One of the most effective ways for an advertiser to get their message to the right audience and reach their marketing goals is by using image-based ads on the Google network.
Google has multiple image-based campaign types to choose from:
- The Google Display Network allows Google advertisers to display their ads on millions of websites, including Google-owned entities, such as Gmail and YouTube. Display campaigns can allow advertisers to show their ads to people as they browse more than two million websites, videos, and apps.
- Google Discovery campaigns allow for a personalized visual ad experience that can reach three billion people based on consumer intent.
- Performance Max campaigns are automated image- and video-based campaigns that display across the Google landscape on YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail, and Maps.
An essential thing to know when building image ads is having the right specs and optimizing what performs best for each campaign type. Here’s a round-up of the ad sizes for Google’s image-based ads.
Google Display Ads:
The Display Network allows for two different ad types:
- Responsive Display Ads: These ads give Google the assets – including images, logos, headlines, and descriptions – and Google will put the ads together dynamically to fit as many websites as possible. These are the most commonly used ads on the Display Network, and they can fit in designated spots on a webpage.
- Image-Based Display Ads: These are standalone image ads that include all elements of the ad, which allows you to control the look of the ads. This ad type does constrain you to only show on the sites that have the availability for the size of ad you provide, but they are important for companies who have a specific brand look and feel. Image-based display ads can be animated GIFs.
Responsive Display Ads:
Ad images can be uploaded as JPEG, PNG, or GIF files. Test product and marketing (lifestyle) images to see what works best. For logos, it is recommended that you upload at least one landscape and one square.
- Ad Images
- Landscape – (1.91:1): 1,200 × 628 recommended. 600 × 314 minimum. 5,120 KB max size.
- Square – 1,200 × 1,200 recommended. 300 × 300 minimum. 5,120 KB max size.
- Logos
- Landscape – (4:1): 1,200 x 300 recommended. 512 x 128 minimum. 5,120 KB max size.
- Square – 1,200 x 1,200 recommended. 128 x 128 minimum. 5,120 KB max size.
Image-Based Display Ads:
It can be hard to know how many image-based ads to create. My colleague John did an extensive test of what Google Display ad sizes are most important to include.
Based on our analysis, the ad formats you should always create when building a display campaign are:
- Incline Rectangle (300X250)
- Large Rectangle (336X280)
- Square (250X250)
- Small Square (200X200)
- Half-Page (300X600)
- Wide Skyscraper (160X600)
- Leaderboard (728X90)
- Banner (468X60)
- Billboard (970X250)
- Large Leaderboard (970X90)
- Mobile Banner (320X50)
- Large Mobile Banner (320X100)
Other Useable Image Sizes:
- Vertical Rectangle (240X400)
- Netboard (580X400)
- Triple Widescreen (250X360)
- Skyscraper (120X600)
- Portrait (300X1050)
- Panorama (980X120)
- Top Banner (930X180)
- Mobile Banner Version 2 (300X50)
Note: Supported image files include: JPG, PNG, and GIF with a limit of 150 kilobytes. Because this is quite a small file size, if you want to do animated ads, do them in HTML5 format.
Discovery Campaign Image Specs:
To build a discovery campaign, each campaign will require multiple asset images; this includes a landscape, a portrait, and a square image. Each discovery campaign requires marketing (we’ve found that lifestyle images work best – showing people using the items instead of just products, though it’s good to test both and find what works best for your company) images and logo images.
- Discovery Marketing Images
- Landscape – (1.91:1) 1,200 x 628 recommended. 600 x 314 min. 5 MB max size.
- Square – (1:1) 1,200 x 1,200 recommended. 300 x 300 min. 5 MB max size.
- Portrait – (4:5) 960 x 1200 recommended. 480×600 min. 5 MB max size. You can also crop the square image to this portrait size, which is easier than loading a separate image.
- Discovery Logo Images
- Square – (1:1) 1,200 x 1,200 recommended. 128 x 128 min. 1 MB max size. GIF images are not accepted for logos.
Note: Supported image files include: JPG and PNG.
Performance Max (PMax) Image Specs:
To build a PMax campaign, each campaign will require multiple asset images. This includes cropping images into a square, landscape, and portrait. Each PMax campaign requires lifestyle images and logo images. Videos can be added via YouTube link or auto-generated from the imported assets (not recommended).
- PMax Marketing Images
- Square – (1:1) 1,200 x 1,200 recommended. 300 x 300 min. 5,120 KB max size.
- Landscape – (1.91:1) 1,200 x 628 recommended. 600 x 314 min. 5,120 KB max size.
- Portrait – (4:5) 960 x 1,200 recommended. 480 x 600 min (not a required ratio). You can also crop the square image to this portrait size, which is easier than loading a separate image.
- PMax Logo Images
- Square – (REQUIRED) (1:1) 1,200 x 1,200 recommended. 128 x 128 min. 5,120 KB max size.
- Landscape – (Not Required but Recommended) (4:1) 1,200 x 300 recommended. 512 x 128 min. 5,120 KB max size.
- PMax Videos
- Any ratio, 10 seconds long or longer. Highly recommended to load a video instead of allowing Google to create a video, as results are significantly better than using the auto-generated videos, which will happen if you don’t load your own video.
It’s important to understand what a target customer wants and how to reach the said customer. The power of Google image-based ads not only helps reach the potentially desired customers but also gets the best message across through visuals. Of course, it does rely on the images themselves being visually appealing and having the right message being displayed, but if all is done correctly, it can go a long way in doing business online.
