Google Ads Dynamic Remarketing Shopify Setup

You are here because you are looking to maximize your Google Ads effort for your Shopify store.

Without further ado, let’s get right to it.

What is dynamic remarketing Google Ads?

Dynamic remarketing in Google Ads is a powerful advertising feature that allows you to show personalized and dynamically generated ads to users who have previously visited your website or mobile app. These ads are designed to re-engage visitors with products or services they viewed or showed interest in during their previous interactions with your site or app.

Here’s how dynamic remarketing in Google Ads typically works:

Tag Implementation: To enable dynamic remarketing, you must implement a Google Ads remarketing tag (also known as the Google Ads pixel) on your website or app. This tag collects data about user behavior, such as the pages they visit and the products they view.
Product Feed: You must also create and maintain a product feed, a structured data file containing information about your products or services. This feed includes details like product names, prices, images, and URLs.
User Interaction: When users visit your website or app, the remarketing tag tracks their behavior, including the products they view, add to their cart, or purchase.
Dynamic Ad Creation: Google Ads uses the data collected from the tag and the product feed to generate personalized ads for each user dynamically. These ads typically include images and details of the specific products or services the user interacted with.
Ad Display: The dynamically created ads are then displayed to users as they browse other websites and apps within the Google Display Network. These ads can appear on websites, mobile apps, and even YouTube, increasing the chances of re-engaging potential customers.
Bid and Targeting Optimization: You can set bid strategies and customize targeting options to reach specific audiences, such as users who abandoned shopping carts or viewed specific product categories. This allows for more precise ad delivery.
Frequency Capping: You can set frequency caps to prevent ad fatigue and overexposure, limiting how often users see your remarketing ads.
Performance Tracking: Google Ads provides detailed reporting and performance metrics, allowing you to monitor the effectiveness of your dynamic remarketing campaigns. This includes data on impressions, clicks, conversions, and return on investment (ROI).

Dynamic remarketing is particularly valuable for Shopify stores with extensive product catalogs because it automates creating and delivering highly relevant ads to potential customers. It keeps your brand and products top-of-mind for users who have already expressed interest, increasing the likelihood of them returning to your site and completing a purchase.

By showing users the exact products they previously interacted with, dynamic remarketing helps you capitalize on user intent and behavior, ultimately improving the chances of converting past visitors into paying customers.

Benefits of dynamic remarketing Google Ads Shopify?

Here are several reasons why you should consider caring about installing Google Ads dynamic remarketing tracking:

Increased Relevance: Dynamic remarketing allows you to tailor your ads to individual users based on past interactions with your website or app. This increased relevance can lead to higher click-through rates (CTR) and conversion rates, as users are more likely to engage with ads that showcase products or services they have previously viewed.
Higher ROI: Because dynamic remarketing targets users who have already expressed an interest in your offerings, it often results in a higher return on investment (ROI) than traditional display advertising. You’re essentially re-engaging potential customers who are further along in the sales funnel.
Personalization: Personalization is a critical factor in modern online advertising. Dynamic remarketing allows you to show users the exact products or services they’ve shown interest in, making your ads more compelling and relevant.
Cross-Device Retargeting: Google’s dynamic remarketing tracking works across devices, allowing you to reach users on desktop, mobile, and tablets. This ensures you stay in front of your audience, regardless of their device.
Automated Management: Google’s dynamic remarketing uses automatic product feeds, so you don’t have to create individual ads for each product. This can save you time and effort, especially with an extensive product catalog.
Detailed Reporting: Google Ads provides detailed reporting and analytics for your dynamic remarketing campaigns. You can track performance metrics such as impressions, clicks, conversions, and ROI, allowing you to optimize your campaigns for better results.
Competitive Advantage: Dynamic remarketing can give you an advantage in online advertising. It allows you to stay top-of-mind with potential customers and re-engage them with your brand, which can be crucial in competitive markets.
Customization Options: You can customize your dynamic remarketing ads with various formats, layouts, and designs to match your brand’s style and messaging.
Flexible Targeting: Dynamic remarketing offers flexible targeting options. You can segment your audience based on their behavior, such as viewing specific product categories or abandoning a shopping cart, and then create tailored ads for each segment.
Control Over Budget: You have control over your ad budget and can set bid strategies that align with your advertising goals, whether increasing sales, website visits, or brand awareness.

