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Google Ads Campaign Playbook (Eco…

Google Ads Campaign

Playbook (Ecomm)
What It Is
The Google Ads ecommerce account
campaign playbook is a framework for how
ecommerce clients’ Google Ads accounts
should be set up, structured, targeted and
measured.

Here is the link to the full account structure

playbook in Google Sheets format.

Why It Matters
:
 This playbook gives Directors, Managers &
Analysts a “true north” for how to initially
approach their ecommerce clients’ PPC
strategy and campaigns.

That said, think of this playbook as a guide.

Obviously, there will be instances in which a
certain campaign doesn’t make sense for a
given client, or a certain bid strategy is tested
that ultimately doesn’t produce the intended
results.

In other words, consider this a starting point,

and let real-world testing and data dictate how
your clients’ accounts and campaigns evolve
over the long term.

How To Do It
Your campaign structure should be
segmented and labeled into 3 categories:
bottom of funnel, middle of funnel, and top of
funnel.

Layer 1: Bottom of Funnel

Layer Goals: Impression share (90%) and

revenue

Total Layer Budget Allocation: 10-30%

Campaigns, Targeting, Bidding & Audience

Inclusions/Exclusions:
:
 1. Brand Search: this campaign will
exclusively target exact and phrase match
branded keywords (i.e. keywords that
specify the client’s brand/company name).

You need to include core brand keywords

(e.g. [nike], “nike”), brand +
category/subcategory brand keywords
(e.g. [nike mens shoes], “nike leggings”)
and brand + product keywords (e.g. [nike
air max 90], “nike elemental premium
crossbody bag”), and make sure to
segment these keywords into separate ad
groups with customized ads that include
the root keywords in the ad headline.

Please utilize a manual CPC bidding

strategy for this campaign, and ensure
that you are setting a higher manual bid on
exact match keywords relative to phrase
match. Your goal with bidding should be to
maintain an impression share roughly
between 85-90% (as anything higher than
90% IS will typically lead to significant
diminishing returns). Note that the benefit
of manual bidding vs. automated bidding
for branded search is that you will have
vastly more control over the average cost
per click.

Additional acceptable bid strategies

include: 1). target IS with max CPC limit 2).
max clicks with max CPC limit

2. Standard Shopping: this campaign will

target a blend of nonbrand and branded
:
 product, category and manufacturer-
related searches. The nonbrand searches
triggered by this campaign will need to be
closely monitored, and you’ll need to add
new negative keywords to the campaign
on a recurring basis. Also keep in mind
that in theory, much of the inventory
targeted by this campaign is also going to
be targeted by both pMax campaigns that
will be running in the account, so it’s very
possible that this campaign will produce
low overall volume. That said, there may
be an instance that a client wants to push
more traffic/sales to a given product or
category, and having this campaign built
will enable you to do that.

The goal of the campaign will mostly be to

generate as much revenue as possible, so
please select a Max. Conv Value bidding
strategy.

From an audience perspective, make sure

to select an array of relevant affinity, in-
market, custom intent and remarketing
audiences in Observation mode so that
you can revisit the campaign after a period
of time and identify/capitalize top-
performing audience segments.

In order to determine how to segment your

product groups, you can start by
identifying Pareto distributions within the
account, whether it’s a given category,
product or audience that accounts for a
majority of the revenue/sales. You should
then ensure that the most lucrative
:
 components of your account have their
own respective product group. Examples
include (but aren’t limited to):

-By top product sellers vs. all other

products
-By categories
-By manufacturer brand (if the client is a
reseller)

3. YouTube Retargeting: this campaign will

exclusively target 7, 30, 90 day product
page visitors, 7, 30, 90 day non-product
page visitors, 7, 30, 90 day cart
abandoners, 30, 90, 180 day purchasers,
and at least one customer match list (that
preferably consists of customers over the
last 1-2 years). All audiences should be set
to the “Targeting” audience setting to
ensure that your ads are only served to the
audiences you select.

The campaign should initially utilize a Max.

Conv Value bid strategy, as the goal of the
campaign is to generate as much revenue
as possible. That said, you should also
monitor display impression share, display
lost IS to budget and display lost IS to rank
to see if there is opportunity to increase
budget or increase bids (if/when a target
CPA or ROAS is applied to the campaign).

In terms of video ad creative, you should

recommend that your clients’ provide
short-form video ads (15-60 seconds)
that include value propositions, offers, and
clear calls-to-action with the goal of
:
 converting customers ASAP. More on
YouTube video ad formats here and more
on YouTube video ad specifications here.

