Change These Settings
Auto-Apply
- Go to admin > account settings > auto apply > auto apply settings
- Untick all the options to stop Google from making changes to your account by itself
Conversion-Based Customer Lists
- Go to admin > account settings > customer match
- Turn on these two settings. If you're not eligible for conversion tags then don't worry.
Tracking Template
If you're using TripleWhale then enter your tracking template in settings so that automatically applies to campaigns when you set them up.
- Go to admin > account settings > tracking
- Enter your tracking template from TripleWhale
Column Setup
Impr.
The number of times your ad was shown to users.
CTR
Click-through rate; the percentage of impressions that resulted in a click.
Clicks
The total number of times users clicked on your ad.
Avg. CPC
Average cost-per-click; the average amount you paid for each click on your ad.
Cost
The total amount spent on your ads during the specified period.
Budget Spent Percentage
The percentage of your daily or campaign budget that has been used.
Conversions
The number of desired actions (e.g., purchases, sign-ups) completed as a result of your ads.
Conv. value
The total revenue or value generated from conversions.
Conv. value / cost
Return on ad spend (ROAS); measures how much value was generated for every dollar spent.
Cost / conv.
The average cost to acquire a single conversion.
Conv. rate
Conversion rate; the percentage of clicks that resulted in a conversion.
Target ROAS
The return on ad spend goal set for automated bidding strategies.
Search impr. share
The percentage of available impressions your ads received in the search network.
Click share
The percentage of available clicks your ads received out of total possible clicks.
Search top IS
The percentage of impressions where your ad appeared at the top of the search results.
Search abs. top IS
The percentage of impressions where your ad appeared in the absolute top position.
Search lost IS (rank)
The percentage of impressions lost due to low ad rank (budget or CPC really).
Conv. value (by conv. time)
The total conversion value attributed to the time when the conversion occurred.
Optimization score
Google’s estimation of how well your account is set up to perform, expressed as a percentage.
Bid strategy type
The bidding approach selected for your campaign (e.g., Maximize Conversions, Target ROAS).
Campaign Naming
Your campaigns should be named in a way that you can understand the function of each just by looking at the title.
Campaign Type | What's Being Advertised | Structure | Bid Target | Last Change | Country
Shopping | Mens Shirts | 2 Ad Groups | tROAS 300% | 10 JAN 25 | 🇰🇪
That's it for setting up your Google Ads account section. All conversion tracking and other Google Ads settings are covered later on.
Quick Explanation On How Merchant Center Works
- All products that you advertise start in Shopify, get sent to Merchant center, and then get imported into Google Ads.
- Products can be added to Merchant Center via a Google sheet, a file hosted on a server, and via Content API.
- Content API is the default gateway that Merchant Center uses get products from your store via the Google & YouTube app.
- Google & YouTube app as well as Simprosys use Content API to sync products with Merchant center
- DataFeedWatch, and other advanced feed management tools get your product data from Shopify, host your feed on one of their servers, and then you add it manually to Merchant Center as your primary data source.
- You can also provide supplemental feeds which are secondary data sources, and they can override specific attributes allowing you to make edits in bulk to your feed.
Why Is This Important?
Attributes are over-ridden at each step.
If your Shopify product type is 'bed', you could then change it to 'big bed' in Simprosys, and then edit the product manually in Merchant Center to 'enormous big bed' and the attribute that would be sent to Google would be 'enormous big bed'.
For this reason, it's best not to make too many manual edits in Merchant Center itself, because then any changes you make in feed management platforms won't make a difference and it becomes more confusing to manage your feed.
Avoid A Misrepresentation Ban
Watch this video on the 10 things you should have before connecting to Merchant Center.
This may save you from getting the awful "misrepresentation" ban, which can be one of the most frustrating problems to solve.
08:27
YouTube
Google Merchant Center Misrepresentation (Step By Step Fix)
Get my full GMC feed optimisation checklist & conversion tracking setup guide - https://www.serendipityy.io/lp-all-6-trainings Google Merchant Center misrepresentation has got to be one of the most frustrating problems for small and new eCom brands. It's a very common problem, and Google provides almost no help to solve it. By following the 10 steps in this video, you'll give yourself the highest chance of having your GMC unsuspended.
It Does Work…
Cheap But Powerful: Simprosys
Important: When switching feed management platforms, make sure that before you upload / sync the feed to Merchant Center, that you are using the same ID format. Otherwise you will lose the historical data that Merchant Center has on your products.