In summary, installing Google Ads dynamic remarketing tracking can help you re-engage potential customers, increase the relevance of your ads, and ultimately improve the effectiveness and ROI of your online advertising campaigns. It’s an essential tool for businesses looking to boost their online presence and sales.

How to do dynamic remarketing Google Ads Shopify setup?

You can set this up in two ways:

You can use Google Tag Manager.
You can use Google Tag. Go here.

Let us start with the GTM Google Ads dynamic remarketing setup.

First, let us address what you need:

Ecommerce data layers —> check here.
Google Tag Manager account.
Google Ads account.
Access to edit permission to Shopify theme liquid.
Access to Shopify Checkout settings.

So, let’s start the show.

Placing the dynamic remarketing Google Ads code in the Shopify theme code.

Go to your Shopify backend dashboard.
Click “Online Store”

Image showing to click on online store in Shopify dashboard to setup Dynamic remarketing Google Ads

For any further steps, follow the video.

We are creating the Google Ads Dynamic remarketing tag in GTM. You can follow the instructions or check the video below.

Here are the instructions:

Go to the dashboard of Google Tag Manager and click on the preview button. (Considering the website is connected with the GTM)
After opening the preview window, enter your site URL
After the website is loaded, make sure that it is connected.
Now make a test purchase to verify the data layer.
After verifying the data layer, you can proceed with tag creation.
In your GTM dashboard, click on Tags from the left side menu and then the New button.
Then click on Tag Configuration.
Search for Google Ads and then click on Google Ads Remarketing.
Now, you have to enable Conversion Linker. (You can also click on the Create button in the alert message for the conversion linker.)
In the Conversion Linker settings, click “Enable linking to all page URLs” in the Linker Options.
Now you need a conversion ID from Google Ads.
Go to your Google Ads account.
Click on the Goals from the left side menu and then on Summary.
Select any conversion that you need to track. If you don’t have any conversions, you can create one.
After opening the conversion, click on Tag Setup.
Now click on Google Tag Manager.
And copy the Conversion ID.
Return to GTM tag settings and create a variable by clicking the button (symbol) in the Conversion ID field.
In the variables, click on the Plus icon to create a variable.
In Variable Configuration, look for Constant and click on it.
Now paste your Conversion ID in the Value field.
Name your variable in a convenient way to work with—for example, GAds-ID-(your conversion ID).
Click save
Then, click the box for Send dynamic remarketing event data in tag settings.
In my case, I’ll be entering dynamic values, but you can also add manual values.
In the Event Name, you can type {{Event}}
In the Event Value field, click the symbol to create a variable.
Now click on the plus icon to create a new variable.
Click on Variable Configuration.
Scroll down to find the Data Layer Variable.
Now, in the “Data Layer Variable Name” field type, “value” (as per your data layer structure)
Now, name your variable and click save.
Again, in the tag settings in the Event Items field, create a new variable, and in the “Variable Configuration,” find “Data Layer Variable.”
Now, in Data Layer Variable Name, type “items” (as per your data layer structure).
Now, name your variable and click save.
The next thing is to create a trigger.
In the tag settings, click on the trigger section.
Create a new trigger by clicking the plus icon in the top right corner.
In the trigger configuration, find and select Custom Event.
In the event name, type “view_item”.
Now, name your trigger conveniently to work with—for example, E-view_item.
Click save.
Now, repeat the same steps for creating custom triggers.
For add-to-cart trigger, name the event “add_to_cart.”
For the checkout trigger, name the event “begin_checkout.”
After completing this, name your tag and click save.
To test this tag, we will click on Preview.
Enter the site URL and connect.
Now make a test purchase.
Now verify whether all the triggers are firing and sending the correct data.
Now, let’s create a purchase tag because the purchase structure differs in the data layer from other events.
Create a new tag, or for an easy process, you can duplicate the same tag created previously by clicking on Copy in the tag settings from the top right side three dots menus.
After copying, remove the value from the “Event Value” field and create a new variable for the same field.
In the Variable Configuration, again select “Data Layer Variable.”
In the Data Layer Variable Name field, enter the value from the data layer structure. Generally, it’s called “ecommerce.value.” This might differ in your case.
Name the variable and click on save.
Again, create a new variable for Event Items in the tag settings.
In the Variable Configuration, select the data layer variable.
In the Data Layer Variable Name, enter “ecommerce.items”
Name the variable and click on save.
Now create a trigger for the same (Delete all the previous triggers if you have duplicated this tag)
To create a purchase trigger, click on the trigger section.
And now, click on the plus icon in the top right to create a new one.
In the trigger configuration, choose Custom Event, and in the Event Name, type “purchase”, Now name the trigger and click save.
Verify the tag firing status by making a test purchase.
You can also test it with the Chrome extension Google Tag Assistant Legacy for further verification and to check whether the correct data is sent.
If the tags are firing correctly, you will see the conversion results in your Google Ads account within 24–48 hours.
To check the results, go to your Google Ads dashboard
Click on the Tools, from the left side menu.
Click on Audience Manager and then Your Data Sources. You can expect the results to show up here.

