Hire a Shopify Google Ads Expert: Shopping, Performance Max and Merchant Center

Hire a Shopify Google Ads Expert: Shopping, Performance Max and Merchant Center

Google Ads for a Shopify store is mostly a Shopping problem, and Shopping is mostly a feed problem. The accounts that come to me spending real money on Google share a pattern: Performance Max running alone, the Merchant Center feed last looked at when it was set up, brand searches counted as wins, and a platform ROAS that Shopify’s own numbers do not recognise.

This page is what I do about it for Shopify brands in the US, Canada and Europe, who it is for, and what it costs. If you want to vet someone else, the hiring guide has the questions to ask. The Meta side of the work has its own page.

Spending over $5,000 a month

Free audit of your Google Ads account

The Merchant Center feed check, the brand search leak, and Google reported conversions against Shopify orders, sent to you whether or not we work together.

Book the audit call

Below that, or just want a second opinion

Paid consultation, one hour

Your account open, specific questions answered, no engagement needed.

Book a consultation

Where the money usually leaks

Where Google Ads money leaks on a Shopify store: the feed, with disapproved or limited products, titles written for the catalogue rather than search, and price mismatches; the structure, with Performance Max eating brand searches, no search terms review, and smart bidding on the wrong conversion; and the measurement, with conversions imported from the wrong source, platform ROAS disagreeing with Shopify by 30 percent, and no new customer signal

The feed. Merchant Center is the part of Google Ads nobody opens. Products sit disapproved or limited for months, titles say what the product is called internally rather than what a person types, attributes are missing, and the price in the feed drifts from the price on the site.

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A feed that is a third limited caps the account at two thirds of what it could do. Shopping and Performance Max can only sell what the feed describes, and the campaigns keep spending so nobody notices.

The structure. Performance Max on its own, with brand not excluded, so it bids on people searching your store name who were about to buy anyway and reports them as conversions. No search terms review. Smart bidding pointed at a conversion that is not the purchase, because that is what the setup wizard chose. The Performance Max guide covers the fixes in detail.

The measurement. Conversions imported from the wrong source, or from GA4 and the Google Ads tag both, so every order counts twice. Platform ROAS that disagrees with Shopify by 30 percent and nobody has reconciled. No new versus returning customer signal, so Google optimises for anyone who buys rather than anyone new. The KPIs post covers what to measure instead.

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A 20 to 30 percent gap between Google and Shopify is normal. A gap of 50 percent or more means the conversion import is wrong or PMax is taking credit for brand.

How I work an account

Audit, first two weeks. Every product’s Merchant Center status. Search terms for the last 90 days against what converted. Google reported conversions against Shopify orders, day by day, with brand and non brand separated. Conversion sources, deduplication, and whether the purchase event Google bids on is the purchase. It ends with a ranked list of what is costing money and the evidence for each.

Feed. Titles rewritten for search: the attributes people type, in the order they type them, with the brand where it helps and not where it does not. Missing attributes filled. Disapprovals cleared, and a weekly check so they stay cleared. Supplemental feeds for the things Shopify’s export does not carry.

How I structure Google Ads for a Shopify store: brand search on exact match excluded everywhere else, Standard Shopping with every query visible, Performance Max as the scaling layer once Shopping has a month of clean conversions with brand excluded, and a small non brand search campaign with a tight negative list, all on a Merchant Center feed with titles rewritten for search and conversions imported from GA4 and reconciled against Shopify monthly

Structure. Four campaigns with one job each:

Measurement. The purchase imported from GA4 as the primary conversion, nothing else counted as primary, new versus returning customer passed so Google can be told to find new ones. Enhanced conversions on. Monthly reconciliation against Shopify, by campaign, written down.

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If Google Ads says one thing and Shopify says another, Shopify is right, and the report says so.

Reporting. Contribution margin after ad spend, cost per new customer, brand versus non brand split, and feed health, in a sheet you own. Not a deck, and not platform ROAS as the headline.

Who this is for, and who it is not

It is for a Shopify store with a catalogue people search for, by product name or category, with consistent sales and enough spend that a 20 percent efficiency gain pays the retainer several times over. In practice that starts around $10,000 a month across Google and Meta together. The brands I do my best work with are between $100K and $700K a month in revenue, where the feed and the structure are big enough that fixing them moves the whole business.