What Sync Settings From Shopify to use, and what each one does?
Product Title & Description Preference:
When editing your products in Shopify there's a "search engine listing" section where you can add an SEO title and description if you want to. These are otherwise the same as your title and description.
If you've made the effort to add SEO titles and descriptions, then you should use them for your feed so select SEO title and SEO description.
Variant Submission Preference.
I would submit all variants if you have few products, and if the variant title includes keywords that someone would search for.
When advertising products with multiple variants that don't make much difference to what someone searches, like clothing sizes, there is no need to submit all of them however. No one is choosing their size / fit in the shopping ad. They are doing that on the website.
Append variant name to product title?
I would choose yes in this option, if your variant titles are descriptive or contain useful keywords.
Inventory Policy
Choose follow. But read the tool-tip as for your specific scenario you might need something different.
Choosing Default Settings (On The Same Page)
This section is useful if you're selling products of all one category, age group, gender or condition.
By setting a default option, it saves you from manually adding it to each product.
If you don't have any GTINs, then you should submit option 2 (Brand Name and MPN (SKU))
And if you don't have any product identifiers at all then submit as a custom product (this will stop the 'Eligible: Limited' error in Merchant Center from no product identifiers.)
What Google Shopping settings to use?
Tax
You'll know whether your products include or exclude tax, choose the right option.
Direct Checkout Link
Enable this - it's for free listings. A shorter customer journey = higher conversion rates.
UTM Parameters
I select Enable as I often see a percentage of sales get attributed when using these UTM tags that would otherwise have been 'unset'.
Product ID Format
This is up to you.
If you are switching from another service to Simprosys, and you have a lot of product data in Google Ads, then make sure to choose the same ID format that you're already using.
Where does the Simprosys feed appear in Merchant Center data sources?
Simprosys syncs products to Merchant Center via the content API. So the data source will be Content API.
Should I disconnect my Google & YouTube app? Yes but still use it for GA4.
Yes, go to the settings page in the Google & YouTube app and disconnect Merchant Center.
Don't disconnect GA4 or Google Ads if you have them connected.
If disconnected, it will appear like this.
Should I use the Simprosys conversion tracking?
Yes, it works well.
However, if you would like more control over your conversion tracking then use the guide later in this course.
Merchant Center Settings & Add-Ons
Check All Settings
This is important to avoid getting suspended on Merchant Center.
Check your shipping and return policies are correct, and match what is on your website.
Make Sure All Business Settings Are Filled Out
- Business Name
- Address
- Customer service contact with verified phone number & email
- Social profiles
- Whether your shop is adult related products
Make Sure Your Online Store Is Verified & Claimed
Choose Your Business Logo's & Colours
Enable Important Add-Ons
Setup Free Listings
Setup Dynamic Re-Marketing
Go to Settings > Add-Ons and enable dynamic re-marketing
Enable Advanced Data source Management
This allows you to create supplemental feeds and do more advanced feed management.
Enable product reviews
You'll then need to fill out the product reviews interest form
Feed Optimisation & Google Merchant Center FAQs
What products should I optimise?
Always start with your best-sellers.
How do I write good product titles?
Title optimisation helps Google to understand your product, and also tells people what they're buying.
Changes to your title will be the largest factor that affects your click-through-rate outside of image and price changes.
Only the first 70 characters will show for your title, but you want to try and give Google up to 150 characters (don't keyword stuff) to give more context + action for a user to click.
Regarding word order, you should always put the most important stuff first. This could be your brand name if you have large brand awareness, or winning search terms.
Look at competitor PLAs (product listing ads) to understand common brand order. Think about whether you can you be different lean in to what is common. It's up to you to test.
Separate keywords in your title with delimiters such as '-' or |.
There is no one size fits all approach.
You are an expert at Google shopping ads for eCommerce brands. Specifically how to optimise the product feed for best results.
I would like you to write well structured product titles, following the best practices. I would like you to output a list of the best practices that you find online first, that you should then refer back to when writing the product titles.
I will give you a list of feed products and their other attributes in the ##feed data## section, and you should find the titles and re-write these for Google shopping.
You can look at the 'description' column of this feed data to extract any relevant features / benefits that may be relevant and add them to the title.
