Inside the Google Ads Strategy Behind a 700% ROAS Ecommerce Account

Let me show you what a high-performing, high-spending ecommerce Google Ads account really looks like.

This is a peek behind the curtain at one of our client accounts at Big Flare where we’re spending over $100,000/month and achieving a return on ad spend (ROAS) of over 700%.

I’ll break down the exact campaign types, how we structure Performance Max, how we layer in Standard Shopping, the search campaign strategy that makes the magic happen and plenty more.

Campaign Type Breakdown

We're spending just over $200,000 NZD a month in this account (a bit over $100K USD), and that spend is spread across multiple campaign types. Here’s how it breaks down:

• Performance Max and Standard Shopping are the workhorses, taking the lion’s share of the budget.

• Search campaigns, particularly non-branded ones, deliver the highest ROAS at 8.74X.

• Display is used solely for retargeting (not cold traffic).

• YouTube ads are used to build top-of-funnel awareness.

• We’re also testing Demand Gen with some early results.

Key Takeaway:

Performance Max and Shopping do the heavy lifting, but it’s search campaigns done right that push performance through the roof.

How We Structure Performance Max & Standard Shopping

We run one core Performance Max campaign that includes all products (around 160). This works well because all the products are profitable and their ROAS is well above the breakeven point.

But here’s the nuance:

• If you have products with varying profit margins or performance levels, consider splitting them out into different campaigns.

• If some products are performing below breakeven, pull them into a separate campaign and set a different ROAS target to let the system optimise accordingly.

New Customer Campaign

We duplicate the core Performance Max campaign and run it exclusively for new customers, using the “new customer acquisition” setting in Google Ads.

Why?

Because new customers have higher lifetime value, and we’re willing to bid more to acquire them. We target a slightly lower ROAS (around 600%) in this campaign to force the system to be more aggressive.

Best Performers Campaign

Top-performing products are pulled into a separate Standard Shopping campaign, where we can push budget and lower ROAS targets to scale results further.

Special Category Campaign

When we have a strategic product or a new product line we want to push harder, we give it its own campaign with its own budget and ROAS targets to prioritise its exposure.

Asset Group Strategy in Performance Max

Each asset group represents a single product category.

That means the assets — images, headlines, descriptions, videos — are tightly aligned with the products being advertised.

A few tips:

• Include audience signals and search themes.

• Don’t just run “feed only” unless you're working with very slim margins.

• Rotate out underperforming assets regularly. Only keep assets marked “Good” or “Best” in the asset performance report.

Search Campaigns: The Real ROAS Engine

This account’s non-branded search campaigns are delivering the highest ROAS. But too many ecommerce advertisers ignore search or only run branded campaigns.

Here’s what we recommend.

Segment Branded vs Non-Branded

Always run branded search separately and aim for:

• ROAS: 1,000%+

• Impression share: 95%+

For non-branded search, we run several types of campaigns:

Product Campaign

The core non-branded search campaign. Start by using keyword insights from your Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns to seed your search keywords.

Broad Match Strategy

Start with phrase and exact match. Once that’s working well, launch broad match in a separate campaign. Surprisingly, broad match is working great lately, sometimes even better than phrase and exact.

Competitor Campaign

Target exact competitors’ brand terms (but don’t include their name in your ad copy). You’ll get lower quality scores, but returns can still be solid.

Dynamic Search Ads

We use DSA campaigns strictly for discovery. Keep budgets low, monitor search terms weekly, and mine new keywords to build out your core campaigns.

Bid Strategy Portfolios

Group your non-brand campaigns into a bid strategy portfolio. This lets the algorithm share conversion data across campaigns and optimise more effectively.

Display Campaign: Only for Retargeting

We don’t run cold traffic through Google Display Network. Instead, we use a single campaign segmented into funnel stages:

• Homepage visitors

• Category page visitors

• Product page visitors

• Cart abandoners

• Previous purchasers

Each segment is its own ad group, and we exclude deeper funnel audiences from higher funnel ad groups to avoid overlap.

Attach your product feed so that ads dynamically show the exact products people viewed.

Keep budgets tight and use maximise conversions bidding (or Target ROAS if you’ve got the volume). Manage ROAS by adjusting the daily budget. Lower budget = higher ROAS (usually).

YouTube Ads: Embrace the Funnel

We’re running both cold and retargeting campaigns with video.

Key learning: Video ads are top-of-funnel. Expect a lower ROAS, but they’re fantastic for filling the pipeline.

We run:

• Creator Partnership Campaigns via Google’s Brand Connect. Great for scaling UGC-style content that already exists on YouTube Shorts.

• Testing Campaigns to try different creatives and audiences.

• Winner Campaigns where we scale the best combos of creative + audience.

Advanced Tactics to Boost Performance

Here are two final strategies this client used that helped us scale so successfully:

1. Geographic Expansion

They started in New Zealand, then expanded to Australia, the US, the UK, and Canada. Campaigns are duplicated and localised for each region.

