Brand Shopping Campaign Setup Guide: Protecting Your Brand in Google Shopping

What Is a Brand Shopping Campaign?

Brand shopping campaigns capture Google Shopping impressions when users search for your company's brand name alongside product-related terms.

Key difference from Search: Shopping campaigns cannot target keywords directly. Brand shopping requires a specific setup strategy using campaign structure and bid strategies to isolate brand traffic.

Example Brand Searches:

• "BrandName sectional sofa"
• "BrandName furniture"
• "BrandName couch reviews"

Why Brand Shopping Campaigns Matter

Benefit	Explanation
Competitive protection	Prevents competitors from dominating Shopping results for brand searches
Cost control	Separate budget management for brand vs. non-brand traffic
Data clarity	Prevents brand traffic from inflating non-brand performance metrics
Higher ROAS	Brand shopping typically generates significantly higher returns

Typical Performance Comparison

Campaign Type	Expected ROAS Range
Non-brand Shopping	150-300%
Brand Shopping	800-1500%+
Brand Search	1000%+

The Three-Tier Structure

Effective brand shopping requires proper campaign architecture where brand terms are systematically excluded from all non-brand campaigns.

Tier 1: Non-Brand Campaigns

• Performance Max (brand excluded)
• Standard Shopping (brand negated)
• Non-brand Search (brand negated)

Tier 2: Brand Protection Campaigns

• Brand Search campaign
• Brand Shopping campaign

Tier 3: Feeder Campaigns (Optional)

• Additional non-brand Standard Shopping
• Category-specific campaigns

How the Filter System Works

When brand terms are negated from non-brand campaigns:

1. User searches "[Brand] + product term"
2. Google checks Performance Max → Brand excluded, cannot serve
3. Google checks Standard Shopping → Brand negated, cannot serve
4. Google must serve from Brand Shopping campaign (only available option)

Result: Brand traffic flows exclusively to the brand shopping campaign.

Step 1: Exclude Brand from Performance Max

1. Navigate to Performance Max campaign settings
2. Locate brand exclusions option
3. Add brand name and variations
4. Verify brand will not appear in campaign

Important: Performance Max brand exclusions prevent brand from appearing anywhere in the campaign, not just Shopping placements.

Step 2: Negate Brand from Standard Shopping

1. Open Standard Shopping campaign
2. Navigate to negative keywords section
3. Add brand name and all variations:

• Exact brand name
• Common misspellings
• Abbreviations
• Product line names that function as brands

Step 3: Create Brand Shopping Campaign

Setting	Recommendation
Campaign Type	Standard Shopping
Bid Strategy	Target ROAS (high) or Manual CPC
Network	Shopping only
Products	All products (same as non-brand)

Step 4: Configure Bid Strategy

Option A: High Target ROAS

• Set Target ROAS to 1000-1500%
• The high target naturally filters out non-brand traffic
• Non-brand CPCs are too expensive to meet the target
• Brand CPCs are low enough to profitably meet the target

Option B: Manual CPC (Conservative Start)

• Research average CPC for brand terms in existing campaigns
• Set manual CPC at or slightly below that average
• Allows controlled warm-up period
• Transition to Target ROAS after establishing baseline

Finding Brand Term CPCs

Before creating a brand shopping campaign, analyze existing data:

1. Open existing shopping campaign (Standard or Performance Max)
2. Navigate to Search Terms report
3. Filter for search terms containing brand name
4. Calculate average CPC for brand-related searches
5. Note the ROAS achieved on brand terms

Example Analysis:

Metric	Brand Terms	Non-Brand
Average CPC	$0.35	$1.25
ROAS	1200%	200%

Starting Strategy Decision Matrix

Scenario	Recommended Approach
New brand shopping, limited data	Manual CPC at average brand CPC
Established data, confident in brand ROAS	Target ROAS at current or higher
Very competitive market	Start conservative, increase gradually
Large volume expected	Target ROAS preferred for automation

The Bid Strategy Mechanics

Scenario: Non-brand and brand campaigns both contain the same products

Non-Brand Campaign:

• Target ROAS: 200%
• Willing to pay higher CPCs
• Competes aggressively for generic terms

Brand Campaign:

• Target ROAS: 1000%
• Only bids competitively on high-converting traffic
• Brand terms naturally hit this target
• Non-brand terms fail to meet the threshold

The Natural Filter Effect

Search Term	Expected ROAS	Brand Campaign Bid
"BrandName couch"	1200%	Competitive (meets target)
"sectional sofa"	180%	Very low (doesn't meet target)

The high ROAS target naturally causes the brand campaign to bid competitively only on brand terms.

Monitoring and Adjustment

• Review search terms weekly to verify filtering is working
• If non-brand terms appear, increase ROAS target
• If brand terms aren't showing, decrease ROAS target slightly
• Monitor impression share on brand terms