.png)
Overview
Google Ads is Google's advertising platform. It places ads in Google Search, Google Shopping, YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps and across partner websites and apps. For an e-commerce brand, Google Ads is usually one of the main ways to reach shoppers at the moment they search for a product, and to drive traffic to its own webshop or other sales channels.
Who is behind Google Ads
Google Ads is run by Google, part of Alphabet, which is listed on Nasdaq. It launched in 2000 as Google AdWords and was renamed Google Ads in 2018. In 2025 Google's advertising revenue was USD 294.7 billion: USD 224.5 billion from Search and other, USD 40.4 billion from YouTube ads, and USD 29.8 billion from the Google Network. Alphabet has said search usage reached record levels in 2025, with AI features driving more queries.
What Google Ads offers brands
- Search campaigns. Text ads shown for keywords, used for both brand defence and generic product searches.
- Shopping campaigns. Product ads with image, price and store, fed from a product feed in Google Merchant Center.
- Performance Max. Automated campaigns that use one budget across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Gmail and Maps, optimised by Google's AI towards a target.
- Demand Gen and YouTube. Visual and video ads that build demand earlier in the buying journey.
- Free listings. Products in Merchant Center can also appear without paid placement in some Google surfaces.
What it takes to run Google Ads well
- A clean product feed in Google Merchant Center, with correct prices, availability, GTINs and images, and no policy violations.
- Reliable conversion tracking, so Google's bidding can optimise towards real sales.
- Margin-based targets. Return on ad spend targets should reflect product margins, not just revenue.
- Separate brand and generic campaigns, so spend on the brand's own name does not hide the true cost of new customers.
- Strong creative assets for Performance Max, Demand Gen and YouTube.
- Ongoing optimisation of search terms, assets and budgets.
Why Google Ads matters for brands
Google remains the starting point for a large share of online product searches. A well-run Google Ads account brings high-intent shoppers to a brand's webshop, and supports demand on other channels such as marketplaces and retail.
How eBrands looks at Google Ads
eBrands runs paid media, including Google Ads, for its own brands and works with brands on D2C webshops and marketplaces across Europe and North America. If you want to see how Google Ads could work harder for your brand, we are happy to talk it through.
Useful links
Ready to go global?
Let us show you how eBrands can take your brand to every market that matters.