Step-by-Step Guide to Connecting Shopify with Google Ads: P-Max, Search Campaigns, and Demand Generation

This article is a comprehensive guide for Shopify merchants on how to connect Shopify with Google Ads and get your campaigns live. We walk through the setup steps for Google Ads P-Max, Search campaigns, and Demand Generation campaigns. Each step is explained clearly so that even Shopify merchants who are new to Google Ads can follow along easily.

At StoreHero, we leverage our proprietary growth platform to support business growth through highly granular operations and large-scale execution of initiatives that would be impossible to manage manually. If you're struggling to grow sales on Shopify, feel free to reach out. =>Download our free service introduction materials here

Connecting Shopify with Google

First, use the Google & YouTube app to link Shopify with Google Merchant Center, Google Ads, and Google Analytics.

Setting Up Conversion Tracking

Next, configure your conversions. For Google Ads conversion tracking, you can either import conversions from GA4 or set them up using the Google tag.

If you choose to track conversions directly in Google Ads rather than importing from GA4, you'll need to install the Google tag and event snippet on your store. For Shopify, the Google tag can be added directly to your theme or via Google Tag Manager, and the purchase completion event snippet should be set up using Shopify's Custom Pixels. While the event snippet can also be placed in the additional scripts on the order status page, this method is now deprecated.

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

Improving Your Feed

Shopify provides metafields for Google Ads feeds (such as age group, color, size, and condition). You can register these in bulk using Matrixify or through a feed customization app. Filling in as many fields as possible will improve the accuracy of your ad delivery. Each feed attribute has its own rules, so be sure to follow them when registering data.

One feed customization app, Multifeed Google Shopping Feed, is useful when you want to create feeds in multiple languages for a single store or when you want to optimize your feeds.

In Google Ads, you can use the custom labels field in your feed data to group products. You can use labels such as high-margin products, sale items, and priority products to create separate listing groups, link them to P-Max asset groups, or adjust bids by product group.

Audience Data Integration

You can sync Shopify customer data to Google Ads customer lists via CRM tools such as Klaviyo.

By syncing customer lists, you can use them as audience segments for Search and Shopping ads, or as audience signals for P-Max campaigns.

Including customers who are unlikely to purchase in your audience segments or signals will add noise, so it's important to limit your audience to actual buyers or loyal customers (those who make repeat purchases).

If your loyal customer data alone is too small, you might also try identifying customers with similar attributes and behaviors as potential customers, tagging them in Shopify, and syncing them to Google Ads as well for broader audience targeting.

GA4 and Google Ads Audience Integration

If you identify high-conversion-rate events on your site, you can use GA4 to create Google Ads audiences from customers who triggered those events.

Use Google Tag Manager to fire events that occur during the purchase consideration phase (site search, add to wishlist, video plays, etc.), collect them in GA4, and review the number of event triggers and purchase rate per event. If you find high-CVR events, try integrating them as audiences.

In Google Ads Audience Manager, select Google Analytics when creating a new audience.

On the next screen, connect the target Google Analytics property and you'll be taken to the GA4 audience creation interface. Once you create the audience, it will be added to Google Ads Audience Manager.

Structured Markup

Google Merchant Center reviews your products, and if the price in your feed data differs from the price on your product page, your product will fail the review.

Occasionally, crawlers may misread prices on product pages, causing review failures. Structured markup helps prevent this from happening.

You can verify whether your structured markup is correctly implemented using a schema markup validation tool.

Implementing structured markup itself is straightforward using the Structured Data Markup Helper tool.

Researching Competitors' Ads

While Meta's Ad Library lets you view competitors' ads, Google Ads also allows you to see other ads from a specific company by clicking the three dots near a live ad. Use competitor ads as a reference to craft ads that effectively communicate your own brand's appeal.

Using search analytics tools enables even deeper analysis. For example, a tool like Ahrefs aggregates not only competitors' search ad keywords and ad copy, but also estimated traffic figures. Keywords and ad messaging that competitors are focusing on are likely to have strong CPA and ROAS. If you're just starting a new search campaign, this data is an invaluable reference.

Campaign Setup by Type (P-Max, Search, Demand Generation)

Once you're ready to run ads, proceed with the campaign setup. The configuration process differs by campaign type. Here we cover the setup for P-Max, Search, and Demand Generation campaigns.

P-Max Campaigns

P-Max is an ad format in which Google Ads uses machine learning to optimize delivery across multiple placements in order to achieve your campaign goals. The placements include:

• Google Search
• Display
• YouTube
• Gmail
• Discover
• Google Maps

Creating a Campaign

Select your campaign goal. For P-Max, the available goals are Sales, Leads, Website traffic, and Store visits and local actions.

Also configure the campaign's conversion goals. Selecting irrelevant conversions will prevent proper optimization, so choose the conversion goal you most want to maximize.

