Set up a Shopping / Merchant Center campaign with AI

Where to run this

Your approved ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini workspace, files uploaded first.

Upload first

• ☐Approved campaign brief and media plan
• ☐Products and product feed
• ☐Merchant Center export
• ☐Primary KPI and budget
• ☐Markets and languages
• ☐Landing pages
• ☐Approved promotions and brand restrictions
• ☐Historical campaign data, if reusing or cloning a campaign

Steps

1. 01

   Pick your starting point before you build a blueprint

   Do this

   New retailer, new Merchant Center, new market, new catalogue, no suitable historical campaign: build fresh. An existing Shopping campaign with credible performance history: audit it, don't redesign a winner without evidence. A proven campaign that needs to launch in a new market or feed: clone and adapt it.

2. 1a

   New campaign: generate the blueprint

   You are designing a complete Google Shopping campaign. Using only the approved materials provided, generate: a Merchant Center blueprint and product feed framework (for each product segment: name, business purpose, recommended product groups, recommended custom labels, priority level, required product attributes), campaign structure (for each campaign: name, priority strategy, product scope, budget approach), feed optimisation recommendations (product title framework, description framework, image recommendations, GTIN requirements, brand requirements, category recommendations), and a Merchant Center framework (feed source, supplemental feed, promotion feed requirements). Use only information supplied. Do not invent products, brands, categories, promotions, prices or budgets. Finish with READY TO BUILD or NOT READY.

3. 1b

   Existing winning campaign: audit it, don't just redesign it

   Review the attached Shopping campaign, Merchant Center export and performance evidence. First identify what appears to be working, what should remain unchanged, and what lacks supporting evidence. Then identify: feed opportunities, product title opportunities, product grouping opportunities, product exclusion opportunities, custom label opportunities, Merchant Center opportunities, and scaling opportunities. Use only: KEEP, TEST, EXPAND, REMOVE, HUMAN REVIEW, NOT EVIDENCED. Do not redesign a successful structure without evidence. Do not recommend changes purely based on best practice. Do not invent performance results. Do not approve the campaign. Finish with STRUCTURE CAN BE REUSED or STRUCTURE REQUIRES REVISION.

4. 1c

   Cloning into a new market: adapt, don't rebuild

   Use the attached high-performing Shopping campaign as the source blueprint. Preserve: campaign structure, product segmentation, feed framework, and measurement framework. Review whether changes are required for: market, product availability, feed availability, Merchant Center requirements, language, currency, shipping rules, and promotions. Classify recommendations as: KEEP, LOCALISE, REMOVE, ADD, HUMAN REVIEW, NOT EVIDENCED. Do not redesign the campaign unless supplied evidence requires it. Do not invent products, prices or promotions. Do not approve the campaign. Finish with READY TO CREATE LOCAL BLUEPRINT or LOCAL EVIDENCE REQUIRED.

5. 02

   Build Merchant Center and feed

   Review my Merchant Center setup against the attached Shopping Blueprint. Review: feed source, feed health, product availability, GTIN coverage (flag any product with a missing or blank GTIN that should instead have identifier_exists set to false if it genuinely has none, e.g. private-label or handmade items), brand coverage, product category and type assignment, custom labels, promotions feed, shipping settings, tax settings, and whether Free Listings is enabled (this is separate from paid Shopping ads and is one of the most commonly missed settings, required for products to appear in Google's broader Shopping surfaces at all, not just paid placements). Use only: MATCH, MISMATCH, MISSING, NOT EVIDENCED. Do not infer missing settings. Do not approve setup. Finish with BLOCKERS, REQUIRED CHANGES, READY FOR CAMPAIGN BUILD, or RETURN TO TRADER.

   Do this

   Open: Google Merchant Center → Products → Feeds. Check Growth → Manage programs specifically for Free Listings status, many accounts running paid Shopping for years have never activated this. If you have Schema.org Product markup on your site, confirm it agrees with your feed on price and availability, Google downgrades both sources when they contradict each other, not just the wrong one.

6. 03

   Build campaign structure

   Review this Shopping campaign structure against the attached blueprint. Review: campaign naming, campaign priorities, inventory filters, product segmentation, custom labels, exclusions, budget allocation, and campaign duplication. Use only: MATCH, MISMATCH, MISSING, CONFLICT. Do not infer missing information. Do not approve setup. Finish with BLOCKERS, DUPLICATIONS, CONFLICTS, READY FOR PRODUCT GROUP BUILD, or RETURN TO TRADER.

   Do this

   Open: Google Ads → New Campaign → Shopping. Campaign priority only needs adjusting if the same product could be advertised by more than one campaign at once, priority decides whose budget gets used when that happens.

7. 04

   Build product groups and feed optimisation

   Review the Shopping feed and product groups against the approved blueprint. Check: product title quality and relevance, keyword coverage, description quality, image quality and relevance, brand consistency, category and product type consistency, custom label suitability, promotion suitability, availability accuracy, pricing consistency, duplicate products, and missing attributes. Use only: PASS, EDIT, REMOVE, HUMAN REVIEW, NOT EVIDENCED. Do not invent product information, prices or promotions. Do not assume Merchant Center approval. Do not approve the campaign.

8. 05

   Reconcile the build against the blueprint

   Compare the approved Shopping Blueprint with the completed build. For every setting, provide: SETTING, APPROVED VALUE, ACTUAL VALUE, STATUS, EVIDENCE, REQUIRED ACTION. Cover Merchant Center configuration, campaign structure and priorities, product groups, custom labels, inventory filters, exclusions, feed quality, titles, descriptions, images, promotions, and product availability. Use only: MATCH, MISMATCH, MISSING, NOT EVIDENCED, NOT APPLICABLE. Do not infer missing settings. Do not modify the campaign. Do not approve launch. Finish with BLOCKERS, ITEMS REQUIRING REVIEW, and an overall status of READY FOR LAUNCH CHECK or RETURN TO TRADER.

   Do this

   Capture the Merchant Center export, feed diagnostics, campaign settings, product groups, custom labels, inventory filters, exclusions and promotions.

9. 06

   Final launch readiness review

   Review the final Shopping campaign evidence pack. Verify: approved objective, KPI and budget, Merchant Center health, feed diagnostics, product approvals, GTIN coverage, title and image quality, promotion accuracy, product availability and pricing validity, product group completeness, tracking implementation, conversion test evidence, policy status, disapproved products, and unresolved blockers. Use only: PASS, BLOCKER, HIGH RISK, NOT EVIDENCED, CONDITION ACCEPTED. Missing evidence is not a pass. Do not infer approval. Do not approve launch. Do not recommend optimisation actions. Finish with Launch Blockers, Accepted Conditions, Evidence Gaps, Items Requiring Review, and an overall status of READY FOR LAUNCH or NOT READY.

   Do this

   Gather Merchant Center and feed diagnostics, final campaign settings, product group and promotion evidence, landing page validation, conversion tracking evidence, and policy status. Have a second person check the campaign before it goes live.