How-To Guide · Ad Creative Generation

How to Make Google Ad for Ecommerce Store

Step-by-step guide to creating Google Shopping and Performance Max ads for your ecommerce store. Covers Merchant Center setup, image specs, campaign types, and asset groups.

TL;DR Set up Google Merchant Center, upload a product feed, choose between Performance Max and Standard Shopping, build image assets to spec, link accounts, and launch. The hardest part is generating enough high-quality product images. Coinis Image Ads creates spec-ready creatives from a product URL, so you can skip the design work and get straight to uploading.

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Originally published .

Key Takeaways
  • Google Shopping ads require a Merchant Center product feed before any campaign can go live.
  • Performance Max reaches Search, YouTube, Gmail, and Display from one campaign using Google's AI.
  • Standard Shopping gives more bidding control and is simpler to start with.
  • Merchant Center product images need at least 500×500 px; 1500×1500 px performs best.
  • Performance Max needs at least 7 image assets across square, landscape, and portrait ratios.
  • Coinis Image Ads generates spec-ready product creatives from a URL, no designer needed.

Google Shopping ads put your product photo, price, and store name in front of buyers already searching for what you sell. This guide walks every step, from Merchant Center setup to launching your first campaign. You will also see where Coinis cuts the most painful part: building image assets that meet Google's strict specs.

Why Google Ads for Ecommerce Stores

What are Google Shopping ads and why they convert

Google Shopping ads show a product photo, title, price, and store name before a user ever clicks. Per Google's Shopping ads documentation, that pre-click transparency means shoppers who do click are already comparing options and ready to buy. Standard text ads don't give buyers that context upfront.

How Google ads differ from Facebook/Instagram for product sellers

Facebook and Instagram ads interrupt a scroll. Google Shopping ads meet buyers at the moment of intent. Someone searching "women's blue leather boots size 8" is far further down the purchase funnel than someone scrolling a lifestyle photo. Both channels work. Google often delivers stronger purchase intent right from the first impression.

Step 1: Set Up Google Merchant Center and Product Feed

Create a Merchant Center account

Go to merchants.google.com and create a free Merchant Center account. You will need to verify and claim your website URL. Google checks that you own the domain before any of your products can appear in ads.

Upload your product feed (CSV or XML format)

Your product feed is a structured file listing every item you sell. Each row needs a product title, description, price, availability, image URL, and unique product ID. Google accepts CSV, XML, and Google Sheets formats. Shopify, WooCommerce, and most major carts have native Merchant Center integrations that automate this step.

Verify your product data meets requirements

Check that titles are descriptive, prices match your landing pages exactly, and images meet the specs covered in Step 3. Merchant Center flags errors and disapprovals in its Diagnostics tab. Fix every disapproval before building campaigns. Disapproved products simply won't show.

Step 2: Choose Your Campaign Type: Performance Max vs. Standard Shopping

Performance Max: broader reach, AI-driven optimization

Performance Max campaigns use your Merchant Center feed plus uploaded creative assets to place ads across Google Search, the Shopping tab, YouTube, Gmail, Display Network, and Maps. Google's AI handles bidding, placement, and audience targeting automatically. Per Google's Ads Help Center, Performance Max requires at least 7 image assets to enable all placements. More on those specs in Step 3.

Standard Shopping: more control, traditional Shopping tab placement

Standard Shopping campaigns use cost-per-click bidding and place ads primarily on the Shopping tab and Google Search. You control bids by product group. You don't need to upload separate creative assets beyond the product images already in your feed. It is a simpler setup with fewer moving parts.

Which is right for your store

Start with Standard Shopping if you want to learn Google product advertising without managing creative assets. Move to Performance Max when you have polished product images ready and want Google's AI to find conversions across every channel. Many advertisers run both campaigns simultaneously.

Step 3: Prepare and Optimize Your Product Images

This is where most ecommerce stores get stuck. Google enforces strict image requirements and rejects ads with blurry, cropped, or undersized visuals.

Merchant Center image requirements (500×500 minimum, 1500×1500+ recommended)

Per Google Merchant Center documentation, product images must be at least 500×500 pixels. Google recommends 1500×1500 pixels or above for best performance. The maximum file size is 16 MB. Accepted formats include JPG, PNG, and WebP. The image must show the actual product clearly. No placeholder graphics, no logos as the main image, no generic stock photos in place of the real item.

Performance Max asset group image specs

Per Google's documentation on image assets for Performance Max campaigns, you need a minimum of 7 image assets. That means 3 landscape (minimum 600×314 px), 3 square (minimum 300×300 px), and 1 portrait. Google recommends uploading a 1200×1200 square as your primary high-quality asset. Maximum file size is 5 MB per image. Files must be JPG or PNG. Keep all critical content in the center 80% of each image so Google's automated cropping does not clip your product.

