Meta creates the demand. Google catches it.
How we add Google Ads to a DTC brand that grows on Meta: start where people are already searching, build one level at a time, and never count your own name as growth.
Written by Pedram Ghozat, founder of MediaBoostr, and PedramAI · Updated
Why Google looks great and grows nothing
Most DTC brands we look at either skip Google or run it in a way that takes credit for sales they already had.
The fix is an order of work. Each level has to pay before the next one gets budget.
Two channels, two jobs
For most DTC brands, Meta stays the main channel for finding new buyers. It puts a product in front of people who weren’t looking for it. Google mostly works the other way round. It answers people who are already searching.
So we don’t ask Google to create demand. We use it to catch the intent that Meta, word of mouth and everything else creates, starting where people are closest to buying and moving step by step toward colder, bigger audiences.
Each level has to work before the next one starts. The full setup, with feed examples and the whole account map, is in our Google Ads guide.
Levels 4 and 5 only start once 1 to 3 run above break-even.
Six steps to a Google account that adds new customers
The order we build in for brands that already grow on Meta.
Lay the groundwork
A manager account that owns the ad account, Merchant Center with a clean product feed, and purchase tracking with revenue, tested with a real order. Then the break-even ROAS: 1 divided by gross margin after product and shipping.
Protect your own name
A brand search campaign on your name and your name plus product terms, nothing else. It keeps competitors from sitting above you on your own search and sends people to your best offer.
Meet the comparison shoppers
People searching a competitor are warm and still deciding. One campaign per competitor, so each ad speaks to that one comparison, and a comparison page instead of the homepage.
Make Shopping carry the account
The feed does the targeting. Titles with the words people search, images that catch the eye in a row of similar products, shipping and returns on the card, hero products in their own ad groups.
Performance Max with a clear job
Started only once the first levels work. Brand excluded, new customers as the focus, and an offer made for first-time buyers, ideally a bundle or starter set, with assets made for that offer.
Problem search through a funnel
The biggest and hardest level. People searching a problem need the same thing cold Meta traffic needs, an advertorial or listicle that explains the problem before the product page.
How the pages after a cold click get built is on direct response funnels.
How we judge each campaign
Every campaign has one job, so each one gets judged on its own number, never on the account total.
The whole picture: total revenue divided by total ad spend across Meta and Google (MER), next to new-customer revenue. If Google’s own number rises and neither of those moves, Google is claiming sales that were already coming.
Brands that grow on Meta and leave search to chance
If Meta brings the buyers and Google is either off or a Performance Max campaign nobody checks, this is where we start.
Questions
Should a DTC brand run Google Ads or Meta ads?
Usually both, with different jobs. Meta finds new buyers who weren’t looking. Google catches people who are already searching for you, a competitor, the product or the problem.
Should we bid on our own brand name?
In most cases yes. Without your own ad, a competitor can take the top spot on your search. We judge brand search on cost and protection, and never count its ROAS as growth.
Why does Performance Max show such a high ROAS?
Left alone, it spends a lot on your brand name and existing customers, which convert easily. Exclude your brand, focus it on new customers and give it a new-customer offer, then judge it on new-customer revenue.
When should we start Google Shopping?
Once brand search, tracking and a clean Merchant Center feed are in place. For most stores, Shopping becomes the core of Google.
How do we measure Google next to Meta?
Keep brand and non-brand apart, watch new-customer revenue, and read total revenue against total ad spend across both channels. If Google’s number rises and those stay flat, it is claiming sales that were already coming.