Google Shopping Tutorial: Organic and Ads
You who have an e-commerce, how are your ads on Google Shopping?
At this point, I probably don’t need to tell you that Google Shopping is fully integrated into Google’s search experiences, especially the ads.
Not running ads on Google Shopping is no longer an option. The question is understanding which products and keywords you should create campaigns for. And that’s what we’re going to cover today in this article.
But another question: how is your organic performance on Google Shopping?
Google Shopping has an entire ecosystem that many store owners end up ignoring because they think it’s too complicated to get into.
But here’s a tip: it’s not difficult at all. In fact, it’s actually quite easy.
Today’s article is a tutorial-style one: we’re going to understand how to create Google Shopping ads, how to set up products organically, and discuss keywords a little more.
Are you ready?
The Basics: What is Google Shopping?
This is the most basic part of the article, where we’ll cover the fundamentals of what Google Shopping is.
If you’re already familiar with it, I suggest moving ahead with the reading. The tutorial starts in the next section, okay?
If you don’t know what Google Shopping is or what Google Shopping ads are, do a quick exercise with me: go to Google and search for “Ramones t-shirt.”
Right at the top of the SERP—the name given to the search results page—you’ll see a series of ads for that keyword.
These are Google Shopping ads. But notice that our search was for a keyword with purchase intent—we searched directly for the product name.
If we search only for “Ramones,” the results are quite different:
In other words, Google Shopping ads are ads that display e-commerce products when someone searches directly for a product.
Google’s AI determines the difference.
But there’s another dimension to Google Shopping: the dedicated shopping search platform.
For every search, you can select the “Shopping” tab directly in the search engine. Clicking on it, you’ll see only products when performing any search:
It’s basically an entire Google dedicated solely to product searches. And, as such, there are also ads displayed within Google Shopping itself, as you can see below:
These ads work the same way—sponsored products appear above organic results.
Notice that the same ads appeared both in the regular SERP and in the Google Shopping SERP.
On the Google Shopping platform, users can apply filters related to their product.
Color and brand are the standard filters. But depending on the search, other specific information related to the product’s characteristics appears—such as closure style, fabric material, etc.
So there you have it: that’s Google Shopping. To wrap up this explanation, here’s a quick FAQ covering the platform’s functionality—both for ads and organic listings.
Is Google Shopping Paid?
It used to be paid, but not anymore.
Any e-commerce business can display its products on Google Shopping for free. And also run ads with their products through Google Shopping without paying any extra fees.
This change happened in 2020. Before that, an additional subscription was required to operate in this format.
Do I Need a Website to Advertise on Google Shopping?
Yes, you need a website to advertise on Google Shopping.
The same goes for displaying organic results in the Google Shopping tab. Purchases are not completed on Google; users must click on the ad and go to your website.
How to List a Website on Google Shopping?
We’ll go over the process throughout the article, but you’ll need a Google Merchant account.
Google Merchant is the platform you’ll use to register your products. Meanwhile, Google Ads is the tool you’ll use to create your ads.
Do I Need a Google Ads Account to Advertise on Google Shopping?
Yes, you must be registered on Google Ads to advertise on Google Shopping.
It’s not possible to create Google Shopping ads on any other platform. This includes both the ads and the organic efforts within the Shopping tab.
How Are Product Information Registered on Google?
To list a product on Google Shopping, you need to submit a standardized XML file that meets Google’s requirements.
You can check the full list of data attributes at this link. But here’s a quick rundown below:
Product data attributes:
- Basic product information
- Price and availability
- Product category
- Product identifiers
- Detailed product description
- Shopping campaigns and other settings
- Marketplaces
- Destinations
- Shipping
- Taxes
This is the bare minimum to start understanding what Google Shopping really is.
But as we’ll see throughout the tutorial, advertising or listing your products on Google Shopping isn’t complicated.
The most important thing for running ads is having an initial understanding of Google Ads. If you don’t have that, I recommend reading some articles on the topic over at the Leadster blog:
➡️ What is Google Ads and How to Advertise on It
➡️ Google Search Network: What You Need to Know to Get Started
➡️ How to Generate Leads with Google Ads Using Customized Chatbots
The first article will give you a solid understanding of how Google Ads works overall. That’s enough to grasp nearly everything we’ll discuss here about the platform.
