BrisTechTonic is a Bristol SEO agency that helps UK businesses get found on Google, the local map pack and the AI assistants they now ask, like ChatGPT and Perplexity. A Google Shopping Ads agency plans, builds and manages the product ads that show your items, with pictures and prices, across Google Shopping, the search results, and increasingly Performance Max. The work is less about bidding and more about your product list: accurate titles, categories, details and product codes in Google Merchant Center (the place Google reads your products from), set up so the right products show for the right searches at a price your profit margins can carry. BrisTechTonic runs Shopping to real profit after costs rather than the headline return figure, so budget lands on the products and searches that actually make you money. You pay Google directly for the ads, and our fee does not rise because your spend does.
Google Shopping is the main engine of online retail. When someone searches for a product, the row of images, prices and shop names at the top of the results is Shopping, and for most online shops it brings in most of the paid revenue. It looks simple from the outside, which is exactly why so much of it is run badly. There are no search terms to write and no ad wording to agonise over, so the temptation is to upload your product list, point Performance Max at a return target and leave it. That is exactly how budget leaks away.
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The truth of Shopping is that your product list is the campaign. Google decides which searches your products show up for by reading your product list in Merchant Center: the title, the category, the details, the product codes and the image. Get those right and the same budget reaches better-matched, keener buyers. Get them wrong and you pay to appear for searches you can never win, while the products that would sell sit invisible. Most product lists we take over are the shop's raw stock export, never written for how people actually search.
The second failure is the number the account aims at. One overall return target treats every product as equally profitable, so the account happily scales up your thinnest-margin, highest-return lines and starves the ones that pay the bills. We group products by their real profit after costs, because a big return on a thin-margin product can lose money while a smaller return on a strong-margin one makes it. Revenue is not the goal; what is left after the cost of the goods and the ad spend is.
Performance Max has made all of this both easier and more dangerous. It reaches more places and automates more of the bidding, and it is also a black box that aims at its own reported return figure, cheerfully spending on people searching for your name and on repeat customers to look good. We run it deliberately: splitting up the product list, organising the groups of ads, stopping it bidding on your name and on existing customers, and checking for genuinely new sales, so the automation works on business you would not otherwise have won. Experienced people run these accounts, right between the strategy and the spend.
In ecommerce, a single percentage point is real money.
These are industry figures, not our own results, and we do not invent numbers. In ecommerce the traffic is bought once but converts over and over, so small gains in speed, findability and conversion compound. No outcome is ever guaranteed.
Google Shopping Ads, broken down.
Merchant Center and feed foundation →
A clean Google Merchant Center account that meets Google's rules, and a product list built for search, not just for stock control. Titles rewritten around how buyers actually search, correct categories, product codes fixed, and any rejected products sorted out before they quietly cap your reach.
Feed optimisation and supplemental data
The ongoing work that lifts Shopping most: extra product data, your own labels for profit margin and seasonality, image and price fixes, and well-organised product details so the list keeps matching keen searches as your range and priorities change.
Campaign and Performance Max structure
Grouping products by profit margin, brand, best-sellers and new lines, using your own labels and tidy groups of ads, so budget can be steered rather than spread evenly. Ordinary Shopping is kept where it gives you control; Performance Max is used where it earns reach, never blindly.
Bidding to real profit
Return targets set for each product group against its real profitability, not one blanket number across the whole range. Loss-leaders, thin-margin lines and star products each get the treatment the numbers deserve.
Brand and incrementality control →
People searching for your name and existing customers separated out, so Performance Max cannot claim business you already have. We read the genuinely extra sales, not just the last-click return, so the account grows on new customers rather than re-buying old ones.
Peak, promotions and inventory logic
Shopping lives and dies by seasons and stock. We plan for busy periods, sale pricing and sale labels, and automatically stop spending on out-of-stock or low-stock lines, so budget never chases products you cannot ship.
Some of our recent work.
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What clients say about working with us.
