About assets

Assets are content pieces that make up your ad with useful business information – giving people more reasons to choose your business. Assets include the headlines, descriptions, links to specific parts of your website, call buttons, location information and more that come together to make up the eventual ad format that is shown to a user.

This article covers what each asset type does and how to pick the right assets for you.

How they work

To maximise the performance of your responsive search ads, Google Ads selects which additional assets to show in response to each individual search on Google. For that reason, it’s a good idea to use all the assets relevant to your business goals.

By adding more content to your ad, assets like sitelinks and images give your ad greater visibility and prominence on the search results page. That means that you tend to get more value from your ad. Assets often increase your total number of clicks, and can give people additional, interactive ways of reaching you as with maps or calls.

Many asset types require a bit of setup – those are manual. Some assets are added automatically when Google Ads predicts that they’ll improve your performance – those are automated and do not need any set up. Learn more About account-level automated assets.

Cost

There's no cost to add additional assets to your campaign. Clicks on any asset in the final ad on the headline, sitelink, image and more will be charged as usual. (The exception is clicks on seller ratings, which are not charged.) So you’re charged a click when someone calls you from a call icon on your final or when someone downloads your app by clicking on the app rendered on your final ad. Google Ads charges no more than two clicks per impression for each ad and its assets.

Actual cost-per-click

There's no cost to add assets to your campaign, but you're charged as usual for clicks on your ad, as well as for certain interactions that assets provide. For example, when a person clicks on a download button (app assets), on a call button (call assets), on a directions icon (location assets) and so on. Clicks on reviews and seller ratings are an exception: we don’t charge you for these. Google Ads charges no more than two clicks (per impression) on each ad and its assets.

The most you'll pay is what's minimally required to clear the Ad Rank thresholds and beat the Ad Rank of the competitor immediately below you (if any).

Just as ads in higher positions usually have a higher actual CPC (due to competition and, in part, to higher Ad Rank thresholds), ads with more assets also often have a higher actual CPC due to increased prominence. However, note that the incremental cost of adding more assets to your ads is often lower than the incremental cost of moving up a position on the search results page. That means you can often get more clicks for less money by using additional ad assets than by increasing your position.

Headlines and descriptions

Headlines and descriptions are required assets that should be compelling, focused on user benefits and unique. The more headlines and descriptions you enter, the more opportunities Google Ads has to serve ads that more closely match potential customer search queries, which can improve your ad performance.

After you enter headlines and descriptions, Google Ads assembles the text into multiple ad combinations in a way that avoids redundancy. You can provide up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions for a single responsive search ad.

In any given ad, a minimum of one headline and one description will be selected to show in different combinations and orders. Part of your ad text may automatically appear in bold when it matches or closely matches a user's search query. Over time, Google Ads will test the most promising ad combinations and learn which combinations are the most relevant for different queries.

Responsive search ads will show one, two or three headlines based on what is predicted to perform best for each person’s unique search query. Headline asset text may show at the beginning of the description when it’s predicted to perform best. If you have assets that are pinned to headline position 1, headline position 2 or description position 1, they'll continue to show in their designated positions when your ads serve. Learn more About responsive search ads.

Note: Unlike other assets, headlines and descriptions can’t be applied at different account or campaign levels. Learn more about optimising your headlines and descriptions.

How to select additional assets to use

Keep these best practices in mind as you choose and set up your assets:

Use every asset relevant to your business – assets are free to add and they’ll only show if they’re predicted to improve your ad's performance.
Consider adding four or more asset types. For example, you could add sitelinks, callouts, images and one additional asset of your choice.
If it makes sense for your business, create assets at higher account levels (for example, at the account or campaign level, when available).
Read-only asset types are not displayed and counted but may still serve.

Select assets based on your goal

Select your additional assets based on your primary advertising goal. Here are common advertiser goals and the assets that can support them:

Goal: Get customers to buy from your business location

If you want to direct people to your physical locations (like shops or restaurants), here are assets that you may consider:

Location assets

Encourage people to visit your business by showing your location, a call button and a link to your business details page – which can include your hours, photos of your business and directions to get there. If you want customers to visit your business location but to call a centralised line (rather than specific locations’ numbers), use call assets with your location assets. Learn more About location assets.

Goal: Get customers to contact you

If you want people to call you or send you a text message query, use call assets:

Call assets

Encourage people to call your business by adding a phone number or call button to your ads. Learn more About call assets.