The other articles expand on that knowledge, and they’re also worth reading.
That said, now let’s talk about how to list products on Google Shopping. And then, how to use those listed products to create your ads.
Shall we?
How to List Products on Google Shopping? Using Merchant Center
The process of listing products on Google Shopping is straightforward.
The first step you need to take is registering on Google Merchant Center through this link.
It’s very easy to complete this initial login. Just go to the website and click on the button in the top right corner:
If you already have a login for Merchant Center or Google Ads, click “Sign in” to use the same account.
If you don’t have an account, click “Get Started.”
You’ll notice that the first piece of information Merchant Center asks for during registration is your website. If you don’t have a website, you can’t sell on Google.
The second step is configuring your store in Merchant Center. These are basic questions, such as your store name, country of operation, etc. Everything is quite intuitive and straightforward.
Once your account is created, you’ll have access to the Google Merchant dashboard:
What you’ll need to do here is register your products. To do this, click on the “Products” tab in the left menu, then select “All Products.”
You’ll see a button with a + sign. This is the button you need to click to add a new product:
There are two ways to add these products.
In the first, simpler method, you manually input all the necessary information for the product to be displayed on Google.
We’ve already listed them earlier in the article, but here’s a quick reminder:
- Basic product information
- Price and availability
- Product category
- Product identifiers
- Detailed product description
- Shopping campaigns and other settings
- Marketplaces
- Destinations
- Shipping
- Taxes
All this information is requested through easy-to-fill fields:
This is also the page where you will insert both the landing page and the product image.
The landing page is the page that will open when a user clicks on your product to make a purchase.
There are some restrictions for images:
- Images not related to clothing or accessories: must be at least 100 x 100 pixels;
- Images of clothing or accessories: at least 250 x 250 pixels;
- No image larger than 64 megapixels;
- No image larger than 16 MB.
This is the manual way of adding your products. However, those who work with very large e-commerce stores may struggle with this—it’s too many products to add one by one.
In this case, you can add your products using an XML file that compiles all this information.
It’s not too difficult, but you may encounter some challenges at certain points. Use this link for guidance.
How to Create an Ad on Google Shopping Using Google Ads?
Well, as we’ve seen, in just a few steps and a few minutes, you’ll have your Google Shopping account up and running.
Adding products is simple, but their approval by Google may take a little time—one or two days at most.
With this account created and at least one product already listed in the Merchant Center, it’s time to create your first ad on Google Ads using Google Shopping.
This is also much easier than it seems. Google Shopping campaigns rely heavily on Google Ads’ AI, so your configuration options are quite limited.
Basically, you can only choose a conversion goal and nothing else.
So let’s get started. Open Google Ads, go to the “Campaigns” tab, and click the + button to create a new campaign.
Then, click on “Create a campaign without a goal” to manually choose from the available campaign types.
Next, select “Google Shopping Campaign.”
After that, you’ll need to link your Google Merchant account with your Google Ads account.
The information you need is the numbers that identify your account. These are always displayed at the top of Google Merchant.
An email request will be sent to the account owner, and once authorization is granted, you’ll be ready to create your campaign in Google Ads.
The next step is to choose between the two campaign models you can create:
Smart Campaign: Uses Google Ads’ AI and the data you collect throughout your ad strategy to automatically define most strategies.
Standard Campaign: Allows you to choose the products you want to advertise, the bidding strategy, the budget, and targeting.
Among the available bidding strategies, you will have the same options as in Google Ads: Maximize Clicks, Target ROAS, and Manual CPC.
In our article on the Search Network, we discuss these bidding strategies in depth.
To finalize, simply set your total budget, and you’re done!
Notice that you can’t configure anything about the ad—not the creative, not the copy, nothing.
All this information is pulled directly from Google Merchant.
Is It Worth Advertising on Google Shopping?
There is no doubt that advertising on Google Shopping is crucial for any e-commerce business today.
The proof is right there: search for any product name and see for yourself.
But what happens when your customers arrive at your site? And what if they have questions?
This is where Leadster’s ShopBot comes in. It’s our Generative AI-powered chatbot that can answer your customers’ questions in real-time—without menus or pre-programmed choices.
It’s like chatting with a support agent—one that can assist thousands of people simultaneously and is trained with all the information about your products.
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