Bidding

Configure your bidding strategy. Choose what to optimize for (conversion value, conversions, etc.), your target ROAS, and the priority level for new customer acquisition.

A higher target ROAS is not always better. Setting an unachievable target will limit your delivery, so be careful. Also, if your store has a wide range of product prices and you choose to maximize conversions, the algorithm may skew toward lower-priced items. Choose whether to maximize conversion value or conversion volume based on your objectives.

Although it's not a setting within Google Ads itself, it's also a good idea to define thresholds for increasing or decreasing your budget based on performance, as well as an exit criterion — i.e., a performance level at which you would pause the campaign.

Location, Language, Auto-Created Assets, and Other Settings

Configure your target locations, languages, auto-created assets, and other settings.

Auto-created assets is a feature that automatically customizes ad assets and landing pages based on context.

Enabling "Text assets" under auto-created assets allows Google to customize ad creatives using your landing page content and configured assets when it expects performance improvements. Enabling "Final URL" causes the campaign's final URL to be replaced with a more relevant landing page based on what the user is searching for. When "Final URL" is enabled, you can also set URL exclusions.

Under additional settings, you can also exclude brands — for example, preventing your ads from showing to users who are searching for Amazon.

Asset Groups

P-Max campaigns don't have ad groups; instead, they use asset groups. Each asset group can contain a listing group, assets, and signals. Multiple asset groups can be linked to a single P-Max campaign.

If you have a large product catalog, or if you want to run ads with different targets or messages within a single P-Max campaign, use asset groups to separate them. I personally tend to organize asset groups along the following lines:

• Item category
• Price point
• Bestsellers
• Sale items
• Staple products
• New arrivals

Listing Groups

You can segment listing groups to align with your asset groups. Listing groups can be created by individually selecting products or by automatically assigning them based on product categories, custom labels, and more.

Just as important as deciding which products to include in a listing group is configuring which products should not be shown in ads — such as accessories, gift wrapping, or items close to selling out.

By making good use of custom labels, you can manage listing groups more efficiently.

Assets

For assets, set up the final URL, ad headlines, images, logos, videos, and more to align with each asset group. Configure your assets in a way that clearly communicates the appeal of your products.

Refer to the official guide for recommended banner and logo sizes and character limits for ad copy.

Signals

P-Max signals work differently from targeting in other campaign types. While targeting restricts who sees your ads, signals act as hints that guide Google Ads in finding the right audience. By adding information about customers likely to purchase as signals, Google Ads uses that data as a clue to find promising delivery targets.

Beyond the preset options in Google Ads such as age, gender, and interests, we recommend syncing your Shopify customer data with Google Ads and using it as audience signals. Segmenting customers by buyers, repeat buyers, male/female buyers, etc. — aligned with each asset group — makes the data easier to leverage.

Budget

Finally, set your budget to start delivery. Google will suggest a recommended budget, but adjust it according to your own budget.

Exclusion Settings

While P-Max previously had limited exclusion options, more exclusion settings have been added over time. The following types of exclusions are now available:

• Location & language: campaign-level
• Brands: campaign-level
• Keywords: campaign-level (register via request form)
• Content: account-level only

Search Campaigns

Google Ads Search campaigns display ads on the search results page when users search for specific keywords on the Google search engine. You set keywords and show ads that match those keywords to reach potential customers.

Creating a Campaign

First, as with P-Max, configure the campaign's conversion goals. For Search campaigns as well, choose the conversion goal you most want to maximize.

Bidding

Next, configure your bidding strategy. As with P-Max, choose what to optimize for (conversion value, conversions, etc.), your target ROAS, and the priority for new customer acquisition.

One difference from P-Max in bidding is that Search campaigns support manual bidding in addition to automated bidding. Automated bidding has Google automatically adjust bids to hit your target ROAS or target CPA. Manual CPC, one of the manual bidding strategies, lets you set a maximum CPC at the ad group or keyword level.

Combining Manual CPC with Enhanced CPC enables the system to bid above the maximum CPC when a click appears likely to convert.

If your Google Ads account doesn't yet have sufficient conversion data, switching directly to automated bidding can cause erratic behavior. Consider using Manual CPC first to accumulate learning data before making the switch.

Ad Rank

In Google Ads, a higher bid does not guarantee that your ad will be shown. Ad placement is determined by Ad Rank, which is calculated based on the following six factors, with higher-ranked ads being shown first:

• Bid amount
• Ad and landing page quality
• Ad Rank thresholds
• Competitiveness in the auction
• Context of the user's search
• Expected impact of ad assets and other ad formats

Not only the bid amount, but also the relevance between the search user, the ad, and the landing page is taken into account. Please refer to the official documentation for more details.

Network

In the network settings, you can choose whether to include Google Search Partners and the Display Network in your ad placements.

Google Search Partners are sites other than Google itself that use the Google search engine. The Google Display Network includes Google services like YouTube and Gmail, as well as non-Google websites and apps where Google display ads can be shown. Configure your network settings based on how broadly you want to reach users.

Ad Groups

In Search campaigns, keywords and ads are managed at the ad group level. You can create multiple ad groups within a single campaign, so use separate ad groups when you want to target different messages.

Select keywords based on the theme of each ad group. Efficiently extract keywords by referencing the Keyword Planner, Google Search Console, customer surveys, and product reviews.

Keywords have three match types: Exact match, Phrase match, and Broad match. When multiple match types apply, the priority order is Exact match first, then Phrase match, then Broad match.

Register keywords you absolutely want to trigger as Exact match, and combine Phrase match or Broad match when you want broader reach.

Ads

Search campaign ads can include headlines, logos, images, and more. Create compelling ads that align with the theme and keywords of each ad group. Once your ads are live, monitor the performance of ads, assets, search terms, and customer segments to continuously refine your headlines and images.

Assets

Assets are elements and information you can add to your ads. For Search campaigns, you can add assets such as sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, promotions, and prices. Adding assets can be expected to improve click-through rates (CTR) and conversion rates. Configure your assets to appeal to the customers your ad set is targeting.

Budget

You can set an average daily budget. Note that this budget is not guaranteed to be spent in full each day. Especially at the start, delivery volume is often slow to increase.

Audience Segments

Audience segments can be configured at both the campaign and ad group level. There are two modes: Targeting and Observation. Targeting narrows delivery to the selected segment. Observation does not restrict delivery, but allows you to adjust bid modifiers for each segment.

By creating customer segments in Shopify — such as buyers, repeat buyers, and high-value purchasers — and syncing that audience data with Google Ads, you can use it for ad targeting or observation.

Exclusion Settings

As you run ads and review your search terms report, you may notice that your ads are showing for search queries that are extremely unlikely to convert. Regularly add those terms as negative keywords to exclude them. In addition to keywords, the following types of exclusions are also available:

• Location & language: campaign-level
• Network (Search Partners / GDN): campaign-level
• Brands: campaign-level
• Keywords: campaign-level, ad group-level
• Audiences: campaign-level, ad group-level
• Content: campaign-level, ad group-level

Demand Generation Campaigns

Demand Generation campaigns allow you to display ads targeting potential customers across multiple Google placements including YouTube, Discover, and Gmail. The following section walks through the process of setting up a Demand Generation campaign.

Creating a Campaign

First, select Demand Generation as your campaign type.

Next, choose whether to use a product feed, then set your campaign goal and conversion goals.

Because Demand Generation campaigns prioritize reaching new customers more than other campaign types, if you use a product feed, we recommend creating a feed featuring products that are popular with new customers.

You can also set a target CPA and budget for Demand Generation campaigns. Even though the goal is to reach potential customers, if you want to operate within a certain CPA or ROAS, set a target CPA. The stricter the target, the more the delivery will lean toward high-intent customers. We recommend setting goals that align with the purpose of running Demand Generation campaigns.

Ad Groups

In Demand Generation ad groups, you can configure audiences in addition to location and language settings.

For audience settings, you can leverage custom segments, customer match lists, and similar segments. Among these, similar segments — audiences similar to a base customer list — are currently (as of September 2024) only available in Demand Generation campaigns.

Use customer surveys and product reviews from your Shopify store to create custom segments, and leverage buyer data from Shopify to create customer match lists and similar segments for your audience targeting.

Ads

Since Demand Generation ads are delivered on YouTube, Discover, and Gmail, you'll need to upload creatives in the appropriate format for each placement. Create compelling creatives that capture the interest of potential customers, drawing on high-engagement social media posts and customer survey insights.

Exclusion Settings

Although Demand Generation campaigns are designed for broad reach, exclusion settings are also available. The following types of exclusions are supported:

• Location & language: campaign-level
• Google video partners: campaign-level
• Audiences: ad group-level
• Content: account-level only

Executing Google Ads Strategy with StoreHero

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

For Google Ads as well, we leverage the StoreHero growth platform to automatically generate feed data based on per-product and per-SKU performance and inventory data, and audience data based on customer purchase history and attributes. This enables the highly granular management and large-scale execution of initiatives that would be difficult to achieve manually, supporting continuous growth.

We are currently offering free store diagnostics. If you have challenges with Google Ads or your overall growth strategy, please reach out. =>Learn more about our free store diagnosis here

Summary

We've walked through how Shopify merchants can connect Shopify with Google Ads and set up P-Max, Search, and Demand Generation campaigns. Did this help you understand how to get started with Google Ads on your Shopify store? If this article was helpful, we'd love to hear from you.

At StoreHero, we support merchants not just with Google Ads, but across the entire sales process — including customer acquisition through advertising and social media, CRM, Shopify store optimization, and inventory management. We help automate growth initiatives and introduce workflows that enable continuous growth from day-to-day operations.

If you're interested in working together on Shopify growth with StoreHero, feel free to get in touch.