Term
Shopping Campaign
A Google Ads campaign type for product ads with image, price, and merchant name. Data comes from the Google Merchant Center feed; targeting is product-attribute-based, not keyword-based.
Shopping campaign — in more detail
Shopping campaigns serve Product Listing Ads (PLAs) on Google Search, the Shopping tab, partner sites, and parts of the Display Network. Instead of bidding on keywords, ads are generated from the product feed in Google Merchant Center: title, description, image, price, GTIN/MPN/brand, and other attributes determine which search queries Google matches the product to. Structure is built around product groups (category, brand, item ID, custom labels). Bidding strategies range from Manual CPC to Maximize Conversion Value with tROAS. Negative keywords remain the most important steering lever.
Example / In practice
A fashion retailer maintains 12,000 products in Merchant Center, segments by margin via custom labels, and runs a Standard Shopping campaign with three product groups — high margin with an aggressive tROAS, mid margin conservative, low margin excluded.
Distinction from similar terms
Standard Shopping is the classic, granular variant. Performance Max has gradually replaced Smart Shopping and serves Shopping inventory as part of a multi-channel setup. Search campaigns are keyword-based, Shopping is feed-based — the two often complement each other in the same account.
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Performance Max (PMax)
Fully automated Google Ads campaign type. A single campaign serves across all inventory — Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube, Discover, Gmail, Maps — driven by Google's AI toward a conversion goal.
LexikonUnderstanding Performance Max — strengths, black-box pain, alternatives
When PMax actually delivers, where the black box hurts, and which alternatives are realistic for shopping and lead accounts.
NewsPerformance Max 2026: New Controls, More Reporting — and 45% of all Google Ads Conversions
First-party audience exclusions, 50 search themes, granular reports. What Google actually changed in PMax 2026 — and what didn't.