It’s that time of year when PPC advertisers start feeling the heat of the busy shopping season.

So we’ve put together a comprehensive guide that will help you understand all aspects of running ecommerce campaigns with Google Ads, from choosing the right campaign type to creating campaigns and ads, as well as best practices for optimizing and managing them effectively.

Before we dive in, let’s take a step back and understand why Google Ads is a popular choice for many PPC advertisers.

Why use Google Ads for your ecommerce businesses?

Google Ads has long been a go-to for ecommerce brands and for good reason. It gives you access to potential customers across Google Search, Shopping, YouTube, and a massive network of partner sites.

And now, with placements showing up in things like AI Overviews, the competition for attention is getting even tougher.

What sets Google Ads apart is how targeted you can get. You’re not just casting a wide net; you’re reaching people based on what they’re searching for, what they care about, and how they behave online. That means your ads show up for the people most likely to buy.

It’s also flexible. You only pay when someone clicks, and you can adjust your spend based on what’s working and what your goals are.

In addition, Google Ads provides analytics that allows you to track the performance of your campaigns and see what’s working and what’s not. This data can be used to optimize your campaigns and improve results over time.

But while Google Ads makes it easy to get started, scaling campaigns profitably, especially across large product catalogs and dynamic markets, requires more than Google’s native tools. That’s where Optmyzr comes in, giving ecommerce advertisers the automation, feed control, and budget intelligence that Google doesn’t provide out of the box.

Running campaigns is just the start. Staying profitable, especially during busy seasons, takes a smart setup. You’ll need to choose the right campaign types, manage budgets with intention, and build in ways to keep reaching the right audience, even after they’ve clicked.

Read on to learn about it, from campaign types to budget strategies, audience targeting, and more.

Types of Google Ads campaigns for various objectives

In Google’s vast ad ecosystem, there’s a campaign type for nearly every channel. From Search and Shopping to YouTube, Gmail, and beyond.

Each has its place. But in ecommerce, it’s not just about picking the right type. It’s about managing them at scale. When you’re juggling hundreds of SKUs, multiple feeds, and dynamic budgets, it can quickly become overwhelming to manage.

Let’s walk through the main campaign types and what they offer, then we’ll zoom in on how to use them strategically for ecommerce growth.

Search Campaigns

Search campaigns are the most common type of Google Ad campaigns. They appear in Google’s search results when users look for specific keywords.

Advantage: Search campaigns are a great way to target audiences who are already interested in your offer, as they are actively searching for it. However, as your product catalog grows, so does the number of ad groups and keywords you have to manage.

Display Campaigns

Display campaigns allow you to show your ads across the Google Display Network on websites and apps.

Advantage: Display campaigns are an excellent way to reach a wider audience and build brand awareness. But they are less intent-driven and harder to control at the conversion level.

Shopping Campaigns

Shopping campaigns allow you to show your product listings in the Google Shopping tab and other search results.

Advantage: Shopping campaigns are a great way to drive traffic to your website (ecommerce store) and increase sales. It is important to have a consistent feed hygiene and repeatable processes when you’re managing SKUs, inventory, and product data at scale.

Local Campaigns

Local campaigns allow you to promote your business in Google Search results and Google Maps.

Advantage: Local campaigns are a great way to reach potential customers looking for businesses like yours in their area. However, they may not be as relevant for online only ecommerce businesses.

Performance Max Campaigns

PMax campaigns use machine learning and automation to optimize your ads for all of Google’s channels, including Search, Display, YouTube, and more.

Advantage: Performance Max campaigns are a good option for businesses that want to reach a broad audience and achieve business goals with a single campaign.

Discovery Campaigns

Discovery campaigns allow you to show your ads in the Google Discover feed. It’s the personalized content that users can see on Google Search, the Google app, and YouTube.

Advantage: Discovery campaigns are great for reaching audiences who are already interested in topics related to your business.

There’s more to Google Ads, but for now, we’ll get into campaign types specific to ecommerce: Search, Standard Shopping, and Performance Max.

Search Campaigns

Google Ads search campaigns involve bidding on specific keywords and displaying text ads on Google’s search engine results pages (SERP). Advertisers can tailor these ads to include additional information like prices, reviews, and images through ad extensions.