Using Coinis Image Ads to generate missing product images from URLs

Most ecommerce stores don't have seven polished, ad-ready images per product. That is where Coinis Image Ads helps. Paste a product URL. Coinis pulls the product details and generates creative images using cutting-edge AI models. You get multiple aspect ratios, clean backgrounds, and on-brand styling, all sized to meet Google's specs. No photographer. No designer. No hours in editing software.

Coinis does not publish directly to Google Ads today. That is on the roadmap. But you generate your assets in Coinis, download them, and upload directly to your Performance Max asset groups or Merchant Center. The creative work, the hardest part, is done in minutes.

Using Coinis Revise to upscale and optimize product photos

Already have product photos but they are too small or low-resolution? The AI Upscale tool inside Coinis Revise brings a 400×400 image up to spec without visible quality loss. Need to swap a background, remove a watermark, or resize for a different ratio? Smart Resize, AI Erase, and Edit text on image each handle those edits in one click.

Link your accounts in Google Ads

Inside Google Ads, go to Tools, then Linked accounts, then Google Merchant Center. Enter your Merchant Center ID and send a link request. Approve it inside Merchant Center. Once linked, your product data flows into your Shopping and Performance Max campaigns.

Select campaign objective and type

Create a new campaign and choose Sales, Leads, or Website traffic as your objective. Then select Performance Max or Shopping as the campaign type. Google will prompt you to choose the linked Merchant Center account as your product data source.

Set your budget and bidding strategy

For Performance Max, Maximize Conversions is the default bidding strategy. Add a Target ROAS goal once you have a few weeks of conversion data. For Standard Shopping, manual CPC or Target ROAS both work. Set a daily budget you are comfortable spending during the algorithm's learning period. The first two weeks are data-gathering. Don't judge performance too early.

Step 5: Build Asset Groups and Launch

Create your first ad group

For Standard Shopping, create an ad group covering all products or split by category. For Performance Max, create an asset group. Name it by product category or audience intent so you can track performance by segment and swap creative by theme.

Add image, text, and video assets (for Performance Max)

Upload your images from Coinis or your own library. Add headlines (up to 30 characters each) and descriptions (up to 90 characters each), per Google Ads documentation. Video assets are optional but encouraged. Google can auto-generate a simple video from your feed if you do not provide one. Add your logo and business name to complete the asset group.

Monitor ad strength and refresh assets regularly

Google rates each asset group from "Poor" to "Excellent." Aim for Excellent before launch. Add more image variations if you are stuck at "Good." Per Google's best practices for Performance Max creative assets, refreshing your images as your marketing message evolves helps maintain performance over time.

What to Monitor and Optimize After Launch

Track performance by product and product category

In Google Ads, go to Products reports to see which items generate the most clicks and conversions. Pause products with high spend and zero conversions. Increase bids or budgets on categories that convert well.

Refresh creative assets to stay competitive

Ad fatigue hits display and YouTube placements faster than Search. Swap in new image assets every four to six weeks. Generate a fresh batch with Coinis Image Ads, download, and replace underperforming assets in your asset groups. The whole refresh takes minutes, not a design sprint.

Use Google Ads reporting tools to identify top performers

Check the Search terms report to see which queries triggered your Shopping ads. Check Auction insights to see who you are competing against on price and position. Use that data to sharpen product titles in your feed, adjust bids, and prioritize your best-converting categories.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a Google Merchant Center account to run Google ads for my ecommerce store?

Yes. All Google Shopping and Performance Max product campaigns require a Google Merchant Center account with an uploaded product feed. There is no way to run product listing ads without one. Setting up a Merchant Center account is free.

What image size does Google Shopping require for product listings?

Google Merchant Center requires product images to be at least 500×500 pixels. Google recommends 1500×1500 pixels or above for best performance. For Performance Max asset groups, you also need at least 7 separate image assets including square (minimum 300×300 px), landscape (minimum 600×314 px), and portrait images, each no larger than 5 MB in JPG or PNG format.

Should I use Performance Max or Standard Shopping as a beginner?

Start with Standard Shopping if you want simpler setup and more bidding control. It requires no separate creative assets beyond your product feed images. Move to Performance Max once you have polished image assets ready and want Google's AI to find conversions across Search, YouTube, Gmail, and Display from a single campaign.

Can Coinis publish ads directly to Google Ads?

Not yet. Coinis currently publishes directly to Facebook and Instagram. Google Ads direct publishing is on the roadmap. You can still use Coinis Image Ads to generate spec-ready product creatives, download them, and upload manually to your Google Ads Performance Max asset groups or Merchant Center. The creative generation step is the time-consuming part, and Coinis handles that today.

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