Checklist for When Your Shopify x Google Ads Performance Declines

Google Ads is a tool that many Shopify merchants rely on. This article provides a checklist for merchants experiencing declining Google Ads performance — a set of things to verify before diving into complex analysis.

The checklist introduced here focuses primarily on reviewing fundamental Google Ads settings. When these basics are not properly in place, ad delivery tends not to go as intended. Trying to fine-tune budgets or creatives in that state will not lead to constructive improvements.

Use this article as a reference to review your Google Ads settings.

For a comprehensive guide to setting up Google Ads with Shopify from the ground up, please refer to the article below.

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Review Your Conversion Settings

Before analyzing data or refining creatives, verify that conversions are being measured correctly. If conversion tracking is not working properly, optimization cannot proceed effectively. Even when a specialized agency or support company is involved, measurement issues are surprisingly common.

Tracking Tag Setup

Google Ads conversion tracking can be configured either by importing conversions from GA4 (Google Analytics 4) or by setting it up directly within Google Ads. GA4 conversions only allow attribution windows of 30, 60, or 90 days, so if you want a custom window, you need to configure it on the Google Ads side.

To measure conversions via Google Ads, you need to install the Google Tag and an event snippet on your store. For Shopify, the Google Tag should be placed directly in the theme or via Google Tag Manager, while the event snippet for purchase completion events must be set up using Shopify's Custom Pixels. Event snippets can also be configured via the additional scripts on the order status page, but this method is now deprecated and will likely become unavailable in the future.

Setting this up via Custom Pixels is somewhat complex, but we recommend using Google Tag Manager as a reference in this article (Free Shopify Enhanced Conversion Tracking Pixel For Google Ads + Micro Conversions).

Conversion Goal Setup

Verify that the correct conversion goal is set for each campaign. If your objective is to drive purchases, set purchase completion as the conversion goal. While micro-conversions can be useful when conversion volume is low, be aware that spam clicks can distort the data.

Bidding Strategy

Choosing between Maximize Conversions and Maximize Conversion Value will affect how ads are delivered. For stores with a wide range of product price points, clarify whether you want to increase the number of conversions or increase total revenue.

If you select Maximize Conversions while selling free products (such as catalogs) or very low-priced items, the optimization will skew toward purchases of those products. Choose between Maximize Conversions and Maximize Conversion Value based on what each campaign is designed to achieve.

Re-check Conversion Value and ROAS

In the Google Ads reporting interface, ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) is calculated as Conversion Value / Ad Spend. When multiple actions are set as conversion goals for a single campaign, the Conversion Value column will display the combined total of all those actions.

For example, if you have both a GA4 purchase event and a Google Ads event snippet purchase set as goals, a single purchase will generate two conversion values, making the reported ROAS appear roughly twice the actual figure.

To view ROAS accurately, break down conversion value by individual conversion action.

Review Your P-max Settings

P-max (Performance Max) is a campaign type where Google automatically optimizes delivery through machine learning. However, getting the most out of it requires careful initial configuration.

Audience Signals

Make sure to set up audience signals. Since audience signals serve as hints to help P-max determine which audiences to target, we recommend connecting your Shopify customer purchase data. Using Klaviyo makes this integration automatic.

Including customer data from people unlikely to purchase as audience segments or signals will introduce noise, so limit the data to customers who have actually purchased or loyal customers (those with many repeat purchases).

Asset Groups

If you have a large number of products and collections, organize asset groups by product category and create ad copy and listing groups tailored to each asset group. You may also create audience signals specific to each asset group.

By setting ad copy, listing groups, and final page URLs for each asset group, you can create ads that resonate more effectively with your target customers.

Listing Groups

Beyond simply dividing listing groups by asset group, it is also effective to narrow them down to products that tend to sell well through ads. Many stores have products that are more likely to be purchased by first-time buyers versus products that tend to be purchased on repeat visits.

When targeting new customer acquisition through ads, use custom labels to filter for products that are frequently purchased on a first visit and create a listing group from those.

Sometimes products that do not need ad exposure — such as accessory items or products created for optional services — end up being served. Create a listing group that excludes those products from delivery.

Analyze Search Results to Understand User Intent

Search results reflect customer needs. Since you can search freely at no cost, make the most of them. The following are items you should absolutely check.

• Competitor ads
• Suggested keywords and related searches
• Universal search elements

Competitor Ads

Look at competitor ads to understand who they are targeting and what message they are conveying. Reload the search a few times with the same keyword to see variations of the ads. An ad appearing at the top position can be interpreted as Google judging it to be well-aligned with the search intent.

Suggested Keywords and Related Searches

Suggested keywords and related keywords can also provide useful hints. They allow you to identify what derivative needs exist around a given search query.

Suggested keywords and related searches now come in a wide variety of formats.

