints, preventing the undervaluation of top-of-funnel campaigns. Ensure that the reporting attribution window in GA4 is configured to capture the typical consideration cycle of your buyers, which is often set to a 30-day or 90-day window for high-ticket e-commerce items.

Implementing E-Commerce Conversion Tracking (Caution: Avoid Double Counting)

Implementing precise e-commerce conversion tracking is the single most important task for campaign viability. Without clean transaction data, smart bidding strategies cannot function, and ROAS calculations will be inaccurate. The implementation involves placing the Google Ads tag (or deploying it via Google Tag Manager) across your e-commerce platform to capture key transactional metrics, specifically transaction IDs, total order value, currency, tax, shipping costs, and product SKUs.

One of the most frequent errors in e-commerce setup is the double counting of conversions. This occurs when a user lands on the purchase confirmation page, exits, and later refreshes the page or reopens the browser tab, causing the conversion tag to fire multiple times for a single order ID. To mitigate this risk, write developer-level parameters into your data layer that push a unique transaction_id parameter to Google Ads. When Google Ads detects multiple conversions sharing the same transaction ID, it automatically filters out the duplicate events, preserving the integrity of your reporting.

To adapt to privacy regulations, deploy Google Ads Enhanced Conversions alongside your standard tags. Enhanced Conversions secure user-provided data, such as email addresses and phone numbers, hashes them using the SHA-256 algorithm, and securely matches them against Google’s logged-in user database. This method improves attribution match rates by up to 15% without violating user privacy policies. Furthermore, if you are operating within Europe, configure Consent Mode v2 (Advanced or Basic implementation). This protocol dynamically adjusts conversion tag behavior based on user cookie preferences, utilizing Google's advanced modeling to bridge data gaps left by non-consenting users.

Google Merchant Center Setup and Product Feed Integration

Establishing the Merchant Center Account

Google Merchant Center (GMC) serves as the primary bridge between your e-commerce platform's inventory management system and the Google Ads advertising network. To begin, establish a Google Merchant Center account using the same administrator credentials as your Google Ads account to simplify the link between the two systems. During creation, configure your business information with absolute precision, matching the registered business address, customer support phone number, and support email to the details listed on your website's contact pages.

After account creation, complete the domain verification and claim processes. Google verification can be executed via multiple methods, such as adding a TXT record to your DNS settings, uploading a custom HTML file to your website's root directory, or utilizing existing Google Tag Manager containers. Claiming the domain confirms to Google that you have exclusive administrative rights to advertise the specific web property, preventing unauthorized accounts from trying to list your inventory.

Another critical step is defining your global shipping and tax rules directly within the Merchant Center settings. If your e-commerce store charges varying shipping rates based on order weight, dimensional size, destination postal codes, or cart value thresholds, these structures must be mapped inside GMC. If Google's crawler detects a discrepancy between the shipping costs calculated on your product pages or checkout screen and the shipping data sent via GMC, your entire account can face suspension for "Misrepresentation of Policy."

Structuring Your Product Data Feed for Maximum Visibility

The product data feed is the database that informs Google’s search bots about your product catalog's titles, pricing, descriptions, stock availability, and physical attributes. For small-to-medium stores, standard integrations like the Shopify Content API or WooCommerce Google Listings plugins are recommended, as they establish a real-time, bi-directional sync. For enterprise-level catalogs with highly dynamic pricing and rapid inventory turnover, configuring custom XML schemas or JSON feeds using the Google Ads API is the most reliable way to maintain accuracy.

To maximize search visibility and click-through rates, optimize the mandatory feed attributes. The @@CODE0@@ attribute is highly critical; optimize this using standard e-commerce taxonomy, such as @@CODE1@@. For example, instead of "Classic Wool Jacket," format the title as "Harkness Men’s Wool Overcoat Slim-Fit Charcoal Grey Large." This structure feeds relevant search queries directly to Google's semantic indexing engine.

