If you have an eCommerce store, then you know that driving traffic to your site is essential for success. And what better way to drive traffic than with Google Ads? Okay—the truth is, it’s just one piece of the puzzle. But it’s an important one.

If you use it correctly, Google Ads can be a powerful tool to help you grow your eCommerce business. This article will share some of our top tips and strategies for using Google Ads to drive eCommerce growth.

First, what are the benefits of using Google Ads for eCommerce stores?

The Benefits of Google Ads For an eCommerce Store

  Here are a few key ones:

• You can reach a wide audience. Google is the world’s largest search engine, so its advertising platform gives you access to a huge potential customer base.
• You can target your ads. With Google Ads, you can target customers based on things like their location, what they’ve searched for in the past, and even what type of device they’re using. This ensures your ads are being seen by people who are most likely to be interested in what you’re selling.
• You can track results. Google Ads provides detailed data on how your ads perform, so you can see which ones work well and adjust your strategy as needed.

Now that we’ve covered the benefits, let’s move on to some strategies for using Google Ads to drive eCommerce growth.

Google Ads (AdWords) for eCommerce: Our Success Strategies

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to successful Google Ads, but certain strategies tend to work well for eCommerce businesses.

These are the ones we find the most effective:

Use keyword targeting

When creating your ads, be sure to target relevant keywords potential customers are likely to use when searching for products like yours. This ensures your ad is seen by people who are interested in what you’re selling.

Bid on competitor keywords

Another great way to ensure your ad is seen by potential customers is to bid on competitor keywords. This way, your ad shows up when people search for those keywords.

Use negative keywords

These are the words and phrases that you don’t want your ad to show up for. Adding negative keywords to your campaign helps you filter out unqualified leads, so you’re only spending money on ads that are likely to result in a sale.

Create separate campaigns for each product

If you have multiple products, we recommend creating separate campaigns for each one. Then, you can track the performance of each individual product and make changes as needed.

How To Correctly Run Google Ads For eCommerce

We’ve covered some general strategies for using Google Ads; let’s get into the nitty-gritty of how to set up and run a campaign.

To begin, you’ll need to create a Google Ads account and set up your first campaign. 

Once you create your account, you’ll need to choose your ad type for your first campaign. Google offers several different types of ads, and the one you choose will depend on your goals and objectives.

Here are a few of the most popular options:

• Responsive search ads: These are the most common types of Google Ads. They’re flexible and can be customized to fit a variety of needs.
• Dynamic search ads: These are similar to responsive search ads but automatically pull their information from your website. 
• Image ads: Just as the name suggests, these are image-based ads. They’re a good choice if you want to showcase your product in action or highlight a key feature.
• Video ads: Video ads can effectively capture attention and tell a story about your brand. If you go for this option, you’ll need to create a video ad that’s between 15 and 20 seconds long.

Once you’ve chosen your ad type, you’ll create your ad. This is where you’ll include your headlines, descriptions, and images (if applicable). Again, it’s important to note that your ad needs to be relevant to your target keyword. Otherwise, likely, people will simply skip over it.

Finally, you’ll need to set your budget. Google Ads operates on a pay-per-click (PPC) basis, which means you’ll only be charged when someone clicks on your ad. You can set a daily or monthly budget, and we recommend starting small (if you’re DIYing your eCommerce Google Ads) to see how your campaign performs before increasing your spend.

Our Favorite Placements For eCommerce Using Google Ads

Placement makes a big difference in eCommerce Google Ads.

These are our favorite options:

Google Shopping Ads

Product Listing Ads (PLAs) are a great way to showcase your products and drive traffic to your website. They appear on the search results page as image-based ads and include pricing information, product reviews, and more.

To create a PLA, you’ll need to set up a Google Merchant Center account and link it to your Google Ads account. Then, you’ll need to create a product feed that includes all of the relevant information about your products. Once your feed is created, you can start creating PLAs.

Google Search Ads

Search ads are a popular option; they appear on the search results page when someone enters a relevant keyword.

With search ads, you’ll start by choosing your keywords, writing your ad copy, and deciding on your budget. You can also specify where your ad appears (e.g., on desktop or mobile) and how often you want it to be shown.

Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs)

Back to DSAs. Again, these are a type of Google ad that’s automatically generated based on the content on your website.

To create a DSA, you’ll need to set up a campaign and then create an ad group. Within the ad group, you’ll need to specify the pages on your website that you want to target. Then, Google will generate the ads for you based on the information on those pages.

YouTube Ads

As the second-largest search engine in the world, it’s no surprise that eCommerce businesses are using YouTube to reach their audiences.

YouTube and other video ads come in a handful of forms: 

• Skippable in-stream ads
• Non-skippable in-stream ads
• In-feed video ads
• Bumper ads
• Outstream ads
• Masthead ads

Performance Max Campaigns

A Performance Max campaign is a type of Google ad that’s designed to get the most out of your eCommerce budget. With this type of campaign, you’ll pay a fixed price for each sale that’s generated through your ad.