2. Product Launches

They continuously launch and test new products, giving us new content to work with and new categories to scale.

Conclusion

This client’s results, 700%+ ROAS at $100K/month spend, aren’t magic. They come from:

• Smart campaign structure (core, new customer, best performers, special category)

• Proper segmentation in search campaigns

• Creative management within Performance Max and display

• Knowing when and where to bid more or less aggressively

• Constant iteration, optimisation, and keyword mining

If you’ve got a solid product and a growth mindset, these strategies will help you scale, too.

How I Use AI to Work Smarter, Not Harder in Ecommerce Advertising

I’ve been using AI to streamline my agency’s work, create better content, and make smarter decisions. In 2025, if you’re not leveraging AI in your ecommerce business, you’re making life harder than it needs to be.

Here’s exactly how I use AI daily to get better results for our ecommerce clients.

1. Learning & Strategy at Warp Speed

Instead of wading through endless YouTube tutorials or blog posts, I use AI to rapidly learn new ad strategies and decode complex industry changes.

• Need to understand a new Google Ads or Meta Ads feature? I fire questions at ChatGPT and get instant, digestible insights.

• Want to reverse-engineer a competitor’s strategy? AI helps me break it down step by step.

• Testing new approaches for clients? AI helps me validate ideas before we even spend a penny on ads.

The result? My learning curve is cut in half, and we move fast.

2. AI-Powered Content Creation

What used to take hours now takes minutes.

AI helps me repurpose content across all platforms with minimal effort:

• Raw client call transcripts → Case studies.

• Weekly YouTube videos → Email newsletters, blog posts, and social media content.

• Client success stories → Multi-platform posts.

This has completely transformed how we approach content marketing — keeping our audience engaged without eating up my entire workweek.

3. Smarter Decision Making with AI as a Sounding Board

Running an agency means making strategic decisions daily. I use AI as a brainstorming partner, not for final decisions, but to explore angles I might have missed.

Some examples:

• Evaluating new ad platforms for clients

• Spotting campaign performance patterns

• Testing assumptions before making big strategic shifts

It’s like having a 24/7 intelligent brainstorming partner that never gets tired.

4. Instant Data Visualisation & Reporting

Clients love clean, actionable insights, but data analysis can be time-consuming.

Enter AI:

• Feed raw campaign data into AI, and it spits out beautiful, clear charts.

• Quick ROI analysis without spending hours in spreadsheets.

• Faster reporting, leading to better client communication.

It’s a game-changer for performance tracking and decision-making.

5. AI for Personal Productivity & Leadership

Here’s an underrated AI use case: daily journaling.

I use Rosebud for agency-related journaling — documenting campaign results, client wins, and business challenges. It helps me:

• Process decisions more effectively.

• Spot patterns in agency performance.

• Improve clarity, which translates into better leadership.

Better clarity = better business decisions. Simple as that.

AI Isn’t Replacing Marketers — It’s Amplifying Them

None of this is theoretical. These are real tools I’m using right now to deliver better results for ecommerce clients while scaling my agency. AI isn’t replacing marketers—it’s making us exponentially more effective.

If you’re running an ecommerce business and not using AI tools daily, you’re playing with one hand tied behind your back. Start small, but start now.

Conclusion

AI is no longer a futuristic concept — it’s an essential part of how I operate my agency efficiently. From speeding up learning to automating content creation, optimising decision-making, streamlining reporting, and even improving personal productivity, AI has become my ultimate business tool.

The takeaway? AI won’t replace expert marketers, but it will make them unstoppable.

How to Set Up a Google Ads Campaign That Actually Makes Money

Running Google Ads for the first time? If you get it right, it’s one of the best ways to drive leads and sales. If you get it wrong… well, you’ll probably burn through your budget faster than you can say "conversion tracking."

In this blog post, I’ll walk you through how to set up your first Google Ads campaign the right way, from choosing the best campaign structure to avoiding common mistakes that waste your money.

Let’s get into it.

Why Google Ads Outperforms Social Media Ads

Most businesses lump Google Ads in with Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram, but there’s a fundamental difference. With social media, you’re interrupting people with ads while they’re busy watching cat videos or stalking their exes.

With Google Ads, you’re showing up at the exact moment someone searches for what you offer.

That’s why Google Ads tends to convert better. You’re not convincing people they need your product. You’re just making sure they buy from you instead of your competitors.

How to Set Up Your First Google Ads Campaign

Step 1: Choose the Right Campaign Type

1. Log in to Google Ads and click New Campaign.

2. Select Sales (for ecommerce) or Leads (for service businesses).

3. Choose Search as your campaign type.

4. Enter your business website.

Make sure your conversion tracking is set up before you launch! Google needs to know whether your ads are generating real results, not just clicks.

