Google Ads in 2025: A 3-Level Framework
Sam Piliero condenses his learnings from managing over $500M in ad spend and $1B+ in revenue into a simple three-level Google Ads system. This framework works for beginners, intermediates, and advanced advertisers alike.
Level 1: Just Go (Foundation)
- Tracking: Set up native Shopify/Google Ads integrations, then test thoroughly with Pixel Tag Helper and test purchases.
- Google Merchant Center: Non-negotiable — connect feed from Shopify/eCom platform to Merchant Center to unlock Shopping + Performance Max.
- Simple Structure: Launch one Performance Max (PMAX) campaign with your top 20% of products (or flagship product). Avoid flooding with 100+ SKUs.
- Budget: Start small with what you can afford to lose. Goal is breaking even quickly as the algorithm learns.
- Go Live: Get campaigns active, confirm products appear in the Shopping feed, and compare placement against competitors.
Level 2: Optimize
- Deep Dive Data: After ~2 weeks, analyze spend distribution, search terms, conversions, CTR, and add-to-carts. Document everything.
- Exclusions: Remove poor-performing keywords and irrelevant traffic sources.
- Expand Campaigns: Launch non-branded search campaigns (and branded if relevant) alongside PMAX.
- Target ROAS: Set your first tROAS equal to the last 14–30 day actual average (e.g., 2.5x → set 250%). Avoid overshooting with unrealistic numbers.
- Scaling Paths: If campaigns spend fully while hitting tROAS, either increase spend at same target, or increase target while holding spend.
Level 3: Scale & Iterate
- Creative Iterations: Audit every ad. Kill underperformers and duplicate top ads with variations in copy, creative, and angles.
- Feed Optimization: Refine product titles/images/descriptions. Descriptive, keyword-rich titles outperform vague branded ones.
- Manual Bidding: Leverage demographic, time-of-day, age, and gender adjustments. Exclude low-performing segments and double down on the profitable 20%.
- Reporting Systems: Build consolidated daily, weekly, monthly trackers in Google Sheets (via SuperMetrics or similar). Essential for scaling beyond $1k+/day while keeping clarity.
This system — Just Go → Optimize → Scale — gives a roadmap from $50/day testing budgets to multi-thousand daily ad spend while avoiding common Google Ads pitfalls.