A Google search ad on its own is a headline, a web address and a line or two of description. Assets are the extra pieces Google can add around it: links to other pages on your site, short selling points, a phone number, prices, offers, images and your logo. There’s no charge to add them (you pay for clicks as normal), and they can make your ad noticeably bigger and more useful than a competitor’s that has none.
If you learned Google Ads a few years ago, you’ll know them as “ad extensions”. Google renamed them assets, and the range has grown since. Here’s how the main types work, what Google’s rules are, and the mistakes worth avoiding.
Adding an asset doesn’t mean it will show
This is the part many advertisers miss. Google decides, auction by auction, whether to show any assets and which ones. According to Google’s own guide to assets, an asset shows when it’s predicted to improve your ad’s performance and when your ad’s position and Ad Rank are high enough for assets to appear.
Two things follow from that. First, you want a good pool of relevant assets so Google has something useful to pick from. Second, assets feed back into how your ad competes: the expected impact of assets and ad formats is one of the factors in Ad Rank, alongside your bid and the quality of your ad and landing page.
On cost, clicks on assets are charged in the same way as clicks on the ad itself, and Google charges no more than two clicks per impression for an ad and its assets.
Sitelinks
Sitelinks are the extra links that can appear under your ad, each pointing to a different page. The rules:
- Link text is up to 25 characters.
- Each sitelink can also have two description lines of up to 35 characters each (if you use one line, you need both).
- You need at least two sitelinks for any to show. On desktop, up to six can appear; on mobile, up to eight in a scrollable carousel.
- You can’t use the same link text twice, even if the links go to different pages.
Google’s sitelinks guide recommends at least four at account level and at least six, with descriptions, for your busiest campaigns.
The common mistake is sitelinks that add nothing. Say you run a plumbing firm in Gloucester and your ad is for emergency plumbing. Sitelinks reading “Plumbing”, “Our Services” and “Contact Us” just repeat the ad. “Boiler Repairs”, “Leak Detection”, “Customer Reviews” and “Areas We Cover” each give someone a different reason to click, and each should land on a page about exactly that.
Callouts
Callouts are short, non-clickable lines of text shown with your ad, up to 25 characters each. Depending on the device and space, up to 10 can appear.
Vague callouts waste the space. “Professional Service”, “Quality Guaranteed” and “Trusted By Many” could describe any business in any industry. Specific, checkable ones do more: “Same Day Response”, “Fully Insured”, “Family Run Since 2004”, “Free Parking On Site”. Keep them short, too. Google’s own advice is that “Free shipping” works better than “We have free shipping”. If you wouldn’t be happy for a customer to hold you to it, it shouldn’t be a callout.
Structured snippets
Structured snippets list examples under a preset header. You pick the header from Google’s list, which includes Brands, Models, Types, Styles, Courses, Destinations, Amenities, Neighbourhoods and a service catalogue, then add between 3 and 10 values of up to 25 characters each.
A tyre and exhaust centre could list the tyre brands it stocks under “Brands”. A cleaning company could list domestic, end of tenancy and office cleaning under its services. The rules are strict on a few points: the values have to genuinely fit the header, you can’t repeat a value, and promotional wording such as “Sale” or “Free delivery” isn’t allowed. That kind of message belongs in a callout or promotion asset instead.
Structured snippets are easy to forget, which is a shame, because they’re a tidy way to show your range without cramming it into the description.
Call, price, promotion, image, and business name and logo assets
Beyond the big three, several other asset types are worth knowing about.
Call assets add your phone number to the ad. A call from the ad costs the same as a click on the headline, and you can schedule the asset so it only shows when someone is there to answer. If calls are a big source of enquiries, make sure they’re being tracked properly; our post on conversion tracking mistakes covers the common gaps.
Price assets show a set of cards, up to eight, each with a header, a short description (both up to 25 characters) and a price. You need at least three items. They suit businesses with clear, fixed prices, such as an MOT, a standard boiler service or a set menu.
Promotion assets show an offer, such as a percentage or money-off discount, a promo code or a minimum spend, and can carry a bold occasion label like “Black Friday” or “Christmas”. You can set start and end dates so the offer disappears when it ends. If you’re planning seasonal offers, our guide to planning Christmas Google Ads covers the timing.
Image assets add pictures to search ads. Not every account qualifies: Google requires the account to have been open for at least 60 days, have a good history of policy compliance, and be running active search campaigns with recent spend. A square image is required and a landscape one is recommended.
Business name and logo assets show your name and logo alongside your ad. You need to have completed Google’s advertiser verification and have had search spend in the last 28 days, and the business name (up to 25 characters) has to match your verified legal name or your domain. Google’s own data suggests advertisers who show a business name and logo see around 8% more conversions at a similar cost per conversion, though as with any asset, it isn’t guaranteed to show.
Account, campaign or ad group level
Most assets can be added at account, campaign or ad group level, and the levels behave differently depending on the type.
For sitelinks, assets anywhere in the same branch (the account, that campaign and that ad group) can show together. For callouts, call assets and promotions, the most specific level wins. That catches people out: add a single callout at ad group level and none of your campaign or account callouts will be eligible for that ad group.
A sensible approach is to put general points (opening hours, guarantees, “Fully Insured”) at account or campaign level, and specific ones at ad group level. A firm offering both boiler installation and bathroom fitting shouldn’t show the same sitelinks for both.
Google can also create some assets automatically, such as dynamic sitelinks and callouts pulled from your website. These can be useful, but check what’s being shown under your account’s automated asset settings and switch off anything that doesn’t reflect your business.
Check what’s working
Google reports on each asset individually, so you can see which sitelinks and callouts are getting impressions and clicks. It’s common for a couple to do most of the work. Replace the ones that rarely show, update anything out of date (prices, offers, opening hours), and remove expired promotions. In account audits, stale assets are one of the quickest things to fix.
Assets won’t fix a weak ad
Assets make a strong, relevant ad bigger and more useful. They won’t rescue one that’s showing for the wrong searches or sending people to a page that doesn’t match the promise. Your website is half of your Google Ads campaign, and it’s worth getting that and your keywords right first.
If you’d like a second pair of eyes on your assets and the rest of your account, book a free Google Ads audit and we’ll show you what’s missing and what to change first.
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