What Is Listing Group?
Also written as listing groups, product group, product groups.
Definition
A listing group is a filter that says which products in your Merchant Center feed can serve inside a campaign or asset group. For an ecommerce store on Google Ads, this is how you include winners and hold back weak products. In Standard Shopping the same idea is often called a product group.
Written by Christopher Krassnig, Founder & CEO of ZenoX Media. Written by the ZenoX team from the accounts we run. Definitions are general; the numbers in examples are maths, not client results.
Listing Group, Explained
Think of a listing group as a sieve on your feed. You can filter by brand, category, item id, custom label, or condition. Everything that matches can show. Everything you subdivide and exclude cannot. In Performance Max, each asset group has its own listing group tree. In Standard Shopping, the tree sits on the campaign and you can bid on the branches.
The common mistake is leaving one All products group in place. Then every SKU shares the same fate. A waster with no sales sits next to a champion. The bidding sees one blended average.
Split the tree on a custom label you actually maintain. Put champions in the PMax asset group that should spend. Exclude wasters from that tree and send them to Standard Shopping, where you can see the groups and cap them. After any split, open the listing group and check that products actually landed in it. An empty tree looks healthy and spends nothing.
How We Use It at ZenoX
We build listing groups from custom labels, not from guesses inside the campaign. Champions, potentials, sleepers and wasters each land in the tree that matches their job. Wasters go to Standard Shopping. The rest stay in feed-only Performance Max. After every split we open the group and confirm products are actually in it.
Questions People Ask About Listing Group
What Is a Listing Group in Performance Max?
In Performance Max, a listing group sits inside an asset group and filters which products that group can show. You can include or exclude products by brand, category, custom label or item id. If you leave it on All products, every SKU in the feed can serve in that asset group.
Are Listing Groups the Same as Product Groups?
They do the same job. They split your Merchant Center feed so you can include, exclude or bid on a set of products. Google still uses product group in Standard Shopping and listing group in Performance Max. The tree works the same way. Filter on a label you maintain, then check the product count after you save.
Related terms
- Asset GroupAn asset group is the building block inside a Performance Max campaign.
- Custom LabelA custom label is a free-text field on your product feed that you fill with values you choose, such as margin tier or performance bucket.
- Standard Shopping CampaignA Standard Shopping campaign is the older Google Ads campaign type that shows product ads from your Merchant Center feed on Google Shopping and Search.
- Champions and WastersChampions and wasters are product labels.
Go deeper
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