Search campaigns are often where ecommerce brands start. They capture high-intent shoppers right when they’re searching. But as your product catalog grows, so does the complexity. Managing keywords, budgets, and performance at scale takes more than a basic setup.

Where Do Search Ads Appear

• Google Search results pages: When people search for keywords relevant to your ecommerce business, your ads may appear above or below the organic search results.

• Google Display Network: Your ads can also appear on websites and apps across the Google Display Network. This includes websites like YouTube, Gmail, and popular news and entertainment websites.​​​​​

Source: Google Ads

Google Shopping: If you have a Google Merchant Center account, you can show your product listings in the Google Shopping tab and other search results.

Source: Google Ads

Ad Formats for Search Ads

• Text ads: Text ads are the most common type of search ad. They consist of a headline, description, and display URL.
• Product ads: Product ads are a type of search ads specifically designed for merchants. They include a product image, price, and title.

Search Ads Bidding Strategies

There are a variety of bidding strategies that you can use for your search campaigns. The best bidding strategy for you will depend on your ecommerce business goals and budget.

Some of the most common bidding strategies include:

• Target cost-per-click (CPC): With target CPC bidding, you set the maximum amount you are willing to pay for each click on your ad.
• Maximize conversions: With maximize conversions bidding, Google automatically sets your bids to get as many conversions as possible within your budget.
• Manual CPC: With manual CPC bidding, you set your bids for each keyword individually.

Standard Shopping Campaigns

Standard Shopping campaigns give you more hands-on control over how your products show up across Google. You can manage everything from product groupings to bids and negative keywords—making it easier to shape performance around your ecommerce goals.

They help you promote product listings across the Shopping tab, Search results, and more, driving traffic to your store and supporting sales growth.

Where Do Shopping Ads Appear

• Shopping tab: The Google Shopping tab is a dedicated page on Google where users can browse and compare products from different merchants.

• Search results pages: Shopping ads may also appear above or below the organic search results when people search for relevant keywords for your products.
• Display Network: Your shopping ads can also appear on websites and apps across the Google Display Network.

Source: Marcel Digital

Ad Formats for Standard Shopping Campaigns

Standard Shopping campaigns include Shopping Ads and Local Inventory Ads.

• Shopping Ads: Shopping Ads show detailed information about your products, including product images, prices, titles, and descriptions, on Google Search and other Google properties.
• Local Inventory Ads: These are a type of Shopping Ad that shows your products in stock at your local stores.

Read More: The Complete Guide to Product Feed Optimization

Standard Shopping Campaign Bidding Strategies

Standard Shopping campaigns allow for automated strategies like Target ROAS and Maximize Clicks, as well as manual CPC.

• Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend): When you use Target ROAS bidding, Google Ads will automatically set bids to help you get as many conversions as possible within your budget while also trying to meet your ROAS target.
• Maximize Clicks: With Maximize Clicks bidding, Google Ads will automatically set bids to help you get the most clicks possible for your budget, regardless of your conversion rate.
• Manual CPC: Manual CPC bidding gives you the most control over your bids, but you’ll need to monitor your performance closely and adjust your bids as needed.

Performance Max (PMax) Campaigns

The buzz about Performance Max campaigns is all about its ability to use machine learning to optimize your ads for all of Google’s channels, including Search, Display, YouTube, and more. This campaign type uses robust automation across various aspects of the campaign, including bidding, budget optimization, audiences, creatives, and attribution.

Where Do PMax Ads Appear

Performance Max ads can appear in the following places and also automatically adapt to new inventory and formats:

• Google Search results pages
• Google Display Network
• YouTube
• Gmail
• Google Maps
• Discover pages

Ad Formats for Performance Max Campaigns

PMax offers a wide array of ad formats, including:

• Shopping Ads
• Display Ads
• Text Ads
• Video Ads
• Responsive Search Ads

Performance Max Campaigns Bidding Strategies

Performance Max uses automated bidding strategies like Maximize Conversion Value and Maximize Conversions. And with automated bidding, Google automatically sets your bids to get as many conversions as possible within your budget.

