Google Shopping ads are image-based product ads that show your item’s photo, title, price, and store name directly in Google results, so shoppers can compare products before they click.
You’ll typically see them at the top of Google Search for product queries, in the Shopping tab, and in other Google placements when you run feed-based campaigns. Unlike a regular Search ad where you write ad copy and bid on keywords, Shopping ads are built from your product data, and Google matches that data to shopper searches. That’s why Shopping ads can work well for eCommerce brands and local retailers in Orlando that want to move specific products, not just drive general website traffic.
To run Shopping ads, you connect your store to Google through Google Merchant Center and submit a product feed (your catalog data). Your feed includes details like product titles, images, pricing, availability, brand identifiers (like GTIN where applicable), and shipping settings. Google uses that information to decide when your products are eligible to show, and it can also flag issues if pricing, stock status, or other details don’t match what’s on your website.
If you’re already planning paid search, our PPC management services usually start by cleaning up the feed and tracking so your spend goes toward sales, not bad clicks and disapproved items.
Most businesses run Shopping ads through Performance Max (which can show products on multiple Google properties) or through Standard Shopping (more Shopping-focused control). Either way, you still set budgets, and you’re commonly billed on a cost-per-click basis, meaning you pay when someone clicks. What you can control includes your product groups, bidding approach, audiences (for some campaign types), and the quality of your feed. What you can’t fully control is the exact search terms that trigger each product, because Google uses the feed and signals to match intent.
Here’s what matters most for results:
- Feed quality: clear titles, accurate prices, correct availability, strong images, and complete attributes.
- Landing page quality: fast product pages, clean mobile checkout, and trust signals (returns, shipping, contact info).
- Tracking: purchase conversion tracking (and ideally revenue) so bidding can optimize toward profit, not just traffic.
- Offer: competitive pricing, shipping speed/cost, and reviews can swing click-through rate and conversion rate.
Shopping ads can fail quietly when the setup is off. Common problems we see include Merchant Center disapprovals, missing identifiers (like GTIN), incorrect shipping settings, price mismatches between the feed and the site, low-quality images, or sending shoppers to a category page instead of the exact product page. Fixing those is often the fastest way to get impressions and sales moving again.
Your website also has to do its part. If your product pages are slow, confusing, or weak on mobile, paid traffic gets expensive fast, which is why we often pair Shopping work with web design updates that improve conversion before scaling budget.
Shopping ads also pair nicely with SEO if you sell products long-term, because paid placements can drive sales now while organic visibility grows.
If you’re deciding whether Shopping ads are the right fit, focus on intent: they work best when people are ready to buy (not just browse). Our breakdown of search intent types can help you spot which products and queries are likely to convert, especially in competitive Florida markets where clicks can add up quickly.
