The manual way comes first, in Google Ads itself. Then the same problem as Goldbeater finds it, every day, without anyone asking.
What image extensions, now image assets, add to a Search ad
An image asset is a picture you upload that Google can show with a Search ad. When it shows, people see your headlines, your descriptions, your URL and your image. It can show on Google Search, and on YouTube search through the Search Partner Network.
Image extensions is the old name for the same thing. On September 15, 2022 Google announced that “ad extensions will now be called assets,” and its help pages now say image assets. So does this guide from here on.
Google picks the layout in each auction. On a phone it shows one square image, or three square images side by side. On a computer it shows one square image, one landscape image, or a row: five square, two landscape and one square, or one landscape and three square. Google says you can’t control which format serves.
Adding an image costs nothing. A click on it costs what a click on the headline costs, and Google charges no more than two clicks per impression for an ad and its assets. An image shows only when Google predicts it will improve the ad’s performance and the ad’s position and Ad Rank are high enough. Google’s own figure, from its internal data for April 2023, is a 6% increase in click-through rate on average when an image shows.
One thing changes in the ad itself: Google says the description in position 2 may be truncated when an image shows. If a line must appear in every ad, pin it to headline position 1 or 2, or to description position 1.
Google Ads image extension specs and requirements
Google asks three things of an image asset: a picture of the right shape and size, an account that qualifies, and a picture that passes review.
| Aspect ratio | Needed | Minimum pixels | Recommended pixels |
|---|---|---|---|
| Square (1:1) | Required | 300 × 300 | 1200 × 1200 |
| Landscape (1.91:1) | Optional, recommended | 600 × 314 | 1200 × 628 |
A file is a PNG or a JPG of at most 5120 KB. Google recommends keeping what matters in the center 80% of the picture. You can upload up to 20 images, a limit Google counts across the whole campaign, and it recommends at least 4 unique images at the campaign or the ad group, with at least one square and one landscape.
The account has to qualify first. Google lists five requirements:
- The account has been open for at least 60 days.
- It has a good history of policy compliance.
- It has active campaigns.
- It has active text ads, and its Search spend in the last 30 days is greater than 0.
- It’s in an eligible vertical. Google names sexual content and gambling as sensitive verticals that aren’t eligible.
Google says the option to create image assets appears only when the account meets all five, so an account with no Image to choose in the steps below doesn’t qualify yet.
Then the picture itself. Every image goes through quality and policy checks before it can serve, and Google says its requirements for image assets are more restrictive than its requirements for ads on other surfaces. It doesn’t allow:
- text or a graphic laid over the picture, a brand logo included, or a logo used as the image;
- excessive blank space, or a subject too small to recognize;
- a collage, or images combined after they were taken;
- a blurry, distorted or poorly cropped picture;
- nudity, or a sexually suggestive image.
An image Google disapproves doesn’t show. The disapproved ads guide covers reading Google’s reason and appealing it.
Dynamic image assets let Google pick pictures from your landing pages
Dynamic image assets are a setting of the whole account. With it on, Google takes images from the landing pages your ads point to and shows them with those ads, after automated and manual quality checks. A click on one costs the same as a click on the headline, and opens the same page.
The account needs a good history of policy compliance, an eligible vertical, and to have been open for more than 60 days. Turning the setting on confirms that you own the rights to the images on your pages, and that Google may modify them and make derivative works.
- Go to Campaigns › Assets › Assets.
- Select the three-dot icon in the right corner, then Account-level automated assets.
- Select the three-dot icon again, then Advanced settings.
- Under Dynamic image assets, turn it on or off. To turn it on, check the box confirming you own the rights to the images, then select Save.
It doesn’t take the place of your own. With it on, the images you uploaded and the ones Google picked are both eligible to serve, and Google’s page on automated assets says a dynamic image may show instead of one you uploaded. You can remove any dynamic image that has served. To see them, select the Image card on the Assets page and filter Added by for Google AI.
So the difference is who chooses the picture: you, or Google from whatever your pages hold. Google recommends using both.
How to add image assets to a campaign or an ad group
- Go to Campaigns › Assets › Assets.
- Select the plus button, then Image.
- Select the campaign or ad group to add the images to, then Done.
- In Add image, select the plus button and choose where the pictures come from: Suggested, Asset library, Upload, Website or social or Free stock images.
- Crop any picture that isn’t square or landscape. Google’s image picker does it in place.
- Select up to 20 images, then Save.
Those are the two levels an image takes. Google’s steps add an image asset to a campaign or an ad group, and its API guide links one at those two and not at the account, where a sitelink, a callout or a call asset can be added once for every campaign. So each Search campaign needs images of its own. Google suggests the ad group for the strictest relevance, and the campaign where the same pictures suit every ad in it.
How to find a kind of Google Ads asset no campaign shows
A campaign without sitelinks stands out beside the campaigns that have them. A kind of asset nothing in the account shows doesn’t: there’s no row to notice. So read the Assets page one kind at a time.
- Go to Campaigns › Assets › Assets. It opens on Associations, a table with a row for each place an asset is added: the account, a campaign or an ad group.