This is where tools like Optmyzr’s Shopping Analysis come in. You can break down PMax performance by product attributes like brand, category, or custom labels, giving you insights Google doesn’t show natively. You’ll know which segments are pulling their weight and which ones might be eating spend.

Additional Features of Performance Max Campaigns

PMax has some additional features that can be helpful for both lead generation and ecommerce campaigns, including

• Audience signals: This feature allows you to target your ads to people likely to be interested in your products or services. For example, if you’re selling shoes, you could target your ads to people recently searching for “shoes” or “shoe stores” online.
• Final URL expansion: This feature allows you to show your ads on a broader range of Google properties, including websites, apps, and YouTube. This can help you reach more potential customers and increase your chances of getting conversions.
• New customer acquisition goals: PMax allows you to set new customer acquisition goals in two modes:
  • New Customer Value mode: This mode allows you to bid higher for new customers than for existing ones. It is a great way to boost your overall revenue and attract new customers.
  • New Customer Only mode: This mode allows you to focus your efforts on acquiring new customers only. This is a good option if you have a special offer for first-time buyers or are more interested in generating leads than making direct sales.

Speaking of leads, it’s important to know how to use Google Ads campaigns to generate leads and drive sales for ecommerce businesses. While lead generation and sales are crucial parts of any ecommerce strategy, there is a difference between the two.

By understanding the different campaign types and targeting options available, you can create campaigns tailored to your specific business goals.

Let’s look at how you can approach Google Ads differently for lead generation and sales in ecommerce campaigns.

Google Ads for Lead Generation vs. Ecommerce Sales

When creating a Google Ads campaign, it is essential to first define your goals.

Are you looking to generate leads, drive sales, or increase brand awareness? Once you know your goals, you can choose the right campaign type and targeting options.

When leveraging Google Ads, the strategic goals include:

• Encouraging immediate customer purchases.
• Gathering valuable leads through engaging sign-up mechanisms.
• Boosting website traffic to amplify brand visibility.

Lead generation attracts and converts new potential audiences and prospects into someone who has indicated interest in your company’s product or service. A lead is a person who has shown some interest in what you have to offer but hasn’t yet become a customer.

Sales is the process of converting leads into paying customers. It involves building relationships with leads, understanding their needs, and persuading them to buy from you.

Google Ads can be used for both lead generation and sales. However, there are some key differences between the two types of campaigns.

Now, let’s get into how you can optimize the three main ecommerce campaign types (Search, Shopping, and PMax) differently for lead generation goals.

• Use ad extensions: Ad extensions can provide additional information about your business and make your ads more appealing to potential customers. Some useful ad extensions for lead generation include call extensions, site link extensions, and lead form extensions.
• Use landing pages optimized for lead generation: Your landing pages should be designed to capture leads. This means that they should have a clear call to action and a form that people can fill out to submit their contact information. You should also ensure that your landing pages are relevant to your target keywords.
• Use lead qualification: Lead qualification is the process of identifying and prioritizing leads that are most likely to convert into customers. You can use lead qualification to identify leads that are a good fit for your business and are more likely to be interested in your products or services.
• Use lead nurturing campaigns: Nurture campaigns are a great way to stay in touch with potential customers and move them closer to purchasing. You can use nurture campaigns to send potential customers educational content, special offers, and event invitations.

Now that we understand what options you have in terms of Google Ads campaigns for ecommerce, let’s look at how to create the three types of Google Ads ecommerce campaigns - Search, Standard Shopping, and Performance Max.

How to Create Search Campaigns

Here is a step-by-step process of creating search campaigns in Google Ads:

• In your Google Ads account, click the plus button (+) and select New Campaign.
• Select your advertising objective. This is the goal you want to achieve with your campaign. For example, you can increase website traffic, generate leads, or drive sales.

• Select the campaign type. For a search campaign, select Search.

• Set your budget and bidding strategy. Your budget is the maximum amount of money you will spend on your campaign daily. Your bidding strategy determines how much you will pay for each click on your ad.

• Create your ad groups. Ad groups are groups of related keywords and ads. For example, you might have one ad group for your product or service name and another for related keywords.