Lastly, remember to sync your clients’

Google Merchant Center accounts to your
YouTube campaigns so that you can
showcase shoppable products alongside
the video ad. This can be done with the
campaign settings tab. Note that a call-to-
action is required for all ads in campaigns
using a product feed. If you don’t add your
own call-to-action, Google will
automatically apply a “Shop now” call-to-
action to each ad in the campaign.
:
 4. Display Retargeting: similar to the
YouTube retargeting campaign, this
campaign will exclusively target 7, 30, 90
day product page visitors, 7, 30, 90 day
non-product page visitors, 7, 30, 90 day
cart abandoners, 30, 90, 180 day
purchasers, and at least one customer
match list (that preferably consists of
customers over the last 1-2 years). All
audiences should be set to the “Targeting”
audience setting to ensure that your ads
are only served to the audiences you
select.

The campaign should initially utilize a Max.

Conv Value bid strategy, as the goal of the
campaign is to generate as much revenue
as possible. That said, you should also
monitor display impression share, display
lost IS to budget and display lost IS to rank
to see if there is opportunity to increase
budget or increase bids (if/when a target
CPA or ROAS is applied to the campaign).

In terms of display ad creative, you should

leverage Google’s responsive display ad
format, which will require a logo and a
banner image. More on responsive display
ad specifications here.

Lastly, remember to sync your clients’

Google Merchant Center accounts to your
Display campaigns so that you can
showcase shoppable products alongside
the banner ad. This can be done with the
campaign settings tab.
:
 Layer 2: Middle of Funnel

Layer Goals: Revenue

Total Layer Budget Allocation: 60-70%

Campaigns, Targeting, Bidding & Audience

Inclusions/Exclusions:

1. Performance Max with Assets: this

campaign will very likely be the top-
spending, primary campaign within the
entire Google Ads account, as it will
target a combination of search,
shopping, display, video and email
inventory on the Google Search,
Search Partners & Display Networks.

In most cases, the campaign should

start with a Max. Conv. Value bidding
strategy so as to give Google’s
algorithms an opportunity to “learn”
how to generate as much revenue as
possible with the provided budget. In
certain instances though, a client may
have a very strict CPA/ROAS target, in
which case, you should consider
launching the campaign with a target
CPA or ROAS already applied.

The campaign should consist of 2-3

asset groups to start, and should not
exceed a maximum of 5 asset groups
:
 at any point. Too many asset groups
makes it hard to reach statistical
significance for any single asset group,
which in turn, hinders Google’s
machine learning capabilities. In short,
the more conversion data you can feed
a campaign or asset group, the better
(in theory) Google’s algorithm’s can
learn and scale your budget.

Similar to standard shopping’s product

group segmentation, one way to
determine how to segment your
product/asset groups for pMax, you
can start by identifying Pareto
distributions within the account,
whether it’s a given category, product
or audience that accounts for a
majority of the revenue/sales. You
should then ensure that the most
lucrative components of your account
have their own respective asset group.
Asset group structure examples
include (but aren’t limited to):

-By audiences (customer match,

Nonbrand keyword custom intent
audiences, competitor URLs, affinity +
in-market)
-By top product sellers vs. all other
products
-By categories
-By manufacturer brand (if the client is
a reseller)

You should also utilize asset groups to

push seasonal messaging + sales and
:
 promotional messaging.

Audience signals for this campaign

should include: customer match list
(existing customers), custom intent
audiences, affinity audiences, in-
market, and remarketing audiences.

IMPORTANT: When running an eComm

pMax campaign WITH assets, it is
strongly recommended that you install
and consistently run this script.
Regularly running this campaign during
AND after the 6-8 week learning period
will help you determine the answers to
the following questions:

-How is the budget being spent within

this campaign?
-Is Google throwing significant portions
of the budget at less-effective
inventory (Discovery, Gmail, etc.)?
- Should you launch a shopping-only
pMax campaign (w/o assets)?
-Would a shopping-only pMax
campaign help you reach your account
goals (staying within monthly budget,
hitting target ROAS/CPA)?

NOTE: remember to apply the

product feed to the campaign. You
also need to apply brand keyword
exclusions to this campaign by
contacting the Google rep assigned
to the account. This will ensure that
brand searches get targeted via the
BOF Brand Search campaign.
:
 2. Performance Max without Assets
(Shopping Only): this campaign will
act as a Shopping / Dynamic Product
Ad only campaign, and the majority of
its budget will be spent on search and
retargeting audiences. In theory, the
campaign should yield a more efficient
CPA/ROAS given that it will target more
qualified audiences. That said, if it
doesn’t after ample testing, the
campaign should be paused (and the
traffic will be subsequently funneled
back into the main pMax campaign).

