The 4-Week Ecommerce Google Ads Foundation: From Zero to Profitable

Most ecommerce brands fail at Google Ads because they skip the foundation. They launch campaigns without proper tracking, targeting without strategy, and optimize without benchmarks.

The Foundation Problem

Common failure patterns:

• Launch campaigns day 1 without conversion tracking
• Copy competitor strategies without understanding them
• Scale before proving profitability
• Make changes based on 2 days of data

The 4-Week Solution

This roadmap provides:

• Week-by-week actions with clear deliverables
• Milestone checkpoints before moving forward
• Realistic expectations at each stage
• Foundation that supports long-term scaling

What You'll Build

By the end of 4 weeks:

• Properly configured Google Ads account
• Validated conversion tracking
• Optimized product feed
• Initial campaign structure
• Baseline performance data
• Optimization protocol

Prerequisites

Before starting:

• Active ecommerce store with products
• Payment method for Google Ads
• Google Analytics 4 installed
• Basic understanding of your margins

Weekly Overview

• Week 1: Account setup, tracking, feed optimization
• Week 2: First campaigns launch, data collection
• Week 3: First optimizations, expand winners
• Week 4: Structure refinement, scale preparation

Week 1 is about building the infrastructure. No campaigns launch yet—just solid foundations.

Day 1-2: Account Configuration

Google Ads Account Setup

• Create new Google Ads account (or audit existing)
• Set correct timezone and currency
• Link to Google Analytics 4
• Link to Google Merchant Center
• Set up billing with valid payment method

Account Settings Checklist:

• Auto-tagging enabled
• Conversion tracking set to GA4 integration
• All Google Ads features opted in (where appropriate)
• Notification preferences configured
• Two-factor authentication enabled

Day 3-4: Conversion Tracking

Primary Conversion: Purchase

• Set up purchase tracking in GA4
• Import to Google Ads as primary conversion
• Test with real transaction (can be $1 test product)
• Verify value passes correctly

Secondary Conversions:

• Add to Cart (for early signal)
• Begin Checkout (for funnel analysis)
• Page View: Product (for engagement)

Tracking Verification:

• Use Google Tag Assistant
• Make test purchases
• Check GA4 real-time reports
• Verify Google Ads shows conversions

Day 5-6: Product Feed Setup

Merchant Center Configuration

• Claim and verify website
• Set up shipping settings
• Configure tax settings
• Upload product feed

Feed Quality Checklist:

• All required attributes present
• Titles optimized (brand + product + key attributes)
• Descriptions 500+ characters
• High-quality images (800×800 minimum)
• Correct prices and availability
• GTINs where applicable

Feed Approval:

• Submit feed for review
• Address any disapprovals immediately
• Target: 95%+ approval rate

Day 7: Keyword and Competitor Research

Keyword Research:

• Export keyword ideas from Keyword Planner
• Analyze competitor keywords (SEMrush/Ahrefs if available)
• Categorize: brand, non-brand, competitor
• Estimate budgets needed for target impression share

Competitor Analysis:

• Identify top 3-5 competitors in Google Ads
• Note their ad messaging
• Check their Shopping presence
• Document their strengths/weaknesses

Week 1 Milestone: ✓ Account configured and linked ✓ Conversion tracking verified with test transaction ✓ Product feed approved (95%+) ✓ Keyword research documented

Week 2 is about launching initial campaigns and collecting data. Resist the urge to optimize yet.

