Solved: Google Shopping Ads Not Showing for Own Brand Name Searches

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out, happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on your Google Shopping campaigns. It sounds like you're hitting a common snag with how those campaign priorities work, they can be a bit counter-intutive can't they?

From what you've described, where your low priority campaign isn't getting branded searches but your high priority one is, it points pretty directly to how Google handles traffic flow with those priorities set up. With Shopping campaigns, Google doesn't actually use the priority to decide which products to show, but rather which campaign's bid to consider first if the same product is eligible in multiple campaigns.

So, when a user searches for your brand name, say "YourBrand Name", and that search query matches products you have in all three campaigns (high, medium, and low), Google looks at the high priority campaign first. If your high priority campaign has a bid on that product, Google will use that bid in the auction. The query doesn't necessarily get "pushed down" unless it's specifically excluded from the higher priority campaigns.

The main reason people use this priority setup is to gain more control over bidding for different types of searches. The classic structure is something like High Priority (generic/broad terms, often with low bids and aggressive negatives to push traffic down), Medium Priority (more specific non-branded terms, maybe higher bids), and Low Priority (branded terms or bestsellers, often with higher bids because you want to be sure to show up). But for this to work, you have to use negative keywords in the higher priority campaigns to direct the traffic you want into the lower ones.

So, in your situation, it sounds like your high priority campaign is currently catching the branded search queries because those terms aren't specifically excluded from it. When someone searches for your brand, Google sees the high priority campaign can show an ad for a product that matches, and it just uses that campaign's bid. The traffic never even gets a chance to be considered by the medium or low priority campaigns for that specific search query.

This means your low priority campaign, which you want to handle your branded searches and bestsellers, isn't seeing any of that branded traffic at all because it's being intercepted further up the chain by the high priority campaign.

We'll need to look at your Negative Keywords...

To fix this and make your priority setup work as intended for branded searches, the absolute first thing you need to do is go into your high priority Shopping campaign and add your brand name and variations of it as negative keywords. You should do the same for your medium priority campaign as well, just to be sure. By doing this, you're telling Google, "Okay, for searches containing 'YourBrand Name', the high and medium priority campaigns are not eligible to show ads."

Once those branded terms are excluded from the higher priority campaigns, when someone searches for your brand, the only campaign that will remain eligible for that query (assuming your low priority campaign is set up correctly for branded terms and includes those products) will be your low priority campaign. This effectively forces that specific type of traffic down to where you want it to go.

Think of it like a filter. The high priority is the first filter. If a search gets through that filter (because it's not negatively keyworded), it gets handled there. If it's blocked by a negative keyword, it moves down to the medium priority filter. If it gets blocked there too, it finally reaches the low priority filter. You need to build those blocks (negative keywords) for your branded terms in the higher priority filters to make them reach the lowest one.

It's a common mistake people make when setting up this kind of layered structure for the first time, thinking priority alone directs traffic. It's really the combination of priority and negatives that gives you the control over which campaign handles which search queries.

I'd say you also need to check bids...

Once you've got the negative keywords sorted to ensure the branded traffic can reach your low priority campaign, you also need to double-check the bids in that low priority campaign. Even if the traffic is now being directed there, if your bids are too low, you still might not win the auction and your ads won't show up for those searches. Branded terms are usually the most valuable traffic, so you'd typically want to bid quite agressively on them to ensure you capture that demand.

Make sure your bids in the low priority campaign are competitive enough for your brand name searches. You could even consider setting up a separate ad group or product group within that low priority campaign specifically for your bestsellers and branded terms, and then set even higher bids for those specific, high-intent keywords.

Also, quickly check the targeting settings and budget in that low priority campaign just to be sure there aren't any other obvious reasons why it wouldn't be showing ads, but the priority and negative keyword setup is the most probly cause for this specific scenario you're describing.

You probably should look at broader Optimisation too...

Getting the technical campaign structure right is just the first step, but for an apparel brand, especially with Shopping ads, there's a lot more you can do to boost performance. Once you're getting impressions for branded terms (and hopefully non-branded ones too with the rest of your setup), you'll want to optimise for conversions, assuming that's your goal.

Based on experience with eCommerce campaigns, split testing creative and targeting within campaigns makes a massive diffrence. For Shopping ads, the 'creative' is primarily your product feed - the product titles, descriptions, and most importantly, the product images. Are your images high quality? Do they make the product look appealing? With apparel, having lifestyle shots or models showing the clothes can work much better than just plain product photos, like we saw working really well for one womens apparel client where we drove a 691% Return on Ad Spend on Meta and Pinterest ads.

Also, look closely at your performance metrics. This is how you figure out where people are dropping off. For Shopping, if you have really low Click-Through Rates (CTRs), it often means your product images or titles aren't compelling enough compared to competitors showing up in the Shopping tab. High Cost Per Click (CPC) can also be a symptom of low CTR or high competition.

If people are clicking but not adding to cart or purchasing, then the problem shifts to your website and product pages. Are the product descriptions persuasive? Is the pricing clear? Is the checkout process smooth? Sometimes small things like adding trust badges, customer reviews, or links to social proof can make a big difference, helping your store look more trustworthy which is vital for getting sumone to buy.

I remember one eCommerce client selling cleaning products had a structure where we saw a 633% return and a 190% increase in revenue, and a lot of that came from continually testing product images and ensuring the landing pages (their product pages) were optimised properly after the click.

You'll need a Solid Foundation...

Getting everything tuned - the campaign structure, the bids, the negatives, the product feed, and ensuring your website converts well - takes time and experience. It's not just about setting up campaigns; it's a continuous process of testing, analysing data, and making adjustments.

While the priority structure with negatives should solve your immediate issue of branded impressions not showing in the low priority campaign, optimising performance for an apparel brand on Shopping involves dialling in many factors. You want to make sure you're not just getting clicks, but clicks from the right people who are likely to buy, and that once they hit your site, nothing stops them from converting. We've helped eCommerce businesses achieve significant results, like the subscription box client who saw a 1000% Return On Ad Spend or the maps & navigation store that generated $71k revenue at an 8x return, by focusing on these multiple layers of optimisation, from the campaign structure right through to the landing page experience.

It sounds like you're just starting out, and setting up and optimising paid advertising, especially Google Shopping with its unique structure, can be quite complex. It often takes a lot of testing and expertise to get campaigns running efficiently and profitably.

This is the main advice I have for you:

Hopefully, sorting out those negatives in your higher priority campaigns gets your branded Shopping ads showing where you want them. Paid advertising can be a powerful channel for an apparel brand, but getting the structure and optimisation right is absolutely key.

Given the complexities, especially when you're new to it, sometimes getting an expert pair of eyes on your account can make a big difference and save you a lot of wasted ad spend and time. We help businesses navigate these exact challenges and build out profitable ad campaigns.

If you feel like you'd benefit from a more in-depth look at your account and strategy, we'd be happy to book in a free consultation to review everything together and give you more tailored recommendations.

Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh