Standard shopping

What is a Shopping Campaign?

A Shopping campaign lets you promote your products on Google.

Instead of just showing text ads, Shopping campaigns show:

  • Product images
  • Price
  • Business name
  • Other details

These ads appear in Google Shopping results and help users see your products before they click.

Shopping campaigns give you more control than free product listings. You can track performance, adjust bids, and reach the right customers.

How do I link Google Merchant Center?

Google Merchant Center (GMC) stores your product data.

To run a Shopping campaign, you must link your Merchant Center account to Google Ads.
Steps:

  1. Sign in to Google Ads
  2. Go to Tools & Settings → Linked accounts
  3. Choose Google Merchant Center
  4. Select the account you want to link

After linking, Google Ads can access your products for your campaign.

How to create a Standard Shopping Campaign

Follow these simple steps:

1. Start your campaign

  • Go to Google Ads → Campaigns → + New campaign
  • Choose a goal: Sales, Leads, Website traffic, Local store visits, or no goal
  • Select Shopping as your campaign type

2. Select your Merchant Center account

  • Choose the Merchant Center with the products you want to advertise
  • If no accounts appear, link your Merchant Center first

3. Name your campaign

  • Give it a clear name so you can find it later

4. Set your budget and bidding

  • Daily budget: How much you want to spend each day
  • Bidding type: Choose your strategy (Manual CPC or Smart Bidding)
  • Total budget (optional): Set a limit for the whole campaign
  • Customer acquisition: Choose if you want to bid for new customers only
  • Campaign priority: Decide which campaign to show if the same product is in multiple campaigns

5. Choose locations

  • Limit where your ads appear
  • Use local inventory ads to promote products in physical stores

6. Additional settings (optional)

  • Start and end dates for your campaign
  • Campaign URL options for tracking
  • Networks: Google Search Network, Search partners

7. Create your first ad group

  • Enter ad group name
  • Set ad group bid (if using Manual CPC)
  • Choose product groups to decide which products to advertise

8. Review and publish

  • Check all your settings on the summary page
  • Click Publish campaign

After publishing

  • Monitor your campaign in Google Ads
  • Use the Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool to see if your ads are running
  • Adjust bids, budgets, or product groups as needed

Tips for success

  • Make sure your product feed is complete and up to date
  • Include good images, clear titles, and accurate prices
  • Use Smart Bidding for best results
  • Track performance and optimize regularly