Day 8-9: Campaign Structure

Start with 3 Core Campaigns:

1. Brand Search Campaign

• Keywords: All brand variations
• Match types: Exact and phrase
• Budget: 10-15% of total
• Bid strategy: Maximize Clicks (initially)

2. Non-Brand Search Campaign

• Keywords: Top 20-30 category terms
• Match types: Phrase and exact
• Budget: 40-50% of total
• Bid strategy: Maximize Clicks (initially)

3. Standard Shopping Campaign

• All approved products
• Priority: Low (no priority tricks yet)
• Budget: 40-50% of total
• Bid strategy: Maximize Clicks (initially)

Day 10-11: Ad Creation

Search Ad Best Practices:

• 3+ responsive search ads per ad group
• Use all headline slots (15)
• Use all description slots (4)
• Include keywords in headlines
• Strong CTAs in descriptions
• Pin critical messages

Ad Extensions Setup:

• Sitelinks (4+)
• Callouts (4+)
• Structured snippets (2+)
• Price extensions (if applicable)
• Promotion extensions (if running offers)

Day 12: Launch and Verify

Pre-Launch Checklist:

• Conversion tracking live
• Correct daily budgets set
• Negative keywords applied
• Ad extensions active
• Geographic targeting correct
• Ad schedule appropriate

Launch Day:

• Enable all campaigns
• Set reminder to check in 4 hours
• Don't panic if nothing happens immediately

Day 13-14: Data Collection

Let it run. Seriously.

Do not:

• Change bids
• Pause keywords
• Adjust budgets
• Panic about CPA

Do:

• Monitor for approval issues
• Check for tracking errors
• Note initial impressions and clicks
• Document search terms

Daily Monitoring (5 minutes max):

• Campaigns spending? ✓
• Clicks happening? ✓
• Any disapprovals? Fix immediately
• Any errors? Address

Week 2 Milestone: ✓ 3 campaigns live and spending ✓ Collecting click and impression data ✓ Initial search terms visible ✓ 7+ days of data by week end

Week 3 is about making data-driven optimizations while expanding what works.

Day 15-16: Performance Review

Analyze Week 2 Data:

• Total spend vs. budget
• Clicks by campaign
• CTR by campaign
• Conversions (if any)
• CPC benchmarks

Expected Benchmarks (ecommerce average):

• Search CTR: 2-4%
• Shopping CTR: 0.8-1.5%
• CPC Search: $1-5
• CPC Shopping: $0.30-1.50

If below benchmarks, investigate:

• Ad relevance (Quality Score)
• Bid competitiveness
• Targeting accuracy

Day 17-18: Search Term Refinement

Negative Keyword Mining:

• Export search terms from past 7 days
• Identify irrelevant terms (add as negatives)
• Identify brand terms in non-brand (add as negatives)
• Look for new keyword opportunities

Keyword Expansion:

• Add converting search terms as keywords
• Add high-CTR terms as keywords
• Create new ad groups for emerging themes

Negative Keyword Lists:

• Create shared negative list for brand terms
• Create shared negative list for irrelevant terms
• Apply across appropriate campaigns

Day 19-20: Shopping Optimization

Product Performance Review:

• Which products are getting impressions?
• Which products are getting clicks?
• Any products with zero impressions? (Fix titles/attributes)

Feed Refinements:

• Improve titles for underperforming products
• Add custom labels for segmentation
• Update any outdated prices/availability

Initial Segmentation:

• Label top 20% of products as "bestsellers"
• Label bottom 20% as "low-performers"
• Plan for campaign separation in Week 4

Day 21: Bid Strategy Evaluation

If Conversions Are Happening (5+): Consider switching to Smart Bidding:

• Target CPA (if you know your target)
• Maximize Conversions (if building volume)
• Target ROAS (if you have enough data)

If No Conversions Yet:

• Stay on Maximize Clicks
• Focus on traffic quality
• Review landing pages for issues
• Consider conversion tracking problems

Check Before Switching:

• Minimum 15-30 conversions in last 30 days for reliable Smart Bidding
• Consistent conversion patterns
• No tracking issues

Week 3 Milestone: ✓ Search terms reviewed and refined ✓ Negative keyword lists created ✓ Initial feed optimizations made ✓ Bid strategy evaluated/adjusted

Week 4 is about refining structure and preparing for sustainable scaling.