To create a Performance Max campaign, you’ll need to set up a conversion tracking pixel on your eCommerce website. This allows Google to track the sales that are generated from your ad. Once the pixel is set up, you can create your Performance Max campaign.

Remarketing Ads

Remarketing ads are designed to reach people who have already visited your eCommerce website. They work by placing a cookie on the visitor’s computer and then showing them relevant ads as they browse the web.

In this case, you’ll need to set up a remarketing list in Google Ads. This list includes the people who have visited your eCommerce website. Once the list is created, you can start creating your remarketing ads.

Google Display Network

The Google Display Network is a collection of websites that partner with Google to show ads. These websites include news sites, blogs, and eCommerce websites.

For display ads, you choose the image or video you want to use, write your ad copy, and decide on your budget. You can also specify where your ad appears (e.g., on desktop or mobile) and how often you want it to be shown.

How to Set Up Online Store Google Ads for Peak Performance?

No matter what type of eCommerce store you have, Google Ads can be a valuable tool for reaching your target audience. But before you start using Google Ads, it’s important to set up your campaigns for peak performance.

Here are eight steps to get started:

• Choose a Google campaign goal

The first step is to choose a goal for your Google campaign. For example, do you want to increase brand awareness? Drive traffic to your eCommerce website? Generate sales? Once you’ve chosen a goal, you can build your campaign.

• Define your Google campaign audiences

Next, you’ll need to define your target audience for your Google campaign. You can do this by creating buyer personas or using demographic data. This helps you create targeted ad campaigns that are more likely to reach your ideal customer.

• Select your Google Ads budget and bidding

Once you’ve defined your target audience, you’ll need to select a budget for your Google Ads campaign. You can either set a daily budget or a total campaign budget. Then, you’ll need to decide how you want to bid on your keywords. The options include cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-impression (CPM), and cost-per-acquisition (CPA).

• Add your Google Ads extensions

Google Ads allows you to add extensions to your ads, which can help improve your click-through rate (CTR). Extensions include things like callouts, site links, and call buttons.

• Setting up your ad groups

After you’ve created your ad, you’ll need to create an ad group. This is a collection of ads that share the same settings, including keywords, budget, and targeting.

• Choose the best negative keywords

These keywords, despite their name, serve a positive purpose: they help you avoid showing your ad to people who aren’t interested in what you’re selling. For example, if you’re selling women’s clothing, you might want to add “men” as a negative keyword. That way, your ad won’t be shown to people who are searching for men’s clothing.

• Craft Google Ads copy that converts

The next step is writing your ad copy. This is the text that appears on your ad, so it’s crucial to make it relevant and persuasive. Include a call-to-action (CTA) and make sure your ad reflects your eCommerce brand voice.

• Optimizing your Google campaigns

After your ad campaign is up and running, you’ll need to monitor its performance and make adjustments as needed. This includes things like changing your ad copy, adding negative keywords, and increasing your budget.

There’s no question Google Ads can be effective, but just how effective they can depend on implementing the right ads strategy. When you follow these eight steps, you can get started on the right foot. Then, from there, you can focus on growing month over month.

7 Must-Have Google eCommerce Campaigns

With that in mind, there are seven types of eCommerce Google Ads campaigns you should run to hit your growth targets:

Google Shopping Campaigns for eCommerce

These eCommerce campaigns use Google Shopping to showcase your product catalog in search results. In addition, these campaigns are feed-based, which means they require you to submit a product data feed to Google.

Google Smart Shopping Campaigns for eCommerce

Another eCommerce Google Ads campaign option is a Smart Shopping campaign. These campaigns use artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically optimize your ad spend across Google properties, including Search, Display, YouTube, and Gmail.

Here are some of the benefits of opting for this campaign type, according to Google:

• “Effortless optimization: Smart Shopping campaigns combine your existing product feed and assets into ads across a variety of networks. Google’s powerful systems test them and show the ones that perform best.

• Automatic bidding: Google automates ad placement and bidding for each ad in your Smart Shopping campaigns, bidding for maximum conversion value at your given budget.

• Easy integration: Create and manage Smart Shopping Campaigns through an integrated third-party platform (for example, Shopify or WooCommerce) for seamless marketing and tracking.”

Competitor Search Ads

Source: Google

For eCommerce businesses, a competitor search ad is one of the best Google Ads campaign types. With this campaign type, you can target your eCommerce competitors’ terms and show up in their search results.

Transactional Based Product Search Ads

If you want to drive sales on your eCommerce website, then you should consider running a transactional-based product search ad. This campaign type is designed to showcase your products when people are ready to buy.

