What Is Standard Shopping Campaign?
Also written as Shopping campaign, Standard Shopping, Google Shopping campaign.
Definition
A Standard Shopping campaign is the older Google Ads campaign type that shows product ads from your Merchant Center feed on Google Shopping and Search. For an ecommerce store, it lets you set bids on product groups you can see and change. It does not run YouTube, Display or Discover the way Performance Max does.
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.
Standard Shopping Campaign, Explained
Standard Shopping is the older Shopping campaign type. You still need a live Merchant Center feed. Ads look like product tiles with an image, title, price and store name. You split the catalog with listing groups (also called product groups) and you can bid on each group.
The common mistake is running Standard Shopping as a copy of Performance Max, with the same products and the same bid idea in both. The two campaigns then fight each other. Google can show either ad for the same search, and you lose control of which one wins.
Give Standard Shopping a job Performance Max should not do. The usual job in an ecom account is the weak products (wasters). Keep those out of PMax listing groups and bid on them here, where you can see the groups. Leave the rest of the catalog in PMax. Priority settings still matter when both campaign types can show. Check that the same product is not fully enabled in both.
How We Use It at ZenoX
We launch a Standard Shopping campaign on day one in every new account we build, next to feed-only Performance Max and brand Search, wherever the account can still create one. Standard Shopping holds the wasters. We keep those products out of PMax listing groups so they cannot drain the main campaign. We read break-even ROAS before we set bids on those groups.
Questions People Ask About Standard Shopping Campaign
What Is the Difference Between Standard Shopping and Performance Max?
Standard Shopping shows product ads on Shopping and Search from your feed. You bid on listing groups you can see. Performance Max can also show on YouTube, Display, Discover and more, and it bids from your goal, not from a keyword list. Many ecom stores run both, with different products in each.
Should I Switch off Standard Shopping If I Use Performance Max?
Not by default. Standard Shopping is still useful when you need product-level control. Weak products, tests, and items you want to cap are easier to handle here than inside PMax. If both campaigns contain the same products, they compete. Split the catalog instead of turning Standard Shopping off.
Related terms
- Performance MaxPerformance Max is a Google Ads campaign type that can show your products on Shopping, Search, YouTube, Display, Discover and more from one budget.
- Listing GroupA listing group is a filter that says which products in your Merchant Center feed can serve inside a campaign or asset group.
- Champions and WastersChampions and wasters are product labels.
- Product FeedA product feed is the data file that tells Google Merchant Center what you sell, item by item.
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