Google Shopping ads are a great way to promote your physical products and your online shop. They offer a range of flexibility depending on how much time you have to work on them and the amount of knowledge and experience you have. You can even get limited advertising for free!
Today we’ll take a look at how beginners can get started with Google Shopping ads, and some of the different options available to you.
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What are Google Shopping Ads?

Google Shopping ads are those advertisements that show up at the top of Google search and include details of items for sale, including an image, price, and other relevant information. You’ll see them in regular search pages as well as on the Shopping pages and on Image Search. You may also see them on the Google Display Network, Search Partner sites, YouTube, and price comparison apps. They appear when a user searches for a phrase that indicates they may be interested in buying an item – either now or in the near future.Although mostly used for online sales, Shopping ads can also be utilised for sales at brick-and-mortar stores too. So wherever you sell, this guide will be useful.
How to Set Up Shopping Ads: Google Merchant Centre

1. Create an account
The first thing you need to do to start using Shopping ads is to set up a Google Merchant Centre account. This is where you will add all the product details that Google will then use to create your ads and display them to the right people.To start, head to Google Merchant Centre. If you already have an account with any other Google services, such as Gmail, select Sign In and enter your login details. If you’re completely new to Google, click Get Started and create an account. Either way, follow the simple instructions for the initial set up.2. Add business and shipping details
Although you will have entered some basic business details when you first signed up, you’ll need to enter some more information now, including business address and contact number. You should also provide information about shipping (such as where you’re able to deliver items).3. Verify and claim your website
For security, you’ll need to confirm that you own your website by adding your web address, and then choosing one of the verification methods. There are numerous ways of verifying, such as receiving a code to a business email address, or adding code to your website.4. Add products and product feeds
There are several ways you can add products to Merchant Centre. The one that requires the least amount of technical skill is to simply create a spreadsheet (either on Google Sheets or another programme), add all the information, and upload it directly to Merchant Centre. This is best used only if you have a small number of products, and be aware that you will have to manually update the spreadsheet and re-upload it every time there is a change to a product.The better way is with direct API integration. This is where Merchant Centre connects directly to your store and takes the required information directly, updating whenever your site is updated. If you use a popular store like Shopify or Woocommerce, then this functionality is already built in.Once the product integration is set up, you will have a primary feed, which is where, in most cases, all of your products will be stored. You should only need additional feeds if some of your products don’t meet Merchant Centre’s data and eligibility requirements.Integrating with Google Ads

Creating a Shopping Ad
You can take advantage of both paid and free listings with Shopping ads, and there are advantages and disadvantages to each option.Free ads don’t cost you anything. They’re perfect if you’re just starting out and want to get to grips with the system and learn a few things before committing to any kind of spend. However, you will get limited visibility and paid ads will get the prime positions.Paid ads include some kind of spend, which can vary vastly depending on your budget. If your ads aren’t well set up, then you could end up losing a lot of money without much gain. However, if you optimise your listings and make good choices, you can benefit from better ad positions, a wider range of advertising locations, and higher click-through rates.If you’re keen to set up paid Shopping ads but nervous about managing them, then get in touch to find out how I can help.1. Set up tracking
Before you start using Shopping Ads, you should set up tracking on your site. Use the code provided by Google Ads or Google Tag Manager. Without this, you won’t be able to see how well (or badly) your ads are doing, and so you can’t make improvements or demonstrate their success.Without tracking, some advertising options won’t be available in Shopping ads.2. Set up a free Shopping ad
To sign up for free listings, you just need to enter the data as described in How to set up Shopping Ads: Google Merchant Centre. To double-check you’re fully signed up, select Free listings from the left menu and look for a validation message.If you don’t see the validation, check again that you’ve entered all the required information.
3. Set up a paid Shopping ad
Paid ads need a little bit more work, but exactly how much will depend on your preferences.From the left menu, select Ad campaigns, then Create a campaign. You will be given the option to go directly to Google Ads to use more advanced features, or you can remain on Google Merchant Centre and stick with some basic options.If you stay on Merchant Centre, just follow the basic instructions to set up your ads.If you’re using Google Ads, click + Create, then Campaign, then select your main goal. Sales, Leads, and Website traffic goals all allow Shopping campaigns, or you can select create a campaign without a goal’s guidance.Select your conversion goals – you will need tracking set up to use these – then next.When selecting a campaign type, there are a couple of options.