To run Shopping ads, your products have to reach Google through Merchant Center, and Merchant Center has to be linked to Google Ads. Here's the order to do it in for a Shopify store, and what to have ready.
Shopping ads are the product ads with a picture, a price and your shop's name that show at the top of Google's results. For an online store, they're often the best place to start with Google Ads, because the ad is the product itself.
If you've never run Google Ads, the setup can look like a maze of accounts. It's three pieces, set up in a fixed order.
The short version
- Merchant Center holds your products. Google Ads runs and pays for the ads. Your shop sends products to Merchant Center.
- On Shopify, the Google & YouTube app connects all three.
- Have your shipping costs, return policy and contact details on your site before you start. Merchant Center checks them.
- Set up conversion tracking before your first ad runs, or you won't know what the ads sell.
What you need first
- A Google account that you'll use for both Merchant Center and Google Ads.
- A Google Ads account with billing set up. Ads can't run without a payment method.
- Clear shop pages. Shipping costs and times, a return policy, contact details and a secure checkout. Merchant Center reviews your site, and missing information is a common reason products get disapproved.
- Good product data. Titles that say what the product is, real photos, correct prices and stock, and product identifiers such as GTINs where you have them.
Step 1: Install the Google & YouTube app
Install the Google & YouTube app from the Shopify App Store and connect your Google account. The app can create a new Merchant Center account or link an existing one. The Google login you use must be an admin of that Merchant Center account.
In the app, choose your target country and language, and set up shipping.
Step 2: Let your products sync
Products sync automatically, and changes in Shopify sync to Google. Shopify is the source: what you change in Shopify overwrites Merchant Center, so make product changes in Shopify.
Then open Merchant Center and check the products. Fix anything marked as disapproved or limited before you spend money on ads.
Step 3: Link Google Ads
From the app's overview, connect your Google Ads account. The Google login must be an admin of the Google Ads account too. Then check in Merchant Center that the link to Google Ads is active.
Step 4: Set up conversion tracking
The app can install the Google tag and create a purchase conversion action in Google Ads. Check that it records a test purchase, and that you only have one primary purchase action. See Primary vs. secondary conversions.
Without tracking, Google can't learn which products and searches sell, and you can't tell whether the ads pay off.
Step 5: Create the campaign
You can start with Standard Shopping or Performance Max.
- Standard Shopping shows your products in Google's search results and the Shopping tab, and gives you more control over which products get the money.
- Performance Max shows your products across Google's channels from one budget, and relies more on Google's automation and your conversion data.
With no sales history yet, many shops start small, with a budget they can afford to test, and widen it once they see which products sell. See How to test non-brand search on a small budget for the same thinking applied to search.
Selling in the US from Europe
Merchant Center lets you choose any country where Shopping ads run and you can ship to. Show prices in the local currency, and make sure shipping costs, delivery times and returns for that country are on your site. Comparison shopping services (CSS) only exist in the EEA, Switzerland and the UK, so in the US your ads always run through Google Shopping.
How Bavian handles it
Bavian connects to Google Ads and Merchant Center. Once both are linked, it plans your Shopping campaigns and builds them when you start Autopilot. You confirm the target market and the daily budget.