- Select the Image card above the table. An empty table means nothing in the account shows an image.
- To count the ones somebody paused, select Add filter and choose Assets status: All but removed.
- Do the same with the Call and Lead form cards. For a location, go to Tools › Shared library › Location manager: its Business locations table shows every location linked to the account.
- Go to Campaigns › Recommendations and look for Google’s own asset recommendations: Add image assets to your ads, Add dynamic image assets, Add call assets to your ads, Add lead form assets to your ads and Add location assets to your ads.
| Campaign | Cost, 30 days | Image | Call | Lead form |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sofas — Phrase | $2,016 | None | The account's | None |
| Rugs — Broad | $1,260 | None | The account's | None |
| Brand — Exact | $1,176 | None | Its own | None |
| Competitors | $504 | None | The account's | None |
Read that way, the three kinds end three ways:
- Images. Nothing links one and Google recommends them, so the account is missing a kind it could show. Add your own to each Search campaign.
- Call. Every campaign shows one, so nothing is missing. Where some campaigns lack what the others show, the sitelinks and callouts guide covers it.
- Lead form. Nothing links one and nothing recommends one. A store that takes orders on its site has no use for a form on the ad, so it stays out.
A recommendation you’ve decided against can be dismissed: on its card select View recommendation, then Dismiss all. Google says a dismissed recommendation can surface again after a preset amount of time, and that one is dismissed for 28 or 60 days, depending on the reason you give.
Where assets are reported, and what an image's numbers mean
The Assets page is the report too. With a card selected, each row carries the figures of the ads that showed that asset:
- Clicks are the clicks on the ad when it showed with the asset, clicks on the headline included. To see the clicks on the image itself, select the segment icon and Click type.
- Impressions are the times the ad appeared with the asset.
- CTR, Cost and Avg. CPC are the ad’s, over those impressions.
Two things follow. A total row isn’t the sum of its rows: Google’s example is four sitelinks served together, which count one impression each and one in the total. And an image’s click-through rate isn’t a test of the image, since Google shows one when it predicts it will help. Google says ratios at the asset level should be used as directional indicators only.
An asset added in several places has a row for each, so you can compare one image across the campaigns it serves in. The Last updated column gives the date each asset was last added, edited, paused or removed. The ad copy guide reads a responsive search ad’s headlines and descriptions the same way.
Google Ads call extensions, now call assets
A call asset adds your phone number to the ad. On a device that can make calls, a call button shows under the ad. On a computer, a Call us button shows the number and a QR code that opens a phone’s dialer. A click on either costs the same as a click on the headline.
What it needs is a number that is yours. Google verifies each number, asks that it be visible on the site the ad links to, and doesn’t accept vanity, premium or fax numbers. A call asset can be added at the account, a campaign or an ad group, and the most specific one is used, so an ad group’s number shows instead of its campaign’s. Call assets run on Search campaigns and Smart campaigns.
- Go to Campaigns › Assets › Assets, select the plus button, then Call.
- Choose Account, Campaign or Ad group.
- Select Create new and enter your phone number.
- Turn call reporting on if it’s offered, and choose whether to count calls as conversions. Google recommends both.
- Under Advanced options, schedule the asset for the days and hours someone answers.
The call reporting guide covers what call reporting records, and when to leave it off.
Lead form assets take a lead on the ad itself
A lead form asset opens a form on the ad, so someone can send you a name, an email address or a phone number without visiting your site. You can add one to Search and Performance Max campaigns.
Google asks for three things: a good history of policy compliance, an account in an eligible vertical, and a privacy policy for your business. You give its link when you create the form, and it appears at the form’s end. Then the leads have to reach you. Google stores them for 60 days and lets you download only the last 30, or sends each one on by email, through a webhook or through its API.
To add one for every campaign, go to Campaigns › Assets › Assets, select the plus button, then Lead form, and choose Account under Add to: Google takes one lead form at the account level. A form you already have is added to a campaign from the Lead form card, with Add to and then Campaign, and Google says that campaign needs Leads as its goal.
Google Ads location extensions, now location assets
A location asset shows where you are: your address, a map to it, or the approximate travel distance. Google’s example shows the distance and the city on a phone and the street address on a computer, with a call button and a page of the location’s hours, photos and directions.
What it needs is a source of locations, and an account takes one type. For locations you own, the source is a Google Business Profile, chain stores from Google’s list, or up to 10 locations chosen on Google Maps. For stores you don’t own that sell your products, it’s chain stores or one of Google’s global location groups. To use a Business Profile you need access to the Business Profile manager that lists your locations, or its owner’s approval of your request.
- Go to Campaigns › Assets › Assets, select the plus button, then Location.
- Select Our locations if you own the stores, or Affiliate locations if they sell your products.
- For your own, choose Google Business Profile, Chain Stores or Google Maps, then the profile, the chains or the places.
- Wait for them to sync. Google says it can take 24-28 hours for locations to appear.
The locations are then eligible to show with any Search, Display or Video ad in the account. Location groups narrow them to a campaign or an ad group, and No location asset keeps them off one. Where you add none, Google says it may match your business to locations it knows and show those as automated location assets, and that adding your own is the way to the highest accuracy. The location targeting guide covers who the campaign itself reaches.