<!-- Example of an optimized XML Product Feed Item -->
<item>
  <g:id>HK-OVC-098-LG</g:id>
  <g:title>Harkness Men’s Wool Overcoat Slim-Fit Charcoal Grey Large</g:title>
  <g:description>Crafted from premium Italian wool, this slim-fit charcoal grey overcoat features a classic three-button closure and weather-resistant inner lining. Designed for active professionals.</g:description>
  <g:link>https://www.yourdomain.com/products/mens-wool-overcoat-charcoal</g:link>
  <g:image_link>https://www.yourdomain.com/images/mens-wool-overcoat-charcoal-front.jpg</g:image_link>
  <g:availability>in_stock</g:availability>
  <g:price>299.00 USD</g:price>
  <g:brand>Harkness</g:brand>
  <g:gtin>01234567890123</g:gtin>
  <g:mpn>HK-OVC-098</g:mpn>
  <g:google_product_category>160</g:google_product_category>
  <g:condition>new</g:condition>
</item>

In addition to standard attributes, you should include the Global Trade Item Number (@@CODE0@@) or Manufacturer Part Number (@@CODE1@@) along with the brand attribute to classify products within Google's catalog. Neglecting to provide accurate GTIN data can limit campaign reach, as Google prioritizes products with verified manufacturer barcodes to fight counterfeit items. Use @@CODE2@@ through @@CODE3@@ to segment your catalog based on business metrics like profit margins (e.g., high-margin vs. low-margin), seasonality, or liquidation status, enabling smarter budget allocation in your campaigns.

Troubleshooting Common Feed Disapprovals and Policy Violations

When managing a product data feed, you will inevitably run into disapprovals or compliance alerts within the Google Merchant Center Diagnostics tab. The most common cause of sudden feed disapproval is a mismatch between the pricing or availability data in your feed and what is crawled on your landing page. If you run a flash sale or change product availability from "in stock" to "out of stock" without immediately updating the feed, Google's automated web-crawlers will flag the discrepancy. To protect your campaigns from disruption, enable the "Automatic Item Updates" feature in GMC, which allows Google to scrape your site's Schema.org structured microdata and correct minor price or stock differences on the fly.

Other policy issues include image quality violations, missing shipping costs, and editorial policy violations (such as using ALL CAPS in product titles or including promotional phrases like "Free Shipping!" inside the title or description attributes). Ensure that your product photos feature a clean, solid white background with no overlapping watermarks, promotional text, or brand logos, as these are auto-rejected by Google's computer vision filtering systems.

If your Merchant Center account gets suspended for policy violations like "Misrepresentation," take a step back and perform a full site audit. Make sure your checkout flow is secure, your return and refund policies are easy to find on the footer, you accept standard payment gateways, and your contact phone, email, and address are clear. Once these updates are complete, submit a formal appeal through the Diagnostics tab with documentation proving your business's legitimacy.

Structuring Your E-Commerce Campaign Architecture

Performance Max (PMax) Campaigns: Setup and Asset Requirements

Performance Max (PMax) campaigns are the standard for modern ecommerce advertising. PMax is a goal-based campaign type that allows advertisers to access Google's entire ad inventory—including Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Google Maps—from a single campaign interface. PMax uses advanced automation to dynamically serve ads to high-intent users, relying on a robust mix of asset groups and audience signals to find the best-performing combinations.

Setting up a high-converting PMax campaign requires preparing comprehensive asset groups. Rather than letting Google's system automatically stitch together random text and images, curate assets that match specific product categories. A complete asset group should include:

• Images: At least 3 to 5 high-resolution landscape images (1.91:1), 3 to 5 square images (1:1), and portrait images (4:5) for mobile layouts.

• Videos: At least one high-quality video in landscape format (suitable for YouTube Desktop) and one vertical video (for YouTube Shorts). If you do not provide video assets, Google will automatically generate slide-show style videos from your static images, which often look unprofessional and can hurt your CTR.

