Inside Google Ads podcast: Episode 118 - Assets Explained

You're paying for every pixel of your Google Ads, so why are you leaving a whole bunch of them blank? 

Today, we're going deep into all 15 types of Google Ads assets, from the six essentials every campaign needs to the little known ones that could actually double your click-through rate. 

If you're still running Search ads with just headlines and descriptions, you're running average Google Ads. And average just isn't good enough anymore. So I'm going to walk you through exactly how to use every piece of available ad real estate to your advantage. 

We're covering sitelinks, callouts, snippets, images, business name and logo, calls, locations, lead forms, price, promotion, apps, messages, headlines, and descriptions.

I spent hours and hours poring over Google Ads documentation and double checking everything so that you don't have to. And I've put timestamps into the episode description so you can jump around and reference the exact asset types you need to understand right now. 

I'm your host, Jyll Saskin Gales. I spent six years working for big brands at Google, and now I work for you. 

This is Inside Google Ads: Episode 118, Assets Explained.

Let's start with six types of assets that, while optional, are ones that every single kind of business can use. 

1. Sitelinks 

These are extra links that can appear below your main ad text so that users can jump to a more specific part of your website. They're compatible with Search, Demand Gen, Video, and Performance Max campaigns. 

For Search and PMax, you need at least two sitelinks. Up to six can show on desktop and up to eight on mobile. Think of how much bigger that can make your ad! And Google recommends aiming for about four to six per campaign. 

While sitelinks do contribute to ad strength, that's not a reason to use them.

A few things to be aware of, your RSA headlines and descriptions can also serve as sitelinks, so if you don't want that to happen, then you need to pin to headline one, headline two, or description one to prevent this. I don't think you need to prevent this though.

Dynamic sitelinks are an account-level automated asset. So turn that off if you don't want that. 

Sitelinks can be applied at the account, campaign, ad group, or asset group level. And unlike all other kinds of assets, as we'll see, if you create sitelinks at these different levels, they can all potentially serve together. 

Lastly, sitelinks are compatible with asset scheduling. That's like an ad schedule. It means you can set them to only show on certain days or at certain times and you can also schedule your sitelinks in advance to have a set start and end date. 

As an example from my business, if I were using sitelink assets in my ads, maybe my main ad would be about Google Ads coaching, but then I could have sitelinks for things like Google Ads courses, Google Ads podcast, Google Ads newsletter, contact me, et cetera, so that I have the option of showing all these different things in that one ad. 

2. Callouts 

Next are callouts, not to be confused with call assets. These are short, punchy phrases of text, up to 25 characters each, that highlight key selling points, like free shipping or Open 24-7. Note that in certain languages, the character limit is shorter. For example, in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. 

Callouts can run on Search ads via Search or Performance Max campaigns, and up to 10 can show at a time with your ad. 

You can apply callouts at the account, campaign, or ad group level, and if you apply them at a more granular level, like at the ad group, that will prevent your campaign- or account-level assets from serving. This is different from sitelinks but it's actually how the rest of assets work. The more granular one will override the higher level ones. 

Callouts are one of the few asset types that aren't actually clickable. They are just plain text and may be added to the end of your description text. Google can show up to 10 at a time.

There is an account-level automated asset for dynamic callouts, so turn that off if you don't want that.

And you can also schedule callouts to have a start and end date if you only want them to run for a certain time. 

3. Structured Snippets 

These are a categorized list of items preceded by a header. For example, “neighborhoods” and then listing the different neighborhoods you serve, or “brands” and then listing the various brands you carry. These are compatible with Search ads run via Search or Performance Max campaigns. 

If you're creating a snippet, you first choose one of the pre-selected headers, and then you must have at least 3 different items in your list, and you can have up to 10 items in your list. Each item has a 25 character limit. Up to two snippets can serve on desktop and one at a time on mobile.

There is also an account-level automated asset for dynamic structured snippets, so turn this off if you don't want that.

Structured snippets are no longer compatible with asset scheduling or with start and end date. So if you create one, it's on. If you don't want it to run anymore, you must pause or remove it. 