What it looks like when Goldbeater finds it
Every day Goldbeater reads every asset linked to your account, to each enabled campaign and to its enabled ad groups, beside three of Google’s own recommendations: call assets, lead form assets and dynamic image assets. It raises one of those kinds when two things hold. Nothing in the account links it, and a link someone paused counts as a link, since pausing was a choice. And a recommendation of Google’s that you haven’t dismissed asks for it on a Search campaign that can serve.
That is one finding for the account for each kind, low, naming the campaigns Google recommends it on and what they spent in 30 days. A call asset’s finding adds the calls those campaigns counted as conversions, and a lead form’s the leads they recorded. Google’s image recommendation is to turn on dynamic image assets, and Goldbeater advises your own images instead. Each is advice, and Goldbeater drafts no change.
No Search campaign shows images, and Google recommends letting it pick some from your site
Account
Google's recommendation says the account qualifies for image assets, which the 4 campaigns it names spent $4,956 on in the last 30 days without.
- Campaigns Google recommends it on
- 4
- Their cost, 30 days
- $4,956
| Brand — Exact | $1,176 |
| Competitors | $504 |
| Rugs — Broad | $1,260 |
| Sofas — Phrase | $2,016 |
An account none of whose campaigns shows a call asset, a lead form or images, where Google recommends one on its Search campaigns from signals only it has. Goldbeater says what the campaigns recorded that the asset would serve (calls counted, leads taken) and what they spent without it, and leaves the choice yours: Google's image recommendation hands it the choice of pictures, so Goldbeater asks for your own instead.
Google recommends dynamic image assets, which let it pick images from your landing pages; Goldbeater doesn't advise handing Google the choice. Add your own images to these campaigns or their ad groups in Google Ads, landscape and square, of what you sell, which its recommendation says the account qualifies for, and dismiss the recommendation.
The steps under What to do are the fix. Goldbeater drafts no change for this one.
This is “A call asset, lead form or images no campaign shows, where Google recommends one” on a sample account. Goldbeater runs it on yours every 24 hours, and your AI analyst answers what you ask about any finding.
Get a free first lookThat is the account read above: the finding’s 4 campaigns and its $4,956 are the table’s. The call asset is linked, so Goldbeater says nothing of it, and nothing recommends a lead form. Three more checks sit beside it:
- A phone number on your pages, and no call asset. The pages your enabled Search ads, keywords and asset groups send clicks to link a phone number, a link that dials and not a number in the text, while the account shows no call asset at any level, enabled or paused, and runs no call ads. One finding for the account, low, naming the number the most pages link, the pages and their 30 days’ spend.
- A radius, and no location to show. An enabled campaign that can serve targets a radius around a place, and the account has no locations linked. One finding for the account, low, naming those campaigns and what they spent in 30 days.
- A word you never want. A sitelink, callout, structured snippet, promotion, app link or business name holds a word you’ve listed under Words you never want in your ads in the account’s Settings, whole and in any capitals. Goldbeater reads a sitelink’s two description lines and a snippet’s header and values, the assets Google made among them, on the account, a serving campaign, its enabled ad groups and a campaign waiting to launch. One finding per asset, low. With no words listed, it raises nothing.
All three are advice too. The sitelinks and callouts guide covers a campaign missing sitelinks, callouts or a kind its other campaigns show, and the audit checklist has every asset line with where to find it in Google Ads.
Questions
- What are image extensions in Google Ads?
- Pictures you upload that Google can show beside a Search ad’s headline and description. Google has called them image assets since September 2022, when it renamed every ad extension an asset. A click on the image costs the same as a click on the headline.
- What size is a Google Ads image extension?
- A square image, 1:1 and at least 300 x 300 pixels, is required. A landscape image, 1.91:1 and at least 600 x 314 pixels, is optional. Google recommends 1200 x 1200 and 1200 x 628. A file is a PNG or JPG of at most 5120 KB.
- Why can’t I add image assets in my account?
- Google says the option appears only when the account meets its requirements: open at least 60 days, a good history of policy compliance, active campaigns, active text ads with Search spend in the last 30 days, and an eligible vertical.
- Can I add image assets at the account level?
- Google’s steps add an image asset to a campaign or an ad group, and its API guide links one at those two levels and not at the account. Dynamic image assets are the account’s setting: one switch for every campaign.
- What’s the difference between image assets and dynamic image assets?
- You upload image assets and choose the campaign or ad group each goes to. With dynamic image assets on, Google picks images from your ads’ landing pages. Both are then eligible to serve, and Google’s page on automated assets says a dynamic image may show instead of one you uploaded.
- How many image assets should I add?
- Google takes up to 20 images, counted across the campaign, and recommends at least 4 unique ones at the campaign or the ad group, with at least one square and one landscape.
- Do location assets need a Google Business Profile?
- No. For locations you own, Google takes a Business Profile, chain stores from its list, or up to 10 locations chosen on Google Maps. For stores you don’t own that sell your products, it takes chain stores or a global location group, as affiliate locations.