“I've had the pleasure of working with Chris on several SEO projects for my websites in the health field. He was definitely been able to demystify things so that I felt able to make decisions with him and feel confident they were the right ones. For a non-techie, that is worth gold! I look forward to working with Chris again and warmly recommend him to anyone who - like me - is unsure about all things SEO.”
“I was recommended by my branding partner to use Chris and his team last year. I can’t recommend them highly enough. They are very responsive , easy to communicate with and great at translating techy stuff when needed. They are now an essential part of my business model”
“We've been working closely with Chris, Hannah and the team for over 12 months now. As a small company with ambitious growth plans, it was incredibly important that we made the right choice on who to trust with our SEO. 18 months later, we're totally thrilled with our experience so far and our growing online presence within our market. We'd happily recommend BTT and their services to other SMEs. Drop them an enquiry!”
Real people on your account, not a faceless agency.
You work directly with the senior people who do the work, a small Bristol team you will actually get to know, not a call centre or an account manager relaying messages.
Meet the team →
The way we run Google Shopping Ads.
Audit the feed and the economics
We start in Google Merchant Center and in your profit margins. What has been rejected, mistitled or put in the wrong category, what each product line actually contributes after the cost of the goods, and where the current account is spending against that. The product list and the numbers come before any bid changes.
Rebuild the feed
Titles rewritten for how people actually search, categories corrected, product codes and images fixed, and extra product data added with your own labels for profit margin, best-sellers and seasonality. This is where most of the gain is found.
Structure for control
Campaigns and groups of ads organised by profit margin and priority, people searching for your name kept separate, and Performance Max set up so it works on genuinely new business rather than cashing in on your own name and repeat buyers.
Set bidding to margin
Return targets set for each product group against its profit, not one blanket figure, so budget lands on the products and searches that make money rather than the ones that merely shift volume.
Prove, then scale
We start where the profit and the data are clearest, check the approach against real profit after costs, then widen spend based on evidence rather than optimism, holding back comparison groups where we need to read the genuinely extra sales.
Manage against the numbers
Weekly work on the product list, the searches triggering your ads, rejected products, and how each product group is doing, with spend moved towards what earns profit and stopped on what does not. No switch-it-on-and-forget, and no defending a losing line in a monthly slide deck.
How do we approach Google Shopping Ads?
The feed is the campaign
With Shopping ads you do not write ads, you shape your product list and let it do the talking. The titles, categories, details, product codes and images decide which searches you show up for, so most of our work happens in Google Merchant Center before a bid is ever set. A clean, well-organised product list beats clever bidding on a broken one every time.
Optimised to margin, not ROAS
Aiming for one overall return figure treats a product with a 60% margin and one with a 12% margin as if they were the same, and they are not. We group products by their real profitability and aim at profit, so budget flows to the lines that make money rather than the ones that merely bring in revenue.
Performance Max, kept honest
Performance Max now carries most Shopping ads, and this hands-off campaign type will happily spend on people searching for your name and on existing customers to flatter its own numbers. We organise the groups of ads, split up the product list, and set firm limits to keep it working on genuinely new business, not taking credit for sales you already had.
No markup on your media
Your Shopping budget is paid straight to Google. Our fee is for the experienced work of running the account well, and it does not go up just because you raised spend for a busy period. You always know what is ad spend and what is our fee.
Real people doing the work, and putting their name to it.
You deal with our small, experienced Bristol team directly, from the first call to every monthly report.
Meet the team →What Google Shopping Ads puts on your desk.
Are we the right fit for you?
Thinking of switching from another agency?
Moving your Google Shopping Ads to us is more straightforward than staying somewhere that is not working. You keep everything you already own, we pick up without a gap, and we can run the whole thing for you or work alongside your team and your developers, whatever suits.
A free look first
We review what your current agency has done, tell you straight what is worth keeping and where the quick wins are. No obligation to move.
