Google Shopping Ads: How They Work, Requirements and Diagnostics

Here's the bit that surprises most retailers. You don't write Shopping ads and you don't pick keywords for them. Google matches a person's search against the product details in your Merchant Center data and decides which of your products to show. So when products don't appear, the fix is usually in your product data or campaign setup, not in ad copy. Google also says it may use content from your landing page, images, feed and AI-generated content to enrich your ads, and you can ask to opt out through your account manager or by contacting Google, with requests typically processed in 3 to 5 business days.

What a Google Shopping ad is made of

A Shopping ad can include a product image, title, price and your store or business name. Merchant Center creates these from your product feed, so there's nothing to design. Google warns that the look may change as it tests display options, and that can include automatically cropping your image to focus on the product.

You can add optional enhancements to draw the eye: promotions on products, product ratings and Google Customer Reviews. Opting in doesn't mean they'll show every time your ad does.

Because shoppers see the photo and price before they click, Google's argument is that the clicks you get are better qualified. Its own example is someone searching for a fish bowl who can judge both the style and whether it fits their budget before choosing an ad. More than one of your Shopping ads can show for the same search, and a Shopping ad and a text ad can appear together too.

Requirements before your first Shopping campaign

• Accounts: a Google Merchant Center account and a Google Ads account, linked together.
• Policies: your business, products, promotions and website must meet the Shopping ads policies, which are separate from the general Google Ads policies.
• Product data: you must send up-to-date product data at least every 30 days, and it has to meet Google's product data specification.
• Feed destination: products need to be added to your linked Merchant Center feed for the Shopping ads destination, or your campaigns have nothing relevant to show.

In the European Economic Area and Switzerland, and in other countries in the Comparison Shopping Service program, you take part in Shopping ads through one or more Comparison Shopping Services. Some manage your data and campaigns for you, others just give you the tools.

If you haven't built your product feed yet, start with my Google Merchant Center guide, because that's where every Shopping ad begins.

Linking Merchant Center to Google Ads

You can't create a Shopping campaign until the two accounts are linked. Before you start, check that neither account has an account-level policy violation, and Google strongly recommends 2-Step Verification on your Google account. If your Ads account requires 2-Step Verification, you'll need it turned on before linking.

From Google Ads, go to Data manager in the Tools menu, find Google Merchant Center under Featured products on the Connected products tab, choose how to link and submit. Someone with admin access then accepts the request in Merchant Center under Settings, Access and services, Apps and services. If you're an admin on both accounts, the link is approved automatically.

By default the link also connects your Ads account to Business Manager, which links it to every other app there. You can choose to link to Merchant Center only. Once linked, Merchant Center shares your account name and ID plus product titles, descriptions and images, and Google Ads shares its account name and ID plus clicks and conversions from your campaigns.

Setting up a Standard Shopping campaign

1. In Google Ads, select the plus button, then New campaign.
2. Choose an objective such as Sales, Leads, Website traffic or Local store visits and promotions, or build without a goal's guidance.
3. Select Shopping as the campaign type. You'll be offered Performance Max at this point, or you can carry on with Shopping.
4. Pick the Merchant Center account with your products. You can't change this account after the campaign is created.
5. Optionally choose data sources by feed label, name the campaign and set your bidding and daily budget options.
6. Set locations and networks. By default ads run on the Google Search Network and Google search partners, and you can untick search partners.
7. Create your first ad group, review the summary and select Publish campaign.

Google says newly created campaigns take 1 to 2 days to be reviewed against policy, and a campaign may need up to 2 weeks to learn, so expect results to move about at first. It also warns that if conversion tracking isn't active, Google Ads may limit your campaign spend. If that's not set up yet, here's how to set up Google Ads conversion tracking.

One timing note: Google says local inventory ads will soon run by default in Shopping campaigns. If you want separate online and local budgets, review your campaign settings and inventory filters before August 2026.

Standard Shopping or Performance Max for Shopping ads

Both campaign types can serve Shopping ads. Google describes Performance Max as the best way to maximise online sales because one campaign reaches all Google Ads inventory. A Standard Shopping campaign is narrower: its ads come from your Merchant Center feed only, with no extra text, image or video assets yet, and it's charged per click. Standard Shopping still gives you manual control such as Manual CPC bidding and product groups that limit which items you advertise. If you already use Merchant Center but you're new to Google Ads, Google suggests creating your campaign from Merchant Center instead.

Fixing products that won't show: product diagnostics

When products aren't appearing, Google points you to the Diagnostics tab under Products in the Campaigns menu. Statuses show at account, campaign, listing group and ad group level, and a campaign view only covers products in that campaign. These are the three statuses as of October 2026.

Product status	What it means	What to do
Eligible	Active and ready to show in ads	Nothing
Eligible (limited)	Meets policy but performance is limited by missing attributes, campaign settings or restricted content	Check the Product issues column, for example fill in missing attributes
Not eligible	Can't serve, because of a policy violation, a paused or out-of-stock product, or no active campaign including it	Check the Issues column; most product problems are fixed in Merchant Center

At account level, a lot of Not eligible products turn out to be campaign housekeeping: the campaign is pending, ended or paused, the ad group or asset group is paused, the product's excluded from its listing group, or the campaign's inventory filter leaves it out. Out-of-stock products need their availability attribute set back to in stock once you can sell them again.

My verdict on Google Shopping ads

I'd run Shopping ads if you sell physical products online and you can keep a clean, current Merchant Center feed, because the photo and price do a lot of the qualifying for you. I'd skip them, or wait, if your product data is patchy, since Google can't show what it can't read. Start with diagnostics before you touch bids.

Keeping product data, campaign checks and reporting in sync is exactly the kind of repeat task that's worth automating. I run AI training and workshops for teams, and help businesses with AI enablement and workflow automation, so the busywork runs itself and people get time back. Most of that work is with SaaS marketing teams and small businesses. Here's how we can work together.

Frequently asked questions

Do Google Shopping ads use keywords?

No. Shopping ads use your Merchant Center product data, not keywords, to decide how and where to show your ads.

How often do I need to update product data for Shopping ads?

Google's requirement is up-to-date product data at least every 30 days, meeting its product data specification.

Can I change the Merchant Center account on a Shopping campaign?

No. You can't change the linked Merchant Center account after you've created the campaign.

How long does a new Shopping campaign take to start?

Google says newly created campaigns take 1 to 2 days to be reviewed for policy, and a campaign may need up to 2 weeks to learn.

Why are my products not showing in Shopping ads?

Check the Diagnostics tab under Products in Google Ads. Not eligible products are often caused by policy issues, paused or out-of-stock items, or no active campaign including them.