The campaign should utilize a single

asset group that is targeting all
products, and should have no
headlines, descriptions, images, etc.
added to the campaign. This will
ensure that Google only advertises the
product images submitted via the
product feed.

In most cases, the campaign should

start with a Max. Conv. Value bidding
strategy so as to give Google’s
algorithms an opportunity to “learn”
how to generate as much revenue as
possible with the provided budget. In
certain instances though, a client may
have a very strict CPA/ROAS target, in
which case, you should consider
launching the campaign with a target
CPA or ROAS already applied.

A few things to consider when

deciding to launch a Shopping-only
:
 pMax:

- Can you afford another 6-8 week

learning period for the new campaign?
If not, you can relaunch the asset
groups within the main pMax with 0
assets. This way you are keeping the
“learning” from the 6-8 week while
essentially launching a new shopping-
only pMax.
- A new shopping-only pMax can
completely cannibalize the existing
main pMax campaign - if you decide to
run the pMax(Asset) and
pMax(NoAsset) concurrently.

NOTE: remember to apply the

product feed to the campaign. You
also need to apply brand keyword
exclusions to this campaign by
contacting the Google rep assigned
to the account. This will ensure that
brand searches get targeted via the
BOF Brand Search campaign.

3. Nonbrand Search (Product/Solution

Focus): this campaign will target exact
and phrase match keywords of the
specific products, services and
solutions that are relevant to the
client’s business. For example, an
ecommerce business that sells boat
cleaning accessories would target
keywords such as “boat scuff erasers”,
“boat desk cleaner”, “boat deck brush”
in this campaign. Or a clothing brand
:
 would target a variety of product and
category searches such as “v neck
shirts” or “womens shoes”. Eventually,
it could be worth testing board match
keywords within this campaign, but
that testing should occur after
significant testing and optimization has
been made to the existing exact and
phrase match keywords. Please note
that the ad groups in this campaign
should be segmented by product and
category - this way the ad messaging
can be very specific for each product /
category that is being targeted.

Similar to the other middle of funnel

campaigns, this campaign’s goal is to
drive revenue. Therefore, the campaign
should start with a Max. Conv. Value
bidding strategy so as to give Google’s
algorithms an opportunity to “learn”
how to generate as much revenue as
possible with the provided budget. In
certain instances though, a client may
have a very strict CPA/ROAS target, in
which case, you should consider
launching the campaign with a target
CPA or ROAS already applied.

From an audience perspective, make

sure to select an array of relevant
affinity, in-market, custom intent and
remarketing audiences in Observation
mode so that you can revisit the
campaign after a period of time and
identify/capitalize on top-performing
audience segments.
:
 NOTE: remember to apply phrase
match brand negatives to this
campaign so that it does not capture
brand search traffic. Also make sure
that your location settings are set to
Presence only, which will guarantee
that your ads only show within your
selected target locations.

4. Dynamic Search Ads: this campaign

will target all webpages on the client’s
website with the exception of non-
commercial or non-informational
pages, such as career, policy or terms
of service pages.

Again, similar to the other middle of

funnel campaigns, this campaign’s goal
is to drive revenue. Therefore, the
campaign should start with a Max.
Conv. Value bidding strategy so as to
give Google’s algorithms an
opportunity to “learn” how to generate
as much revenue as possible with the
provided budget. In certain instances
though, a client may have a very strict
CPA/ROAS target, in which case, you
should consider launching the
campaign with a target CPA or ROAS
already applied.

It’s recommended to segment ad

groups in your DSA campaign by high
traffic/volume sections of your website.
It’s therefore recommended that you
assess where on your website most of
your paid and organic traffic is landing
:
 to inform how you segment your ad
groups.

From an audience perspective, make

sure to select an array of relevant
affinity, in-market, custom intent and
remarketing audiences in Observation
mode so that you can revisit the
campaign after a period of time and
identify/capitalize on top-performing
audience segments.

NOTE: remember to apply phrase

match brand negatives to this
campaign so that it does not capture
brand search traffic. Also make sure
that your location settings are set to
Presence only, which will guarantee
that your ads only show within your
selected target locations.

