If I ever created a course it’ll be on Custom Label optimisation for Google Ads. Why? It’s still one of the most underutilised optimisation techniques for Google Ads success.
I’ve just completed a Google Ads audit where the client is spending £25k a month. All ran by their appointed agency (for the past 5 years…) and there was concern that they weren’t ‘getting the most’ out of Google Ads… my summary? Yep, they were correct.
The first red flag was getting access to their Google Merchant Center account. Nobody knew who had admin (and this includes the agency). Once I did get access a few days later it transpires that their agency doesn’t not have access and hasn’t at any stage touched Merchant Center.
Now, Merchant Center is the artery that’s delivering healthy product data into Google Ads. Nobody in 5 years had taken a look AT the data or considered whether the data was optimal in order to run pmax campaigns effectively. Yes, this is a big old red flag…. and it got me thinking.
Ecommerce marketers (agency and client-side) are hacking away at Google Ads tweaking ROAS requirements on a daily basis to find the ‘sweet spot’ but little is done with the data that feeds Google. Your product data.
And when those ROAS tweaks don’t materialise in profitable growth they’re sat wondering why their Google Shopping campaigns burn through budget on the wrong products.
Here’s what’s happening: Your feed is probably technically correct. Products sync. Titles appear. Prices update. Everything looks fine in Merchant Center.
“Technically correct” isn’t optimised. And the gap between those two states is, potentially, costing you thousands every month.
The Feed Optimisation Gap: Why Shopify Product Data Fails Google Shopping
Your Shopify product data was written for humans browsing your website. Google Shopping needs something different: data structured for algorithm interpretation and competitive positioning.
When you sync your Shopify feed directly to Google without optimisation, you’re asking Google to make intelligent decisions about which products to show, when to show them, and how much to bid using data that was never designed for that purpose.
It’s like handing someone a recipe book and asking them to build a house. Sure, there are instructions in there, but they’re instructions for the wrong job.
What Feed Optimisation Actually Does for Google Shopping Performance
This is where tools like FeedOptimise become critical infrastructure rather than nice-to-have extras.
Feed optimisation rewrites your product data specifically for paid search performance:
- Better titles that match search intent.
- More descriptive product types that improve categorisation.
- Optimised image selections that increase click-through rates.
But the real power (the part most brands completely miss) is in custom labels.
How to Use Custom Labels to Segment and Scale Google Shopping Campaigns
Custom labels are essentially tags you can add to products in your feed that Google Shopping uses for campaign segmentation and bidding strategies.
You get five custom label fields. Most brands use zero.
Here’s why that’s leaving money on the table:
Price-based segmentation: Tag products by price bracket (under £50, £50-100, £100+) so you can bid more aggressively on high-value items and control spend on low-margin products.
Margin-based targeting: Identify high-margin versus low-margin products. Push budget toward items that actually make you money rather than letting Google spend equally across your catalogue.
Performance-based labels: Tag bestsellers, new arrivals, seasonal items, or clearance products. Build separate campaigns that treat these categories differently instead of lumping everything together.
Stock-level awareness: Label products by inventory status. Reduce bids on low-stock items before they run out. Increase visibility for overstocked products you need to move.
Category-specific strategies: Your sunglasses need different bidding strategies than your reading glasses. Tag them accordingly and treat them as separate entities in your campaign structure.
What This Looks Like in Practice: Campaign Structures Built on Custom Labels
Without custom labels, you’re running Shopping campaigns where Google treats every product equally. Your £20 impulse-buy item gets the same consideration as your £200 hero product.
With custom labels configured through FeedOptimise, you can:
- Build a Performance Max campaign targeting only your high-margin bestsellers
- Create a Shopping campaign specifically for products under £50 with lower CPCs
- Run aggressive bidding on new arrivals during launch periods
- Automatically reduce spend on slow-moving inventory
- Separate branded search from category search at the product level
This isn’t advanced tactics. This is basic campaign architecture that actually reflects how your business works.
Why Feed Optimisation Matters More Now in the Performance Max Era
Performance Max has made feed optimisation even more critical because you have less direct control over what Google shows. Custom labels become your steering mechanism: the way you guide automated campaigns toward profitable outcomes rather than just volume.
When you can’t control keywords, placements, or audiences directly, product-level data becomes your primary optimisation lever.
The Compounding Effect of Continuous Feed Optimisation on Campaign Performance
Feed optimisation isn’t a one-time project. It’s ongoing infrastructure that improves every campaign you run.
Better product titles improve organic Shopping results. Optimised custom labels make every new campaign launch more profitable from day one. Improved categorisation helps Google understand your catalogue structure, which improves how it surfaces your products in relevant searches.
Most brands are fighting Google’s algorithm with one hand tied behind their back because they’re feeding it suboptimal data. Then they blame the platform when campaigns don’t perform.
Fix the feed first. Then optimise the campaigns.
Your product data is the foundation everything else is built on. You can’t optimise your way out of a poorly structured feed.
Where to Start: First Steps for Implementing Custom Labels and Feed Optimisation
If you’re not currently using a feed optimisation tool, FeedOptimise gives you the infrastructure to actually implement this without becoming a feed management expert. It’s a platform I’ve been using for a dozen plus years. Marcin and his team are exceptional. That’s my five star review. I know there are dozens of feed optimisation platforms on the market. I’m sure they’re all great too….
So. Start with custom labels. Pick one dimension that matters to your business: margin, price bracket, product category, whatever creates meaningful segments in your catalogue.
Implement it. Build one campaign using that segmentation. Measure the difference.
Then add another layer.
Feed optimisation compounds. Every improvement makes every subsequent campaign more effective.
Most brands never do this work. Which means the competitive advantage for those who do is substantial.
This is part of my daily HOW TO OPTIMISE series, where I share the optimisation techniques that drive real ecommerce growth. More at ecommercegrowth.co.uk.
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