You keep what's yours
Your site, content, Google Business Profile and analytics stay in your name. We work with what you already have; nothing is held hostage.
A clean handover
We map the work across, set a plain-English baseline in the first few weeks, and carry on from there. No starting from zero, no quiet ranking gap.
Three-month minimum, then rolling monthly on 30 days’ notice. No long lock-in, no exit fees.
Who runs your Shopping account, and how?
With Shopping and Performance Max, the product feed is the campaign. BrisTechTonic is the trading name of Bryley Ltd, an experienced team with years of combined experience, and yours is run by an experienced person from the first product-list review through to weekly improvements, not handed off once the account is won. We treat the product list as the real lever it is, aim at real profit after costs rather than the headline return figure, and will tell you plainly when Shopping is not where your next pound is best spent.
Experienced people do the work
The person who reviews the product list and works out the profit margins is the person who builds the campaigns and cuts the budget each week. No account is left to run itself between the strategy and the spend.
Optimised to your margins
We judge Shopping on the profit left after the cost of the goods and the ad spend, product by product, not one overall return figure the platform is happy to flatter. The numbers we report are the ones your finance team recognises.
Honest about the channel
Shopping suits businesses with a product range, healthy margins, and people searching for what they sell. If your product list cannot be made competitive, or your margins cannot cover the cost of competing, we say so rather than spend to prove a point.
Google Shopping Ads: common questions.
What does a Google Shopping Ads agency do?
A Google Shopping Ads agency sets up and runs the product ads that show your items across Google Shopping, the search results and Performance Max. The core work is your product list in Google Merchant Center: the titles, categories, details, product codes and images that decide which searches you show up for. On top of that sits the campaign setup, the bidding, sorting out rejected products, and reporting. We run all of it to real profit after costs, with the ads paid directly to Google and no markup on your spend.
How much do Google Shopping Ads cost?
Your ad cost is set by your products, competition and margins rather than a fixed rate, and you pay Google directly for it. What matters is the profit per pound spent, not the headline budget. We work out each product line's numbers first, then let spend follow the profit. Our management starts from £400 a month per platform and does not rise as a percentage of your ad spend. Getting set up is a one-off £400, and paid ads run to a three-month minimum.
Do you charge a percentage of ad spend?
No. Your Shopping budget is paid straight to Google, and our fee does not go up just because you scaled up for a busy period. You pay for the experienced work of running the account well, not a cut of your ad spend.
Is the product feed really more important than bidding?
For Shopping, yes. There are no search terms to bid on directly; Google reads your product list to decide which searches your products match. A well-organised list with search-friendly titles, correct categories and clean product codes reaches better-matched buyers on the same budget. Most of the gain we find in a Shopping account is in the product list, not the bidding.
How do you handle Performance Max for Shopping?
Carefully. Performance Max now carries most Shopping ads and automates the bidding, but it aims at its own reported return figure and will spend on people searching for your name and on existing customers to look good. We split up the product list, organise the groups of ads, leave out your own name and repeat buyers where sensible, and read the genuinely extra sales, so it works on new business rather than cashing in on sales you already had.
Why optimise to margin instead of ROAS?
One overall return target treats every product as equally profitable, which they are not. Scaling up a big return on a thin-margin line can lose money while a smaller return on a strong-margin line makes it. We group products by their profit after the cost of the goods, using our own labels, so budget lands on the products that are actually profitable rather than the ones that just bring in revenue.
Can you fix Merchant Center disapprovals?
Yes. Rejected products and account warnings quietly cap your reach and can shut the account down entirely. We check and clear product-list and policy problems, fix missing or wrong product codes and details, and keep the list within Google's rules on an ongoing basis, so your best products are never invisible when they should be selling.
How is this different from your wider Paid programme?
It is the Shopping-specific version of it. If you also want Search, Meta, follow-up ads or paid placements on AI tools, the Paid & AI ads programme runs them together to one profit picture rather than a set of disconnected dashboards.
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