Solved: Need advertising help for my store's Google Ads

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! I had a look over your situation and your website. It's a really common problem to see results from Google Ads fluctuate like you've described – good for a bit, then a drop-off for a few months. It's frustrating, and it usually points to some underlying issues in the strategy or setup rather than just bad luck.

I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance based on my experience with other eCommerce stores. This is quite a lot to take in, but hopefully it gives you a much clearer picture of what's likely going on and a path forward. There's definately potential here, but a few things need tightening up to get that consistent performance you're after.

We'll need to look at your Google Ads setup...

The fact that your success is so variable is the biggest clue. When a campaign works for a month and then falls off a cliff, it often means the initial setup might have been a bit too broad, or the campaign is running on an automated bidding strategy (like Performance Max) without enough of the right data or controls. It gets some quick wins, but then the algorithm starts to explore and spends money in less effective areas.

When we take on a new eCommerce client, the first thing we do is a deep audit of their ad account structure. For a store like yours, The Hardhat Shop, you'd want a mix of campaign types, each doing a specific job.

-> Google Search Ads: These are your bread and butter for capturing 'intent'. People are actively typing "buy hard hat online" or "MSA V-Gard helmet" into Google. You need to be there. The key here is structure. You shouldn't have one single ad group with all your products and keywords thrown in. You'd want to structure it thematically. For example:

• Campaign 1: Brand Name Bids (e.g., MSA, JSP, Portwest)
• Campaign 2: Product Type Bids (e.g., hard hats, safety glasses, high-vis jackets)
• Campaign 3: "Problem" Bids (e.g., "site safety equipment", "electrician PPE")

Within each of those, you have tight ad groups with very specific keywords. This lets you write super-relevant ad copy that speaks directly to the searcher, which boosts your Click-Through Rate (CTR) and lowers your Cost Per Click (CPC). If your CTR is low, it's often because the ad copy doesn't match what the person searched for. A common mistake is using broad match keywords which lets Google show your ads for all sorts of irrelevant stuff. You pay for clicks that never had a chance of converting. You need to be regularly checking your 'Search Terms' report and adding negative keywords to stop wasting money.

-> Google Shopping Ads: For an eCommerce store, this is huge. These are the product listings with images and prices that show up at the top of the search results. They are visually appealing and get great results. But their success depends entirely on your product feed. That's the file from Shopify that tells Google all about your products. It needs to be perfectly optimised. Your product titles should be descriptive and include keywords people actually search for (e.g., "MSA V-Gard 500 Vented Hard Hat - White" is much better than just "V-Gard 500"). Your product images need to be top-notch, and your pricing has to be competitive. We often see massive performance lifts just by cleaning up and optimising a client's product feed.

-> Performance Max (PMax): You mentioned using Google Ads, so you might be using PMax. It can be powerful, but it's also a 'black box'. You give it your assets (text, images, videos), your budget, and a goal (e.g. sales), and it runs across all of Google's networks (Search, Display, YouTube, etc.). The "variable success" you're seeing is classic PMax behaviour if it's not managed properly. It can find pockets of customers, but without strong 'asset groups' and audience signals, its performance can drift. You need to give it strong signals about who your customer is – for example, by uploading a list of your past customers for it to learn from, or pointing it towards people who have shown interest in construction or specific tool brands. Without that guidance, it's flying blind and your results will be all over the place.

The main thing is to move away from just "running Google Ads" to having a proper, structured portfolio of campaigns where each part has a job and you are constantly optimising based on what the data tells you. Which metrics should you watch? If you have low CTRs, your ads or targeting are the problem. If you get lots of clicks but very few 'add to carts', then the problem is probably on your website itself.

I'd say your website is the foundation...

You can have the best ads in the world, but if they send people to a website that doesn't convert, you're just throwing money away. I had a quick look at your site, and it's a solid, clean Shopify store. That's a great start. But to turn a cold visitor from an ad into a paying customer, you need to build trust, and fast.

Right now, it feels a bit like a catalogue. It's functional, but it doesn't do much to convince me why I should buy from *you* instead of Amazon or a massive industrial supplier. An ad visitor is skeptical. They don't know you. You have about 5 seconds to convince them you're a legitimate, trustworthy business.

Here are a few things I noticed:

-> Trust Signals are a bit light: Where are the customer reviews? Testimonials? You should have star ratings on your product pages. If you have happy customers, you need to show them off. This is the single most powerful tool for converting new visitors. Also think about other trust badges - logos of the payment methods you accept (Visa, PayPal etc), maybe a badge about secure checkout. A clear phone number and physical address in the footer also does wonders for trust. It shows you're a real business, not some fly-by-night dropshipper.