Step 2: Set Your Budget (The Right Way)

Most beginners get their budget wrong in one of two ways:

• They spend too little and don’t get enough data to make optimisations.

• They spend too much without the right structure in place.

Best starting budgets:

• If you’re testing: $50 - $100/day

• If you want results faster: $200+/day

Don’t panic if results don’t come instantly. Google needs time to optimise, and knee-jerk changes kill performance.

Step 3: Keyword Research for Profitable Ads

Finding the right keywords is everything.

Use Keyword Planner in Google Ads and input some basic ideas related to your business.

Here’s what to look for:

• ✅ Keywords with 100+ searches per month.

• ✅ Keywords directly relevant to your product or service.

• ❌ Ignore columns like "competition" and "CPC bids" – they’re misleading.

Step 4: Use Single-Theme Ad Groups (STAGs)

Once you have a list of keywords, group them into tight themes. Each ad group should focus on one clear topic so your ad copy can be highly relevant.

Example ad group themes for a Google Ads agency:

• "Google Ads Agency"

• "White Label PPC Agency"

• "Local PPC Management"

• "Amazon PPC Services"

Google loves ad relevance, and this structure improves Quality Score, CTR, and cost-efficiency.

Step 5: Writing Ads That Convert (Use ChatGPT to Speed It Up)

Writing ad copy from scratch? Painful. Instead, use this ChatGPT prompt, don’t forget to customise the [url] and [keywords]:

“Check out my product/service here: [URL]

The main keywords I am targeting in my ad group are: 

[keyword], [keyword], [keyword] 

Look at the above URL and give me a 3 sentence summary telling me what this product/service is all about. 

I want you to generate ideas for my headlines and my descriptions for my responsive search ads in google ads. Headlines must be 30 characters or less, never exceed 30 characters for my headlines Descriptions must be 90 characters or less, never exceed 90 characters for my descriptions. 

For my headlines I want you to generate 8 ideas in each of the following themes: 

Keyword Relevance - these headlines should include the keywords people are searching for 

Brand - these headlines should include my company brand name 

USP/Features/Benefits - these headlines should include USPs, features and benefits relevant to my brand and product 

Call To Actions - these headlines should be call to actions 

That is a total of 4 themes and I want 8 suggestions per theme for a total of 32 suggestions. Organise the suggestions by theme. 

For the descriptions I want you to generate 10 total ideas for the descriptions. Make the descriptions more than 60 characters long but remember to stick to the character limit of 90. Descriptions must match the search intent and landing page. Try to focus on benefits whilst incorporating keywords naturally and try to speak to pain points & benefits.”

Once you get the results, select the best suggestions from the list. Then, don’t blindly copy-paste – tweak them so they sound natural and relevant.

Step 6: Set Up Conversion Tracking

No Tracking = Wasted Budget.

Go to Tools & Settings > Goals > Conversions in Google Ads. You should see your main conversion action (purchase, lead form submission, etc.) listed as "Primary."

Not set up yet? Add a new conversion and place the tracking code on your thank you page – NOT your homepage.

Step 7: Bidding Strategy & Scaling

Start with Maximise Conversions (for leads) or Maximise Conversion Value (for ecommerce). Let it run for 1-4 weeks before changing your bid strategy.

When you have 30-50 conversions, switch to:

• Target CPA (for leads), or

• Target ROAS (for ecommerce)

📈 Scaling Tips:

• Increase daily budget by max 20% per week.

• Adjust CPA or ROAS targets by max 10% every 2 weeks.

Avoid These Common Google Ads Mistakes

🚨 Mistake #1: Turning Ads Off Too Soon: Google Ads takes at least 30 days to optimise. If you kill a campaign after a week, you’re quitting before the system even gets a chance to work.

🚨 Mistake #2: Inaccurate Conversion Tracking: If Google doesn’t know what a "good" result looks like, it will optimise for the wrong things (like random clicks instead of actual sales).

🚨 Mistake #3: Using Broad Match Too Soon: Broad match keywords can work eventually, but for beginners, they usually mean wasted spend. Start with Phrase Match and Exact Match instead.

🚨 Mistake #4: Targeting Generic Keywords: There’s a huge difference between someone searching:

❌ "How to get more traffic to my business" (bad – too broad), and

✅ "Google Ads agency" (good – ready to buy).

Conclusion

Setting up Google Ads successfully comes down to:

1. Choosing the right campaign type (Search + Sales/Leads).

2. Setting a budget that allows for proper testing.

3. Doing smart keyword research (100+ searches, relevant terms).

4. Using Single-Themed Ad Groups (STAGs).

5. Writing high-converting ad copy (ChatGPT shortcut).

6. Ensuring conversion tracking is working.

7. Following a structured bidding and scaling process.

Stick to this, and you’ll avoid the common pitfalls that kill most Google Ads campaigns.