Day 22-23: Campaign Structure Refinement

Brand/Non-Brand Separation: If not already done:

• Ensure brand campaign has all brand terms
• Ensure non-brand has brand terms as negatives
• Verify clean segmentation

Shopping Campaign Segmentation:

• Create Shopping - Top Performers (bestseller label)
• Create Shopping - All Products (lower priority)
• Set appropriate budgets per campaign

Performance Max Consideration: If Standard Shopping is stable:

• Consider testing Performance Max
• Start with limited product set
• Run alongside Standard Shopping initially

Day 24-25: Audience Implementation

Remarketing Setup:

• Create audience in GA4 (all visitors)
• Create audience (add to cart, no purchase)
• Create audience (past purchasers)
• Share audiences with Google Ads

Search Audience Layering:

• Add remarketing as observation on non-brand
• Add similar audiences as observation
• Plan for bid adjustments based on data

Shopping Audience Layering:

• Add remarketing audiences to Shopping
• Observe performance differences
• Plan for RLSA implementation

Day 26-27: Scaling Framework

Define Scaling Criteria: Before scaling, campaigns should show:

• ROAS at or above target
• Stable CPA over 7+ days
• Sufficient conversion volume
• Positive impression share trend

Calculate Scaling Room:

• Current spend: $X/day
• Current ROAS: Y
• Target ROAS: Z
• Scaling headroom: (Y/Z - 1) × 100 = % room to scale

Scaling Plan:

• Increase budgets 20-30% every 3-5 days
• Monitor performance at each increase
• Pause scaling if ROAS drops below target

Day 28: Documentation and Baseline

Document Current State:

• Screenshot all campaign settings
• Export performance data
• Record baseline metrics:
  • Total spend (last 7 days)
  • Total conversions
  • ROAS by campaign
  • Top 10 keywords/products

Create Optimization Protocol:

• Daily checks (5 min): Budget pacing, errors
• Weekly reviews (30 min): Search terms, performance
• Monthly audits (2 hr): Structure, feed, strategy

Define Success Metrics:

• Target ROAS: _____
• Target CPA: _____
• Target monthly spend: _____
• Target monthly revenue: _____

Week 4 Milestone: ✓ Clean brand/non-brand segmentation ✓ Shopping campaigns segmented by performance ✓ Remarketing audiences active ✓ Scaling framework defined ✓ Baseline metrics documented

Use these checklists to maintain your foundation after the 4-week setup.

Daily Checklist (5-10 minutes)

• Check spend pacing (are budgets on track?)
• Check for any disapprovals or errors
• Verify conversion tracking is recording
• Note any major performance anomalies
• Review highest-spend keywords/products

Weekly Checklist (30-60 minutes)

Search Campaigns:

• Export and review search terms
• Add new negatives from irrelevant terms
• Add new keywords from high-performing terms
• Check Quality Scores on top keywords
• Review ad performance (CTR, conversion rate)

Shopping Campaigns:

• Review product performance
• Identify top performers and underperformers
• Check feed for any new disapprovals
• Update custom labels if needed
• Review competitive metrics

Account-Wide:

• Compare week-over-week performance
• Check audience performance
• Review budget allocation
• Update optimization log

Monthly Checklist (2-3 hours)

Strategic Review:

• Analyze month-over-month trends
• Calculate true ROAS by campaign
• Review customer acquisition cost
• Assess channel efficiency

Structure Audit:

• Evaluate campaign structure effectiveness
• Consider consolidation or expansion
• Review bid strategy performance
• Assess audience strategy

Feed Audit:

• Review overall feed health
• Update titles for underperformers
• Add new products as needed
• Refresh custom labels

Competitive Analysis:

• Check auction insights for changes
• Note new competitor activities
• Review market positioning

Quarterly Checklist (Half day)

• Full account audit
• Strategic planning for next quarter
• Major structure changes consideration
• Budget planning and forecasting
• Testing roadmap development

Troubleshoot these common issues during your 4-week foundation build.

Problem 1: No Impressions

Symptoms: Campaigns approved but not showing ads.

