What are the Google Ads headline and description character limits?

• Double-width characters count as two. The limits are the same in every language, but each character of a double-width language such as Chinese, Japanese or Korean takes two: 15 to a headline, 45 to a description, and 12 to a sitelink’s text or a callout.
• Spaces and punctuation. Google’s help pages give each limit in characters and name no character that goes uncounted, so count a space, a comma or an ampersand as one each.
• Keyword insertion. A line holding {KeyWord:Outdoor Rugs} has to fit with its default text in place. Google tells you to keep that text short enough to stay within the limit, and shows it whenever the keyword itself is too long to fit.
• Countdowns and ad customizers. Google says a countdown’s code can produce a string 8 characters long, so leave that much room in the line. Where a customizer’s text would exceed the limit, Google uses its default value.
• Location insertion. The place name needs room too. Google warns that a headline with too many characters of its own may not fit some of your locations’ names, and lets you set default text for when one can’t be shown.

A line can’t go over. Google’s help says ads “can’t contain more than 30 characters in each headline, more than 90 characters in the description line, or more than 15 characters in the URL path,” and the Google Ads API has an error for it, TOO_LONG: “The string has too many characters.” A line inside the limit can still be cut when it shows: Google says it may shorten your text, usually with an ellipsis, and that a headline of wide letters such as m can be wider than the space some browsers give it.

The headline and description limits are a responsive search ad’s, and an asset group adds a long headline of up to 90 characters. Google asks for at least one headline of 15 characters or fewer, and says to try to make each long headline at least 30. Double-width characters count as two here too. The ad strength guide covers how many of each to give it.

Google’s advice on a Search ad’s text starts from the limits: “You have 30-character headlines, 90-character descriptions, and 15-character URL path fields. Use that space creatively.” It doesn’t ask you to fill every line.

• Headlines of a variety of lengths. Longer headlines can add clickable space, Google says, but shorter ones may do better for people already searching for your brand, and “it’s more likely that you’ll show all three possible headlines if a headline or two are shorter than the limits.”
• A keyword too long for a headline goes in a description. Google asks for each keyword whole within one headline, so one over 30 characters goes in a 90-character description instead.
• Use the path fields. Google’s words are “Don’t underestimate the value of your path fields”: they tell a searcher where the click lands.
• Keep assets short. Google has found that briefer sitelinks are generally the most effective, says shorter callouts mean more of them can show, and suggests snippet values of 12 characters or fewer where a campaign serves on mobile. The sitelinks and callouts guide has examples of each.

So a short line is never the fault. The fault is an ad with nothing but short lines: no headline with room for what you sell and why, and no description that says the offer in full. Ad strength isn’t built to show it: the factors Google lists for it are your keywords, how many lines the ad has, how different they are and its sitelinks. What each headline should say is the headlines guide’s subject.

1. 01Go to Campaigns › Ads. Select the bar above the table to add a filter, choose Attributes, then Ad type, and check Responsive search ad.
2. 02Select View asset details at the bottom of an ad. The Assets column holds each line, and Asset type says whether it’s a headline or a description. Download the report.
3. 03In a sheet, put =LEN(A2) beside each line. LEN counts every character, spaces included; count a Chinese, Japanese or Korean character twice.
4. 04Note the longest headline and the longest description across each ad group’s ads, then read down the list. An ad group whose longest is far under the others’ uses the room nowhere.
5. 05Back on the Ads page, hover over that ad, select the edit icon, then Edit. Keep its short lines and add ones that use the room, up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions. Google notes that editing an ad’s lines can change which ads serve.

Every day Goldbeater measures each line of your responsive search ads as Google counts it: a double-width character as two, and keyword insertion by its default text. It takes an ad group’s ads together, and sets the longest headline, and the longest description, beside your other ad groups’.

It raises an ad group whose longest is under half what the longest in your other ad groups typically runs to, and only where that is unlikely to be luck, given how many lines the ad group has, how common lines that short are in your other ad groups, and how many ad groups were tested. So three short headlines in an account with plenty of short ones aren’t raised, an account that writes short everywhere has nothing raised, and a short line beside a longer one never is: that is the variety Google asks for.

It reads the ads Google showed in the last 8 weeks in campaigns that can serve, and the ads of a campaign that is new or waiting to launch. A line holding a countdown or an ad customizer has no length to read, so its ad group’s headlines, or its descriptions, aren’t judged.

That is the ad counted above, against a typical longest of 29 in the other ad groups. The same ad group gets a finding of its own for its descriptions, No description in Outdoor rugs is longer than 28 characters, where the others’ typically reach 82. Both are low, and both are advice: the lines are copy, and yours to write, so Goldbeater says to keep the short ones and add one or two that use the room, and drafts no change.

The audit checklist has every ad and asset line with where to find it in Google Ads.

What is the character limit for a Google Ads headline and description?

30 characters for a headline and 90 for a description, on a responsive search ad and in a Performance Max asset group alike. A responsive search ad takes 3 to 15 headlines and 2 to 4 descriptions.

Do spaces count toward the Google Ads character limit?

Google’s help pages give each limit in characters and name no character that goes uncounted, so count a space or a punctuation mark as one. A character of a double-width language such as Chinese, Japanese or Korean counts as two.

How long can a sitelink or a callout be?

Sitelink text and a callout each take 25 characters, or 12 in a double-width language. A sitelink’s two description lines take 35 each. Google’s advice for both is to keep them short.

What happens if a headline is over 30 characters?

It can’t run: Google’s help says an ad can’t contain more than 30 characters in a headline. With keyword insertion, Google shows your default text when the keyword is too long to fit, and an ad customizer falls back to its default value.

Should every headline use all 30 characters?

No. Google asks for headlines of a variety of lengths, and says it’s more likely to show all three when a headline or two are shorter than the limit. An ad needs some lines that use the room, not all of them.

What is a long headline in Google Ads?

In a Performance Max asset group, a text asset of up to 90 characters, beside the 30-character headlines. An asset group holds 1 to 5 of them, and Google asks you to try to make each at least 30 characters long.