New Image Requirements Spotted in AdWords Responsive Ads

If you advertise on Google’s pay-per-click (PPC) platform AdWords, you should take note of new image requirements that were recently spotted in responsive ads.

adwords image requirements

 

When speaking at the Google Performance Summit earlier this year, the Mountain View company announced responsive display ads for AdWords. Basically, these are mobile-friendly ads for which Google automatically generates a headline, description, image and URL provided by the advertiser. They are served on the Google Display Network across all devices, and they are eligible for display on Google’s native ad inventory opened up on the GDB.

 

How do the new responsive ads work?

Basically, advertisers provide a 25-character headline and a 90-character headline, along with a description of 90 or fewer characters, a relevant image, and a landing page URL. Responsive ads can be found in the “Ad+” drop-down menu within the advertiser’s AdWords account. To learn more about responsive ads in AdWords, check out Google’s official help page at https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/7005917.

 

It appears, however, that Google is changing the image requirements for responsive AdWords ads. Jonah Pessin of HeBS Digital explained that Google was asking him to provide not one but two images for his responsive ads. In the past, Google required a standard 1.19:1 ratio landscape image, but not it is also asking for a square-shaped 1:1 ratio image in addition to the landscape image.

 

Is this just a fluke or will Google soon require two images in all responsive AdWords ads?

Pessin reportedly reached out to AdWords for an explanation, after which he was told that “We’re always testing new formats to see what works best, there’s nothing specific or any changes to announce.” So perhaps it’s just a testing phase to see if a different image format yields more clicks and increased engagement. If the new image format doesn’t pan out, Google will likely go back to its original single-image requirements. But if the new image requirements prove useful, it could be rolled out across all AdWords account.

 

Google is constantly changing its AdWords platform in an effort to improve its value for advertisers. After all, it’s in the Google’s best interest to provide an effective, profitable platform on which company’s can promote their products and services. This latest requirement, albeit not official, is just one of the many ways in which Google is doing this. You can check back with our blog for all of the latest news surrounding Google AdWords.