Branded Google Shopping Campaigns for eCommerce

These eCommerce Google Ads campaigns are similar to regular Shopping campaigns but specifically designed to showcase your brand. To create a branded Shopping campaign, you’ll need to submit a product data feed to Google that includes your brand name.

Display Ads for eCommerce

Source: Google

These eCommerce Google Ads campaigns use the Google Display Network (GDN) to show your eCommerce ads on websites and apps. You can use GDN to reach people who have visited your website in the past or who are similar to your best customers.

Google Retargeting Ads for eCommerce

Finally, you should consider running eCommerce retargeting ads on Google. These campaigns allow you to show ads to people who have visited your website or app and people who are similar to them.

How To Optimize Your Google Shopping Ads for eCommerce

Now it’s time to talk about optimizing your Google Shopping Ads for eCommerce using manual CPC to help you gain more of the search impression share. This eCommerce Google Ads strategy helps you focus on the search terms that are most vital to your business and convert them into revenue. 

Step 1: Review your historic search data volume

To get started, you’ll need to review your historic search data volume to find the terms that generate the most revenue for your eCommerce business. Once you have this information, you can create three Shopping campaigns with different priorities: high, medium, and low.

Step 2: Set up three shopping campaigns with campaign priority 

Then, it’s time to focus on campaign priority. Here’s a quick explanation from Google:

“When you have the same product in multiple Shopping campaigns, you can determine which campaign should participate in the auction for that product with campaign priority. Your campaigns already have a priority: Low. But you can change this priority to Medium or High. These priorities determine the bid for any product that the campaigns share.”

Step 3: Create negative keyword lists

Finally, you’ll need to create negative keyword lists to funnel traffic to the correct ad groups. This eCommerce Google Ads strategy ensures people who are searching for terms that aren’t relevant to your business won’t see your ads.

How To Scale Your eCommerce Google Ads 

Last but not least, it’s time to focus on how you can scale your eCommerce Google Ads. To do that, we recommend paying particular attention to the following:

Target ROAS campaign goals

This eCommerce Google Ads bidding strategy is all about focusing on return on ad spend (ROAS). ROAS is a measurement of the revenue you’re generating for every dollar you’re spending on ads.

Here, Google explains how it works:

“Using Google Ads Smart Bidding, this bid strategy analyzes and intelligently predicts the value of a potential conversion every time a user searches for products or services you’re advertising. Then, it automatically adjusts your bids for these searches to maximize your return on them.

In practice, this means if the bid strategy determines that a user search is likely to generate a conversion with high value, Target ROAS will bid high on that search. If this bid strategy determines that the search isn’t likely to generate a high-value conversion, it’ll bid low. Your bids are automatically optimized at auction-time, allowing you to tailor bids for each auction.”

Increase budget

As you start generating more revenue from your eCommerce Google Ads, you’ll need to increase your budget to scale your campaigns.

To do that, we recommend using the following eCommerce Google Ads strategy:

Start by allocating a certain percentage of your total sales to your Google Ads budget. For example, if you’re generating $10,000 in sales per month, you might want to allocate 10% of that, or $1,000, to your Google Ads budget.

Then, as you generate more revenue from your eCommerce business, you can increase that percentage. So, for example, if you’re now generating $20,000 in sales per month, you can increase your Google Ads budget to 15% of that, or $3,000.

Target Impression Share

Another eCommerce Google Ads strategy that can help you scale your campaigns is to focus on Target Impression Share. Target Impression Share is a setting in Google Ads that allows you to control how often your ads are shown. This isn’t right for every eCommerce business and it only includes the Google Search Network.

Product Segmentation

To scale your eCommerce Google Ads, you’ll also want to segment your products so you can create targeted campaigns. Product segmentation is the process of dividing your products into groups so you can market them more effectively.

Customer Match For Remarketing

Finally, we come to customer match, a PPC remarketing strategy you don’t want to overlook. With customer match, you can upload a list of customers (or potential customers) to Google and then show them targeted ads.

Google shares some examples of the audiences you can target with Customer Match:

• “On the Search Network and the Shopping tab, you can optimize your campaigns by adjusting your bid based on what you know about your customers’ activities.
• On Gmail, you can reach your customers or new potential customers with similar interests using personalized ads at the top of their inbox tabs.
• On YouTube, you can reach new segments by targeting segments similar to your most valuable customers.
• On Display, you can reach your customers or new potential customers with similar interests using personalized ads on the Google Display Network.”

Conclusion

With all of this eCommerce ads information in mind, you should have everything you need to start scaling your campaigns. Just remember to focus on ROAS, increase your budget, target impression share, segment your products, and use customer match for remarketing. Do all of that, and you’ll be well on your way to growing your eCommerce business!

Easier said than done, though, right? That’s where we come in. Give the eCommerce PPC experts at Blue Water Marketing a call today, and we’ll help put all of these tips into action.