It is not for a store with a single new product and no search demand yet. Shopping needs people to be searching for what you sell; if they are not, Meta is where the demand gets created, and the $45 a day test is the place to start. Nor for a store whose feed is fine and whose problem is the product page; that is the CRO audit.

What it costs

A flat monthly retainer scoped in hours and deliverables, not a percentage of ad spend. Google alone is possible when Meta is already handled well, and the price reflects the narrower scope. Either way it is less than an agency at the same spend, and the work is not handed to a junior account manager because there is not one.

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Google and Meta are usually one engagement. The reconciliation against Shopify is the same work for both, and a store that runs one without seeing the other ends up double counting the same customers.

The agency or freelancer post is the honest comparison, including the cases where an agency is the right call.

Two ways to start

For stores spending over $5,000 a month in the US, Canada or Europe, the audit is free and you get the findings either way. Below that, or if you want a second opinion without an engagement, the paid hour is the right door.

Spending over $5,000 a month

Free audit of your Google Ads account

The Merchant Center feed check, the brand search leak, and Google reported conversions against Shopify orders, sent to you whether or not we work together.

Book the audit call

Below that, or just want a second opinion

Paid consultation, one hour

Your account open, specific questions answered, no engagement needed.

Book a consultation

I am Nikhil Sharma. I run data and operations for a DTC brand alongside this work, which is why the feed and the reconciliation get as much attention as the campaigns. The Meta side is on its own page, ChatGPT ads are the third channel I set up as a test, and if the problem is the team’s time rather than the ad account, the automation side is the other half of what I do.

Frequently asked questions

What does a Shopify Google Ads expert actually do?
Four things in order. Fix the Merchant Center feed, because Shopping and Performance Max can only sell what the feed describes well. Set up conversion tracking so Google bids on real purchases imported from GA4, with new and returning customers told apart. Build a structure where brand search, Standard Shopping, Performance Max and non brand search each have one job and do not compete. Report on contribution margin against Shopify revenue rather than platform ROAS.
Should a Shopify store use Performance Max or Standard Shopping?
Standard Shopping first, for at least a month, because you see every search term and set every bid, and that month tells you what the catalogue can sell. Performance Max after that, as the scaling layer, with your brand excluded so it cannot claim the searches that were going to convert anyway. Most accounts I open have PMax alone, and most of its reported conversions are brand searches.
How much does a Google Ads consultant cost for a Shopify store?
Agencies charge 10 to 15 percent of spend with a monthly minimum. Freelancers charge a flat retainer, typically $1,500 to $5,000 a month depending on spend and scope. Mine is a flat retainer scoped in hours and deliverables, the same arrangement as for Meta, and the two channels are usually one engagement because the reporting has to reconcile both against the same Shopify numbers.
Why does Google Ads report more revenue than Shopify shows?
Attribution windows, view through conversions on Display and YouTube placements inside Performance Max, and brand searches counted as acquisitions. A gap of 20 to 30 percent is normal. A gap of 50 percent or more means the conversion import is wrong or PMax is taking credit for brand. The monthly reconciliation against Shopify orders is how you tell which.
Do you handle Merchant Center?
Yes, and it is usually where the work starts. Disapprovals, limited products, titles written for the catalogue rather than for search, missing attributes, price mismatches. A feed that is 30 percent limited caps everything Google can do, and nobody notices because the campaigns still spend.
When should a Shopify brand hire someone for Google Ads?
When the store has a catalogue people search for by name or category, consistent sales, and enough spend that a 20 percent efficiency gain pays the retainer several times over, which in practice starts around $10,000 a month across Google and Meta. A store with a single new product and no search demand yet is better served by Meta first and the free guides on this site.
Do you also run Meta ads?
Yes, and most engagements are both. Meta creates demand and Google Shopping catches it, and the reporting that keeps either honest is the same Shopify reconciliation. The Meta side has its own page. ChatGPT ads are a third channel I set up as a test alongside the other two.
Who owns the Google Ads and Merchant Center accounts?
You do. Everything runs in your Google Ads account, your Merchant Center and your GA4 property, with my access granted through a manager account. When we stop working together you keep the history, the conversion data and the feed.