Video instruction on creating the Google Ads Dynamic remarketing tag in GTM

Publish your container Google Tag Manager container.

How to set up Dynamic Remarketing Google Ads using Google Tag on Shopify.

The Google Tag is different. Instead of sending the data to GTM, you will send it directly to Google Ads.

What do you need?

Google Ads account
Google tag codes.
Google Tag Assistance.
Shopify account access, in case you don’t have it.

Here are the Google Tag codes for the Dynamic Remarketing Google Ads.

This is the global site tag

<!-- Google tag (gtag.js) -->
  <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=AW-Conversion-ID"></script>
  <script>
    window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
    function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
    gtag('js', new Date());

    gtag('config','AW-Conversion-ID');
  </script>

Below you will find the events:

View_item

<script>
gtag('event','view_item', {
  'value': {{product.price | money_without_currency }},
  'items': [
    {
      'id': '{{ product.id | json }}',
      'google_business_vertical': 'retail'
    }
  ]
});
</script>

Add to cart

onclick="
                  gtag('event','add_to_cart', {
  'value': {{product.price | money_without_currency }},
  'items': [
    {
      'id': '{{ product.id | json }}',
      'google_business_vertical': 'retail'
    }
  ]
});"

Being checkout notification button

onclick="
                  gtag('event','begin_checkout', {
  'value': {{product.price | money_without_currency }},
  'items': [
    {
      'id': '{{ product.id | json }}',
      'google_business_vertical': 'retail'
    }
  ]
});"

Begin checkout button on the cart page.

onclick="
                  gtag('event','begin_checkout', {
  'value': {{ cart.total_price | money_without_currency }},
  'items': [{
         'id': '{{line_item.product_id}}',
         'google_business_vertical': 'retail'
         }]
});"

Purchase

<script>
gtag('event','purchase', {
  'value': {{total_price | times: 0.01}},
  'items': [
         {% for line_item in line_items %}{
         id: '{{line_item.product_id}}',
         google_business_vertical: 'retail'
         },{% endfor %}
         ]
});
</script>

Placing the Google Tag code in the Shopify theme and checkout settings.

Following are the steps to place the Global Site Tag on Shopify properly: (or check the video)

Copy the Gtag code from the article.
Go to your Shopify dashboard and click on the Online Store option in the left sidebar menu under the Sales channel. (If you are unable to find the Online Store option, you can click on the Sales channel, and once the popup opens, search for Online Store)
Once you click on Online Store, then click on Themes.
Now, click on the three dots right beside your current theme that is displaying, and then click on Edit code.
Now look for “theme.liquid” and click on it.
In the theme code, look for the closing head tag. You can also search for </head>
Now, right above the closing head tag, paste the Global Site Tag.
Replace the “AW-Conversion-ID” with your conversion ID. Please follow this brief instruction to find your conversion ID in Google Ads. If you have the conversion ID, you can skip this step and continue with Step 9
- Go to your Google Ads Account
- Click on tools from the left-side menu
- Now click on Google Tag
- Now, on the configuration page, you’ll find a code starting with “AW.” Click on it.
- Once opened, copy your conversion ID and paste it into the Global Site Tag.
After replacing the Conversion ID, click on save.
Now, place the code in the checkout part of the website and go to your Shopify dashboard.
Click on settings on the button on the left side.
Now click on Checkout.
Scroll down and look for the “Order status page.”
Now paste the Gtag code in the Additional script section. (Make sure you replace the Conversion ID with your actual conversion ID.)
After pasting, click on save.
To test the tag, you can go to tagassistant.google.com
Add your domain and test the tag status.

Video on placing the Google Tag code in the Shopify theme

Placing the Google Tag Event codes in the Shopify theme and checkout settings.