• Copywriting Assets: Up to 5 headlines (30-character limit), 5 long headlines (90-character limit), and 5 descriptions (90-character limit) highlighting unique selling points like "30-Day Money-Back Guarantee," "Premium Italian Craftsmanship," or "Next-Day Delivery."

Performance Max Asset Group Structuring Model:
├── Asset Group A: [High-Value Jackets]
│   ├── Target Products: Custom Label "High-Margin" + Brand "Harkness"
│   ├── Imagery: Studio lifestyle images of coats and jackets
│   ├── Video: 15s YouTube Shorts style showing fit and material texture
│   └── Audience Signal: GA4 "Purchased Jackets", Custom Intent Keywords ("best winter coat")
└── Asset Group B: [Accessories]
    ├── Target Products: Custom Label "Low-Weight" + Category "Accessories"
    ├── Imagery: Clean studio packshots of wallets and belts
    ├── Video: Product overview showing functionality
    └── Audience Signal: GA4 "All Purchasers", In-Market "Fashion Accessories"

To guide the PMax machine learning system early on, configure robust "Audience Signals." This is not strict targeting, but rather a starting point for Google's algorithm to understand who your ideal customer is. Populate this signal with first-party data, such as customer lists exported from your CRM (consisting of high-value repeat buyers), and "Custom Intent" segments targeting users who have searched for your competitors' brand names or high-intent keywords like "buy premium wool jacket online."

Standard Shopping Campaigns vs. PMax: Making the Strategic Choice

Choosing between Standard Shopping campaigns and Performance Max is a fundamental strategic decision for e-commerce marketers. Standard Shopping campaigns offer precise control over bids, keyword negatives, and product bidding groups. They are ideal for stores with highly targeted product categories or limited budgets ($10 to $30 per day), where every dollar needs to go toward capturing specific search terms. Standard Shopping relies on manual bid adjustments or target ROAS, allowing search query filtering through custom multi-campaign priority setups.

In contrast, PMax campaigns are highly automated, combining search, display, and video inventory to maximize conversions and ROAS. However, they lack transparency: you cannot easily see which search terms triggered your ads, nor can you easily allocate budget to specific product lines within a single campaign without splitting them into separate asset groups or campaigns. Additionally, if you run both Standard Shopping and PMax campaigns targeting the same product catalog in the same Google Ads account, PMax will almost always take priority over Standard Shopping, diverting budget to its automated channels.

For businesses starting out, a hybrid approach is often best. Use a highly optimized Standard Shopping campaign for a niche, high-priority product line to gain clean, low-cost search insights. Concurrently, deploy a PMax campaign populated with your top-performing, high-margin SKUs (segmented via custom labels) to leverage Google's cross-network automation and secure scale where conversion volume is already proven.

Search Campaigns for High-Intent Brand and Product Queries

While visual shopping ads tend to capture the lion's share of e-commerce conversions, running targeted Search Campaigns is essential to protect your market share and capture high-intent buyers. Search campaigns should be structured into two primary categories: Brand Protection and High-Intent Product Queries. A Brand Protection campaign targets your own brand name and variations. This ensures that competitors cannot bid on your brand name to steal your organic traffic, and gives you full control over the ad copy, sitelink extensions, and promotion callouts that users see first.

High-Intent Product Query campaigns, on the other hand, target descriptive, non-branded keywords where users are looking for a specific solution, such as "breathable waterproof running shoes." To maintain high Quality Scores and low average CPCs, group these campaigns into tightly themed ad groups. For instance, if you sell footwear, separate "waterproof running shoes" from "trail hiking boots" into distinct ad groups. This allows you to match the search query directly with highly relevant ad copy and a specific landing page, improving your landing page experience rating.

