Goal: orders
Google Ads for online sales
The feed, Shopping, Performance Max, and a return that counts the fee
A campaign for online sales is judged on one line: revenue against ad spend plus the management fee, with the margin behind it. For a Manchester shop that sells online, whether it is a Northern Quarter clothing label, an Ancoats coffee roaster or a Trafford Park parts supplier, that means a product feed Merchant Center accepts, Standard Shopping first, Performance Max only once there is data to feed it, and a purchase tag that counts each order once with its value. The management fee starts at £249 a month, and Shopping work comes in at the Growth tier.
Answered straight
Is a return of four times ad spend good?
Only if your margin says so. Return on ad spend is revenue divided by spend, and it ignores what the goods cost you and what we cost you. The break-even return is one divided by the margin, so a 25% margin needs a return of four just to stand still, and a 60% margin is in profit at two.
| Product type | Gross margin | Break-even return on spend | What the campaign is set to chase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Own-brand clothing | 60% | 1.7x | Volume: a target return of 3x leaves room for the fee and growth |
| Branded electronics resold | 15% | 6.7x | Only searches with the model number; anything general loses money |
| Food and drink, repeat buyers | 40% | 2.5x | First order at break-even, because the second order is where the profit is |
The stack, in order
Each piece is added when the one before it has earned it
The feed
Product titles that say what people type, prices and stock that match the site, images that pass review, the right Google product category. Merchant Center approves it or the rest cannot start. Most disapprovals are fixable in a day and most shops have some.
The purchase tag
One conversion per order, with the order value and, where the platform allows, the margin. Tested with a real order. Consent Mode so the counting survives the cookie banner. Without this, everything that follows bids blind.
Standard Shopping
The first campaign. It shows the search terms, so the negative list is built from what people typed and the products that match the wrong searches are found and retitled. Bids start manual or Maximise Clicks and move to a target return once there are enough orders.
Search, for the searches Shopping cannot catch
Brand plus product, comparisons, 'near me' for a shop with a door. Small, exact, and only where Shopping's search terms show a gap.
Performance Max
Added when there are enough orders a month for it to learn from, with the products grouped by margin so each asset group chases a return it can actually hit. Never the only campaign, because it hides the search terms that Shopping shows.
Microsoft Ads
The Shopping campaign imported to Bing once Google is clean. Cheaper clicks, an older and more desktop-based buyer, and a quarter of an hour a week to maintain.
What we watch every week
The feed drifts, the seasons move, the search terms tell you first
A product goes out of stock and the ad keeps running until the feed catches up. A price changes on the site and Merchant Center disapproves the item for a mismatch. A new product line matches searches for something you do not sell. None of this shows up in a monthly meeting; it shows in the search terms and the diagnostics tab every Monday, which is when we read them.
Seasonality is handled in advance. A Manchester gift shop raises its Shopping budget in the fortnight before the Christmas Markets open, not the week after; a student furniture seller spends in late August, not October. The budget plan is written against the calendar at setup and adjusted from the data.
What the report shows
Orders, revenue, return after the fee, by product group
- Orders and revenue by campaign and by product group, with the month before beside it.
- Return on spend plus fee, which is the number the shop actually feels, not the platform's return on spend alone.
- Search terms that bought and search terms that did not, with the negatives added and the titles changed because of them.
- Feed health: items approved, disapproved, out of stock, and what was fixed.
- Next: the one product group or campaign to push or cut next month, and why.
Keep reading
Next door to this page
Ads for B2B leads
For a supplier whose customers ask for a quote rather than pressing buy.
Landing pages
The product and category pages the click lands on, measured on a phone.
Pricing
Shopping and Performance Max come in at Growth.
Get a quote
Tell us the margin and the spend; the reply says what return to chase.
Questions about ads for online sales
What is the difference between Shopping and Performance Max?
Standard Shopping shows your products with a price and a picture in the shopping results, and you can see the search terms it matched. Performance Max uses the same feed plus your text and images to show across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Gmail, Display and Maps, and hides most of the search terms. Shopping first, Performance Max once there is conversion data and a reason.
Do I need a Merchant Center account?
Yes, for Shopping and Performance Max. Merchant Center holds the product feed, checks it against Google's rules and disapproves what breaks them. Setting it up, fixing disapprovals and keeping prices and stock in sync is part of the setup and the monthly work.
What return on ad spend should I aim for?
The one your margin allows, and it differs by product. A product with a 60% margin breaks even at a lower return than one with 20%. We set a target return per product group from the margin you give us, and the report shows revenue against spend plus our fee, which is the honest version of return.
Can you run ads for a Shopify or WooCommerce shop?
Yes. Both produce a product feed and both take a conversion tag with the order value. The setup covers the feed, the tag, Consent Mode and a test order, so that what the account counts matches what your shop recorded.
What does it cost to run Google Ads for an online shop?
The management fee is set by spend: £249 a month up to £1,000, £399 up to £3,000, £599 up to £8,000, excluding VAT. Shopping and Performance Max come in at Growth, because the feed work needs the hours. Ad spend goes to Google on your card.
Should I bid on my own shop's name?
Only if a rival is bidding on it and taking orders you would have had. Otherwise the money is spent buying customers who had already decided. The search terms show whether it is happening, and the report says what it cost when we do run it.
Do you write the product titles?
We rewrite the feed titles where the search terms show the products are matching the wrong searches, or not matching the right ones. The title in the feed matters more than the ad copy for Shopping, because it is what Google reads.
How do Manchester seasons affect an online shop?
Less than for a shop with a door, but the calendar still moves demand: the Christmas Markets weeks lift gifts and food, the university intake in September lifts furniture, bedding and electronics, and matchdays lift anything red or blue. Budgets rise before the peak and fall after it, not the other way round.
Can I sell outside Greater Manchester?
Of course, and an online shop usually should. This site is for Manchester businesses; the campaign targets wherever you deliver. The local part is who you are and where the stock sits, not where the customer sits.
Say what the ads are for. The fee and the first three changes come back in writing.
Calls, sales, bookings or leads, roughly what you spend, and the part of Greater Manchester you sell to. Daniel Stoychev reads it himself and answers within one working day with the tier, the fee and what he would change first. Already spending? The free check reads your account in 72 hours.