Optionally, there might keywords in the ##Converting keywords## section of what keywords convert in my Google Ads account. You should match any of these converting keywords to relevant products and include them in the product title.
Please output a table with the re-written product titles along with their id from the feed data.
Use | or - as a delimiter for the titles.
##feed data##
##converting keywords##
##converting keywords##
How do I write good product descriptions?
You have 5,000 characters to add here, and 99% of advertisers either have 0 or <200.
This is an opportunity to give Google so much data on what and who your product is for.
Is it time intensive, YES. But it'll be worth it (start with best sellers, look at product your page for inspiration).
Focus on Key Information: Start with the most important details such as brand, product type, and intended audience. Ensure the description is specific to the product and does not include unrelated information about your store or other products.
Highlight Benefits and Features: Use language to emphasize what makes your product unique or beneficial to potential customers. Focus on how it solves a problem or meets a need.
Incorporate relevant keywords naturally throughout the description to improve visibility in search results. This includes terms that potential customers might use when searching for similar product
Example Structure
Opening Line: Key details (e.g., product type, main features)
Other Benefits and Features: Highlight unique selling points. Address customer needs or problems solved.
Additional Information: Size, color, material, or any relevant specifications
Here's a ChatGPT prompt workflow that might help you out.
Prompt 1
[Copy-paste in 20-50 of the reviews for your product]
Above you can see a bunch of 5-star reviews for [product]. Please summarise the 10 most common things the customers say - the benefits they experience particularly.
Alternatively, paste in the maximum number of reviews for a variety of your products, the idea is just to summarise the key benefits that your customers get.
Prompt 2
I'm going to give you product titles and existing descriptions of products that I'm selling in my Shopify store.
Based on the product titles I want you to generate a 800-1000 max character description of the products.
Do not go over 1500 characters please.
Please format it in one paragraph, do not have any line breaks.
You should include specific details about the color, style, material, shape and wearer of the product.
Include all the descriptive keywords from the description.
Don’t use lot’s of adverbs or generic language.
The main benefits customers experience from using the products I've just given you from my reviews, please use these in the description as well.
I will input the products one at a time.
What product category should I assign my product?
This is an attribute you enter in GMC to tell Google what category of products you sell.
Google has a list of product categories (called the Taxonomy), and you have to set this attribute to one from the list.
You should follow the taxonomy and get as close as possible to the product (up to 5 layers deep).
Like this - Animals & Pet Supplies > Pet Supplies > Cat Supplies > Cat Furniture.
How do I optimise my pricing strategy?
Look at competitor shopping ads to get an idea of the average price of products that you're selling.
If your prices are way above the average, your CTR is going to take a hit.
If you can't lower your price due to expenses, try and position your products in a way that makes them seem more luxurious or higher quality.
Higher priced products will also need a long-form sales page / landing page to explain the features and benefits that justify that high price.
If you've had a consistent price for >90 days, make sure to add a "Sale Price" attribute to showcase any sales you're running. You get a visible shopping callout in the PLA.
You can run sales to test how a decrease in price affects your CTR.
How do I optimise my product image?
The biggest thing here is testing different variations to stand out from your PLA competitors.
Usually the big test is white background (product only) vs lifestyle image (product in use).
You can also test different colour backgrounds to stand out.
If you don't have a lot of social proof (product ratings that show up as stars under your product) then standing out in other ways will be key to your success.
If you do have lot's of genuine product reviews, then you should sign up to the Product Reviews program in Merchant Center.
PRO TIP --> add up to 10 additional images so people can cycle through your product in use/sizing/different angles etc...
Use the "additional_image" attribute to do this.
How To Do This
- In your supplemental feed, add the image_link column.
- In Shopify, navigate to Content > Files to see a list of images you've uploaded to your store.
- If you hover over an image, you'll see the option to 'copy image link'
- Click this, and add the image link to the product in your supplemental feed
What should I put for my product type?
This is basically "Product Category" but in your own words.
Break down your product type so that that it makes sense, and gives keyword clues to Google.
Start with the product category, and then add deeper layers separated with a ">" symbol.
E.g. Shoes > Mens > Basketball Shoes > Lebron James Collection > X Product
How should I organise products. Custom labels vs. product type vs. product category?
Product category isn't great for organising products into campaigns, as you have to choose from a pre-defined list.
Use the product type field to organise your products by collection / type / other large factor. This is your top-level organisation field.