When drafting ad copy for Search campaigns, leverage Responsive Search Ads (RSAs). Provide up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions, incorporating dynamic keyword insertion (DKI) where appropriate to mirror the user's exact search term. Always take advantage of assets (formerly ad extensions), including Sitelinks (directing traffic to specific sub-collections), Callouts (highlighting "Free Returns" or "24/7 Support"), and Structured Snippets (listing specific product categories).

Dynamic Remarketing: Capturing Abandoned Carts

Cart abandonment rates in the e-commerce sector hover between 70% and 80%, presenting a major leak in the conversion funnel. Dynamic remarketing is a highly targeted solution designed to address this loss. While standard remarketing displays a generic brand ad to anyone who has visited your site, dynamic remarketing retrieves the exact product IDs of the SKUs a user viewed or added to their cart, and displays those specific items inside personalized ads across the Google Display Network.

The foundation of dynamic remarketing relies on passing matching parameter IDs from your storefront back to Google Ads. Specifically, your e-commerce platform's product pages must pass the @@CODE0@@ (or SKU code) via the Google Ads tag or GA4 e-commerce schema. This ID must match the @@CODE1@@ field inside your Google Merchant Center product data feed. When a customer leaves your store without completing a purchase, Google's system identifies their cookie or logged-in profile, looks up the corresponding item_id in your feed, and serves dynamic display ads featuring the product’s exact image, title, and current price.

Dynamic Remarketing Targeting Path:
[User visits Product Page with item_id: "HK-OVC-098"] 
  ──> [User abandons cart without purchase] 
  ──> [Google Ads tag registers item_id in Retargeting List] 
  ──> [User visits external site on Google Display Network] 
  ──> [Dynamic ad dynamically renders image/price for HK-OVC-098] 
  ──> [User clicks, returns to site, completes conversion]

To maximize the efficiency of your dynamic remarketing spend, segment your audiences based on where they left the funnel. Create distinct retargeting lists for "Viewed Products (No Cart Add)," "Added to Cart (No Purchase)," and "Initiated Checkout (No Purchase)." Allocate higher budgets and bid adjustments to the checkout-abandonment segment, as these users have shown the highest intent to purchase and represent your lowest-hanging fruit.

Bidding Strategies and Budget Allocation for E-Commerce

Transitioning from Manual CPC to Smart Bidding (Target ROAS)

Setting up bidding strategies is a balancing act between initial data collection and automated scaling. For brand new Google Ads accounts that lack conversion history, starting immediately with a highly restrictive Target ROAS (tROAS) bidding model can freeze the delivery of your ads. Because the machine learning algorithm has no historic data to analyze, it cannot predict which search terms or users are likely to convert, resulting in extremely low impression volume.

For brand-new campaigns, a standard practice is to start with a less restrictive strategy like Maximize Conversions or Maximize Conversion Value. This allows Google Ads to gather conversion data without bid constraints. Once your campaign establishes a consistent conversion baseline—ideally at least 30 to 50 conversions over a rolling 30-day period—you can transition the campaign to Target ROAS bidding.

When calculating your initial Target ROAS, avoid setting an unrealistic, overly ambitious target. To find your actual baseline, review your historical GA4 data and calculate your break-even ROAS using the following financial formula:

$$\text{Break-Even ROAS} = \frac{1}{\text{Gross Margin \%}}$$

If your gross margin on product sales is 50%, your break-even ROAS is $1 / 0.50 = 2$, which equates to 200%. If you set your initial campaign Target ROAS to 500% right away, you risk starving the campaign of volume. A smarter approach is to set your initial Target ROAS slightly below or right at your recent historic average (e.g., 220%), and then incrementally raise the target in small steps (10% to 15% at a time) as the algorithm successfully self-optimizes.