Like most assets, you can apply these at the account, campaign, or ad group level. The ad group will override the campaign, which will override the account. 

4. Image assets

I think this is actually one of the most underutilized, and it's probably because you can't add image assets in a brand new campaign. Your account must be active for at least 60 days. You have to have spent money on Search ads for at least 30 days, be in good policy compliance, and not in certain sensitive interest categories. But as long as you meet all of that, you should absolutely upload image assets to your Search campaigns. 

These images can serve with your plain text Search ads on Google Search. And if you have Search Partners enabled, YouTube is a Search Partner, then your ads could serve on YouTube search results with an image as well. I'm not going to say that's reason enough to turn Search Partners on, but something to consider, especially now that we do have Search Partner placement reporting.

You must have at least one square image and you can also upload landscape images at the account, campaign or ad group level. I do recommend uploading both sizes because while on mobile, only square images can show, on desktop, landscape, square, and a combination can serve. So, in order to show image assets on the desktop, you can just have square images, but the landscape ones are much bigger. And in my opinion, no data to back this up, more appealing to users to click on. 

Note that there are strict policies around images, so it's not uncommon for them to get disapproved - if they have text overlays, too much white space, if it's a collage, if it's blurry. So just try again if you do get some of these policy disapprovals. 

And one key tip, although Google will prompt you to add these image assets while you're creating a Responsive Search ad, don't do it there! With all assets, including image assets, I recommend creating your ad on its own with the required things and then going over to your assets menu and adding any assets from there. That way it'll be very clear if you're creating it at the account, campaign, or ad group level. 

Lastly, dynamic image assets are an account-level automated asset. This will take images from your landing pages and add them to your campaign. Be sure to turn that off if you don't want that, or if you don't have permission to do that with the images from your website. 

5. Business name asset and 6. Business logo 

This allows you to show your, you guessed it, business name and business logo with your ads. You need to complete business verification in order to do this and then your business name must exactly match either your legal name or your domain name. If you would like to use a business name or a business logo that does not match your advertiser verification, then there's a process you need to look up called brand verification for business information.

Your business name can have up to 25 characters and there is an account-level automated asset for dynamic business names. So if you're having trouble getting your business name approved, let the account-level automated asset do it. But if you already have a running and approved business asset, be sure to turn off that account-level automated asset. Otherwise you can end up with two different business names. And I recommend having just one business name asset at the account level. 

With your business logo asset you must upload a square image, but it gets served to users as a circle, so keep that in mind. I recommend having one business logo at the account level. Again, there is an account-level automated asset for dynamic business logos, so if you already have a logo approved and serving, turn off the automated one. If you're not able to get your logo approved for some reason, then let the account-level automated one try to do it for you. 

We are six assets down, nine more to go. There's a lot of details here. So if you want a quick and easy Google Ads assets cheat sheet, it's one of the many cheat sheets I offer for my Inside Google Ads course members. I've also created the YouTube campaign formats cheat sheet, the bid strategies cheat sheet, the audiences cheat sheet, and I keep updating this because of course Google Ads keeps changing.

So let me save you from constant Googling or wrong answers from ChatGPT. You can join Inside Google Ads at learn.jyll.ca. That's learn.jyll.ca for all your Google Ads cheat sheets. Plus of course more than a hundred in-platform tutorials, access to my AI powered JyllBot, the Monthly Meet with guest experts and lots more. That's learn.jyll.ca.

All right, now we have the assets which may apply to some businesses and may not apply to others. 

7. Call assets 

This allows people to call you straight from your ads. On mobile, it'll create this clickable call button. And then on desktop, there may be a “call us” button that when clicked will cause a pop-up that shows your phone number, or your Google forwarding number. We'll get to that in a second. 

Call assets are compatible with Search, Display and Performance Max campaigns. Note that if you try to write your phone number into your actual ad text, your ad could be disapproved. So always use the call asset. 

