Sales & Conversion
Personas
Ecommerce
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
Last year, I was working with a Shopify client who had a massive problem: over 1,000 products with a 2.5 ROAS on Facebook Ads and small margins that made Google Ads feel impossible. Sound familiar?
Here's what most marketing gurus won't tell you: "If it doesn't work on paid ads, it's a product problem" is terrible advice. My client's challenge wasn't their products—they had quality items across 1,000+ SKUs. The problem was the fundamental mismatch between their catalog complexity and the Google Ads format.
While most successful paid campaigns thrive on 1-3 flagship products, my client's strength was their variety. Customers needed time to browse, compare, and discover the right product. Google Ads' quick-decision environment was incompatible with this shopping behavior.
Instead of forcing a square peg into a round hole, I led a complete pivot that generated significant purchase volume through organic traffic. Here's what you'll learn:
Why Google Ads might be wrong for your ecommerce business model
How to identify product-channel mismatch before burning budget
My step-by-step SEO alternative that actually worked
When to abandon paid ads and focus on organic distribution
The exact framework I use to evaluate channel fit
Industry Reality
What every marketer tells you about Google Ads
Walk into any marketing conference or scroll through any business blog, and you'll hear the same tired advice about Google Ads management on a budget:
Start with broad match keywords and let Google's machine learning optimize
Use automated bidding strategies like Target CPA or Target ROAS
Focus on Quality Score optimization to reduce costs
Implement negative keywords aggressively to avoid wasted spend
Test multiple ad variations to improve click-through rates
This conventional wisdom exists because it works... for certain business models. Google's algorithms are incredibly sophisticated, and when you have the right product-market-channel fit, these strategies can be profitable.
But here's where it falls short: everyone assumes your product should work on Google Ads. The industry treats channel fit like a foregone conclusion rather than a hypothesis to test.
Most marketing agencies won't tell you when to walk away because their revenue depends on managing your ad spend. They'll keep optimizing campaigns that are fundamentally misaligned with your business model, burning through your budget while promising that "the next optimization will fix everything."
The reality? Sometimes the best Google Ads strategy is no Google Ads strategy. But you need a framework to make that decision intelligently, not emotionally.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
When I started working with this Shopify ecommerce client, the numbers looked decent on paper—a 2.5 ROAS with a €50 average order value. Most marketers would call that acceptable. But with their small margins, I knew something wasn't adding up.
My client's challenge wasn't their products—they had over 1,000 SKUs, all quality items. The problem was the mismatch between their catalog complexity and the Facebook Ads format we were using. While most successful paid campaigns thrive on 1-3 flagship products, my client's strength was their variety.
The customer journey was fundamentally different: customers needed time to browse, compare, and discover the right product for them. Facebook Ads' quick-decision environment was incompatible with this shopping behavior.
Here's what I tried first (and why it failed): I attempted to apply standard Google Ads strategies—product-specific campaigns, shopping ads, broad match keywords with smart bidding. We tested different landing pages, optimized for Quality Score, implemented extensive negative keyword lists.
The results? We were spending money to acquire visitors who weren't ready to make quick purchasing decisions. The ads attracted people looking for immediate solutions, but our products required consideration and comparison.
After three months of optimization with minimal improvement, I realized we were fighting against the fundamental nature of both the platform and our business model. Google Ads demands instant decisions, but our products rewarded patient discovery.
That's when I made the controversial decision to pivot completely away from paid ads and focus on organic traffic through SEO—a move that would prove far more profitable for this specific business model.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Instead of continuing to force Google Ads to work, I led a complete SEO overhaul that aligned with how customers actually wanted to shop our extensive catalog. Here's the detailed playbook:
Phase 1: Website Foundation Restructure
First, I rebuilt the site architecture to support discovery rather than quick conversions. This meant creating intuitive category structures, improving internal linking, and ensuring every product could be found through multiple pathways.
The key insight: while Google Ads traffic expects immediate answers, SEO traffic is inherently more patient and discovery-oriented. Perfect for a catalog business.
Phase 2: Content Strategy for Long-Tail Discovery
Instead of competing for expensive broad keywords that Google Ads targets, I developed content around long-tail search queries that indicated browsing intent rather than buying intent.
We created comparison guides, buying guides, and educational content that naturally led to product discovery. This content attracted people early in their research phase—exactly when they needed to see our variety.
Phase 3: Product Page Optimization at Scale
With 1,000+ products, manual optimization wasn't feasible. I implemented systematic approaches to optimize product titles, descriptions, and metadata using patterns rather than one-off efforts.
The focus was on helping Google understand product relationships and variations, making our catalog searchable for specific needs rather than just generic terms.
Phase 4: Performance Tracking and Iteration
Unlike Google Ads where you can see immediate results, SEO required patience and different metrics. I tracked organic traffic growth, engagement metrics, and most importantly, the quality of traffic—visitors who actually browsed multiple pages and showed genuine interest.
The breakthrough came when we started seeing significant organic traffic growth with visitors who spent time exploring the catalog rather than bouncing immediately. These were customers who appreciated having choices rather than being pushed toward quick decisions.
Product-Channel Fit
You can't change channel rules—only choose whether your product plays by them well.
Failed First
Google Ads failed because it doesn't reward catalog complexity—it punishes it.
SEO Success
Organic traffic brought customers who wanted to browse and compare, not impulse buy.
Timeline Reality
SEO takes 4-6 months to show results, but the ROI compounds unlike paid ads.
The results spoke for themselves. Within six months, we achieved significant organic traffic growth with visitors who actually engaged with our extensive catalog. Unlike the Google Ads traffic that bounced quickly, these organic visitors spent time exploring products and showed genuine purchase intent.
More importantly, the customer acquisition cost through SEO was dramatically lower than what we'd been paying for Google Ads clicks. While we couldn't track exact attribution like with paid ads, the overall revenue growth and engagement metrics told a clear story.
The key difference: customers found us when they were already in a discovery mindset rather than being interrupted with ads. This aligned perfectly with our business model of offering variety and choice rather than pushing specific products.
Six months later, the client had a sustainable organic traffic engine that didn't require constant budget allocation. The content we created continued to attract qualified visitors without ongoing ad spend, creating a compound effect that Google Ads could never match for this business model.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here are the top lessons learned from abandoning Google Ads for a better-aligned strategy:
Product-channel fit is everything — Your product isn't broken if it doesn't work on paid ads. Sometimes you need to find the channel where your strengths become advantages.
Don't let agencies talk you out of channel pivots — Their revenue depends on managing your ad spend, not your actual success.
Complex catalogs need discovery channels — Variety is a strength in SEO but a weakness in Google Ads.
Match traffic intent to business model — SEO brings browsers, ads bring buyers. Know which one you need.
Compound effects beat quick fixes — SEO builds over time while ads require constant feeding.
Engagement quality matters more than quantity — Better to have fewer visitors who actually browse than many who bounce.
Channel rules can't be broken — Google Ads rewards quick decisions. If your product needs consideration, find a different channel.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS companies considering Google Ads on a budget:
Test Google Ads only if your trial signup process is streamlined for quick decisions
Focus on content marketing and SEO for complex B2B products that require education
Consider your trial length—longer trials might not align with paid traffic expectations
For your Ecommerce store
For ecommerce stores with budget constraints:
Evaluate product complexity before committing to Google Ads
Large catalogs often perform better with SEO-focused strategies
Consider customer purchase behavior—browsers vs. buyers need different channels