The 5 Google Ads Updates From GML 2025 You Actually Need to Know

Google Marketing Live 2025 just wrapped up, and as expected, it was a whirlwind.

AI was everywhere, Google was making big promises, and a ton of shiny new features were thrown at us in rapid fire.

But the truth is, most of it doesn’t matter to you. At least not if you’re just trying to scale your ecommerce business profitably using Google Ads.

So I sat through the whole thing, sifted through the noise, and picked out the five updates that actually matter — the ones that could move the needle for your account this year.

The Exact Weekly Google Ads Audit Checklist My Agency Uses to Scale Ecommerce Brands

Each week, my team and I sit down to do the same thing in every single Google Ads account we manage.

We run a master-level weekly review using a checklist that I’ve refined over the past decade, managing millions in ad spend and generating over $150M in ecommerce revenue.

This checklist gives us a bird’s-eye view of every account, spots issues and opportunities early, and sets us up to hit the ground running every week.

In this week’s blog post, I’m going to share the exact steps of that checklist with you.

How to Send Google Shopping Traffic Directly to Checkout (And Why It Boosts Conversions)

Want to boost your Google Shopping conversion rates with just a few clicks?

There’s a simple setting inside Google Merchant Center that most people aren’t using:

It lets you send shoppers directly from a Google Shopping ad or listing straight into your checkout page.

That means… no product page visit, no extra decisions, no drop-off. If someone is already ready to buy, they can do it there and then.

In this edition, I’ll show you exactly how to set it up, where it works (and doesn’t), and what to do if your store platform or product IDs don’t quite line up.

How to Send Google Shopping Traffic Directly to Checkout (And Why It Boosts Conversions)

Send Users Straight to Checkout from Google Shopping

Inside Google Merchant Center, there’s a setting under Business Information → Checkout that lets you enter a “checkout URL template.”

When activated, it lets Google inject the correct product ID into a pre-defined template that links directly to your checkout page with that product already added to the cart.

Here’s how you turn it on:

Step-by-Step Setup

Send Users Straight to Checkout from Google Shopping
  1. Login to Merchant Center.

  2. On the left-hand menu, go to Business Information.

  3. Click on the Checkout tab.

  4. Change the setting from “Don’t include a URL” to “Include a URL to your cart or checkout page”.

  5. In the template field, paste your platform-specific checkout URL structure.

If you're on Shopify, here’s the exact template you can use:

https://yourstore.myshopify.com/cart/{{product_id}}:1

Replace yourstore with your actual Shopify store URL.

When enabled, Google will substitute in the correct product ID from your feed and send users straight to the cart or checkout with that product already added.

Test that the URL Works

There’s a test button in the Merchant Center interface that will:

  • Grab a random product ID from your feed.

  • Inject it into the template.

  • Open the URL in a new tab.

If the checkout page loads correctly with the product added to the cart, you’re good to go.

If it doesn’t load correctly, here’s what might be wrong:

  • Your product ID in Merchant Center doesn’t match your variant ID in Shopify.

  • The checkout URL template isn’t compatible with your ecommerce platform.

In either case, the fix is to go more granular…

Alternative Setup: Use Product-Level Checkout URLs

If the account-wide template doesn’t work for your setup, you’ll need to use product-level checkout links instead.

Inside your product feed, add a custom attribute:

checkout_link_template

Many modern feed tools (like Feedonomics, DataFeedWatch, etc.) will allow you to add this custom field.

This lets you set a unique checkout URL per product, solving the ID mismatch problem, especially useful for stores not on Shopify.

Where This Checkout Feature Actually Works

Here’s where you can currently use the direct checkout feature:

  • Free Shopping listings: These show up in the Shopping tab and cost nothing. If your feed is already active, you might be getting these by default.

  • Performance Max Display placements: When Performance Max campaigns show display ads, especially to retargeted visitors, this checkout feature works brilliantly.

  • Demand Gen campaigns: Yes, the feature is supported in Demand Gen too, whether it’s display banners or YouTube Shorts.

And where it doesn’t work… yet:

  • 🚫 Standard Shopping Ads

  • 🚫 Performance Max Shopping placements

So no luck (for now) if you want this on your main Shopping campaigns. But don’t let that put you off…

Why This Is Still Worth Doing

Let’s be real: this feature is very handy for warm traffic, especially:

  • Visitors already familiar with your brand.

  • People who’ve seen your products before (e.g. retargeted via PMax).

  • High-intent shoppers browsing free listings.

Sending these users straight to checkout cuts friction and boosts your odds of converting.

It’s not a silver bullet for all campaigns, but for those warm touchpoints, it’s a really smart move that takes just minutes to implement.

And if you’re like me, anything that gets us a few extra conversions without having to redo our entire ad strategy is always welcome.

Summary

To recap:

  • You can now send traffic directly to your checkout from Google Shopping using a Merchant Center setting.

  • It works via a checkout URL template—ideal for platforms like Shopify.

  • If account-wide templates don’t work, use the checkout_link_template attribute at product level.
    It currently supports Free Shopping listings, PMax Display, and Demand Gen—not paid Shopping Ads.

  • It's especially effective for warm and retargeted traffic, giving you a handy conversion rate boost.

Let me know if you want to run this setup in your store but need help getting it working right with your feed structure, we’re happy to take a look.

Regards,
Daryl
Founder of Big Flare

The Right Way to Test Demand Gen Campaigns in Google Ads (Without Ruining Your Results)

If you're testing Demand Gen campaigns in Google Ads right now, there’s a good chance you’re doing it in a way that gives you rubbish data and no clear answers. I know that sounds dramatic, but hear me out… Most people make one of the following mistakes:

  • They lump all their video creatives into one campaign.

  • They run multiple campaigns but forget about audience overlap.

  • They rely on Google to “optimise” without really testing anything in a controlled way.

All of which ends up with you not knowing what actually worked and what didn’t.

What Really Works with Amazon Ads in 2025 (Straight from a Multi-Million Dollar Amazon Expert)

Recently, I sat down with Brent Zahradnik from AMZ Pathfinder to talk about what’s really working in Amazon Ads in 2025. Brent's been running an Amazon Ads agency since 2015 and manages millions per month in ad spend — so when he talks, I listen. Whether you're already running ads or thinking of dipping your toes in, there’s a goldmine of insights in our chat. But since I know not everyone will sit through a 45-minute video, I’ve broken down the most important takeaways for you here.

3 Big Performance Max Updates That Unlock More Control and Better Results

Google just dropped three huge updates to Performance Max. And unlike some of the usual “AI-powered fluff” they announce, these ones genuinely change the game. I’ve been elbow-deep in PMax since it launched, and these changes are the most meaningful shifts I’ve seen in a while. They're all about giving us more control, more transparency, and better ways to optimise.