Bigeye's Retail Disrupted study of 1,501 US shoppers found that 89% say a product's visual appeal matters to which brand they choose. Ecommerce PPC for a consumer brand in 2027 starts there: Shopping ads and Performance Max sell from your product images and feed, so the feed comes before the bids. Bigeye, the Orlando agency for consumer brands, runs these accounts through its paid media and performance marketing practice.

This guide covers eight paid search tactics, in the order Bigeye works them, with the numbers behind each one.

Key takeaways

• Bigeye found that 89% of US shoppers say visual appeal matters to which brand they choose. In Shopping ads, the image is most of the ad.

• Bigeye found that 44% of US shoppers prefer to shop in stores and 21% prefer online. For a brand sold at retail, Google Ads drives sales the conversion tag never sees.

• Optmyzr found Performance Max serving on queries that exactly matched a Search keyword in 91.45% of the 503 accounts it studied.

• Seer Interactive measured a 68% drop in paid click-through rate on queries that show an AI Overview, between June 2024 and September 2025.

• Google Search and other revenue reached $63.3 billion in Q2 2026, up 17% from a year earlier, according to Alphabet.

What is ecommerce PPC?

Ecommerce PPC is paid search advertising built to sell products online, mostly through Google Shopping, Performance Max and search text ads, with Microsoft Ads alongside. For a consumer brand it also covers the retailers that carry the product, because a shopper who clicks an ad may buy on Amazon, at Target or in a store.

Most guides treat ecommerce PPC as one store selling to one checkout. Consumer brands rarely work that way. The tactics below are written for brands that sell direct and through retail at the same time.

The numbers to plan around

Step 1: Fix the product feed before you touch a bid

Clean up Merchant Center first: product titles, main images, prices, availability, GTINs and product categories. Shopping ads and Performance Max build ads from the feed, so a weak feed caps every campaign that uses it. Bigeye found that 89% of shoppers say visual appeal matters to which brand they choose.

Titles carry the most weight. Put what the shopper searches first: brand, product type, the attribute that matters (size, flavor, count, scent), then the rest. "Organic Cane Sugar, 4 lb Bag" will outsell a title that starts with a marketing name nobody types.

Then the image. Use a clean main shot that reads at thumbnail size, and add lifestyle images as additional images. Check disapprovals weekly. A product pulled for a missing attribute stops selling, and nobody notices until the monthly report.

Step 2: Split branded and non-branded search

Run brand terms in their own campaign and report them apart from everything else. Branded search mostly captures shoppers who already chose you. Non-branded search is where new customers come from. Optmyzr found Performance Max serving on queries that exactly matched a Search keyword in 91.45% of the 503 accounts it studied.

That overlap matters because Performance Max will happily take credit for your brand name. Google added brand exclusions for Performance Max in January 2025. The setting can apply to Search text ads only, so Shopping ads still show on brand queries while text ads stay in your brand campaign.

Bid on your brand at the lowest level that holds the top position. Then judge the rest of the account on new customers. This guide on Google Ads match types covers how to keep brand and non-brand traffic in their own lanes.

Step 3: Put guardrails on Performance Max

Treat Performance Max as a campaign that needs fences and weekly checks. Google now gives advertisers the controls to do that: campaign-level negative keywords (January 2025), full search terms reporting and channel performance reporting (April 2025), and negative keyword lists shared across Performance Max campaigns (August 2025).

Use all of them. Pull the search terms report every week and add negatives for anything off-category. Check the channel report to see how much budget went to Search, Shopping, YouTube and Display. If most of the spend landed on video and display, the conversions probably did too, and they're worth less than the report suggests.

Split asset groups by product line or margin tier, not by audience guesses. Google raised the limit to 50 search themes per asset group in August 2025, which gives each group a clearer signal. For where Performance Max belongs against standard Search, see PMax vs. Search: where consumer brands should put spend.

Step 4: Bid to margin, not to ROAS

Set targets from contribution margin by product, then let the bidding chase profit. A 4.0 ROAS on a 25% margin product loses money once you count shipping and returns. The same return on a 70% margin product is a strong result. Google's bidding can't tell the difference unless you feed it the right value.

Two ways to do that. Pass profit or margin-adjusted values as conversion value instead of revenue. Or split campaigns by margin tier and set a different ROAS target for each. Either way, the low-margin hero product stops eating the budget meant for the products that pay.

Then step back and check the whole business. In Bigeye's In Clear Focus episode on marketing efficiency ratio, Adam Ortman, founder of Kinetic319, explains why total revenue divided by total marketing spend belongs beside channel reports: it shows whether paid search is growing the business or just taking credit for it.

Step 5: Write search ads like a shelf tag

Put the facts a shopper compares into the ad: price, shipping, returns, ratings and the one claim that sets the product apart. Bigeye's Retail Disrupted study found fast or free shipping was the top reason shoppers gave for buying from a brand direct, followed by positive reviews.

So say it plainly. "Free 2-day shipping" in a headline does more work than "Shop our collection." Use price extensions for your top sellers, promotion extensions during sales, and seller ratings once you qualify. Each one adds a reason to click and takes space from a competitor.

Write for the query, too. A shopper searching "unscented dog shampoo for sensitive skin" wants to see those words. Responsive search ads mix headlines automatically, so pin the one that matters most to position one. This guide on common Quality Score issues covers how ad relevance affects what you pay.