Universal Search

Universal search elements such as maps, images, videos, and knowledge panels also reflect hints about user intent. The presence of a map result suggests that a certain number of users are looking for a physical store; the presence of image or video slots indicates that many users want to see the appearance or movement of a product. Of course, the specific content and elements within the universal search results are also important signals.

Search results offer many more hints. Be sure to take advantage of them.

Review Your Audience Data

In both Google Ads and Google Analytics, you can analyze purchase trends broken down by customer attributes such as age, gender, and interests. Data about such customer characteristics is referred to as audience data.

Reviewing delivery volume, revenue, and ROAS by customer attribute can serve as a clue for identifying audiences that are a strong fit for your products.

By leveraging Shopify customer data, you can identify first-purchase products with high LTV (Lifetime Value) as well as the customer attributes associated with specific purchased products. Compare that data with Google Ads audience data to verify whether the products most likely to be purchased are being served to the customers most likely to buy them.

If delivery is not performing well, adjust segments, keywords, and creatives to move toward a state that is more likely to drive revenue.

Leverage the Google Ads and Google Analytics Integration

Linking Google Ads with Google Analytics allows you to use audience data obtained from Google Analytics in your advertising. Audience analysis and audience data integration are extremely powerful features, so we strongly recommend connecting the two.

Once connected, you can create audience lists based on behavior within your Shopify store — such as users who added items to the cart, or men aged 25 to 34 who visited via an ad — and use those lists for targeting in Google Ads.

Use Custom Labels When Integrating Shopify with Google

Many Shopify merchants take advantage of Google Shopping Ads. Shopify allows you to connect with Google Merchant Center and Google Ads directly from the Shopify admin, making the typically time-consuming process of syncing feed data much simpler.

When creating integration data between Shopify and Google, setting up Custom Labels will be useful for adjusting bids within Shopping Ads. Custom Labels allow you to categorize "product groups" in Google Shopping Ads.

Separating products into groups enables you to set different bids, audiences, and negative keywords for each group. Try labeling products with Custom Labels such as high-margin / low-margin, or men's / women's / unisex to optimize your campaign management.

Add Reviews to P-max and Shopping Ads

To maximize performance with Google Shopping Ads, it is important to incorporate reviews into your ads. To display reviews, you can either use a Shopify app from a Google-certified review aggregator such as Yotpo or Stamped, or enroll in the product ratings program and upload a product data feed containing reviews to Merchant Center.

Incidentally, Judge.me — a widely used review app for Shopify — has a built-in feature that generates a review feed for Google Shopping.

Use Supplemental Feeds for P-max and Shopping Ads

While the Shopify and Google Merchant Center integration is convenient, it does not support customizations such as using a different product image than the first one, or trimming unnecessary parts of a product title.

There are currently two solutions. The first is to register a supplemental feed in Merchant Center via a Google Spreadsheet. This approach works, but keeping the spreadsheet updated can be tedious.

The second option is to use the Multiple Google Shopping Feeds app to send a supplemental feed to Google Merchant Center. You connect to Merchant Center using the app as shown below.

Configure settings for each field you want to sync. You can also set up custom conditions.

If you have a small number of products, the Google Spreadsheet format works fine too — use whichever method suits you best.

Run Local Ads If You Have a Physical Store

When users search Google, Google Maps, or YouTube while on the go, you can serve ads that direct them to your physical store or display in-store inventory availability within the Shopping ads slot. This is worth considering for stores that also operate a brick-and-mortar location.

To make the most of local search, managing your Google Business Profile is essential. If a store has few reviews or a low rating when it appears in an ad, customers will be less likely to choose it. Make a point of asking customers for reviews during in-store interactions.

Running Google Ads at Full Execution with StoreHero

StoreHero supports merchants who are struggling to grow their Shopify sales by driving thorough execution of growth initiatives.

For Google Ads, StoreHero uses its growth platform to automatically generate feed data based on individual product and SKU performance and inventory data, as well as audience data based on customer purchase history and attributes. This enables granular operations that would be difficult to achieve manually, and supports continuous growth through large-scale execution of initiatives.

We are currently offering a free store diagnosis. If you have challenges with Google Ads or growth initiatives in general, please contact us. Learn more about the free store diagnosis here

Summary

We introduced a checklist for when your Shopify x Google Ads performance declines.

Not just for Google Ads but for Facebook Ads and other channels as well, correctly configuring the fundamental settings in line with your growth strategy is becoming increasingly important as machine learning and AI continue to advance. We hope this checklist serves as a useful reference.

We have also published other articles related to Google Ads, so please check them out if you are interested.

We hope you find it helpful.

Beyond Google Ads, StoreHero helps merchants build a system for continuous growth by introducing automation and workflows across the entire sales process — including customer acquisition through advertising and social media, CRM, Shopify store optimization, and inventory management — supporting operations on the ground.

If you are interested in working together on Shopify x growth with StoreHero, please reach out.