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CSS partner: your Google-approved route to up to 25% more bid power on Shopping

CSS partner

Why pay Google a margin you do not need to?

You are probably letting Google keep part of every Shopping bid. Not because your bidding is wrong, but because you are not running through an approved CSS partner. The CSS Partner is a Google-approved Comparison Shopping Service. Same feed, same campaigns, same ads, just up to 25% more bid power from day one.

Google-approved CSSNo lock-inLive in 24 hours

Every time a Shopping ad runs through Google's own Comparison Shopping Service, a margin is added on top of your click price before your bid even enters the auction. That is not a flaw in your setup. It is simply how running direct through Google works.

Since 2017, every webshop in Europe has had the right to choose an independent, approved CSS partner instead. This changes nothing about your ads. They appear in the same positions, look identical to shoppers, and send traffic straight to your shop as usual. The only thing that changes is that Google's margin of up to 20% disappears, and every bid counts up to 25% more.

The CSS Partner is that route. We are Google-approved, we do not touch your campaigns, and you are live within 24 hours.

See how it works

What is a CSS partner?

Short answer: A CSS partner (Comparison Shopping Service) is a Google-approved third party that formally submits your Google Shopping ads to the auction instead of Google's own system. Because Google is required by EU law to give approved CSS partners access on equal terms with itself, you avoid the margin of up to 20% that Google normally takes from your bid. The result: same ads, same placements, up to 25% more bid power.

In short: every Shopping ad on Google must be formally submitted by a Comparison Shopping Service. By default, that is Google itself. But since the European Commission's 2017 ruling, you can choose an independent, approved CSS partner instead, and that is exactly what The CSS Partner is.

A CSS switch is not a campaign change. It is a setting at the account level in your Google Merchant Center. Your Google Ads campaigns, product feed, and performance history are untouched.

Want the full deep dive, including the mechanics behind the EU ruling and why the saving is real? Read our complete guide: What is a CSS partner?

How it works: same setup, your full bid in the auction

A CSS switch with us is built to be about the lowest-risk change you will make to your Google Ads account this year. Three steps:

01

You sign up and grant Merchant Center access

You create an account with The CSS Partner and approve an access request in your Google Merchant Center. It takes under five minutes and requires no changes to your Google Ads account. You retain full ownership.

02

We handle the technical setup

We connect your Merchant Center to The CSS Partner as your CSS and verify the configuration. Your campaigns, feed, and bid strategies stay untouched. You do not need to do anything in Google Ads.

03

You are live within 24 hours

Your Shopping ads now run through The CSS Partner. You can verify it yourself: search Google Shopping and you will see “By Gezar” in the small grey provider line beneath the ad. The extra bid power is active immediately, no warm-up period, no reset of machine learning.

The most important thing to understand: your campaigns keep running without interruption throughout the process. No downtime, no reset of optimisation history. The only thing that changes is which CSS formally submits your ads, and how much of your bid reaches the auction.

Pricing: from 11.66 € per shop per month

No percentage of your ad spend. No hidden fees. No setup cost. Here is what it looks like:

How the volume step works: from five shops, every shop gets the lower rate, not only the shops above four. That is why four shops and five shops cost the same. All 21 European CSS countries are included no matter how many markets you sell into. No per-country fee.

Pay annually instead of monthly and two months are free: twelve months of coverage for ten months of payment. With the founder code LAUNCH30 the yearly price drops a further 30% for as long as you stay, so one shop costs 140 € per year. Yearly plan only, first 50 customers only.

Running more than 20 shops, or need white-label for your agency portfolio? Contact us for a tailored quote

What makes The CSS Partner different from other CSS providers

The technical CSS saving is identical no matter which CSS partner you choose. Google's regulation guarantees that. What differs between providers is everything around it.

1. We speak your language, in your country. The CSS Partner is localised into 29 languages with dedicated country pages. See what it means for your webshop. We do not think you should have to read a pricing page in a foreign language to save money on your own ads.

2. The price is published, not quoted. From 11.66 € per shop per month on the annual plan. No percentage of your ad spend. No hidden fees. You can read the whole model on this page without asking anybody for a quote.

