Google Shopping for Shopify:

The Definitive Guide

by Joshua Uebergang of Digital Darts

2. How Does Google Shopping Work?

And Lesser Known Ways The Channel Can Help Store Growth

The Google model of targeted advertising is appealing because it claims to cut down on waste. We need to ask how that efficiency can be brought to [the] creative process.
Jerry Della Femina, a 1960s ad executive who inspired Mad Men, refers to Google and targeted advertising in 2013 as the second golden age of advertising

Google Shopping begins in the Google Merchant Center where product data is sent. The Merchant Center is linked to a Google Ads account where campaigns, bids, and other account-level optimisations are made.

Shopping ads are different to Google search ads. For search ads, you add keywords that you want to target. A shopping ad will show if the product feed is relevant to someone’s search and the bid is high enough for a click.

Let’s look at the most common places where shopping ads appear so you can visualize what we’re working on. Your shopping ads can show in more places than a Google search result.

Where Do Google Shopping Ads Show?

You would have seen shopping ads at some point providing you’re in a country eligible for shopping ads. They appear in the following places:

Google Search

This is what most people know as Google Shopping ads. These appear next to or above search results.

Google Shopping

People go to the primary area of Google Shopping when they click the “Shopping” link from their search results.

Google Partner sites

The full list of Google Partner websites are not disclosed. Some include Google’s own image search, internal search results of websites powered by the Google search engine, and Gmail.

Google Display

Google Shopping ads on the display network most often show through remarketing ads. In more recent tests, Google has shown such ads through Partner sites when a website has advertising space accessible to Google through the Adsense network. Below you can see remarketing ads of Google Shopping products by advertiser Kogan.

YouTube

Google Shopping ads can be coupled with any YouTube video on your YouTube channel. The following screenshot has placeholder images showing where images from the product feed can appear.

Success on these channels through Google Shopping comes down to aligning your goals with your feed, bids, and other campaign optimizations. Let’s discover how to best do these for your store so you are ready to profit.

Part 1: The Power of Google Shopping Part 3: How to Profit From Google Shopping

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About the Author

Joshua Uebergang is owner and Head of Strategy of certified Shopify Marketing Expert company Digital Darts. He helps Shopify stores rapidly get more visitors and profit. At 6’9″, he plays basketball. To save your store from wasted ad spend and tap into growth opportunities, you can claim your free Google Ads audit. See the Digital Darts Google Ads service for Shopify. You can also contact us if you’re interested in working with a Google Partner and Shopify Expert on your Google Ads.