Shopping Ads Campaign Structure

Introduction

Shopping Ads are structured differently from Search and Display Ads but follow a similar hierarchy of campaigns, ad groups, and ads in Google Ads.

However, modern Shopping Ads prioritize automation and machine learning, especially with Standard and Smart Shopping Campaigns, and later Performance Max (PMax) for cross-channel growth.

Before we dive into structuring your campaigns, we’ll discuss the two types of dedicated Shopping campaigns—Standard and Smart—and how to organize them for startups testing Google Ads with limited resources.

Campaign Types

There are two primary types of dedicated Shopping campaigns for startups to start with, each offering different levels of automation and control. Later, you can transition to PMax for expanded functionality:

Standard Shopping Campaigns

• Overview: Standard Shopping Campaigns offer a balance of control and automation. You create product groups (e.g., by category, brand, or custom labels) to manage bids and budgets, using Smart Bidding (e.g., Target ROAS, Target CPA) for optimization.
• Best for: Startups wanting to test specific products or target markets (e.g., premium lawn mowers in the U.S.) with some manual oversight. You can exclude underperforming products, adjust bids per group, and refine targeting (e.g., locations, devices).
• Automation: Leverage Smart Bidding and Broad Match to optimize dynamically, but you can manually refine product groups, negative keywords, and targeting for flexibility.
• Reach: Focus on Google Search and the Shopping tab only.
• Complexity: Requires moderate setup (e.g., product group creation), but provides control for beginners testing Shopping Ads.
• Recommendation: Start here to validate product performance and learn from data before scaling.

Smart Shopping Campaigns

• Overview: Smart Shopping Campaigns are fully automated, optimizing across Google Search, the Shopping tab, and the Display Network using machine learning to maximize conversions or ROAS. You set a goal (e.g., Target ROAS 300%) and let Google handle bidding, targeting, and placements.
• Best for: Startups with limited time or resources, or those with 50+ products wanting hands-off optimization after proving profitability with Standard campaigns. Smart Shopping simplifies management but offers less control over specific products or placements.
• Automation: Relies very heavily on Google's algorithm.
• Reach: Extends to the Display Network for broader awareness, but not YouTube or Gmail unless integrated into Performance Max later.
• Complexity: Easier to set up (no product groups), but less flexible for manual adjustments, making it better for later scaling after Standard campaign testing.
• Recommendation: Transition to Smart Shopping after 30–60 days of profitable Standard campaign performance for increased automation and expanded reach.

Performance Max with Shopping

After proving profitability with Standard or Smart Shopping Campaigns (60+ days, CPA ≤$50, ROAS ≥300%), transition to PMax to integrate Shopping Ads with Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Discover for cross-channel growth, brand awareness, and remarketing. PMax automates further, requiring only asset uploads and a goal, but start with a dedicated campaign for control and learning.

Ad group types

In Standard Shopping Campaigns, you organize products into product groups (not traditional ad groups) to manage bids and targeting. Smart Shopping Campaigns don’t use product groups, relying on full automation. Here’s what to know:

Product groups (Standard Shopping):

These are the core structure for Standard campaigns, grouping products by category, brand, item ID, or custom labels (e.g., “Premium Lawn Mowers,” “Eco-Friendly Tools”) from your Google Merchant Center (GMC) feed.

Clicking a product group ad sends users directly to the product page, showing visual listings with images, prices, and ratings.

Product Groups are great because they let you group related products together, allowing bid adjustments (e.g., +20% for premium items) and exclusions (e.g., low-margin products).

We recommend using 1–3 product groups per campaign initially, such as:

• All products
• Premium dog food
• Premium cat food

No ad groups in Smart Shopping or PMax:

Smart Shopping Campaigns and PMax don’t use product groups or ad groups—Google optimizes all products dynamically, requiring only a goal and budget.

Tip: Focus on Standard campaigns first for control, then automate with Smart or PMax later.

How to structure your account

The number of Shopping campaigns and product groups you need depends on your business size, product variety, and budget. For startups testing Google Ads, start simple and scale strategically:

Campaigns

Create a new Shopping campaign for these cases, starting with Standard campaigns:

• Multiple countries and languages: If you sell worldwide and offer different localized languages, then use separate Standard campaigns for each country-language combination.
• Different target ROAS or budgets: Create separate Standard campaigns for products with varying profitability (e.g., premium lawn mowers at 400% ROAS, budget tools at 250% ROAS) to control budgets and bids.
• Mix of Standard and Smart: Run one Standard campaign to test the account and one Smart campaign (after proving profitability).

Avoid overcomplicating with multiple campaigns unless you need tight control.

Product groups (Standard Shopping)

Create new product groups within Standard campaigns for these cases:

• Product categories or brands: Segment by category (e.g., “Lawn Mowers,” “Garden Tools”) or brand (e.g., “GreenThumb Mowers”) for organizational clarity and bid management.
  • Example: One product group for “Premium Lawn Mowers” and another for “Basic Garden Tools.”
• Custom labels: Use GMC custom labels (e.g., “High-Margin,” “Seasonal”) to group products for bidding or exclusion, refining based on performance.
• Performance optimization: Adjust bids per group (e.g., +20% for high-margin items) to prioritize profitability, monitored after 30 days.

Start with 1–3 product groups per Standard campaign to test performance, scaling to more as data and budget allow.

Account Structure Examples

Here are modern examples of Shopping campaign structures for startups, focusing on Standard campaigns first and noting PMax expansion later:

Example 1: Sell to the U.S. and Canada (English), full account

Assume you sell landscaping equipment to U.S. and Canada English speakers, testing with a $2,000–$5,000/month budget. Start with Standard campaigns, then scale:

• Shopping – Standard – U.S.-EN:
  • Product group 1: Premium Lawn Mowers
  • Product group 2: Garden Tools
  • Product group 3: Accessories
• Shopping – Standard – CAN-EN:
  • Product group 1: Premium Lawn Mowers
  • Product group 2: Garden Tools
  • Product group 3: Accessories
• Shopping – Smart – U.S.-EN (after 60 days of Standard profitability):
  • All products, fully automated for broader reach on Search and Display.
• Shopping – Smart – CAN-EN (after 60 days):
  • All products, automated for efficiency.
• PMax expansion (later): After 90+ days of profitable Standard/Smart campaigns, create a PMax campaign integrating Shopping Ads with Search, Display, and YouTube, targeting all products.

Example 2: Sell to the U.S. (English), break by product category

Assume you sell just to U.S. English speakers, testing 3 products (uPhone, oPad, eWatch) with tight control, starting with a $1,000–$3,000/month budget:

• Shopping – Standard – uPhone – U.S.-EN:
  • Product group 1: uPhone Devices
• Shopping – Standard – oPad – U.S.-EN:
  • Product group 1: oPad Tablets
• Shopping – Standard – eWatch – U.S.-EN:
  • Product group 1: eWatch Wearables
• Shopping – Standard – U.S.-EN (General):
  • Product group 1: All Products (optional, for broader testing).
• Shopping – Smart – U.S.-EN (after 60 days of Standard profitability):
  • All products, automated for efficiency on Search and Display.
• PMax expansion (later): After 90+ days, create a PMax campaign for all products, expanding to Display, YouTube, and Discover.

Okay let's actually set the campaign up.