This is not a typical case study. Most show one account, a few numbers, then 'Book a call.'

On this page we walk through it step by step — strategy and specific levers on how we scaled 3 ecommerce brands using Google Shopping.

All had different problems. Q Korean Cosmetics already had brand recognition and an active online store, but Google Ads was not contributing to consistent growth. Drevos wanted to expand on new markets. Robot My Life just wanted more sales.

We used the same repeatable framework everywhere. And it worked.

Shopping ads show your products — image, price, store name — across Google Search and the Shopping tab. Google decides which products to show based on your product feed, not manual keywords.

Your product feed is a file with all your product data. Google reads it and matches your products to user searches.

Google Merchant Center (GMC) is where you upload and manage that data. Bad data in GMC means bad results — no matter how smart your bidding is.

We also use Mergado to optimize feeds beyond what GMC allows natively.

There are 3 steps we follow on every account.

The feed is where we start — not inside Google Ads.

A well-optimized feed does two things:

1. Brings free organic traffic from the Google Shopping tab
2. Makes paid Shopping and PMax campaigns more relevant

The most common problem: brands are showing ads on only a small fraction of relevant searches. Google checks your website to decide which queries fit your products. Most sites miss more than half of relevant traffic because their content is weak.

Start with your bestsellers. You don't need to optimize everything at once.

At minimum, every product needs these fields correct and matching the landing page: id, title, description, link, image_link, price, availability, GTIN or MPN + brand.

For several clients, cleaning these attributes and adding custom labels was enough to rebuild campaigns around profitability instead of raw revenue.

Rule-based optimization at scale

On small catalogs, you can rewrite titles manually. On large ones, you can't.

Feed tools like DataFeedWatch or Mergado let you:

• Build keyword-rich titles by combining brand, product_type, color, size, material
• Strip boilerplate from descriptions
• Auto-flag SKUs with missing images, invalid GTINs, or price mismatches
• Push daily updates so availability and prices stay accurate

This is why we always start in the feed tool — not in Google Ads.

Daily updates and diagnostics

Google tightens feed rules every year. We run daily feed updates and monitor GMC diagnostics to catch disapprovals, price mismatches, and policy issues before they hurt performance.

Once the feed is clean, we decide how to combine Standard Shopping and Performance Max.

Standard Shopping

Standard Shopping shows product ads in Search and the Shopping tab. You control everything: search terms, negative keywords, bids, product segments.

Use it when:

• You need to understand which queries drive profit
• You want to protect branded searches from overspending
• Your team can work search term reports regularly

Performance Max

PMax runs across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps. It uses your feed, audience signals, and creative assets to find conversions automatically.

Use it when:

• Conversion tracking is solid and you have historical data
• You have images and video for multi-channel delivery
• The goal is scale beyond what Standard Shopping can reach alone

How we combine them

A real example: Q Korean Cosmetics (Norwegian beauty brand) came to us with Google Ads running but not growing. Campaigns had mixed intent, overlapping keywords, and no clear structure. Google couldn't learn — and performance was unpredictable.

We rebuilt the account from scratch using exactly this separation:

• Brand campaigns captured existing demand — branded searches only, protected from generic overspend.
• Category campaigns handled core product discovery — key product categories with tightened keyword coverage and no overlap between campaigns.
• Performance Max ran as a supporting layer on top of Search, adding cross-channel reach without cannibalizing existing campaigns.

Within three months, Google Ads went from an underperforming channel to a stable, predictable revenue driver.

Structure gets you started. Optimization makes results compound.

Negative keywords (Standard Shopping)

Shopping matches by feed data, but you can still cut bad traffic with negatives.

Every week we:

• Find queries with high spend and zero conversions
• Add them as negatives via shared lists
• Tighten branded campaigns to protect ROAS

Budget to winners

Some SKUs get clicks but never convert. We fix that by:

• Comparing performance by product, not just campaign
• Finding the SKUs that drive most conversions
• Moving them to their own campaigns with tailored bids

This is where custom labels pay off.

Audience signals and creative in PMax

No keywords in PMax — but you can guide the algorithm.

We do this by:

• Building audience signals from in-market and affinity audiences
• Using high-quality images and video that show the product in context
• Testing separate asset groups for different categories or margin tiers