Setting Initial Daily Budgets to Mitigate Financial Risk

Establishing daily campaign budgets requires careful planning around product margins and cost per acquisition (CPA). Launching an e-commerce campaign with a budget that is too small can limit performance. For example, if your average product CPA is $50, setting a daily campaign budget of $10 will result in your ads running out of budget after a few clicks, meaning the algorithm may only secure a single conversion every five days. This slow feedback loop hinders the learning phase.

As an operational rule of thumb, set daily budgets for Search and Standard Shopping campaigns to at least 5x to 10x your expected CPA. If you sell a premium leather wallet with a target CPA of $20, your daily campaign budget should be configured between $100 and $200. This provides the campaign with enough daily click volume to register multiple conversions per day, allowing the bidding algorithm to quickly learn and optimize.

For Performance Max campaigns, which target multiple networks simultaneously, the system requires a larger budget runway. Deploying PMax with less than $50 to $100 per day can prolong the testing phase, resulting in a trickle of impressions and poor performance. If you are working with limited funds, consolidate your budget into a single high-priority campaign targeting your top-selling products, rather than spreading your budget too thin across multiple underfunded campaigns.

Understanding the Learning Phase of Google Algorithms

Whenever you launch a new campaign, change your bidding strategy, or make a major budget adjustment, the campaign enters what is known as the "Learning Phase." During this time, Google's machine learning systems test different placements, search queries, and audience demographics to find the best-performing conversion paths. In the Google Ads dashboard, this is marked by a "Learning" status in the Bid Strategy column.

The learning phase typically lasts between 7 and 14 days, depending on your daily conversion volume. During this period, key metrics like daily ad spend, CTR, CPC, and conversion value can fluctuate wildly. For example, your CPC might spike to double its standard rate, or your impressions might drop suddenly for 48 hours. This volatility is a normal part of the algorithmic calibration process.

Timeline of Campaign Bidding Evolution:
[Day 1-14: Learning Phase] ──> High volatility, algorithmic exploration. (Do not make edits!)
[Day 15-30: Consolidation] ──> Normalizing CPC, steady conversions appearing.
[Day 30+: Smart Optimization] ──> Transition to Target ROAS. Begin incremental adjustments.

A common mistake made by inexperienced managers is panicking during this learning window and making manual edits to bids, keywords, or asset groups. Every major adjustment resets the learning phase back to zero, keeping the campaign in a constant state of flux. To protect your spend, allow the campaign to run uninterrupted for a minimum of two weeks after launch before making any performance-based optimization decisions.

Risk Mitigation: Protecting Your Ad Spend

Developing Comprehensive Negative Keyword Lists

One of the quickest ways to waste an advertising budget is by showing ads for irrelevant, non-transactional search queries. When utilizing broad match or phrase match keywords in your Search and Shopping campaigns, Google will inevitably match your ads with informational, career, or competitor-related searches. To mitigate this risk, build a robust list of negative keywords before launching your campaigns.

To implement this efficiently, compile a global negative keyword list and apply it across all search-based campaigns. This list should exclude broad categories that indicate a lack of buying intent:

• Informational Queries: "how to," "diy," "free," "tutorial," "repair," "cheap."

• Employment & Business: "jobs," "careers," "salary," "resume," "wholesale," "manufacturer."

• Intellectual Property / Academic: "patent," "history," "definition," "research," "pdf."

Additionally, monitor your "Search Terms Report" daily during the first few weeks post-launch. Identify any irrelevant queries that slipped through your filters and immediately add them to your negative lists. If you are operating a premium e-commerce brand, exclude discount-centric phrases like "discount," "clearance," "liquidator," and "coupon" to protect your brand positioning and focus your budget on shoppers willing to pay full price.

Location and Device Targeting Adjustments

By default, when creating a new Google Ads campaign, the geographic targeting settings are set to target "People in, regularly in, or who have shown interest in your targeted locations." This setting can lead to wasted spend, as it allows Google to serve your ads to international users searching for terms related to your destination country, even if they reside outside of your shipping network.

