How to Add Keywords to Google Shopping

Google Shopping ads work differently than traditional text-based search ads, primarily because they’re based on product data rather than a series of manually selected keywords. Many people assume that you just "add keywords," but it works in a more detailed way. These campaigns rely on the information contained in your product feed - titles, descriptions, and other fields - to match relevant search queries.

However, that doesn’t mean you have no control over how your ads show up. Through feed optimization, negative keywords, and several additional techniques, you can influence which searches trigger your products. If you want to boost sales, drive higher-quality clicks, and simplify your campaign, it helps to know how to incorporate keywords effectively.

Shopping ads give searchers a quick look at your product image, title, and price alongside those of other merchants. The system uses the data from your feed to match potential buyers’ searches to your items. Each piece of data in that feed matters, so improving them is essential for better performance.

Structuring Your Product Feed

Your product feed is where Google pulls vital information to decide when to display your ads. Think of your feed like a backbone; each attribute is a part that needs to be in line for everything to work correctly. Key feed attributes that affect keyword relevance include:

• Product Title
• Product Description
• Product Category
• Brand
• Product Type
• Custom Labels

Without properly structured data, Google struggles to match your items to relevant searches. An organized feed also makes it simpler to manage your inventory as it grows. Clear, concise, keyword-rich data can really work in your favor.

Common Feed Issues

1. Missing or incomplete attributes
2. Incorrect product categories or taxonomy
3. Overly generic descriptions
4. Inaccurate pricing or currency data

Double-check these elements to ensure you aren’t missing valuable opportunities.

Optimizing Titles with Search Terms

One effective way to "add keywords" is to first optimize your product titles. The product title carries significant weight when matching your ads to relevant searches. If someone types in "red running shoes," a product titled "Red Running Shoes with Breathable Mesh" has a better chance of matching than one titled only "Mesh Sneakers."

Tips for Effective Titles

1. Place the keyword or defining characteristic at the beginning. If you know that color or product type is a main driver of clicks, lead with it.
2. Keep it natural: avoid stuffing keywords, but ensure your primary product terms appear.
3. Include relevant synonyms. Instead of just "sneakers," consider also "running shoes" to catch additional queries.

Short, specific titles work best. Google often cuts off longer titles, so aim to capture the essence of the product in fewer characters while still including enough detail.

Example:

A product originally labeled as "Women’s Boots" becomes "Women’s Black Ankle Boots with Zipper Closure." Notice how the revision adds detail that matches potential queries like "women’s black ankle boots" or "ankle boots with zipper."

Crafting Descriptions that Include Keywords

Product descriptions let you provide extra details about features, materials, sizing, and more. In a Shopping campaign, these descriptions offer space to naturally include secondary keywords or phrases relevant to your product.

A description that repeats the main product name in a logical way gives search engines confidence that your product is a match for specific queries. For example, if you’re selling an electronic device, including its brand, model number, and key features can help your ad show up for more specific searches.

Do’s and Don’ts for Descriptions

• Do include brand-specific terms and model numbers if available.
• Do mention physical attributes that shoppers might look for (color, size, material).
• Don’t pile on irrelevant phrases or extra synonyms.
• Don’t rely solely on bullet points; a short paragraph helps provide context.

If you have many products, rewriting descriptions for each one might seem overwhelming. Start with your top sellers or items with the highest margins, then gradually update more of your catalog.

Negative Keywords: An Often-Overlooked Tool

Even though you can’t add positive keywords in the traditional sense, you can remove unwanted traffic by using negative keywords. This step is frequently ignored despite its potential to improve profitability.

Negative keywords keep your product ads from appearing for irrelevant queries. If you sell high-end luxury suits, for example, you’d want to exclude searches like "cheap suits" or "budget suits" to avoid unqualified clicks.

How to Use Negative Keywords

1. Make a list of phrases that are irrelevant or unprofitable, such as brand names you don’t offer.
2. Regularly review your search terms report. Look for queries that triggered your ads but did not result in sales or were off-target.
3. Add these irrelevant terms as negative keywords at the campaign or ad group level.

This method helps steer your budget toward traffic that is more likely to convert.

Segmenting Your Campaigns for Better Keyword Control

For more precise control, consider dividing your Shopping campaigns into product groups based on common characteristics. This might be by brand, category, price range, or another classification. Each segment can then have its own list of negative keywords or separate budget settings.

By breaking your items into smaller groups, you can manage spending better and tailor the negative keyword lists. For example, if you have separate lines for men’s and women’s footwear, you might create distinct campaigns and then add negative keywords where needed (like excluding "women" from a men’s footwear campaign if such searches occur).

