Functionality of the Merchant Center and Analytics

Understand the functions of Google Merchant Center (GMC) and Google Analytics (GA4)

To run Google Ads with Marketer, you need to set up Google Merchant Center and Google Analytics with Shopify. While these terms might sound complex, they have simple, specific functions that help your ads run smoothly.


What is Google Merchant Center?

Google Merchant Center is the home for your product data. It stores all the essential details about your products—images, prices, descriptions, and availability—and automatically syncs them with Google when you set it up through Shopify’s Google & YouTube app.


Once connected, your product information will stay updated across Google, ensuring your ads display the correct details to potential customers.


What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics tracks how users interact with your ads. Among other things, it collects data on:

  • Who sees your ads
  • Who clicks on them
  • How users engage with your store after clicking

What is a Google Analytics Property?

A Google Analytics property is a unique data container that stores all tracking information for your website. When you set up Google Analytics, you create a property that collects and organizes visitor data, including:

  • Traffic sources (where your visitors come from)
  • User behavior on your site (pages viewed, time spent, purchases made)
  • Conversion tracking (how many visitors complete a desired action, like a purchase)

This information helps you measure ad performance and make data-driven decisions. Marketer, Shopify, and other platforms (if you grant permission) can access this data to provide insights and optimize your campaigns.


How Everything Connects to Google Ads

Merchant Center (your product data hub) and Analytics (your ad performance tracker) are linked to a Google Ads account, where your ads are created and published. Think of Google Ads like a social media platform—you create ads the same way you’d create and post content.


💡 You don’t need to set up a Google Ads account manually. The Marketer App automatically creates and connects a Google Ads Account for you when you link Google in the Integrations tab.


What You Need to Do

  1. Set up Google Merchant Center in Shopify’s Google & YouTube app.
  2. Set up Google Analytics in your Shopify’s Google & YouTube app.
  3. Connect to Google in the Marketer App under the Integrations tab.

Once you complete these simple steps, Marketer will handle the rest—syncing your products, tracking performance, and ensuring your ads run efficiently.