Google Shopping Ads 
2020 was a crazy year but there is room to grow and scale shopping ads for many brands.
After working on more shopping ad audits then you can shake a stick at. Here are 8 areas that brands need to work on if you can not scale or hit ROAS goals.

2020 was a crazy year but there is room to grow and scale shopping ads for many brands.

After working on more shopping ad audits then you can shake a stick at. Here are 8 areas that brands need to work on if you can not scale or hit ROAS goals.


No matter how much Google says it. Brands & agencies continue to not touch the shopping feed. It's boring and painful work but it's the work your competitors won't do.
You can not campaign structure your way out of a sub-par shopping feed.
If your agency or internal team is not working on your shopping feed. Find someone else to work on it.
Working on your shopping feed is like going to sports practise. You can not always correlate the value of that work. Come game day, you will be glad you did practise.
Working on your shopping feed is like going to sports practise. You can not always correlate the value of that work. Come game day, you will be glad you did practise.

IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE IN 2021. MAKE SURE YOUR SHOPPING FEED IS THE BEST IT CAN BE.
P.S. If you want to rank in free listings, you need that shopping feed firing on all cylinders.
P.S. If you want to rank in free listings, you need that shopping feed firing on all cylinders.

Even when brands have a decent shopping feed. They miss out going beyond the basics...especially fashion/clothing brands.
Age, Gender, Colour, Size, Pattern, and Material are all attributes that should be in your shopping feed.

If your SKUs have a GTIN or you sell 3rd party SKUs. Make sure your feed has that GTIN on lockdown. Otherwise, your performance can be knocked to tier 2 status via Google.
The difference we have seen in performance with and without having a GTIN in our feed, tells us that if you got.
Add it to your shopping feed like your ROAS depends on it...because it does.
Add it to your shopping feed like your ROAS depends on it...because it does.

Use the breadcrumbs on your site to figure out how to organize your Product Type attribute.
Sounds simple but brands either don't use or it looks like a teenagers bedroom. A mess that needs to be cleaned up.

Even if you got everything above right. Custom Labels can take your shopping feed up a level.
We tag SKUs based on sale/exclusive items or do tiered pricing. Custom labels are available at the Product Groups level in Google ads.
Custom Labels by Price Point Tiers
Under $20
$20 – $40
$40 – $60
$60 – $100
$100 – $250
$250 – $500
$500 – $1,000
$1,000+
Our base framework and then customize for each brand.
Under $20
$20 – $40
$40 – $60
$60 – $100
$100 – $250
$250 – $500
$500 – $1,000
$1,000+
Our base framework and then customize for each brand.
If I had to pick between working on the shopping feeds vs shopping campaigns....
I will always pick the shopping feed first. Do the work most are not willing to do.
I will always pick the shopping feed first. Do the work most are not willing to do.

If you got them on your product description page (PDP). Pull them in and used them on your shopping campaigns.
Google's tech reads images but this is a backup. You want to have all the attributes above covered.
Now that your shopping feed is looking 100% better and you have all the basics covered.
Lets talk about shopping campaigns because Google's tech is selling you a sizzle and that steak is still under cooked. You can not trust Google as much as they want.
Lets talk about shopping campaigns because Google's tech is selling you a sizzle and that steak is still under cooked. You can not trust Google as much as they want.

Don't have just one shopping campaign. If you sell multiple 3rd-party brands or have hundreds of SKUs. Putting them in 1 shopping campaign is choking your performance.
Figure out which brands or SKUs sell day in and day out and make up the majority of your revenue.
Those are the SKUs that need to have their own shopping campaign.
Like a keyword that sucks up all the budget in an ad group but never reaches its full potential.
Those are the SKUs that need to have their own shopping campaign.
Like a keyword that sucks up all the budget in an ad group but never reaches its full potential.
Breaking SKUs out helps you scale ad spend but also control your budget and ROAS.
Google can also better understand your business if your best and worse performing SKUs have their own campaigns.
Google can also better understand your business if your best and worse performing SKUs have their own campaigns.
Plus if you only had one shopping campaign and were limited by budget. If you did increase your ad spend...
Which SKUs are going to get your increased budget? Hell if I know if everything is in one campaign.
Which SKUs are going to get your increased budget? Hell if I know if everything is in one campaign.

It's not an either or with standard vs smart shopping campaigns. We run both in client accounts 95% of the time.
It's a question of which SKUs get which shopping campaign type. With tight margin SKUs, we generally like those in smart shopping.
That is it.
Go forth and make your shopping feed and ads better.
You got 11 months left in 2021.
Go forth and make your shopping feed and ads better.
You got 11 months left in 2021.