Blog / Google Ads
Google Ads for Ecommerce.
Google Ads strategy for ecommerce brands: Shopping, Performance Max, Search, bidding, budgets, audits and the account structures we run for DTC stores.
24 articles
Google Ads ROAS Says It's Working. Your MER Says It Isn't.Here's How to Settle It.
Google Ads attribution says it's working, your MER says it isn't. Why both can be wrong, and the test that settles it before you fire anyone.
Google Ads Promotion Mode for Ecom Brands in Q4A Playbook
A Q4 playbook for ecommerce stores on Google Ads Promotion Mode: how to get it, set it up, time it around Black Friday and keep the sale profitable.
Google Ads Seasonality AdjustmentsShould Your Store Use Them?
Should your store use Google Ads seasonality adjustments for Black Friday? What they do, what three years of BFCM data show, and when to skip them.
Google Ads Promotion Mode (Beta) vs Seasonality AdjustmentsWhich One Fits Your Q4 Sale?
Planning a Q4 sale? Promotion Mode lowers your ROAS target for a few days and seasonality adjustments do not. Which to use, and how to stay profitable.
Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) Google Ads Playbook for Ecom BrandsAdd to What Is Running, Don't Rebuild It
How to run Black Friday and Cyber Monday on Google Ads without building new campaigns: promotion assets, Merchant Center promotions, BFCM creative in PMax, Demand Gen and Display, and Search ads on existing ad groups.
PMax Architecture for DTC BrandsFeed-Only vs Full-Build
Feed-only PMax and full-build PMax are different products with different risk profiles. Here's how to pick the right one for a DTC ecommerce account.
Incrementality Testing for Google AdsHow to Actually Measure It
Platform-reported ROAS overstates real impact. Here's how to run a real incrementality test on Google Ads and read the results without fooling yourself.
Supplement and Healthcare Compliance in Google AdsThe Policy Landmines
Supplement and healthcare advertisers get suspended over specific, predictable policy triggers. Here's what they are and how to advertise without tripping them.
Feeder vs Converter Search CampaignsWhy You Need Both
A feeder campaign on exact match Maximize Clicks and a converter campaign on broad match tROAS solve different problems. Running only one leaves performance on the table.
Brand Bidding Strategy for EcommerceWhy Brand Should Never Run on tROAS
Target ROAS and smart bidding on brand search campaigns waste budget on customers who were already buying. Here's the bid strategy that actually fits brand traffic.
How to Audit a Google Ads Account for Wasted SpendA DTC Checklist
A structured, DTC-specific checklist for finding wasted Google Ads spend, from brand cannibalization to keywords burning budget without hitting target ROAS.
Google Ads Benchmarks for Ecommerce Brands (2026)Real CPC, CTR, ROAS, CPA and CPM Data
Real Google Ads performance benchmarks from 25 ecommerce accounts across the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, covering January 2025 through Q3 2026: average CPC, CTR, conversion rate, ROAS, CPA, and CPM, broken down by Performance Max, Shopping, Search, Demand Gen, Display, and YouTube, by country and by quarter. First-party data, not a scraped roundup.
Google Ads Has a Scam Running Inside ItAnd It's Not Targeting Your Customers
The most profitable persuasion system in Google Ads doesn't sell products. It sells account management to founders spending $30k-$500k/month who are certain they're too smart to be sold. Here's the mechanism, who profits from it, and the five-minute audit that breaks it.
Two Google Ads Policies Every Ecom Founder Should KnowBefore Their Account Gets Suspended
Two Google Ads policies cause near-unappealable suspensions: running the same domain from two accounts, and unauthorized celebrity content anywhere on your site. Here's what to know before it happens to you.
"Google Doesn't Work for Our Ecom Product"Is a Diagnosis of Your Setup, Not Your Market
Founders blame the channel when a brand-capped, Meta-agency-built Google account fails a three-week test. Here's why that verdict is almost always wrong, and what a real test looks like.
The Google Ads Spend Pullback Test Is Lying to YouWhy It Doesn't "Reveal" Wasted Budget for DTC Brands
Pullback tests read a CTR ratio artifact as savings. Here's why that's broken for DTC brands, and how to actually test Google Ads incrementality.
That Viral "$442K at 2.5x ROAS" Discover Ad ScreenshotBreaks Two Google Ads Policies
A widely-shared screenshot brags about a Discover ad using a before/after hair-loss collage. That image format is explicitly banned for health and cosmetic categories. Here's the actual policy, why the screenshot is misleading either way, and what to run instead.
The Google Ads Domain-Switch CPC Hack, Explained
A viral thread claims switching your domain drops Google Ads CPCs by 75%. The drop is real, the cause is mundane: smart bidding's confidence reset. Here's the mechanism, why it reverses, what the screenshots actually show, and a 6-point smell test for the next viral 'hack'.
Why Most Ecom Brands Fail at Google Ads
Most ecommerce brands waste 15-30% of their Google Ads budget without knowing it. Here are the 7 most common mistakes and how to fix each one.
How to Choose the Right Google Ads Agency for Ecom
Not all Google Ads agencies are built for ecommerce. Here are the 8 questions to ask before hiring one - and the red flags that signal you'll waste your money.
Stop Performance Max From Cannibalizing Brand Traffic
60% of PMax conversions are often branded queries. Here's how to decompose PMax performance, stop brand cannibalization, and make it actually drive new customers.
How to Audit a Google Ads Account: 7-Step Checklist
A 7-step Google Ads audit you can run yourself, with the specific numbers that separate a healthy account from a leaking one: acceptable wasted-spend %, impression share floors, and conversion tracking checks.
Google Shopping AdsFeeder-Converter Architecture
The Shopping campaign structure that scales ecom brands from $100K to $1M+/month. How feeder and converter campaigns work together to find and scale winning products.
How Many Clients Does Your Google Ads Manager Have?
Most agency account managers run 15-30+ accounts at once. Here's what that ratio actually does to your campaigns, how to find out yours, and what a workable account load looks like.