Goal: Get customers to convert on your website

If you want to direct people to your website, use these assets:

Sitelink assets

Link people directly to specific pages of your website (like 'hours' and 'order now'). Learn more about Create and edit sitelink assets.

Callout assets

Add additional text to your ad, like 'free delivery' or '24/7 customer support'.

Structured snippet assets

Showcase information that potential customers will find most valuable by selecting a predefined header (like, product or service category) and listing items. Learn more about structured snippet assets.

Price assets

Showcase your services or product categories with their prices, so that people can browse your products right from your ad. Learn more about price assets.

Goal: Get people to download your app

If you want to get people to download your app, use app assets:

App assets

Encourage people to download your app. Available globally for Android and iOS mobile devices, including tablets. Learn more about app assets.

Goal: Get people to submit their information

If you want to encourage people to submit their contact information (such as an email address, phone number and other details) in response to a product or service that you offer, use lead form assets.

Lead form assets

Get people to sign up from your ad. Available globally for mobile devices and tablets. Learn more about lead form assets.

How to remove assets

Assets add information about your business to your ads and typically boost your ads' performance. If you want to remove assets, though, follow the instructions below.

In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon .
Click the Assets drop-down in the section menu.
Click Assets.
Select Association from the 'Table view' drop-down menu.
Check the box to the left of the assets and click Edit in the blue bar.
Select Remove from the drop-down menu.

Removing an asset from one campaign won’t remove the asset from other campaigns.

How to turn off account-level automated assets

To turn off account-level automated assets, follow these steps:

In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon .
Click the Assets drop-down in the section menu.
Click Assets.
Select Association from the 'Table view' drop-down menu.
Click the three-dot menu on the right, then select Account-level automated assets.
Click the three-dot menu on the right again, then select Advanced options.
Select Turn off specific automated assets, then choose which asset to turn off.
Select your reason for turning off the asset and add additional comments.
Click Turn off.

Information specific only to assets that aren’t headlines or descriptions

The information below only applies to assets that aren’t headlines or descriptions.

How to schedule your assets

For supported assets, you can schedule your assets to only show during specific times of the day or during a specific time frame. For example, you can schedule call assets so they only show during the hours your business is able to take calls.

Instructions

In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon .
Click the Assets drop-down in the section menu.
Click Assets.
Select Association from the 'Table view' drop-down menu. You will now see a table with all your assets.
Select an asset type from the list above the table toolbar.
Click the pencil icon besides the asset that you’d like to schedule, and choose Edit.
Click the Advanced options drop-down menu.
Set a start and end date to show your asset only during that time frame.
Under 'Asset schedule', select the days and times that you’d like your asset to show. Click Add schedule to schedule additional days and times.
Click Save.

Factors determining when assets show

Google Ads shows your assets depending on a number of factors such as:

Your Ad Rank, which combines your bid, the quality of your ad and landing page, Ad Rank thresholds, context of the person’s search and expected impact of assets and other ad formats. Google Ads requires a minimum Ad Rank (factoring in your assets) before showing additional assets with your ad. So, you may need to increase your bid or your ad quality (or both) in order for your additional assets to show.
The position of your ad on the Google search results page. There’s a limited amount of space available above Google search results for ad assets, and ads in higher positions get the first opportunity to show more assets. Ads in lower positions generally will have fewer assets added than ads in higher positions. Plus, the Google Ads system generally won’t allow ads in lower positions to get more incremental clicks from assets than the incremental clicks they’d get from moving up to a higher position. To show ads in higher positions, generally you need to increase your ad quality, bid or both. Learn more about Ad Rank.
Other assets that you’ve enabled. In each auction, we'll generally show your highest performing and most useful combination of eligible assets and formats. You will not be able to get a combination of assets which gives more expected click-through-rate (CTR) than the expected CTR of a higher ad position.

How to make assets more likely to show

Sometimes assets that you want to use don't show with your ads. This doesn’t mean that something is wrong. (For example, if you were to add a sitelink and an image to your ad, there are a number of reasons why one of those assets might show for some searches and not for others.)

Make sure your asset is associated with an active ad group, campaign or account.

Assets can be approved or disapproved just like ads and keywords. Disapproved assets do not show and need to be edited and submitted for re-review.

Even if it’s approved, adding an asset won’t guarantee that it will show with your ad all the time. Assets show with your ad when:

The asset (or combination of assets) is predicted to improve your ad's performance.
Your ad’s position and Ad Rank is high enough for assets to show.

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