• Add keywords to your ad groups. Keywords are the words and phrases people are likely to search for when looking for what you have to offer.
• Write your ads. Your ads should be relevant to your keywords and encourage people to click on them.

• Review your campaign, click Save, and continue.

Once you’ve created your search campaign, it will go through a review process. Once your campaign is approved, it will start running, and your ads will appear in search results.

How to create Standard Shopping Campaigns

The steps to create a campaign remain the same until choosing the type of campaign. In this case, you select “Shopping” as your campaign type.

From there on, the steps are as follows:

• Select your product feed. Your product feed is a file that contains information about your products, such as their titles, descriptions, prices, and images.

• Set your budget and bidding strategy.

• Review your campaign, click Save, and continue.

After completing these steps, your Google Ads Shopping campaign will be set up and ready to go live. Review and monitor the campaign’s performance regularly for any necessary adjustments.

How to create a Performance Max campaign

• Select the Performance Max campaign type.

• Set your budget and bidding strategy.

• Select your conversion goals. Conversion goals are the actions you want people to take on your website after clicking on your ad, such as purchasing or signing up for your email list.

• Add your ad assets. Ad assets are the different elements of your ad, such as your headlines, descriptions, images, and videos.

• Review your campaign, click Save, and continue.

Once you’ve created your Performance Max campaign, it will first go through a review process. After your campaign is approved, it will start running, and your ads will appear in search results and other Google channels, such as Display, YouTube, and Maps.

Remember, creating a campaign is just the beginning. Running successful ecommerce campaigns is all about testing, monitoring, and making optimizations based on your results. Once you have a good understanding of what’s working and what’s not, you can start to implement more advanced strategies like remarketing.

Remarketing for Google Ads Ecommerce Campaigns

Remarketing is a powerful way to reach people who have visited your website or interacted with your brand. Today, however,, it’s less about “following” users around and more about using your data intentionally to stay relevant.

With third-party cookies disappearing and AI playing a bigger role in ad targeting, your remarketing strategy needs to lean on first-party data, thoughtful segmentation, and creative that’s built to convert.

How to use remarketing strategically in ecommerce

• Segment based on buying intent, not just pageviews:
  Don’t treat all site visitors the same. Someone who viewed your return policy has a different intent than someone who added to the cart. Set up separate lists and customize messaging accordingly.
  
• Rebuild trust with high-expectation shoppers:
  With an increasing number of brands using AI-generated product comparisons and offering endless deals, remarketing is your chance to stand out with value props, delivery confidence, or unique perks. Lead with what makes you different.
  
• Use time-based windows wisely:
  If you have customers who have abandoned their carts, the first 24 hours is all about reaching out and hitting them with urgency. Or if you have lapsed buyers from over 3 months, a good idea would be to reintroduce them to what’s new or trending currently.
  
• Protect your budget with exclusions:
  Always layer in audiences like recent purchasers or high-return customers so you’re not wasting impressions on people who are unlikely to convert again soon.
  
• Let automation assist, but don’t go blind:
  Google’s audience expansion tools can be powerful, but they often blur the line between remarketing and prospecting. Use Custom Segments and Customer Match when possible to keep your targeting focused.

By using remarketing to target people who have already shown an interest in your products, you can increase your chances of converting them into customers.

In addition to remarketing, there are several other best practices that you can follow to improve your Google Ads ecommerce campaigns. We have curated five tips from expert PPCers in the industry, and some valuable articles and user guides by Optmyzr.

5 Best Practices For Successful Ecommerce Google Ads Campaigns

Showcase your best products

Put the spotlight on your top-selling products. They’re the winners for a reason. Give them catchy titles, descriptions, and eye-catching images or videos to attract more buyers. Allocate a good chunk of your budget to these rock stars.

Learn more about it here.

Set smart bids and budgets

Figure out your bidding strategy based on your profit margins and conversion rates. Smart bidding can be a game-changer, but keep an eye on it to ensure it works for your specific goals.

Check out Freya Laskowski’s advice on our recent blog here.

Keep out the irrelevant clicks

Use negative keywords to filter out searches that don’t match what you’re selling. Regularly review search terms to keep your ads from showing up where they shouldn’t.

