5.6×
Return on ad spend: 563% ROAS, $45.8K value generated on $8.1K spend, at $0.07 average CPC.
Shopify Ads keep getting more expensive: every app bids on the same app store keywords. Google is the other way around. Hardly any Shopify apps advertise there, yet merchants search it all day for the problems apps solve. We manage Google Ads for Shopify apps with AI campaigns fed the real value of every install, subscription and payment, so the AI goes looking for merchants who pay.
Google Ads works for Shopify apps now, when it didn't a few years ago, because of Google's AI campaigns. It fits best when:
"Shopify" never goes in a keyword or an ad: it's a phrase-match negative. We build the account from the searches merchants make without it, add the clean keywords in phrase match, and exclude Wix, BigCommerce and WooCommerce. The ads point to your app store listing, where Google adds the Shopify logo and a "Shopify App Store" label by itself. The full method is our 7-step Google Ads playbook for Shopify apps.
Google's AI does the heavy lifting now, but it can't decide what counts as success. Feed it button clicks and it hunts button clickers; feed it revenue and it looks for merchants who pay. Through Google Ads revenue attribution for Shopify apps in Prys, we send Google your install, subscribe and payment events, each with its value, by keyword and with its click ID.
We start on manual CPC while conversions build. AI bidding needs about 30 conversions, and three events per merchant get you there faster than payment-only tracking. Then we test AI Max, which is Search supercharged and shows next to Google's AI summaries, against Performance Max, which is keywordless and reaches across YouTube, Display and Gmail.
Every week we refine negatives, add keywords from your data and Google's suggestions, and test AI campaign types against each other. ROAS is tracked directly in Google Ads, and you get a monthly report on installs, subscribers and revenue.
From month 4: ongoing weekly optimization and monthly reporting.
| Account | Result |
|---|---|
| A store optimization app | 563% ROAS at $0.07 average CPC: $45.8K in value on $8.1K of spend |
| AI Max, one account, 8 weeks | 740% ROAS |
See the Shopify apps we've worked with, by category.
| Prys, self-serve | Convert2x, managed | |
|---|---|---|
| Conversion values sent to Google | Yes | Yes, set up for you |
| Keyword strategy, clean list and negatives | You build it | We build it |
| Manual-to-AI ramp, AI Max vs PMax tests | You run it | We run it |
| Weekly optimization and monthly reporting | You | Us |
Prefer DIY? Use Prys directly. Want the team that has done it across 100+ Shopify apps? That's this service.
Before your busy season, not during it. The AI learns from conversions, so the campaigns working in November are the ones learning now. The peak-season plan is in Google Ads before BFCM.
About $2K/mo of media is a typical start, on top of the $1K/mo management fee. We size the budget together on the first call.
Yes. "Shopify" goes in as a phrase-match negative, the campaigns target searches that don't mention Shopify, and competing platforms such as Wix, BigCommerce and WooCommerce are excluded. The ads point to your app store listing, and Google labels them with the Shopify logo and "Shopify App Store" by itself.
The app store listing by default, because it converts best. A landing page makes sense when you monetize outside Shopify, when a keyword is too competitive for the listing, or when you run an offer. Either way, attribution stays end to end.
We start on manual CPC and switch once the account has about 30 conversions. Then we test AI Max and Performance Max against each other.
Install, subscribe and payment events, each with its real value, by keyword and with the click ID attached. Three events per merchant reach the 30-conversion mark faster than payment-only tracking, and the values point the AI at merchants who pay.
Most merchant searches take place in the Shopify app store, so cover that first with Shopify app store ads, plus app store SEO and AEO. Most clients end up running both.
You can use Prys yourself: it sends the conversion values to Google self-serve. This service adds the campaign strategy, structure, keyword and negative-list work, and ongoing optimization, from the team that has done it across 100+ Shopify apps.
It can work for small apps that target a significant need with healthy search volumes and have a good funnel and monetization.
Sending the same value feed to a second AI channel? See Meta ads for Shopify apps. Landing page cases and anatomy: landing pages for Shopify app Google Ads. Every traffic channel in one plan: how to promote a Shopify app.
Free growth assessment: we'll show you exactly where the upside is, and quote on the call.
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