-> Product Pages Could Work Harder: The descriptions are quite basic. They list the features, which is fine, but they don't sell the *benefits*. For a hard hat, the feature is "meets EN 397 standard". The benefit is "Independently tested protection to keep you safe on site, so you can focus on the job without worrying". You're selling safety and peace of mind. Your copy should reflect that. Think about who is buying. Is it a site manager buying for his crew? He cares about compliance and durability. Is it a self-employed tradie? He might care more about comfort for all-day wear and maybe even style. Your descriptions could speak to these different needs.

-> Photography is okay, but could be better: The clean product shots on white backgrounds are good for shopping feeds, but on the site, it would be great to see the products in action. A photo of a builder actually wearing the hard hat on a site. A video showing how to adjust the harness on a specific helmet. This stuff brings the products to life and helps the customer visualise themselves using it. It also shows you know your products and your customer's world.

Honestly, I've seen B2B clients struggle for months with ads, we've come in, got a professional copywriter to redo their landing page, and suddenly their conversion rate doubles. The ads didn't change, but the destination did. Your website needs to be your best salesperson. Before spending another pound on ads, you need to be confident that the traffic you're paying for has the best possible chance to convert.

You probably should think beyond just Google...

Google is fantastic for capturing existing demand, as we discussed. But what about creating demand? What about reaching tradies, site managers, or serious DIYers who aren't actively searching for a new hard hat right now, but might be tempted by a good product or offer?

This is where Meta (Facebook & Instagram) comes in. The targeting options are incredible for a niche like yours. We could target users based on:

• Job Titles: "Construction Worker", "Electrician", "Site Manager", etc. (though this can be a bit unreliable on Meta).
• Interests: People who follow pages for brands like DeWalt, Makita, Milwaukee, or trade publications like "Professional Builder Magazine".
• Behaviours: "Small business owners" if you're targeting people who buy for their company.

The strategy here is different. It's less about direct response and more about building a funnel. Here’s how I would structure it, and this is a framework that works for pretty much any eCommerce buisness.

This structured approach means you're not just blasting one message to everyone. You're guiding them through a journey. I recall one campaign we ran for an outdoor equipment company with a similar 'gear' focus. By implementing a proper funnel structure on Meta, we were able to drive over 18,000 targeted website visitors and build up their retargeting audiences for consistent sales. It’s a machine that, once built, you can keep feeding with new people at the top.

You'll need a solid testing framework...

This is probably the most important bit of advice I can give you. The reason your results are variable is likely because there's no systematic process for improvement. You might have found an ad that worked, ran it until it stopped working (which they all do, eventually, due to 'ad fatigue'), and then were left scrambling for the next winner.

Professionals don't rely on luck; they rely on process. You need to be constantly testing. This doesn't have to be complicated. It means being methodical.

-> Test your audiences: On Google or Meta, always be testing new audiences against your current best-performer. On Meta, you might test an audience of "DeWalt fans" against an audience of "Makita fans". Run them with the same ads and budget. After a week, you'll know which group is more responsive. Keep the winner, and test a new challenger against it. Always be testing.

-> Test your creative: Your creative (the ad image or video) is the biggest lever you have. You should always be testing new creative.

• Image A vs. Image B (e.g., clean product shot vs. lifestyle 'in-action' shot).
• Image vs. Video (a short video showing the product's features often beats a static image).
• Different headlines (e.g., "Free UK Delivery on All Hard Hats" vs. "Certified MSA V-Gard Helmets in Stock").

The key is to only change one thing at a time. If you change the image and the headline, you won't know which one made the difference. Your goal is to build a library of winning ads and audiences that you can deploy. When one starts to fade, you already have the next one ready to go. This is how you escape the 'boom and bust' cycle and achieve consistent growth. It turns advertising from a gamble into a science. The aim is to find winning combinations that improve your overall ROAS (Return On Ad Spend), which for eCommerce, is the only metric that really matters.

This is the main advice I have for you:

I know this is a huge amount of information to digest. The core idea is to move from 'doing ads' to building a systematic, multi-channel customer acquisition machine. To make it a bit clearer, I've broken down my main recommendations into a plan of action for you.

As you can see, getting paid advertising right is a full-time job in itself. It involves strategy, data analysis, technical setup, copywriting, and constant optimisation. You can absolutely follow the framework above and see improvements, but it's a steep learning curve and mistakes can be costly. There are a lot of nuances that only come from experience, like knowing which new Meta feature is worth testing or how to interpret a confusing Google Ads report.

We've worked with numerous eCommerce clients. I remember one subscription box client where we achieved a 1000% ROAS with Meta Ads. I also recall an apparel brand where we hit 691% ROAS using Meta and Pinterest Ads. This experience allows us to build and scale these systems much faster and more effectively than someone learning as they go.

If you'd like to have a proper chat about this and see how we could potentially help implement this kind of strategy for The Hardhat Shop, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation. We could go through your account together on a call and identify the biggest opportunities for you.

Hope this helps give you some clarity!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh