What Are Google Ad Assets & How to Use Them (With Examples)

What Are Google Ad Assets?

Imagine your Google Ads campaign is a gourmet meal. You've got the main course – your carefully crafted ad – plated and ready to impress. But what about those tantalizing extras that take your dining experience to the next level? That's where ad assets (formerly ad extensions) come in, serving as the delectable side dishes and garnishes that elevate your campaign from ordinary to extraordinary.

Google Ads assets are the secret ingredients that add depth, flavor, and appeal to your ads. In this blog, we'll explore why ad assets are not just optional add-ons but essential components for any successful Google Ads campaign. We'll uncover how they work in harmony with your ads, enhancing visibility, relevance, and ultimately driving more conversions.

These assets can include everything from additional links that lead to specific pages on your website, to phone numbers for direct calls, or location information for brick-and-mortar stores. Essentially, ad assets expand the real estate of your ad, giving you more opportunities to capture the attention of potential customers and guide them to taking action.

So, let's dig into the delicious world of Google Ads assets!

Image Assets

What are Image Assets?

Google Ads image assets allow you to enhance your text ads with visuals. These assets enable you to include relevant images alongside your ad text, providing a more visually compelling experience for your users. By incorporating images that showcase your products, services, or brand, you can capture the attention of potential customers and make your ads stand out amidst the competition on the search engine results page (SERP).

Why Should You Use Image Assets?

• Achieve measurable results: On average, incorporating image assets into your Search ads can boost your click-through rate by 6% on average. (Source: Google internal data, Global, April 2, 2023 – April 29, 2023).
• Visual communication: Image assets help convey information that can be challenging to express with text alone.
• Expand reach: Image assets can appear on other platforms, such as YouTube Search through the Search Partner Network (AFS), enabling you to connect with a broader audience.

Image Asset Requirements

Unlike many of the assets we’ll discuss, image assets cannot be used in a brand new Google Ads account, or an account that has never run ads. Image assets can only be used account once it has established sufficient history and meets the following criteria:

• The account has been active for over 60 days.
• The account maintains a good track record of policy compliance.
• The account has active campaigns.
• The account has active text ads and has incurred spending on Search campaigns for at least the past 28 days.
• The account belongs to an eligible vertical or sub-vertical.

Image specifications

Aspect ratio	Where can it show	Required
Square (1×1)	Google.com, YouTube search via AdSense For Search (Search Partners)	Yes
Landscape (1.91×1)	Google.com, YouTube search via AdSense For Search (Search Partners)	Optional, but recommended

Taken directly from Google Support
Note: You can crop images using the image picker during implementation.

 

Aspect ratio	Minimum pixels	Recommended pixels
Square (1×1)	300 x 300	1200 x 1200
Landscape (1.91×1)	600 x 314	1200 x 628

Taken directly from Google Support

Maximum file size: 5120 KB

Sitelink Assets

What Are Sitelink Assets?

Google Ads sitelink assets are additional links that appear below your main ad text, directing users to specific pages on your website. They serve as shortcuts to relevant sections or landing pages, offering users a more streamlined and direct path to the information they're seeking.

Why Should You Use Sitelink Assets?

• They increase the visibility: They occupy more space on the search engine results page (SERP), making them more prominent to users. This expanded real estate also allows you to showcase multiple offerings or key pages within a single ad, increasing the likelihood of capturing the attention of potential customers.
• Enhance ad relevance and user experience: They provide users with more options to explore your website and find what they're looking for quickly. This can lead to higher click-through rates and improved ad performance overall.
• Flexible scheduling: Set start and end dates, as well as specific days of the week or times of day, for your sitelinks to be displayed.
• Access detailed click data: Track the number of clicks your ad receives when sitelinks are displayed. Analyze statistics by campaign, ad group, or ad, and break down the data to see the number of clicks on individual sitelinks versus other parts of the ad (such as the headline or other assets).
• Implement conversion tracking for landing pages: Set up conversion tracking either through Google Ads or by creating your own UTMs for the landing pages that users visit after clicking on the sitelinks. Optimize these pages for “light” conversion events, such as website visits or “add to cart” actions.

Sitelink Asset Specifications

• Sitelink headlines have a 25 character max
• Sitelink descriptions (optional) have a 35 character max

Callout Assets

What are Callout Assets?

Google Ads callout assets are additional text snippets that appear below your ad text, highlighting key features, benefits, or offers related to your products or services. Unlike sitelink assets, which direct users to specific pages on your website, callout assets provide brief, standalone messages that emphasize unique selling points or value propositions like “Money-back guarantee”, “International shipping”, etc.

Why Should You Use Callout Assets?

• Enhance ad visibility and engagement: Provide users with additional information that may be relevant to their search queries, helping your ad stand out from competitors on the search engine results page (SERP). This increased visibility can lead to higher click-through rates and improved ad performance overall.
• Build credibility and trust: Showcasing your business's strengths and value propositions upfront can instill confidence in your users and increase the likelihood of conversions.
• Showcase your business offerings: Highlight popular or unique aspects of your business with concise phrases or short sentences.
• Versatile and customizable: Add callouts at the account, campaign, or ad-group levels, allowing for both general and specific information within your ads. You can also control when your callouts appear by setting specific dates, days of the week, or times of day.

Callout Asset Specifications

• Each level (account, campaign, and ad group) can have up to 20 callout assets each.
• Each callout has a character max of 25

Structured Snippets

What are Structured Snippet Assets?

Google Ads structured snippet assets provide additional information about your products or services in the form of a header (for example: “Styles”) and list of values (for example: “Boots, Sandals, Sneakers”). These snippets appear below your ad text and can help users better understand what your business offers before they click on your ad.

Why Should You Use Structured Snippet Assets?

• Provide immediate insights about your offerings: Structured snippets give visitors a glimpse of the nature and variety of your products and services before they click on your ad.
• Boost your return on investment: The extra information included with your ads can enhance their relevance and click-through rates, potentially improving your ROI by attracting clicks from visitors who are genuinely interested in your product or service.
• Highly customizable: Add structured snippets at the account, campaign, or ad group levels. You can also set specific dates, days of the week, or times of day for your structured snippets to be displayed.

Structured Snippet Specifications

• Character limit: 25 characters per value
• Minimum number of values: 3
• Maximum number of values shown: Based on the length of values and the user’s screen size.

Current list of available Structured Snippet headers:

Amenities Brands Courses Degree programs Destinations

Featured hotels Insurance coverage Models Neighborhoods

Service catalog Shows Styles Types

Note: Based on the limited header options above, structured snippet assets will not be relevant to all advertisers.

Phone Call Assets

What are Call Assets?

Google Ads phone call assets provide users with a direct and convenient way to contact your business by displaying your phone number alongside your ad text. These assets typically appear as clickable buttons or hyperlinked phone numbers on mobile devices, making it easy for users to contact your business directly from the search engine results page (SERP) or display network. Call assets can be added at the account, campaign, and ad group levels.

Why Should You Use Call Assets?

• Provide users with immediate contact: This eliminates the need for additional steps or navigation. This streamlined process can lead to higher conversion rates, as users are more likely to engage with your business when it's convenient and effortless to do so.
• Capture leads and inquiries in real-time: This allows you to connect with potential customers at the moment they're interested in your products or services. This can result in higher-quality leads and increased conversion opportunities.

Call Asset Specifications

• These assets are only shown on mobile device searches.
• Call assets cannot use vanity numbers, premium numbers, or fax numbers.
• Phone numbers will be verified to ensure they accurately represent the business being advertised.
• Call assets can utilize toll-free, standard, mobile, shared-cost, or non-standard cost numbers. If you use a shared-cost or non-standard cost number, a disclaimer will be included with your call asset indicating that additional charges may apply.

Lead Form Assets

What are Lead Form Assets?

They allow advertisers to collect leads directly within their ads, without users needing to visit a separate landing page. These assets typically appear as a call-to-action button that opens a pre-populated form with fields for users to submit their contact information or other details.

Why Should You Use Lead Form Assets?

• Streamline the lead generation process: Instead of navigating to a separate landing page and filling out a form, users can submit their information directly within the ad, making it more convenient and less time-consuming. This can result in higher conversion rates and more qualified leads, as users are more likely to engage when the process is seamless and straightforward.
• Campaign versatility: Lead form assets can be used on Search, Video, Performance Max, and Display campaigns.
• Valuable insights and data about your leads: Since the form fields are customizable, advertisers can collect specific information that is relevant to their business objectives, such as contact details, product preferences, or appointment scheduling. This data can help advertisers better understand their audience and tailor their marketing efforts accordingly.
• Capture leads on mobile devices: Mobile users can be less inclined to navigate multiple pages or forms. By providing a mobile-friendly solution for lead generation, advertisers can reach users where they are and capitalize on their interest in real-time.

Lead Form Asset Requirements

To use lead forms, ensure the following:

• Advertiser verification: Advertiser verification must be completed.
• Reputable advertisers: Advertisers who have spent more than $1,000 USD per account (or more than $15,000 USD across all accounts) may also qualify for these formats.
• Policy compliance: Your account must have a good history of following Google's policies.
• Privacy policy: You must have a privacy policy for your business and provide a link to it when creating a lead form. The privacy policy link will appear at the end of the lead form.
• Eligible vertical: Your Google Ads account should belong to an eligible vertical or sub-vertical.
• Spending threshold: For Video, Display, and Search campaigns where the ad's headline directly opens to a lead form, you need to have spent more than $50,000 USD in total on Google Ads. For accounts managed in other currencies, the spend will be converted to USD using the average monthly conversion rate for that currency.
• Bidding strategy: The campaign should use a conversion-focused bidding strategy.
• Conversion goal: The campaign must be optimized towards a Google lead form conversion goal. Even if the campaign is optimizing for other types of conversions, it should include Google lead form conversions.
• Ad types: Only responsive search ad creatives can serve with lead forms. Expanded text ads are not eligible.

Location Assets

What are Location Assets?

Google Ads location assets are created by connecting your Google My Business (GMB) profile within your Google Ads account to display location-based information. This asset can be displayed in two different forms:

Attached to your ad:

As a separate local search ad:

These are the Google map ads that appear in local search results and on Google Maps.

Why Should You Use Location Assets?

These assets are particularly useful for businesses with brick-and-mortar locations, as it helps users understand where they can find and interact with the business in-person. Additionally, location assets enable advertisers to reach users who are actively searching for local products or services. By displaying your business address directly within the ad, you can attract nearby customers who may be more likely to visit your location or make a purchase. This can result in higher foot traffic, increased store visits, and ultimately, more conversions.

Location Asset Specifications

• Phone numbers used in location assets will be verified to ensure they accurately represent the business being advertised.
  You can enable call reporting (recommended). To view call reporting for calls from location assets, account-level reporting must be activated. Learn how to manage call reporting for your campaigns.

Price Assets

What are Price Assets?

Google Ads price assets allow you to showcase pricing information for your products or services directly within your ads. These assets typically appear as additional rows below the main ad text, displaying different pricing options or packages offered by the advertiser.

Why Should You Use Price Assets?

• Direct path to conversions: Users can click or tap on a specific item in your price menu and be taken directly to that item on your site.
  Highlight competitive pricing or special offers: This helps you stand out from competitors and attract the attention of potential customers.
• Easily update: Change item names and descriptions at any time to keep them current for sales and special offers. You can edit your price assets without losing their performance data.
• Customizable and flexible: Add price assets at the account, campaign, or ad group levels, depending on where you want them to appear. You can also specify the dates, days of the week, or times of day when your price assets are eligible to show.
• Enhance user experience: Provide a convenient way for users to compare pricing options without having to visit multiple websites or pages. With just a glance, users can see the different pricing options available, making it easier for them to find the best deal for their needs.

App Assets

What are App Assets?

Google Ads app assets are a feature that allows you to promote your mobile applications directly within your ads. These assets typically include a link or button that users can click to download the advertiser's app directly from the app store.

Why Should You Use App Assets?

• Flexible usage: Add app assets at the account, campaign, and ad group level as needed.
• Detailed analytics: Track the number of clicks on each part of your ad when an app asset is displayed. Compare clicks on your ad's headline to clicks on the app asset, and break down these statistics by campaign, ad group, or ad.
• Intelligent app store and device detection: If you create an asset for each app store, Google will show the appropriate store link based on the customer’s device. For example, iOS users will see the Apple App Store link. Additionally, the app asset link will match the customer's device type, ensuring that a tablet-only app won't be shown to a mobile phone user.
• Seamless editing: Modify your app asset without affecting its performance statistics.
• Increase ad visibility and relevance: Provide users with a direct pathway to download your app. This can be particularly useful for businesses looking to drive app installations and increase user engagement with their mobile application. Additionally,
• Reach more users: This allows you to reach users who are actively searching for relevant apps or solutions on mobile devices.

App Asset Requirements

Asset Type	Requirements	Recommendations
Text (required)	Minimum of 2 headlines and 1 description Each text asset should end with punctuation (see policy guidelines)	Make headlines and descriptions as long as possible but within the character limit Make sure each text asset makes sense on its own and provides a clear value proposition.  Text assets may be combines so each text asset should have its own message and should not be repeated.
Images (optional)	Recommended image size (pixels) – 1200 x 1200 – 1200 x 628 – 1200 x 1500 Minimum size – 200 x 200 – 600 x 314 – 320 x 400 You can crop the assets within one of the three supported aspect ratios – 1:1 (square) – 1.91:1 (landscape) – 4:5 (portrait) Deviation of image aspect raios should not exceed 1% Maximum file size: 5 MB Note: Images of any aspect ratio within the size limit of 5MB, can be uploaded No text, except for logos	Where possible, use images that are relevant to the action the user will take in your app or the app value proposition
Video (optional)	Maximum of 20 videos Submitted as a full YouTube URL	Use videos at least 10 seconds in length Upload as many videos as possible (maximum of 20 per ad group) so that multiple options can be matched to different creatives

Take directly from Google Support

Promotion Assets

What are Promotion Assets?

Google Ads Promotion assets enable you to showcase special offers or promotions directly within your ads. These assets typically include details such as discount codes, limited-time offers, or specific sales events.

Why Should You Use Promotion Assets?

• Update with ease: Choose from a list of pre-filled occasions, eliminating the need to create new text ads to keep them current for various sales and special offers.
• Maintain performance data: Edit your promotion asset without losing its performance statistics.
• Flexible scheduling options: Select to display your promotion assets during the occasion's date or specify particular dates, days of the week, or times of day for their eligibility to show.
• Increase ad visibility and relevance: Highlight compelling offers or discounts to users, encouraging them to click on the ad and take advantage of the promotion. This can lead to higher click-through rates and improved ad performance overall.
• Consistent messaging: Promotion extensions are also available for your Google shopping ads and are implemented through Google Merchant Center. If you are utilizing both search and shopping ads, this is a great opportunity to reinforce your messaging across multiple ad types.

Business Information Assets

What are Business Name & Business Logo Assets?

Business information, consisting of a Business Logo and Business Name, enables you to enhance your current desktop and mobile text ads by incorporating your business assets. These assets appear below the ad's description and headline.

Why Should You Use Business Name & Business Logo Assets?

Consistent use of your business name and logo across various platforms reinforces your brand identity and helps users remember and trust your brand over time. Business assets show that your business is established, which can make users feel more confident in choosing your services or products. They can also help increase click-through rates, lower cost-per-click, and improve ad rank.

Business Information Asset Requirements

• Advertisers must complete the Google Advertiser Verification process.
• Business information assets must comply with all Google Ads, Trademark, and Copyright policies.

Note: Business Information assets are not guaranteed to serve, even if the account has successfully completed Advertiser verification. This could mean some or none of your ads are serving Business Information assets.

Business Information Asset Specifications

• You can include business information assets at both the account and campaign levels.
• For each campaign, you can upload one business name and one business logo. These can be applied to multiple campaigns if desired.
• If you have business information assets uploaded at both levels, the campaign-level assets will take priority over the account-level assets. To ensure the account-level assets are used instead, you need to remove the campaign-level assets.
• The business name must exactly match either the domain name or the legal name provided during Advertiser Verification.
• Your logo should match the advertised business and should be consistent for a given domain name.
• Business name character Length: Max 25 characters
• Logo aspect ratio: Square (1×1)
• Logo image resolution: 1200×1200 (recommended); 128×128 (min)
• Logo file formats: PNG, JPG; Maximum file size: 5120 KB

Note: In certain cases, dynamic business logos may appear as squares instead of circles and/or display with a grey background. To ensure your logo is shown as a circle, we recommend uploading your own logos.

Headline & Description Assets

Headline Assets:

Description Assets:

What are Headline & Description Assets?

The newest addition to Google’s ad extensions, headlines, and description assets gives you the ability to associate up to 3 headlines and 2 description assets at the campaign level. As you can see from the examples above, they are identical to standard ad-level headlines and descriptions. The difference between regular Google Ads headlines and descriptions and headline and description assets lies in their flexibility and application within the ad campaign structure (regular headlines and descriptions are fixed parts of a specific ad and do not change unless manually edited).

Why Should You Use Headline & Description Assets?

• Dynamic and Flexible: Headline and description assets allow for greater flexibility as they can be associated with different ads at the campaign level. These assets can dynamically adjust and be applied to multiple ads.
• Reusable: These assets can be reused across multiple ads within a campaign or ad group without the need to create new text ads for each variation. This makes it easier to update and manage ad copy.
• Improved Customization: They provide more customization options, allowing for specific assets to be shown based on different targeting options, user contexts, or campaign goals.

Headline & Description Asset Specifications

• Headlines: 25 characters max
• Descriptions: 90 characters max

Final Thoughts

Remember, ad assets are not just optional extras; they are vital ingredients that enrich your campaign, boost your ad's real estate, and drive more conversions.
By leveraging the power of these assets, you can create more dynamic and compelling ads that not only capture attention but also drive more clicks, traffic, and sales. If you need help deciding which assets are best for your business, or how you can maximize their effectiveness, reach out to flyte today for a free consultation!