Shopify App Store Ads: The Campaign Structure That Works

Most Shopify ads accounts we take over share one problem: no structure. One campaign, mixed match types, bids set once and forgotten. Structure is what makes optimization possible. Here’s ours: campaigns split by geos, devices, Shopify plans (for Built for Shopify targeting), exact vs broad match, competitors, typos, and brand.

Short answer: structure is what makes Shopify ads optimizable. Split campaigns by match type (exact for proven keywords, broad for discovery), mine search terms weekly to promote winners and negate junk, bid each keyword below its measured revenue per visitor, and expand into the cheap long tail every month. This structure has produced 2× installs at a third of the cost per install.

The exact/broad backbone

Exact campaign: your proven keywords, one per ad group where volume justifies, bids set per keyword from its measured value. Broad campaign: discovery. Broad-match versions surfacing new search terms at controlled budget. The flow between them is the engine: review search terms weekly, promote converters to exact, add junk to negatives.

Bid on value, not installs

Two keywords with identical cost-per-install can differ 10× in revenue per install. Attribute installs → subscriptions → revenue per search term (this is what Prys does), compute value per visitor, and cap each keyword’s bid below it. Budget then concentrates automatically where merchants pay.

Read volumes from impressions

Exact-match impression counts reveal true search volumes. Often your #1 keyword carries as much search as the rest of your top ten combined. That tells you where coverage expansion is worth it.

Grow coverage continuously

Between search-term mining and suggestion engines you should be adding keywords monthly. Suggestion-driven campaigns have delivered comparable installs at a third of the cost of top-keyword campaigns. The long tail is cheap because nobody structures for it.

Results from this structure: 2× installs at ⅓ the cost per install. Done-for-you: Shopify app store ads management. Organic side of the same keywords: app store SEO.