Read Nicholas Woodward’s article on 5 effective strategies for negative keywords and how to use them in ecommerce PPC campaigns.

Create an optimization schedule

Optimization is the key to any campaign’s success, but it can be difficult to keep track of your campaigns and ensure they perform optimally, especially if you’re operating on a larger scale. That’s where a Google Ads optimization schedule can help. It helps you track your progress and make data-driven decisions.

Here’s a great article by Andrew Lolk on Google Ads optimization schedule.

Track your performance to optimize for success

Tracking your ecommerce website’s performance is essential for optimizing your Google Ads campaigns. And setting up conversion code is the key to unlocking valuable insights into your website’s behavior.

Check out Hukum Negi’s tip on using Google Ads conversion code.

We have another great resource for you to help you through this year’s ecommerce campaign management. Check out this PPC Town Hall episode on how to stand out in eCommerce advertising featuring Duane Brown and Andrew Goodman, who have been running top-quality eCommerce campaigns for years and helped brands exponentially grow revenue and smash prior financial records.

Streamline Your Ecommerce Google Ads with Optmyzr

Running ecommerce Google Ads can be a handful. It demands constant fine-tuning and attention to ensure your campaigns are at their prime. But there’s no need to stress. With Optmyzr, managing your ecommerce campaigns is a lot easier and more efficient.

Here are some of Optmyzr’s top tools and features to support you at every stage of your ecommerce campaign management journey.

Tools for creation

Shopping Campaign Builder 2.0

Structure your active shopping campaigns by creating multiple levels of product partitions through a single click. You can create hundreds of ad groups with thousands of product groups in a matter of minutes.

Shopping Campaign Builder 2.0 makes building Shopping or PMax campaigns easy based on performance. For example, you can group products with similar ROAS performance and set more targeted bids and budgets, leading to improved performance overall. And it helps you manage your campaigns more effectively by making it easy and quick to identify and address any low-performing campaigns.

Know more here.

Restructure Shopping Campaigns Tool

With this tool, you can restructure your shopping campaign groups created through Shopping Campaign Builder 2.0. You can also restructure campaigns not part of a campaign group created through Optmyzr.

Know more here.

Tools for performance analysis and optimization

Shopping Analysis

The Shopping Campaign Analysis tool from Google Ads is a powerful tool for getting insights into your Shopping and Performance Max campaigns. It allows you to aggregate data from your shopping feed by performance metrics and attributes, regardless of your campaign structure.

Know more here.

Shopping Feed Audits

These audits help you identify opportunities for enhancing your shopping and PMax Retail campaign structure and organization. For example, you can:

• Identify product groups or listing groups that contain too many products. You can split them further for better management and targeting.
• Identify shopping campaigns without any negative keywords.

Know more here.

Alerts for monitoring

• Set up Feed alerts to stay informed about any feed issues causing product disapprovals.
• Employ the Alert Management System or Rule Engine for performance and budget alerts.

Know all about alerts here.

Tools for managing bids

Shopping Bidder Tool

The Shopping Bidder lets you make bulk bid changes for product groups based on performance with a single click. The tool enables you to set bids for thousands of product groups in a matter of minutes. New bids can be uploaded to AdWords with a single click.

Know more here.

Shopping Attribute Bidder

Manage your shopping bids in a more flexible way by aggregating and reviewing data from the attributes in your product feed. For example, you could change bids for product groups advertising the same product but with different attributes like size and color.

Know more here.

Stay on top of your Google Ads ecommerce campaigns with Optmyzr

Managing successful ecommerce Google Ad campaigns is an ongoing process that requires constant experimentation, testing, data analysis, and strategic thinking. It’s also important to be adaptable and willing to refine your campaigns based on changing market conditions and business goals.

And Optmyzr, with its array of solutions, helpful resources, and support team, is always there to assist you.

Not an Optmyzr customer yet? Thousands of advertisers — from small agencies to big brands — worldwide use Optmyzr to manage over $5 billion in ad spend every year.

Sign up for our 14-day free trial today to give Optmyzr a try. You will also get the resources you need to get started and more. Our team will also be on hand to answer questions and provide any support we can.