To prevent this budget drain, change your location target setting to "Presence: People in or regularly in your targeted locations." This simple adjustment limits your ads to users physically located within your designated shipping zones, saving you from paying for clicks from users to whom you cannot ship.

Targeting Options Comparison:
[Presence or Interest] (Default - Risk of international clicks and high shipping rejects)
    vs.
[Presence: People in/regularly in] (Recommended - Locked to actual local shipping zones)

Similarly, monitor device performance under the "Devices" tab. Mobile traffic often drives the highest share of clicks but can suffer from low conversion rates if your e-commerce checkout page is not optimized for mobile devices. If your GA4 data shows a mobile cart abandonment rate that is significantly higher than desktop, apply a negative bid adjustment (e.g., -15% or -25%) on mobile devices while you work with your development team to streamline the mobile checkout flow.

Ad Fraud Protection and IP Exclusions

Ad fraud, click fraud, and bot traffic can impact campaign profitability by draining your daily budget on non-human or competitor clicks. While Google employs automated filtering systems to detect and refund "invalid clicks," proactive monitoring is still recommended for competitive e-commerce niches.

Start by monitoring your server logs for repeat, rapid-fire visits originating from the same IP subnets that yield 0-second session durations. If you identify specific IP ranges causing suspicious activity, exclude them by navigating to campaign settings, expanding the advanced options, and adding the problematic IP addresses under "IP Exclusions."

For high-volume stores, consider deploying third-party ad fraud detection platforms that integrate via the Google Ads API. These systems automatically monitor click parameters (such as device fingerprints, network latency, and behavioral patterns) and dynamically update your account's IP exclusion lists in real-time. This automated defense helps protect your budget from click-farms and botnets.

Post-Launch Operations: Monitoring and Optimization

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to Track in Week One

The first seven days following the launch of an e-commerce Google Ads campaign require close monitoring, but not premature adjustments. During this initial week, focus your analysis on leading technical indicators rather than lagging financial outcomes like ROAS. The main goal in week one is to confirm that the campaign is gathering data as expected.

Key metrics to track in the first week include:

• Impressions and Impression Share: Confirm that your ads are winning bids and serving to users. A sudden drop in impressions often points to budget constraints or overly restrictive bidding targets.

• Click-Through Rate (CTR): Measures the relevance of your ad creative and product titles. A CTR below 1% on search or 0.5% on shopping ads suggests that your product images, titles, or ad copy may need optimization to better match user search intent.

• Conversion Tracking Status: Check that conversion events are registering in Google Ads. If your shop backend reports sales from Google Ads but the platform shows zero conversions, double-check your tag implementation.

• Average Cost Per Click (CPC): Monitor your CPC to ensure it aligns with your budget projections and profit margins.

Avoid the urge to pause campaigns or adjust bids if you do not see immediate purchases in the first 72 hours. Conversions often carry a time delay (conversion lag), as users may click an ad and take several days to finalize their purchase.

Auditing Search Terms and Refining Campaign Structures

After your campaigns have run for two to three weeks, you will have gathered enough search term data to begin manual optimization. Navigate to the "Search Terms" report to see the exact queries that triggered your Shopping and Search ads. This report is a goldmine for discovering new search trends and customer pain points.

When auditing this report, look for high-converting queries that you aren't currently targeting as keywords. Add these terms to your search campaigns as exact match keywords, and create tailored ad copy to match. Conversely, look for search terms that have generated high click volume but zero conversions, and add them as negative keywords to stop the budget drain.

For your product feed, segment your products based on performance within your Shopping and PMax campaigns. You will often find a small group of "hero products" driving the majority of sales, while several "zombie products" generate impressions but no clicks or conversions. To keep your hero products from eating up your entire budget, split your campaigns using custom labels. Put your top sellers into a dedicated campaign with a higher budget, and group your underperforming products into a separate, low-priority campaign with a lower budget to give them room to convert at a more sustainable cost.