Now Google used to have something called Call ads or Call Only ads, but those are being deprecated. So if you want people to call you, you need to implement the call asset alongside your Responsive Search ads. And then you need to turn call tracking on. This means that Google is going to replace your phone number with something called a Google forwarding number, which allows Google to track what actually happens with that phone call, whether it happens or not, how long it is, et cetera. You will then have a conversion action in your account called “calls from ads.” So if you want people to call you from your ads, make sure you set that as a primary action and you're including it in either your account- or campaign-level goals, and using conversion-focused smart bidding, in order to get that call asset serving.

In fact, even though Call ads have been deprecated, if you're using the call asset and using smart bidding, then Google may create an ad for you that looks like a Call ad with your phone number first, even though it's actually a Responsive Search ad behind the scenes. And I don't feel like enough people are talking about that, so I had to share it with you!

Call ads are compatible with asset scheduling, so you can make it so you don't receive phone calls outside of business hours.

And even when you're tracking calls from ads, you should probably also set up your own call tracking on your website to track calls from the website. If you're using third-party lead tracking software, then you're going to want to make sure to connect your call asset to that software, as well as from your website, so that it can keep track of quality versus not quality leads, which one become customers, et cetera.

I do find calls from ads to be more susceptible to low quality leads than calls from your website, since the people doing this haven't actually been to your website yet to see if you offer what they're looking for. But if you operate in some kind of emergency services category, it's especially useful to have your call asset enabled. 

8. Location assets

This shows users where they can find your physical store or a related location that sells your products.

You must connect your Google Business Profile to your Google Ads account in order to enable location assets. And then straight from your ads, users can get directions, call you, or view more info like your hours, photos, et cetera, straight from your ad. 

Location assets are compatible with Search, Display, Video, and Performance Max campaigns. They can serve on Google Search, Search Partners, Display Network, Maps, and YouTube.

Even if you have Search Partners and Display turned off in a Search campaign, you can still serve ads on Google Maps if you have the location asset. 

As you might imagine, these are set at the account level but can be customized at the campaign or ad group level.

Note that there used to be location extensions for locations you own and then affiliate location extensions for places that carry your products, like if you sell your stuff at Target or Home Depot. But now all of that functionality is under location assets.

Also note that location assets can serve a call button on your mobile ads, even if you don't have a call asset. So keep that in mind and set your conversion goals accordingly.

There is an account-level automated asset for automated locations. So, if you have your location assets set up the way you want them, be sure to turn that off.

9. Lead form assets 

This allows users to submit their contact information directly within the ad unit. Lead form assets are compatible with Search and Performance Max campaigns. And if you meet spend requirements, they're also compatible with Display and Video. 

You do need a good history of compliance and these don't work in certain sensitive industries. 

The call asset creates the “calls from ads” goal, and when you create a lead form asset, it creates this “lead form” goal. Then, you'll need to adjust your conversion settings and use Smart bidding if you do want to optimize for that.

I generally don't use lead form assets. I don't find they drive a lot of volume, but if you are going to do them, please, please, please make sure you're connecting them to your lead tracking software or using a tool like Zapier to connect it to your CRM because otherwise, when people fill out those leads, they're just going to sit there on Google Ads. No one's going to see them or use them. So you want to make sure you're right away sending them outside of Google Ads to whatever system you use so you can follow up on those leads right away. 

10. Price assets 

These allow you to show specific products or services with their exact pricing beneath your ad. Price assets are compatible with Search and Performance Max campaigns. You can show up to 8 price cards at a time with your ad, and if the user clicks on it, it can take them to a specific URL for that product or service. 

You can add price assets at the account, campaign, or ad group level, and they are compatible with asset scheduling if you only want them to show at certain times of day or days of the week. 

11. Promotion assets  

Similar to price, but these let you highlight a specific sale or discount right from your ad. They are compatible with Search, YouTube, Demand Gen, and Performance Max. They can also serve on Maps if you have a store goals campaign in PMax. 

Now, when you create the promotion, there's three kinds of discounts to choose from: a monetary discount, like $20 off; a percent discount, like 20% off; or an “up to” discount, like up to $20 off. 