Example Table for Product Group Segmentation

Here's the table in markdown format:

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This table shows how you might separate your campaigns and adjust the negatives. The aim is to focus your ads where they are most likely to be effective.

Using Custom Labels for Internal Keyword Strategy

Custom labels are optional fields in your feed that let you sort products in ways that suit your business but might not match Google’s predefined fields. They don’t appear directly to customers, yet they can help with internal organization.

Example Use Cases for Custom Labels

• Seasonal items (for example, "summer collection" or "holiday specials")
• Top sellers (for example, "top performer" or "core product")
• Clearance or discounted items (for example, "sale", "clearance", "final stock")

By assigning a label like "summer collection," you can set up a separate campaign for those items and adjust bids or negative keywords as needed. While this isn’t the same as adding keywords directly, it does help you highlight certain products when they match current seasonal demand.

Monitoring the Search Terms Report

A key resource is the search terms report. It reveals the actual searches that triggered your Shopping ads. This report shows which words or phrases are generating clicks, allowing you to fine-tune your strategy.

1. Identify high-intent terms from these searches.
2. Adjust your product titles or descriptions to better reflect that language if appropriate.
3. Identify poor matches and add them as negative keywords.

Often, you will see queries that you hadn’t expected. Some may offer new opportunities while others could be either unrelated or too broad. Tuning your feed data and negative keyword list accordingly can help keep your ads relevant.

Bidding Strategies and Keywords

Although bids don’t affect your product feed data, they do influence how your ads compete in auctions for certain query matches. If a particular product style performs well for specific search terms, you might raise bids in its campaign or product group.

Conversely, if you’re seeing less value from certain items or terms, consider lowering bids or adding more negatives to limit exposure. You could also test automated bidding strategies focused on maximizing conversions or conversion value. Keep in mind that an automated approach still depends heavily on your feed data and negative keywords to succeed.

Balancing Relevance with Variety

A common mistake is packing too many terms into a single product listing. If your product is "Men’s Black Leather Belt," you might be tempted to create a lengthy title like "Men’s Black Genuine Leather Belt for Formal and Casual Style with Polished Metal Buckle." While extra descriptors can help, too many additions might make the title hard to read.

Include your main attributes clearly, but avoid making your title or description feel forced. Clear images, accurate pricing, and detailed shipping information all support well-chosen keywords.

Combining Dynamic Remarketing with Keywords

A dynamic remarketing campaign can re-engage people who viewed your products but left without buying. Although you don’t add keywords explicitly in dynamic remarketing, the details in your feed still influence whether customers recognize and trust the ads.

Imagine a shopper who searched for "red dress" on your site but did not complete a purchase. If your feed is organized with clear descriptors, your dynamic remarketing ads are more likely to show the exact red dress they viewed along with related items. This connection between well-structured feed data and user intent can improve conversion rates.

Experimenting with Merchant Promotions

If you offer special deals or promotions, these may appear alongside your product ads, capturing extra attention. Including details like "10% off" or a discount code in your product descriptions might help your items appear for discount-related searches such as "women’s boots sale" or "summer shoe discount."

Be sure to follow any guidelines related to promotions, as these offers are subject to approval and your feed must accurately reflect the deals available. When paired with carefully chosen keywords, this method can attract shoppers looking for bargains.

Revisiting Old Products and Updating Keywords

As you add new products, remember not to overlook the older ones. Trends change, seasons shift, and the language customers use can differ over time. Refreshing your feed regularly is key to keeping up with changes in search behavior.

• Run periodic reviews each quarter or season to check which terms are losing popularity.
• Update your product titles and descriptions to stay current.
• Remove or replace outdated custom labels.

This regular maintenance helps ensure that even products listed long ago remain aligned with current customer search habits.

Keeping an Eye on Competitors

In Shopping ads, your products typically appear alongside those from other brands. Observing what competitors are doing can provide ideas about which terms to emphasize or exclude. If competitors describe their items with specific industry words or specifications, including that detail in your title might help your product stay competitive.

This isn’t a case for copying competitors blindly, but rather being mindful of the phrases and details they focus on. Sometimes using a widely recognized term can make a significant difference in matching relevant searches.

Keyword Research Tools: An Underused Resource

To find fresh keywords for your feed descriptions, you can use standard keyword research tools, even if they are usually designed for Search Network campaigns. While you can’t add these terms directly as keywords in a Shopping campaign, they can inform you about how shoppers are searching for products like yours.

Potential Keyword Research Approaches

• Use online tools to identify related queries for your main product terms.
• Observe competitor product descriptions or search suggestions on e-commerce platforms.
• Review your own internal site search logs to see what visitors are typing in.