Follow the below-mentioned steps to set up events like View_item, Add_to_cart, Begin_checkout, and Purchase in Shopify: (or check the video)

Firstly, we will require the template name for placing the tracking code.
To place view_item Google Tag, we need to find the product page template. To find the template’s name for the products in Shopify, open a product page.
After opening the page, right-click and open Inspect.
Now look for the template name in the Inspect code. In our case, it starts with MainProduct-template.
Now open the theme page from the Shopify Admin dashboard. Click on the three dots option beside the current theme section.
6. Now click on Edit code.
Now, you’ll have all the templates for the website. On the left side menu, open the Sections drop-down and search for “main-product.liquid” (Note:- Name for the templates might differ from theme to theme. Please find the appropriate template name using Step-4)
After opening the “main-product.liquid” copy the View_item code from the article and paste it after the closing of the <section tag.
Click on save.
Now, you can test to see if the tag is working. You can do so by opening tagassistant.google.com and testing the tag status.
Now, let’s set up Google Tag for Add to Cart. On the product page, right-click on the add to cart button and click on inspect.
Now, look for the template associated with the add-to-cart button. In our case, it is “buy-button.liquid.”
Open the admin dashboard of Shopify, and click on the three dots icon beside the current theme section.
Click on Edit code.
Now look for Snippets from the left side templates, open the Snippets drop-down, and click the “buy-button.liquid”
Now, let’s find the add-to-cart button in the code. Search for “add”.
You should see the button code for add to cart. After the “name=add,” place the Add to Cart code from the article in the button code.
Click on save.
Now, test the tag firing status using Step 10 instruction.
Now, let’s set up Google Tag for begin_checkout
On your cart pop-up, right-click on the Checkout button and click on Inspect.
Now, find the name for the checkout button template. In our case, it is CartDrawer-Checkout.
Now, open the admin dashboard of Shopify and click on the three dots icon beside the current theme section.
Click on Edit code.
Now look for Snippets from the left side templates, open the Snippets drop-down, and click on cart-drawer.liquid
After opening the template, if you don’t see the entire code, hover on the first line, and you’ll see the option to view the entire code.
Now, search for the button code for CartDrawer-Checkout.
After finding it, paste the begin_chekout code from the article right after the “name=checkout.”
Click on save.
Now, test the tag firing status using Step 10 instruction.
Sometimes, people also click on the checkout button from the other pages. On our website, we have two checkout buttons. The other one is on the cart page. Let’s track this button, too. You can find the button template and paste the begin_checkout code if you have multiple checkout buttons on the website.
Let’s place the code for the other checkout button.
Go to your cart page, right-click on the checkout button, and click on inspect.
Let’s find the template name for this button. In our case, it is a cart-footer.
Now, open the admin dashboard of Shopify and click on the three dots icon beside the current theme section.
Now look for “Sections” from the left side templates, open the Sections drop-down, and click on main-cart-footer.liquid
In the code, search for the checkout button code.
After finding it, copy the Begin checkout button code for the cart page from the article and paste it after the “name=checkout” in the checkout button code.
Click on save.
Now, test the tag firing status using Step 10 instruction.
Let’s place the Google tag for the purchase code.
Go to the admin dashboard of Shopify.
Click on settings from the left button.
Click on the Checkout option from the left side menu.
45. Scroll down to the Order status page section.
Now paste the purchase code from the article into the Additional scripts.
Click on save.
Now, make a test purchase to test the code in tagassistant.google.com and check the firing status of the purchase.

Video on placing the Google Tag Event codes in the Shopify theme

Important:

Keep in mind that not every Shopify Theme is the same. Use this cheat sheet if you have trouble with Shopify’s dynamic code.
This setup can be done on Shopify from the basics to the advanced level. If you are using Shopify Plus, you need some codes for the checkout.liquid.
I recommend you use the Google Tag Manager setup to have more control and be prepared for future server-side configurations.

Conclusion.

Dynamic Remarketing Google Ads tracking helps enable the power of dynamic remarketing ads for Shopping and Performance Max ads. Also, this setup should help you get it going and maximize your ad budget effort effectively. My purpose with this article is to make it easier for you to keep updated with the latest Google Ads tracking updates and grow your business. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Josipher & the Team

Get New Insights and Updates in CXO and MM.

Learn more

The GTM Template

You can get the GTM-Template-GAds-Dynamic-Remarketing-Shopify here for 50 EUR to help you set up this faster.

You will get lifetime access to any updates or changes to the Template.

Get Your GTM Template