When you create a promotion asset, there are three different kinds of date setting you can do, so don't get this mixed up. There's asset scheduling, so choosing when these actually show up. There's start and end dates, if you want to set these in advance to only serve for a certain period of time. And then there's the promotion date, the date when your promotion is actually running. So you can't serve the asset when the promotion isn't running, but maybe you're starting the promotion and then you only want to serve the promotion asset during a more limited time.

You can't serve promotion assets with Shopping. In fact, most assets aren't compatible with Shopping. So if you do want to show a promotion with your Shopping ads, you do that via Google Merchant Center, not via the promotion asset. 

12. App assets 

As you might imagine, this directs users to download your mobile app directly from your ad. If they click on the headline of your ad, they'll still go to your site. But if they click on the app asset, they'll be taken to either the Android or iOS app store. There's automatic device sensing so it sends users to write one and then they can download your app. 

These are compatible with Search campaigns. 

Note that this is not the same as running a dedicated app campaign, but it can be a helpful thing to do if you don't have the budget for an app campaign, or if apps are not your main focus, but just something that you might want to highlight alongside your Search campaigns. 

You can add app assets at the account, campaign or ad group level. Only one app will serve at a time. And yes, there is an account-level automated asset for automated apps. So if you have an app but don't want to advertise it, be sure you turn that account-level setting off. 

13. Message assets 

We have our asset that's currently in beta called Message Assets. There have been a lot of things called message assets over the years, so this newest asset type doesn't let people text you from your ad (that got deprecated), but it does let them message you via WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or Zalo, and new platforms are being added. 

These are compatible with Search and Performance Max campaigns and can serve on Android and iOS.

You must complete advertiser verification to be eligible and not operate in a sensitive industry, and then you can apply message assets at the account, campaign or ad group level.

When you create this asset, it will create a “lead from message” conversion action. So if you'd like to optimize for that, be sure to adjust your conversion settings and bid strategy accordingly. 

When we talk about assets, formerly known as extensions, those are the 13 we talk about, but I couldn't leave us at an unlucky 13. So to round us out and get us to 15 assets, we're going to talk about the headline asset and description asset. 

14. Headline Asset and 15. Description Asset

These are campaign level text assets that allow you to deploy a specific headline or description across multiple campaigns without editing your RSAs. So I'm not talking here about when you create a Search ad or a Demand Gen ad where you write headlines and descriptions, that's part of your ad. These are optional assets you can add from the assets menu on top. 

You can have up to 3 additional headlines or 2 additional descriptions beyond your RSA limits of 15 headlines and 4 descriptions. Note that if you do have automatically created assets turned on, then your AI-generated headlines and descriptions also don't count towards your limit. 

So when would you use such a thing? No one actually needs more than 15 headlines or more than 4 descriptions! These are excellent for short term messaging because you can schedule these headlines and descriptions to go live in advance and end on specific dates. It saves you from having to edit all your different RSAs.

So another great use case is if you want to do some testing, you know how if you add a new headline to an RSA, it'll just barely serve because your RSA already knows what headlines it likes? So you can add one of these, you can pin it if you want to, and it's a fast way to test new creative and then see if it's worth actually editing your existing RSAs. This tends to make most sense for larger, high-volume accounts, not so much for smaller accounts.

And headline assets have a 30 character limit just like regular headlines. Description Assets have a 90 character limit just like regular descriptions. 

And that rounds out all 15 asset types we have in Google Ads today. I hope by now you've realized that Assets are not just some add-on, they can be a core part of your conversion strategy. From using location assets to drive map traffic, or using lead forms or calls to collect real user information, you need to make sure that the assets you're deploying match your goals. 

So I have two pieces of homework for you today. First, go into your Google Ads account, go to your assets menu and navigate to your account-level automated assets. Make sure that Google isn't generating sitelinks or callouts or anything else that doesn't align with your brand. Turn off or on what you need so that you understand exactly what your ads are looking like. 

And then next, pick two kinds of assets you're not currently running but could be applicable to your business. For example, maybe price and promotion assets, and then test them in your top performing campaign for the next 90 days and see what you learn. 

Be sure to tune into our next episode. I'll be sharing how to know when it's time to increase your budget. 

I’m Jyll Saskin Gales, and I'll see you next time Inside Google Ads.