Step 6: Plan search alongside Amazon and retail partners

Decide which sales each click is meant to drive, and measure sales wherever they happen. Bigeye's Retail Disrupted study found 44% of US shoppers prefer stores and 21% prefer online. For a brand sold in Target, Walmart or on Amazon, a lot of Google Ads impact lands outside your own checkout.

Two problems follow. First, retailers bid on your brand name through their own Shopping ads, so you end up competing with your own distribution in the same auction. Talk to retail partners about it, and check auction insights to see who's there. Second, your conversion tag only counts direct orders, so the account looks weaker than it is.

Fix the second one with a geo test. Turn spend up in a set of matched markets and compare total sales, retail included, against markets left alone. It's the only clean read on halo. For how retailer ads fit beside Google, see Bigeye's retail media strategy playbook.

Step 7: Plan for fewer clicks from AI Overviews

Expect lower click-through rates on informational queries, and shift budget toward queries close to purchase. Seer Interactive measured a 68% drop in paid click-through rate on queries showing an AI Overview between June 2024 and September 2025. Queries without an AI Overview fell too, by 32%.

Google expanded Search and Shopping ads into AI Overviews on desktop in the US in May 2025. Performance Max, Shopping and broad match Search campaigns are eligible, so most consumer brand accounts are already in those placements whether they planned to be or not.

Watch three things. Click-through rate by query type, separating "best" and "how to" searches from product and brand searches. Impression share on the product queries that convert. And what the AI Overview says about your category, because the shopper reads it before your ad. Bigeye's AI SEO and GEO work covers the organic side of that answer.

Step 8: Measure what paid search actually moved

Judge paid search on new customers and total sales, not on platform-reported conversions alone. Google Ads credits itself generously, especially on brand terms and remarketing. A business that grows its ad spend 30% and its revenue 5% has a measurement problem, whatever the dashboard says.

Use three checks together. New customer revenue from paid search, which Google can report if you pass customer data. Marketing efficiency ratio for the whole business, tracked monthly. And holdout tests for the big decisions, like whether brand search is worth what it costs.

Bigeye's marketing analytics team builds that reporting, and this guide to marketing attribution explains how the models differ. For cost control inside the account, see 7 ways to reduce your cost per acquisition.

Campaign roles at a glance

What it looks like in practice

Florida Crystals shows the full-funnel version. Bigeye ran digital media alongside social and retail media networks, with holiday baking campaigns timed to seasonal demand, and tracked outcomes from "Get Ingredient" clicks to add-to-cart actions. The case study reports triple-digit growth as the brand moved from regional favorite to national contender.

The National Mango Board shows what research does for media. Bigeye ran bilingual audience research, rebuilt the brand around what shoppers didn't know, and then ran integrated digital media. Website visits rose 23%, and the case study reports paid social up 275% and display up 647%.

Bigeye's read

Bigeye's view is that Performance Max should be the last campaign a consumer brand turns on, not the first.

Google pushes it first because it's easy to launch and spends budget fast. But Optmyzr found it serving on exact Search keyword queries in 91.45% of the accounts it studied. In practice that means it takes credit for brand searches and returning customers, then reports a return that looks better than standard Search.

Start with clean brand and non-brand Search, a standard Shopping campaign built on a fixed feed, and real conversion values. Once those run well and you know your margins by product, add Performance Max for the products already proven, with brand exclusions and negatives in place. You'll spend less, and you'll know what each campaign is doing.

Frequently asked questions

What is ecommerce PPC?

Ecommerce PPC is paid search advertising designed to sell products online, mainly through Google Shopping, Performance Max and search text ads. For consumer brands it also reaches shoppers who buy through retailers like Amazon, Target and Walmart, so results should be measured across direct and retail sales, not just the brand's own site.

How much should a consumer brand spend on Google Ads?

Start from the margin you can afford per new customer, not from a percentage of revenue. Set a cost per acquisition target from contribution margin and expected repeat purchases, fund the products that clear it, and scale only what holds that target. WordStream's 2026 benchmarks put the average cost per click at $5.42.

Should a consumer brand use Performance Max?

Yes, after the basics run well. Launch brand and non-brand Search and standard Shopping first, fix the feed, and set margin-based conversion values. Then add Performance Max for proven products with brand exclusions and negative keywords in place. Optmyzr found it overlapping exact Search keywords in 91.45% of accounts it studied.

Is Google Shopping worth it if we sell on Amazon?

Usually, yes. Google Shopping reaches shoppers before they've picked a store, and many will buy wherever is easiest. Bigeye's Retail Disrupted study of 1,501 US shoppers found 44% prefer stores and 21% prefer online, so measure Shopping on total sales, using geo tests, rather than on direct orders alone.

How do you choose a Google search agency?

Ask how they separate branded and non-branded results, how they set conversion values, and how they measure sales outside your website. Ask who works on the account each day. Bigeye runs paid search for consumer brands with 23 certified platform partnerships, and starts most new accounts with a free audit.

Talk to a paid search strategist

If your Google Ads account needs a second set of eyes, Bigeye's paid media team will walk through it with you. Start with a free Blind Spot Audit or start the conversation.

Sources: Bigeye, Retail Disrupted (2021); Bigeye, In Clear Focus podcast (May 2026); IAB and PwC (Apr 2026); eMarketer (Jan 2026, May 2026); Alphabet (Jul 2026); Google (Jan, Apr, May and Aug 2025); WordStream (Sep 2026); Optmyzr (Jul 2025); Seer Interactive (Nov 2025).