Programmatic native ads using native styles

Guidelines for programmatic native ads that use the Guided design editor

The information on this page is for programmatic native ads that use native styles created using the Guided design editor or HTML & CSS. It does not apply to traditional ads. It also does not apply to programmatic native ads using app code.

For native advanced, which are native ads that use Android or iOS app code, you can see the guidelines here.

Native ads can be used to serve ads that complement the content and look of your app.

All Google Ad Manager programmatic ads that use native styles must adhere to the guidelines described on this page in addition to Google Publisher policies and restrictions.

General requirements

Elements must be large enough to be clearly visible and/or legible.
Elements may not overlap (for example, the headline may not be placed on top of the image).
Elements must not fall outside of the ad unit's boundaries.
No 3rd-party assets (such as custom fonts and JavaScript libraries) may be used.
Elements must only use supported fonts.
CSS functions that may return dynamic values (such as calc()) are not allowed.
Native styles must properly size elements relative to importance (for example, an advertiser's logo should be less prominent than the primary marketing image).
Elements must be arranged in a coherent and aesthetically pleasing manner (for example, elements should be aligned and there should be no excessive white space).

Required ad elements

Required elements for programmatic native ads include the ad attribution badge, the AdChoices overlay, and some advertiser elements (depending on the native ad format).

Ad attribution and AdChoices are used to clearly mark your programmatic native ads as advertisements, which is required so that users don't mistake them for content. It's important to understand the difference between the two:

Example of an app install ad with attribution text

1. Ad attribution

Example of the "Ad attribution" badge The ad attribution badge clearly marks units as advertising. For native express styles, the ad attribution badge is included automatically.

The ad attribution badge must not overlap the AdChoices overlay. Do not hide, obscure, or camouflage the ad attribution badge or the AdChoices overlay.
You may style the attribution to fit your layout, but it must remain clearly legible.
The Ad Attribution badge can overlap the corner of the marketing image if a box shadow is applied. The exact box shadow spec is:
box-shadow: 0px 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, .5);

2. AdChoices

Example of the "AdChoices" icon The AdChoices overlay is added automatically by Google for native express styles. It must be clearly visible in the upper righthand corner. You should avoid placing other ad content in this corner. The AdChoices overlay can overlap the corner of the marketing image.

Image and video elements

Display fields must adhere to the aspect ratios listed in the display field description tables below.
Images or videos must maintain the original aspect ratio.
Publishers may scale image or video elements down without modifying the aspect ratio.
Images when scaled must remain larger than 40 pixels in their shorter dimension.
Cropping by height or width is not allowed.
Video elements must maintain an aspect ratio of 4:3, 16:9, 1:1, 3:4, or 9:16, or as otherwise approved by Google. Video elements must be at least 256 pixels in their longer dimension. For the aspect ratios noted, that translates into minimums of 256x192, 256x144, 256x256, 192x256, or 144x256, respectively.

Programmatic native video eligibility

Programmatic native video ads are only eligible to serve to users with a wifi connection.

Text elements

Text elements must have sufficient contrast from the background to be clearly legible.

Differentiation from content

Ads must be clearly distinguished from content. Do not style ad elements to resemble navigation controls in surrounding content.

Standard native ad formats

Programmatic transactions support standardized native ad formats to maximize advertiser reach and publisher yield. Standard native ad formats use a system-defined group of elements for native ads. Although the elements that make up standard native ad formats are pre-defined, the look of the native ad is still controlled by the publisher.

You select a standard native ad format when defining the ad settings for the Guided design editor. You can then show/hide the elements and rearrange them when styling your native ad. If you're setting up native ads for mobile, be sure to set up styles for both Native content ads and Native app install ads. This will allow both formats to compete to maximize yield.

Programmatic transactions currently support the following native ad formats:

Content
Video content
App install
Video app install

Publishers must display all of the Required elements for each format. Publishers may choose whether or not to display Recommended elements.

Note

Text assets that are longer than the max length may be truncated and ellipsed by Ad Manager. Publishers are not allowed to manually truncate.
The max lengths are half the size in Asian languages. For example, the headline limit is 90 for English and 45 for Chinese.

Required and recommended fields

Content ads

See a native content ad example

Example of a native content ad on a mobile device

Field	Description	Included in ad response	Display requirement
Video _{(for video ads)}	The video VAST response containing all necessary assets to play back a video ad.	Yes	Required
Ad badge	Ad Ad Attribution that clearly marks units as advertising.	Yes	Required
Image _{(for non-video ads)}	Large, primary image with landscape (1.91:1) or square (1:1) aspect ratio.	Yes	Recommended
Title	Primary headline text. This has a maximum length of 90 characters.	Yes	Required
Image _{(for video ads)}	Image (thumbnail) shown in the player before the video ad is clicked or while it is loading. Should match aspect ratio of video (for example: 1280x720 for 16:9 video, 640x480 for 4:3 video).	Yes	Required
Body	Secondary body text (for example, article description). This has a maximum length of 90 characters.	Yes	Recommended
Advertiser logo	Small icon image with square aspect ratio (1:1).	No	Recommended
Advertiser name	Text that identifies the advertiser (for example, advertiser or brand name, visible URL, and so forth). This has a maximum length of 25 characters.	Yes	Recommended
Call to action	Text that encourages user to take action (for example, Visit Site). This has a maximum length of 15 characters.	Yes	Recommended

App install ads

See a Native app install ad example

Example of a native app install ad on a mobile device

Field	Description	Included in ad response	Display requirement
Video _{(for video ads)}	The video VAST response containing all necessary assets to play back a video ad.	Yes	Required
Ad badge	Ad Ad Attribution that clearly marks units as advertising.	Yes	Required
Image _{(for non-video ads)}	Large, primary image with landscape aspect ratio (1.91:1). NOTE: The square aspect ratio (1:1) is not recommended for app install ads because it can decrease performance. Instead, we recommend using the “App icon” if you need a square image.	Yes	Recommended
Image _{(for video ads)}	Image (thumbnail) shown in the player before the video ad is clicked or while it is loading. Should match aspect ratio of video (for example: 1280x720 for 16:9 video, 640x480 for 4:3 video).	Yes	Required
Title	Primary headline text. This has a maximum length of 25 characters.	Yes	Required
Body	Secondary body text (for example, app description). This has a maximum length of 90 characters.	Yes	Recommended
App icon	Small app store image with square aspect ratio (1:1).	Yes	Required
Star rating	Rating from 0-5 that represents the average rating of the app in a store.	No	Recommended
Call to action	Button or text field that encourages user to take action (for example, Install). This has a maximum length of 15 characters.	Yes	Required

Meta variables in standard native ad formats

Standard native ad formats also have the following meta variables, which work in the background to direct users to the correct destination, and also to track clicks and impressions.

Meta variable	Description
Click-through URL	The destination URL when a user clicks on an ad if the deep link click action URL is not supported by the user's device or is not present.
Deep link click action URL	The destination URL when a user clicks on an ad if the URL is supported by an application on the user's device. For example, a user clicks an ad and lands in another app (the deep link click action URL).
Third-party impression tracker	URL that allows advertisers to track an impression if the ad is displayed. The URL can call an image or HTML code.
Third-party click tracker	URL that allows advertisers to track an ad click. This URL can call an image or HTML code.

Assets required to bid

Display & Video 360 will not bid with a creative unless the bid request includes the minimum assets for the format. This means your native ad will only run on publishers or exchanges that use a minimum of one of the following combinations of assets.

Learn more about combinations of assets and minimum asset requirements for Programmatic Guaranteed.

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