Then, try incorporating those phrases into your product descriptions if they fit naturally and help potential buyers.

Technical Accuracy: SKU, GTIN, and MPN

Sometimes shoppers search for a product using its exact SKU, GTIN, or MPN. Including these identifiers in your feed can bring in very specific, high-intent matches. This is particularly useful in niche markets or for specialized products like electronics, automotive parts, or high-end collectibles.

If your products include well-known codes, use them when relevant in titles or descriptions. For complex items, adding the brand and model number is essential so your ads show up for detail-focused searches.

Bullet Points for Quick Scan

When writing your descriptions, consider adding a short bullet-point list to highlight key features. This allows potential buyers to quickly see if your product meets their needs. For example:

• Material: 100% cotton
• Size range: Small to XXL
• Available colors: Black, navy, white
• Feature: Moisture-wicking technology

While bullet points alone are not enough, they help with quick scanning. Shoppers often decide within seconds if an item is right for them. Make that choice easy by displaying the main points clearly.

Revising Campaign Priorities

In some account setups, you might establish priorities across multiple Shopping campaigns. For example, a campaign with lower priority and lower bids might handle broad, top-of-funnel searches, while a high-priority campaign with adjusted bids targets your best-selling or higher-margin items.

Even though this isn’t the same as adding keywords directly, it influences how your feed items compete in auctions. Optimizing the content for each product feed attribute while setting the appropriate campaign priority helps ensure that the right products appear for the right searches.

Reviewing Performance Metrics Religiously

Once you’ve updated your titles, descriptions, and negative keyword lists, you need to evaluate the impact. High-level reports on clicks, impressions, conversions, and costs provide a good starting point. If you notice sudden changes, inspect your search terms and product-level performance more closely.

Experimentation remains important. You might try adjusting your feed’s balance between brand-specific and generic terms, or divide your product range into additional campaigns. Let the performance data inform your next adjustments.

Staying Compliant

Although not the most exciting part of managing your campaigns, it’s necessary to ensure that your product feed meets all required policies. If Google disapproves your products or suspends your account, it won’t matter how good your keyword optimizations are. Make sure your product data is accurate and that it doesn’t violate any guidelines regarding restricted content.

Keeping your inventory synced, updating your feed regularly, and following promotion guidelines or rules for items like pharmaceuticals or adult products (if applicable) will save you a lot of trouble.

FAQ: Keywords in Google Shopping Ads

Google Shopping ads rely on product feed data rather than manually added keywords, but optimizing your feed can improve ad relevance. Below are common questions and answers about how keywords work in Shopping campaigns.

Do Google Shopping ads use traditional keywords?

No, Shopping ads don't rely on manually selected keywords like search ads. Instead, Google matches ads to searches based on product titles, descriptions, and other feed attributes.

How can I influence which searches trigger my Shopping ads?

You can optimize product titles, descriptions, and categories in your feed to include relevant keywords. Using negative keywords also helps eliminate unrelated searches.

What are negative keywords, and how do they help in Shopping campaigns?

Negative keywords prevent your ads from appearing for irrelevant searches. For example, if you sell high-end sneakers, you might exclude terms like "cheap sneakers" to avoid unqualified traffic.

Why is product title optimization important?

Google gives more weight to the product title when determining ad relevance. Titles should include essential product details like color, material, or type while keeping them natural and concise.

Do product descriptions impact keyword relevance?

Yes, descriptions allow you to reinforce key product terms, helping Google better match your items with relevant searches. Avoid keyword stuffing and focus on useful, structured descriptions.

How can I structure my campaigns for better keyword control?

Segmenting your campaigns by brand, category, or price range allows you to apply specific negative keywords and adjust bids strategically for different product groups.

What is the benefit of using custom labels?

Custom labels help categorize products internally, allowing you to adjust bidding or visibility based on factors like seasonality, best-seller status, or promotional items.

How do search terms reports help with keyword strategy?

The search terms report shows actual searches that triggered your ads. Use it to refine product titles/descriptions and identify negative keywords to improve targeting.

Can bidding strategies affect keyword performance?

While bids don’t change keyword matching, adjusting bids based on performance (e.g., increasing bids on high-converting products) ensures your ads appear competitively for valuable queries.

Should I update my product feed regularly?

Yes, reviewing and updating product titles, descriptions, and categories helps keep your ads aligned with shifting search trends and seasonal demand.

Understanding and optimizing your product feed allows you to guide Google’s algorithm toward showing your ads to the right audience, even without traditional keyword targeting.

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