Smart Shopping ad examples and how Google Shopping works

A Smart Shopping ad was a product ad on Google, shown next to the search results and on other Google networks, such as YouTube and Gmail. As the Smart Shopping ad examples below show, the Shopping ads among them had a photo, a title, a price and the shop's name. A Smart Shopping campaign was the type of Google Ads campaign that ran these ads for you. In 2022, Google upgraded Smart Shopping campaigns to Performance Max, so you can't create a new one today.

The ads themselves live on as Shopping ads, and you run them through a Performance Max campaign or a standard Shopping campaign.

A Shopping ad today has the same parts as the Shopping ads that Smart Shopping campaigns used, though Google may change how they look as it tests ways to display them. If you run an online trainer shop at brightsoletrainers.co.uk, someone who searches Google for women's running trainers can see your pair beside the results. One click takes them to that product on your website.

Smart Shopping ad examples: what each ad shows

You don't write a Shopping ad yourself. Google Merchant Center, Google's free tool for uploading and managing your product data, builds it from the product information you send to Google. For your trainers, the ad could show:

A product photo: the image from your product data, such as your pink road running trainers. Google may crop it automatically to focus on the product.
The product title: the name of the trainers from your product data, for example "Bright Sole Women's Road Running Trainers, Pink". Google may enrich it for the ad with content from your landing page and other signals.
The price: what the trainers cost in your shop, shown before anyone clicks.
Your shop's name: here Bright Sole Trainers, which tells shoppers where they would buy.

The same parts make up every Shopping ad, whatever you sell. If you sell bike parts, it could show a photo of a rear light and the title "USB Rechargeable Rear Bike Light". It could show the price and your shop's name.

You can add extras to draw attention to an ad. A promotion can show a special offer on it, such as 10% off with a discount code. In eligible countries, product ratings can show stars and a count of reviews, but only for products with at least three reviews.

Your ad can appear on the Shopping tab, next to the search results on Google Search and in Google Images. With Performance Max, it can reach more of Google's channels, such as YouTube and Gmail.

What happened to Smart Shopping campaigns

Smart Shopping campaigns no longer exist. Google moved them to Performance Max in stages. From April 2022, advertisers could switch with a one-click tool, and Google upgraded the remaining campaigns automatically between July and September. After that, nobody could create a new Smart Shopping campaign.

Performance Max (PMax) kept the basic features of Smart Shopping and added new places to show your ads, such as YouTube, Search text ads and Discover. So older advice about a Google Smart Shopping campaign now applies to a Performance Max campaign that uses your product data.

How Google decides when to show your products

Shopping ads use your product data, not keywords, to decide where and when your ads show. When someone searches, Google matches the search with the details you've given about each product and shows the products that fit it best.

That makes your product titles and descriptions the part you control. It's worth naming what shoppers search for, such as the brand, the type of trainer and the colour. Those are the details Google has to match. Your product descriptions are also the place to answer the questions a shopper still has before buying.

What Shopping ads do for your shop

Because a Shopping ad shows the product before anyone clicks, the clicks you get are better informed. By the time someone reaches your product page, they already have a good idea of the trainers and whether they fit their budget.

Several of your products can also show for the same search, which gives a shopper more than one pair of your trainers to choose from.

Your reports show how each product performs, down to the clicks one pair of trainers got. It's worth checking the products nobody clicks on and deciding whether to keep advertising them.

Should you choose Performance Max or a standard Shopping campaign?

A standard Shopping campaign is usually the better choice when it's your first campaign and you sell a small range of products. Google recommends Performance Max when your business has specific conversion goals, such as online sales. Google also recommends it when you want the best performance without limiting where your ads appear, or all of its channels in a single campaign. The same applies when you want more reach and conversion value than keyword-based search campaigns bring.