Layer 3: Top of Funnel

Layer Goals: Impressions, Views & Traffic

Total Layer Budget Allocation: 10-20%

Campaigns, Targeting, Bidding & Audience

Inclusions/Exclusions:

1. pMax with Assets (Non-Purchase Goal):

this campaign will focus on generating
non-purchase/revenue-driving conversion
actions, such as email newsletter sign-
ups, in-store visits, live chats, and/or add
:
 to carts (sans purchasers). That said, you
need to understand the extent to which
your client values these non-revenue
driving conversion actions (e.g. what is the
value of new email subscriber? what % of
prospective customers that initiative a live
chat become a buyer, and what is the AOV
of that buyer?) in order to justify running
the campaign in the first place. Please also
note that if the client wants to generate a
variety of different non-purchase
conversions via Google advertising, then
each of those specific non-purchase
conversion actions should be targeted in
separated campaigns (e.g. email
newsletter sign-ups should be targeted in
a different campaign vs. live chats).

In most cases, the campaign should start

with a Max. Conversion bidding strategy
so as to give Google’s algorithms an
opportunity to “learn” how to generate as
many conversions as possible with the
provided budget. In certain instances
though, a client may have a very strict CPA
target (e.g. they only want to pay $1 per
new email), in which case, you should
consider launching the campaign with a
target CPA already applied.

The campaign should consist of 2-3 asset

groups to start, and should not exceed a
maximum of 5 asset groups at any point.
Too many asset groups makes it hard to
reach statistical significance for any single
asset group, which in turn, hinders
Google’s machine learning capabilities. In
:
 short, the more conversion data you can
feed a campaign or asset group, the better
(in theory) Google’s algorithm’s can learn
and scale your budget.

NOTE: remember that you should NOT

apply the product feed to this campaign.
You also need to apply brand keyword
exclusions to this campaign by
contacting the Google rep assigned to
the account. This will ensure that brand
searches get targeted via the BOF Brand
Search campaign.

2. Nonbrand Search (Question/Problem

Focus): this campaign will target exact
and phrase match keywords of the
questions, problems and symptoms that
the client’s product(s) or service(s)
resolve. For example, an ecommerce
business that sells boat cleaning
accessories would target keywords such
as “how to clean my boat”, “boat mold”,
“how to prevent boat corrosion” in this
campaign. Eventually, it could be worth
testing broad match keywords too, but
that testing should occur after significant
testing and optimization has been made to
the existing exact and phrase match
keywords. Please note that the ad groups
in this campaign should be segmented by
question/problem/symptom - this way the
ad messaging can be very specific for
question/problem/symptom keyword that
is being targeted.

Unlike the BOF & MOF layers, this top of

:
 funnel (TOF) layer is focused on driving
impressions, views and traffic (clicks).
Therefore, this campaign should have a
website traffic goal. Manual CPC bidding
will provide the highest degree of control,
and it’s recommended to start with this bid
strategy and ensure that you are setting a
higher bid on exact match keywords vs.
phrase match keywords out of the gates.
However, you may also consider choosing
a Maximize Clicks bid strategy with a bid
cap.

Please keep in mind: you cannot and

should not grade this campaign based on
revenue or ROAS. The goal of this
campaign is to capture prospective
customers before they even realize that
they need a product or service to resolve
their problem. Therefore, use traffic/clicks
are your primary metric to optimize this
campaign, but you should also
consistently assess secondary metrics
such as assisted conversion or first-click
conversions from Google Analytics to
determine whether or not the campaign is
succeeding at introducing new audiences
to the client’s brand that ultimately
become customers.

From an audience perspective, make sure

to select an array of relevant affinity, in-
market, custom intent and remarketing
audiences in Observation mode so that
you can revisit the campaign after a period
of time and identify/capitalize on top-
performing audience segments.
:
 Lastly, it’s highly recommended to use
landing pages that answer the searcher’s
specific query / offer solutions to their
problem. For example, someone searching
“how to cook chicken without oil” should
not be pushed to a product detail page for
an air fryer - they should land on a page
that tells them how to cook chicken
without oil (obviously). Therefore, this
campaign type typically works best for
clients that have a blog or general
informational content that educates their
prospective customers on the common
questions they have. With all of this in
mind, this type of campaign may not make
sense for ecommerce businesses that
simply have product and category pages
on their website (i.e. no blog or
informational content).

NOTE: remember to apply phrase match

brand negatives to this campaign so that
it does not capture brand search traffic.
Also make sure that your location
settings are set to Presence only, which
will guarantee that your ads only show
within your selected target locations.