Causes & Solutions:

• Budget too low → Increase daily budget
• Bids too low → Raise bids or switch to Maximize Clicks
• Keywords too narrow → Add more keywords
• Targeting too restrictive → Expand location/demographics
• Feed issues → Check Merchant Center for product problems

Problem 2: Impressions But No Clicks

Symptoms: Getting impressions but CTR <1%.

Causes & Solutions:

• Ads not compelling → Rewrite headlines with benefits
• Prices not competitive → Check competitive pricing
• Ad position too low → Increase bids
• Wrong audience → Review targeting and keywords
• Shopping images poor → Upgrade product photos

Problem 3: Clicks But No Conversions

Symptoms: Getting traffic but zero purchases.

Causes & Solutions:

• Tracking broken → Verify with test purchase
• Landing page issues → Check mobile experience, page speed
• Price mismatch → Ensure ad price = landing page price
• Wrong traffic → Review search terms for relevance
• Checkout problems → Test your own checkout flow

Problem 4: High CPC

Symptoms: CPCs eating budget before conversions happen.

Causes & Solutions:

• Low Quality Score → Improve ad relevance and landing pages
• Competitive keywords → Try long-tail alternatives
• Bid strategy aggressive → Switch to Maximize Clicks
• Wrong campaign type → Shopping often has lower CPCs

Problem 5: ROAS Below Target

Symptoms: Getting conversions but not profitable.

Causes & Solutions:

• Targeting too broad → Focus on higher-intent keywords
• Brand/non-brand mixed → Segment and set appropriate targets
• Product mix issue → Promote higher-margin products
• Bid strategy wrong → Switch to Target ROAS once you have data
• AOV too low → Focus on bundles or upsells

Problem 6: Shopping Products Not Showing

Symptoms: Feed approved but products not appearing.

Causes & Solutions:

• Feed issues → Check for attribute warnings
• Titles not matching → Optimize titles for search terms
• Competitive suppression → Increase bids on key products
• Availability issues → Verify stock status is correct
• Policy violations → Review Merchant Center alerts

Use these benchmarks to gauge progress through the 4-week foundation.

End of Week 1 Benchmarks

Focus: Infrastructure, not performance.

Checkpoints:

• Account linked to GA4 and Merchant Center? ✓
• Test conversion recorded? ✓
• Feed approval rate >95%? ✓
• Keyword research completed? ✓

End of Week 2 Benchmarks

Focus: Campaigns running, data collecting.

Metric	Minimum	Good	Excellent
Campaigns spending	All 3	All 3	All 3
Total clicks	50+	150+	300+
CTR (Search)	1.5%	2.5%	4%+
CTR (Shopping)	0.5%	1%	1.5%+
Conversions	0-2	3-5	10+

Note: Conversions may be low—that's normal. Focus on traffic quality.

End of Week 3 Benchmarks

Focus: Initial optimization, quality improvement.

Metric	Minimum	Good	Excellent
Negative keywords added	20+	50+	100+
Quality Score (avg)	5	6-7	8+
CTR improvement	Stable	+10%	+25%+
Conversion rate	0.5%	1.5%	3%+
Feed optimization complete	Yes	Yes	Yes

End of Week 4 Benchmarks

Focus: Structure complete, scaling ready.

Metric	Target
Brand/Non-Brand separated	Yes
Shopping segmented	Yes
Remarketing active	Yes
ROAS direction	Improving
Conversion volume	15+ in 7 days
Scaling plan documented	Yes

30-Day Performance Expectations

Realistic expectations for a new ecommerce account:

• Total spend: $1,500-5,000 (depending on budget)
• Total conversions: 20-100
• ROAS: 1-3x (may not be profitable yet)
• Learning: Significant (keywords, products, audiences)

Note: The goal of month 1 is learning, not profit. Profit comes from applying learnings in months 2-3.

90-Day Performance Targets

After 90 days of optimization:

• ROAS: 3-5x
• Clear winners identified
• Unprofitable segments cut
• Scaling in progress
• Consistent daily/weekly optimization

Congratulations on building your foundation. Here's what comes next.