Performance Max and standard Shopping campaigns compared

	Performance Max	Standard Shopping campaign
Where ads appear	Most Google Ads channels, including the Shopping tab, Search, Google Images, YouTube, Gmail and, with local inventory ads, Maps	The Shopping tab, next to search results, Google Images and, if your campaign includes them, Google search partner websites
Bidding	Automated only	Automated or manual CPC
Your own text, images and videos	You can add them to your campaign	Not available: the ads come from your product data
How you pay	For results, such as clicks, or per thousand times your ads are shown (CPM)	Per click

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Our advice: if Shopping ads are new to you, start with a standard Shopping campaign. With manual CPC (cost per click), you set your own bids, the amount you offer to pay each time someone clicks your ad. Your ads also stay where people are already looking at products. Once you know which products sell, a Performance Max campaign can show them across more of Google's channels. If both campaigns advertise the same products with the same settings, such as locations and languages, Ad Rank decides which one shows the ad. So give each campaign its own products.

What you need before you start

Shopping ads send shoppers to product pages on your own website. So before anything else, you need an online shop with a page for each pair of trainers you want to advertise.

Add your products, set delivery rates and take card payments in an online shop of your own. We don't take a commission on your sales.

Open my shop

You also need:

A Google Merchant Center account, which you sign up for with a Google Account by telling Google about your business and where you sell. When you sign up, Google can add your product information automatically from your online shop, or you can upload your product data yourself.
Product data that stays current, with details for each product such as an ID, a title, a description, a link, an image, a price and its availability. Google expects you to send updated product data at least every 30 days.
For products sold in the United Kingdom, delivery settings in Merchant Center. You have to set them up there or add delivery costs to your product data.
A Google Ads account linked to Merchant Center, which you need before you can create a Shopping campaign.
A shop that follows the Shopping ads policies. These rules are separate from the Google Ads policies and cover your type of business, your products, your promotions and your website.

How to set up a Shopping campaign

Once your products are in Merchant Center and your accounts are linked, you create the campaign in Google Ads. These steps follow Google's guide to creating a Shopping campaign:

In your Google Ads account, start a new campaign.
Choose Sales as the objective, or another objective that fits your goal.
Select Shopping as the campaign type. This is also where you can choose Performance Max instead.
Select the Merchant Center account that holds your products. You can't change it after the campaign is created.
Give the campaign a name you'll recognise later.
Choose your bidding and the amount you're willing to spend per day. You can change both after the campaign is created.
Set the locations where your ads should show, such as the United Kingdom.
Create your first ad group. Google builds the product ads in it from your Merchant Center data.
Check the summary page, then publish the campaign.
Keep an eye on the campaign's status in Google Ads to check that your ads are running.

Shopping ads or text ads: when each fits

Shopping ads and text ads are both part of Google Ads, but they reach shoppers in different ways. A text ad shows the words you write, and Google matches it to searches through the keywords you choose. A Shopping ad shows the product itself and is matched through your product data.

Shopping ads suit products people recognise from a picture and compare on price, like a pair of trainers. Text ads suit services and pages that aren't a single product, such as a category page.

You don't have to pick one. When both are relevant, a Shopping ad and a text ad can appear together for the same search. Google says this could double your reach for that search.

Questions about Google Shopping ads

Can my products appear on Google Shopping for free?

Yes. Free listings let your products show at no cost on Google Search, the Shopping tab, Google Images and other Google services. A new Merchant Center account has them switched on from the start, though Google doesn't promise to show every product. Paid Shopping ads give you more control over when your products appear.

How much do Shopping ads cost?

There's no fixed price. In a standard Shopping campaign you pay per click, and you choose how much you're willing to spend per day. That daily amount is an average: on a given day a campaign can spend up to twice it, but over a month no more than 30.4 times it. You can read more about the price of a click in our article on what Google Ads costs.

Your next step is a product page for every pair of trainers you want to advertise. Build your online shop with us, then sign up for Merchant Center and start with a standard Shopping campaign to see which pairs get clicks.