3. No lock-in. Cancel any time. If we are not delivering value, you should be able to move on without friction.

4. Direct contact with a person who built it himself. The CSS Partner was built by Magnus, who has run a digital marketing agency for 5 years and was missing exactly this product. Support is not a ticket queue in a different timezone. You write, and you get a reply from someone who actually understands Google Shopping.

CSS providers differ on pricing model, terms, and language. Our choice is a published price per shop with one volume step from five shops, no lock-in, and the page in your language. You can see the whole model here without talking to a salesperson.

Too good to be true? Here is how you know it is real

The regulation that makes the saving real. To understand why the CSS saving exists at all, you need to go back to 27 June 2017. That is the day the European Commission concluded a multi-year investigation into Google with a fine of EUR 2.42 billion (case AT.39740), at the time the largest competition fine in EU history.

The charge: Google had abused its dominance in the search market to give its own price comparison service an unfair advantage. As part of the remedy, Google was required to open the Shopping auction to third-party CSSs on fully equal terms. The Court of Justice of the EU upheld the ruling in 2024.

The CSS programme is not a loophole or a temporary offer. It is an EU-regulated programme that Google is legally required to operate. When you use a CSS partner, you are doing exactly what EU legislation was designed to enable.

Who is behind The CSS Partner. The CSS Partner was built by Magnus, who has run a digital marketing agency for 5 years and works out of Aarhus, Denmark. The product exists because it was what he was missing himself: a transparent, Google-approved CSS with no lock-in and no hidden percentage fees. You can verify our approval yourself: search Google Shopping for a shop running through us and you will see “By Gezar” in the provider line. That is not a claim. It is a public, verifiable fact in Google Merchant Center.

Frequently asked questions about CSS partners

What is a CSS partner?
A CSS partner (Comparison Shopping Service) is a Google-approved third party that formally submits your Google Shopping ads to the auction. Because Google is required by EU law to give approved CSS partners access on equal terms with its own service, your whole bid enters the auction instead of losing Google's margin of up to 20%. That is up to 25% more bid power. Your ads look identical to shoppers.
What does a CSS partner cost?
With The CSS Partner it costs from 11.66 € per shop per month excl. VAT on the annual plan, with a lower rate from five shops. All 21 European CSS countries are included, with no per-country fees. Paying for the year costs ten months instead of twelve, and the founder code LAUNCH30 takes another 30% off that. If you run more shops than the table covers, contact us for a price.
Is this a real CSS partner program, or a loophole?
It is a real, EU-regulated programme. When the European Commission fined Google EUR 2.42 billion in 2017 (case AT.39740) for favouring its own price comparison service, the core remedy was to give third-party CSSs access to the Shopping auction on identical terms. The Court of Justice of the EU upheld the ruling in 2024. It is not a loophole. It is your right as a European webshop.
Does CSS shopping work with Performance Max?
Yes. The extra bid power applies to both Standard Shopping campaigns and Performance Max campaigns that include a product feed. The Shopping component of your PMax campaigns, typically the largest and most valuable part for e-commerce, gets the same extra bid power. You do not have to choose between CSS and PMax. They work together. Our CSS is also opted in to serve your products on surfaces beyond Search, so they can appear in Demand Gen and Video campaigns too, not only Shopping.
Are you a Google-approved CSS partner agency?
Yes. The CSS Partner is a Google-approved Comparison Shopping Service. You can verify this yourself: search Google Shopping for a shop running through us and you will see “By Gezar” in the grey provider line beneath the ad. This is publicly verifiable in Google Merchant Center, not a claim we make.
Can I switch back if I am not happy?
Yes, any time. There is no lock-in. You can disconnect the CSS in your Merchant Center and go back to running directly through Google.
Will I lose data, history, or performance when I switch CSS partner?
Not at all. A CSS switch only changes which service formally submits your Shopping ads to the auction. Your Google Ads campaigns, product feed, conversion data, and full optimisation history remain completely untouched. No downtime, no reset of machine learning.

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