Shopping Campaigns vs. Performance Max for Retail
Product ads can run through a standalone Shopping campaign or through Performance Max — both need a Merchant Center feed.
What it means
A Shopping campaign shows product ads — photo, title, price, store name — built from a feed connected through Google Merchant Center. Performance Max can also promote the same product feed, and is positioned as the successor to the older "Smart Shopping" campaign type, automatically reaching all of Google's ad inventory from one campaign instead of a Shopping-only placement. Either way, your Google Ads account has to be linked to a Merchant Center account first — without that link, product ads simply can't run.
Why it matters
If product ads aren't showing at all, an unlinked or broken Merchant Center connection is one of the first things worth ruling out, before assuming the campaign itself is misconfigured.
ask datanephew
My product ads aren't showing up anywhere — what should I check first?
Ask datanephew to confirm your Google Ads account is properly linked to Merchant Center. datanephew doesn't connect to Merchant Center directly, so this link has to be checked in your Google Ads or Merchant Center account itself.