What Every eCom Brand Needs to Know About Google Ads

account structure for scaling ecom aov and ltv strategy google ads for ecommerce optimise google shopping campaigns search vs performance max Sep 08, 2025

Success with Google Ads in eCommerce isn’t about chasing vanity ROAS numbers. It’s about knowing your margins, structuring campaigns for control, and scaling step by step. Here’s what every brand needs to understand before investing in ads.

1) Focus & Know Your Numbers

Before touching Google Ads, know your profit margins. Selling a $25 item vs. a $250 item requires different strategies—especially if margins vary.

Once campaigns are live, shift focus to two core numbers:

AOV (Average Order Value): As a baseline, aim for $40+. Higher is better.
LTV (Customer Lifetime Value): The real growth driver. The higher your LTV, the lower your ROAS target can be—or the higher your CPA tolerance.

Example: We increased one brand’s GPAM by 40.6% over 12 months by focusing on LTV. By reducing ROAS targets from 400% to 200%, we unlocked more first-purchase volume—because a 24-month maintenance plan delivered the real profits.

The lesson: Don’t blindly chase 500–600% tROAS to “look good.” Align your targets to your actual LTV and profit drivers.

Also track Cost per Session (CPS) and Revenue per Session (RPS). These metrics give you a macro view of traffic efficiency and revenue quality—beyond just clicks and conversions.

2) Start with Search & Shopping

Always start with Search and Shopping campaigns:

Search: Captures high-intent buyers (e.g., “men’s best anti-aging serum”). Begin with Exact and Phrase Match to stay precise.
Shopping: Visual and data-driven. Optimise titles, attributes, and images for clarity and click-through.

When both are consistently profitable, then expand into other campaign types.

👉How to Optimise Google Search Campaigns

3) Structure Your Account for Scale

Your account structure determines whether you can grow without chaos. Focus on three pillars:

Profit Margins: Split campaigns by margin bands or price tiers. Don’t lump high-margin, low-volume products with low-margin, fast movers.
Control Levers: Segment campaigns so you can adjust for locations, promotions, or seasonal offers without disrupting the whole account.
Website Structure: AI campaigns (PMAX, AI Max) lean heavily on your site. Clean categories, logical URLs, and structured pages = better AI targeting. Messy sites lead to wasted budgets.

4) Scale with PMAX, Display & Demand Gen

Once your Search and Shopping base is profitable and structured, layer on secondary campaigns to reach new audiences:

Performance Max: Great for incremental reach, but exclude branded terms to protect non-brand performance.
Demand Gen: Limit URL targeting and use it for strategic top-of-funnel campaigns.
Display: Best used for remarketing with segmented audiences (e.g., product viewers vs. cart abandoners).

Scaling doesn’t mean turning everything on at once. It means adding campaigns one layer at a time and keeping tight control with exclusions and goal-based segmentation.

Final Takeaway

Every winning eCom Google Ads strategy follows this sequence:

Know your margins, AOV, and LTV.
Build solid Search & Shopping campaigns.
Structure your account for control.
Layer PMAX, Demand Gen, and Display only after your core is profitable.

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