3. YouTube Prospecting: this campaign will

target cold audiences with the aim of
generating awareness about the client’s
product or service. You will need to make
sure that you are utilizing all demographic,
behavioral and psychographic audience
targeting features that are available. More
specifically, make sure that you are
:
 targeting a very specific and relevant age,
gender and household income - and that
you overlay those audience segments with
relevant affinity, in-market and custom
intent audiences. All that said, make sure
to assess the demographic, behavioral,
and psychographic characteristics of your
target audience BEFORE running this
campaign to ensure that you are only
serving ads to the most relevant
audiences.

In terms of bidding, you should consider

selecting a CPC, CPV or CPM bid strategy.
Each comes with its own benefits and
drawbacks, and all could be tested over
time. No matter what though, do not
select a bid strategy that utilizes
purchase-specific conversion actions, as
the pMax campaign is already essentially
running YouTube ads with a conversion
focus.

Once this campaign is built and properly

targeted, much of the focus needs to shift
to the creative side. More specifically, the
video as a whole, the hook, the call-to-
action, etc. Make sure you are testing
multiple ads, pausing underperformers,
and consistently coming up with new
messaging /creative to test.

Note that in most instances, you will want

to select a TrueView in-stream add to give
users the ability to skip the ad after 5
seconds (which in turn, will mean that your
client is not charged for the ad view). More
:
 on YouTube video best practices here.

Please keep in mind: you cannot and

should not grade this campaign based on
revenue or ROAS. The goal of this
campaign is to capture prospective
customers before they even realize that
they need a product or service to resolve
their problem. Therefore, use traffic/clicks
are your primary metric to optimize this
campaign, but you should also
consistently assess secondary metrics
such as assisted conversion or first-click
conversions from Google Analytics to
determine whether or not the campaign is
succeeding at introducing new audiences
to the client’s brand that ultimately
become customers.

It is also very important to closely monitor

the placements that Google runs your
YouTube ads on, and to make sure that
you are applying placement exclusions in
the event that a given placement is
accounting for a disproportionate amount
of spend relative to impression, views or
clicks.

NOTE: remember to add remarketing

audiences as an audience exclusion to
this campaign so that it does not
compete with the BOF YT remarketing
campaign.

4. Display Prospecting: this campaign will

target cold audiences with the aim of
generating awareness about the client’s
:
 product or service. You will need to make
sure that you are utilizing all demographic,
behavioral and psychographic audience
targeting features that are available. More
specifically, make sure that you are
targeting a very specific and relevant age,
gender and household income - and that
you overlay those audience segments with
relevant affinity, in-market and custom
intent audiences. All that said, make sure
to assess the demographic, behavioral,
and psychographic characteristics of your
target audience BEFORE running this
campaign to ensure that you are only
serving ads to the most relevant
audiences.

In terms of bidding, you should consider

selecting a CPC, CPM or Max Clicks w/ bid
cap bid strategy. Each comes with its own
benefits and drawbacks, and all could be
tested over time. No matter what though,
do not select a bid strategy that utilizes
purchase-specific conversion actions, as
the pMax campaign is already essentially
running GDN ads with a conversion focus.

Once this campaign is built and properly

targeted, much of the focus needs to shift
to the creative side. More specifically, the
ad images, the copy, the call-to-action,
etc. Make sure you are testing multiple
ads, pausing underperformers, and
consistently coming up with new
messaging / creative to test.

In terms of display ad creative, you should

:
 leverage Google’s responsive display ad
format, which will require a logo and a
banner image. More on responsive display
ad specifications here. Remember to also
sync your clients’ Google Merchant Center
accounts to your Display campaigns so
that you can showcase shoppable
products alongside the banner ad. This
can be done with the campaign settings
tab.

Please keep in mind: you cannot and

should not grade this campaign based on
revenue or ROAS. The goal of this
campaign is to capture prospective
customers before they even realize that
they need a product or service to resolve
their problem. Therefore, use traffic/clicks
are your primary metric to optimize this
campaign, but you should also
consistently assess secondary metrics
such as assisted conversion or first-click
conversions from Google Analytics to
determine whether or not the campaign is
succeeding at introducing new audiences
to the client’s brand that ultimately
become customers.

It is also very important to closely monitor

the placements that Google runs your
display ads on, and to make sure that you
are applying placement exclusions in the
event that a given placement is accounting
for a disproportionate amount of spend
relative to impressions and clicks.

NOTE: remember to add remarketing

:
 audiences as an audience exclusion to
this campaign so that it does not
compete with the BOF GDN remarketing
campaign.

Last Updated
This playbook was last updated on February
24th, 2023.
: