How to create and launch campaigns

When feed set up is complete and products appear in Merchant Center, the retailer can create and launch ad campaigns in Google Ads. Retailers can do this on their own but if you’re assisting them, you may help a retailer set up a Google Ads account.

Set up a Google Ads account

To set up a Google Ads account, follow these steps:

1. If the retailer doesn't have a Google Ads account, have them create the Google Ads account from Merchant Center:
   1. Sign in to your Merchant Center account.
   2. Click the tools icon then select Linked accounts under “Settings”.
   3. Click Link account and follow the instructions.
   4. Click Create shopping campaign and follow the instructions.
   5. Click Go to Google Ads to edit the campaign as needed.
2. If a retailer does have a Google Ads account, follow these steps:
   1. Link their Merchant Center and Google Ads accounts.
   2. Sign in to Google Ads and enable local in a shopping campaign to run local inventory ads (LIA).

Learn more about Google Ads

Create a campaign

To create a campaign, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to Google Ads.
2. Confirm that billing information is correct in Google Ads.
3. Set a budget per business needs.
4. Set a bidding strategy. If you’re not using an internal or third-party bidding tool that automatically takes store visits into account, we recommend using the automated bidding strategy of Maximize clicks or manually assigning bids using Manual CPC bidding (advanced option).
   • Optional, but recommended options:
     • Location targeting: Increase bids around your store locations.
     • Mobile bid modifiers: Increase bids on mobile devices.