Month 2: Optimization Focus

Week 5-6: Double Down on Winners

• Identify top 20% of keywords and products
• Increase budget allocation to winners
• Cut or pause bottom 20% performers
• Test new ad copy on winning campaigns

Week 7-8: Expand Systematically

• Add new keyword themes from search terms
• Launch Performance Max if not yet running
• Test audience expansion (lookalikes)
• Consider Display/YouTube remarketing

Month 3: Scale and Diversify

Week 9-10: Aggressive Scaling

• Scale proven campaigns 20-30% every 3-5 days
• Monitor for efficiency decline
• Set scaling limits based on ROAS targets
• Document scaling ceiling

Week 11-12: New Channel Testing

• Test YouTube for remarketing
• Test Discovery/Demand Gen campaigns
• Consider Shopping Actions / Buy on Google
• Evaluate Performance Max expansion

Ongoing: The Optimization Loop

After foundation, enter continuous improvement:

1. Measure → 2. Analyze → 3. Hypothesize → 4. Test → 5. Implement → Repeat

Monthly Testing Cadence:

• Week 1: Analyze data, form hypotheses
• Week 2-3: Run tests
• Week 4: Evaluate, implement winners

Key Metrics to Track Post-Foundation

Metric	Weekly	Monthly	Quarterly
ROAS	✓	✓	✓
New customers	✓	✓	✓
CPA trend	✓	✓	✓
Impression share	✓	✓	✓
Quality Score avg	-	✓	✓
Channel efficiency	-	✓	✓

When to Seek Help

Consider professional help if:

• ROAS stuck below 2x after 90 days
• Unable to scale without efficiency loss
• Competitors consistently outranking
• No time for weekly optimization
• Expanding to new markets/channels

Resources for Continued Learning

Use these resources to keep improving:

• Google Skillshop (official certification)
• Industry blogs and newsletters
• YouTube channels from practitioners
• Google Ads community forums
• Our other guides in this series

Print this checklist and track your progress through the 4-week foundation.

Week 1: Foundation Setup

Account Configuration

• Google Ads account created/audited
• Timezone and currency correct
• Google Analytics 4 linked
• Google Merchant Center linked
• Billing active
• Auto-tagging enabled

Conversion Tracking

• Purchase event configured
• Purchase imported to Google Ads
• Test purchase verified
• Value passing correctly
• Secondary conversions set up

Product Feed

• Feed uploaded to Merchant Center
• All required attributes present
• Titles optimized
• Images high quality
• 95%+ approval rate achieved
• Disapprovals addressed

Research

• Keyword research completed
• Competitor analysis documented
• Budget estimates calculated

Week 2: Campaign Launch

Campaign Creation

• Brand Search campaign created
• Non-Brand Search campaign created
• Standard Shopping campaign created
• Daily budgets set
• Bid strategies selected

Ad Creation

• RSAs created (3+ per ad group)
• All headline slots used
• All description slots used
• Extensions set up (sitelinks, callouts, etc.)

Launch

• All campaigns enabled
• Initial impressions/clicks verified
• No disapproval issues
• Tracking working

Week 3: First Optimizations

Search Term Management

• Search terms reviewed
• Negative keywords added
• New keyword opportunities added
• Brand negatives in non-brand campaign

Shopping Optimization

• Product performance reviewed
• Titles improved for poor performers
• Custom labels created

Bid Strategy

• Performance evaluated
• Smart Bidding considered (if enough data)

Week 4: Structure and Scale Prep

Structure Refinement

• Brand/non-brand separation verified
• Shopping campaigns segmented
• Performance Max evaluated

Audiences

• Remarketing audiences created
• Audiences applied to campaigns
• Observation mode active

Scaling Preparation

• Scaling criteria defined
• Baseline metrics documented
• Optimization protocol created
• Success metrics defined

Foundation Complete!

• All Week 4 milestones achieved
• Ready for Month 2 optimization
• Documentation saved