It's best to do this in Shopify and edit your actual product.
But you can also add it in bulk using Simprosys which is quite handy.
Then use custom labels for any other organisation you want.
How do I fix product errors / see what products need fixing?
In Merchant Center navigate to Products > Needs Attention and you will see a list of product errors and how to fix them.
If you are using Simprosys, go to Manage Products and then you will see on the right hand side any product errors that have been flagged by Merchant Center. You can then fix them in Simprosys.
How should I do bulk edits?
Bulk edits are useful for when you want to assign a product category / product type / custom label to lots of SKUs in your feed.
To do this when you're using the Google & YouTube app, use a supplemental feed (steps on how to create one are in the next card).
If you are using Simprosys then do this.
- Use the filter or search bar to find the products you want to edit.
- Click 'do edits in bulk'
- Choose which edit you want to make, and it will be applied to all the selected products. These changes will then by synced to Merchant Center.
What do I do with products that I don't want submitted to the feed?
I'm afraid there's no way of doing this with the Google & YouTube app, it submits all your products.
You can however un-publish your prouduct from the Google & YouTube sales channel.
In Simprosys…
- Select the products that you do not want to be submitted to the feed.
- Select 'Do Edits In Bulk'
- Scroll down the list to find 'Channel Submission Control'
- Click that and you get the popup shown in the image below. Then exclude all the products.
How do I stop managing products automatically found on your online shop & should I do this?
Sometimes, Google will add additional products to your feed by scraping your website.
To stop this follow these instructions:
- Go to Data Sources in Merchant Center
- At the top of the page there is a 'Found by Google' section that will look like the picture below
- Click the 'stop managing these products' button if it's there.
How To Create A Supplemental Feed In Google Merchant Center Next
Supplemental feeds allow you to edit your product feed attributes in bulk.
I find them useful for adding custom labels to certain products based on their performance or profit margin, changing the product type of multiple products and other bulk edits.
I think they are the best way to edit and optimise your titles and descriptions as well, because Google Sheets loads fast, and you can see all your products next to one another.
These are the instructions to set one up in Merchant Center.
- Go to Add-Ons and enable the advanced data source management one.
- Go to Settings > Data Sources
- Go to Supplemental sources
- Click Add supplemental product data
- Click Use Google Sheets
- Click Use Template
- Create a new sheet, keep Sheet1 to reference what fields you can change, and their format
- Go to this link to see detailed product attribute specifications
- Add the id field to Sheet2
- Add any fields you would like to update
- Go back to Merchant Center and click continue
- Select the feed label you would like the supplemental feed to be applied to.
- Click create data source
A/B Testing Shopping Products
The Document Below Contains The Code You Need For The Script
Google Docs
SOP: A/B Testing Shopping Products
Video Instructions https://www.loom.com/share/a4fb98b1140b4c0c939e495b4575852a?sid=e7e5a4da-36b4-4f7d-8a09-58f6696cb6a3 Convert TSV to CSV https://products.groupdocs.app/conversion/tsv-to-csv Upload Data To Google Sheets Create Supplemental Feed Sheet Re-Format Attributes (Maybe Script ...
Instructions
With my experience, the best way to setup GA4 is using the Google & YouTube app.
I've tested a custom setup, and it works but there are always issues with 'sandboxed' URLs and incorrect item-level revenue reporting (this is a skill issue on my part, not GA4s).
You likely have the Google & YouTube app installed already.
But if not, search for "Google & YouTube" in the Shopify app store.
It looks like this.
Install it, and then follow the instructions to set things up.
On the overview page, you'll see a section that looks like this, click "Get started".
You may get prompted to setup conversion tracking, if so, then click "Set Up."
Then connect your Google Analytics property.
That's you done.
To test whether analytics is sending data, open up your Analytics dashboard.
Navigate to Reports > Realtime.
Then visit your site, and make sure that you're seeing new activity in your realtime report.
Writing Google Ads Scripts With AI
Google Docs
How Non-Coders Are Writing Useful Google Ads Scripts With AI (Cursor)
How Non-Coders Are Writing Useful Google Ads Scripts With AI (Cursor)... …Automating Repetitive Tasks, Boosting Their Egos, And Adding The “I’m A Coder” Line To Their Dating Arsenal To Pick Up Girls All jokes aside, by the end of this document you will be able to: Create your own Google Ads ...
