After auditing multiple of Google Ads accounts over the past few months, I’ve noticed a pattern.
Most e-commerce brands are leaving serious money on the table by making the same avoidable mistakes.
If you’re running Google Ads to scale your online store, here are five of the most common pitfalls — and what to do instead to improve performance and maximize your return on ad spend (ROAS).
1. Poor Campaign Structure
One of the biggest mistakes? Running all your products in a single campaign. It’s like throwing everything into one basket and hoping the algorithm sorts it out.
Instead, segment your campaigns:
- Hero Products: These are your top sellers. Allocate more budget and aggressive bidding here.
- High-Potential Products: Items that are getting traction but need more visibility.
- Low Performers: Products with low conversions — run tests or reduce spend.
This structure gives you better budget control, clearer data insights, and scalable performance.
2. Unoptimized Product Feeds
Your product feed is the lifeblood of your Shopping ads. If it’s messy or vague, your ads will underperform — no matter how good your targeting is.
✅ Feed Optimization Checklist:
- Include attributes like color, size, material, and brand.
- Use search-friendly titles with relevant keywords.
- Make sure your descriptions are clear, compelling, and conversion-oriented.
Small tweaks here can significantly boost your visibility and clicks.
3. Ignoring Price Competitiveness
Price matters — a lot. If your products are priced higher than your competitors (without clear value justification), you’ll likely see lower CTR and fewer conversions.
🔍 What to do:
- Monitor competitor pricing regularly.
- Offer discounts or bundles on high-potential products.
- Use price benchmarking tools or Google’s Price Competitiveness report if available.
Being strategic about pricing can instantly make your ads more competitive.
4. Overlooking Competitor Insights
Many brands run their campaigns in a bubble, not realizing they’re losing market share to savvier competitors.
💡 Use these tools:
- Google Auction Insights: See who you’re competing with and how often you win impressions.
- Google Ads Transparency: Analyze ad creatives your competitors are running.
Know who you’re up against. Use their strategy to sharpen your own.
5. Not Leveraging First-Party Data
First-party data is gold — and most brands don’t use it.
Instead of relying solely on cold audiences, upload your customer lists to Google Ads via Customer Match. This helps the algorithm find “lookalike” buyers who are more likely to convert.
🎯 Use first-party data to:
- Retarget existing customers
- Exclude past buyers from new acquisition campaigns
- Find new, high-intent shoppers similar to your best customers
This is a powerful (and often underutilized) advantage in a competitive ad landscape.
Final Thoughts
If you’re running Google Ads for your e-commerce brand, take a step back and audit your strategy.
Are you making any of these mistakes? The good news is — each of them is fixable with a few focused changes.
Want help optimizing your Google Ads strategy or feed setup? Let’s connect — I’d love to help you unlock more profitable campaigns.
