Create Image Ads in Different Sizes
Want to make an impression on customers with engaging graphics? Use image ads to capture people’s attention as they browse websites in the Google Display Network. The network contains thousands of sites and apps, from online newspapers to blogs to Google websites, such as Blogger. Image ads give you a way to entice customers to your website, using a combination of graphics and text.
You can create image ads in various sizes. If you have a static, animated, or Flash image that you’d like to use, you can upload it into AdWords. You can also take advantage of available templates in display ad builder to build a custom ad.
If you’ve browsed websites and seen large graphic ads across the top of a webpage, then you’re already familiar with what image ads look like. Here’s an example of an image ad on a fitness site (highlighted in red):
Snazzy, huh? AdWords image ads can appear in a variety of pre-approved sizes, which are measured in pixels. Use images to simply drive awareness of your brand or increase clicks and traffic to your website.
Example
Let’s say you sell hand-knitted scarves online and you want to generate more sales. Create image ads to showcase your scarves and target Display Network websites that sell clothing and accessories. Or perhaps you just want more people to learn about your brand and are not necessarily concerned with sales. In that case, you might want to use image ads on blogs or forums for knitting enthusiasts.
Supported ad sizes and formats
Before creating your ad in AdWords, you’ll need to prepare an image file that is sized and formatted appropriately. The size and format requirements depend on where you plan to show your ad — websites on desktop browsers or on mobile devices.
Learn about the different campaign types and available ad formats.
Specifications for image ads on desktop browsers
Acceptable file formats: .GIF, .JPG, .JPEG, .PNG, .SWF
File size limits: 50 KB or less for all files.
Supported ad sizes:
250 x 250 square
This ad size can appear at the top, on the side, or on the bottom of the page.
200 x 200 small square
This ad size can appear at the top, on the side, or on the bottom of the page.
468 x 60 banner
This ad size can appear at the top, in the middle, or on the bottom of the page.
728 x 90 leaderboard
This ad size can appear at the top, in the middle, or on the bottom of the page.
300 x 250 inline rectangle
This ad size can appear at the top, on the side, or on the bottom of the page.
336 x 280 large rectangle
This ad size can appear at the top, on the side, or on the bottom of the page.
120 x 600 skyscraper
This ad size can appear on either the left or right side of the page.
160 x 600 wide skyscraper
This ad size can appear on either the left or right side of the page.
300 x 600 half-page ad
Specs for image ads on high-end mobile devices
You can also create image ads to show on iPhones and other high-end mobile devices with full HTML browsers.
Acceptable file formats: .GIF, .JPG, .JPEG, .PNG
File size limits: 50 KB or less for all files.
Supported ad sizes:
320 x 50 mobile leaderboard
200 x 200 small square
250 x 250 square
300 x 250 inline rectangle
Tips
- Once you’ve created your ad, make sure you choose the right device settings for your campaign in order to show the ad on high-end mobile devices. More about high-end mobile ads.
- You can also create image ads for WAP-enabled devices, which usually have a smaller screen. More about WAP image ads.
- The ad examples above appear as they would on an XHTML mobile web page. The appearance of an ad’s “user bar” — consisting of an “[Ad]” tag and the Display URL — can vary slightly depending upon a page’s markup language.
Additional specs
I’ve covered just the basic specs above. Please check AdWords image ad advertising policies for more requirements about animated image ads, Flash ads, and general ad content. Make sure you have the necessary permissions for the image you’re using.
More details
Permissions: You need to own or have permission to use the image in your ad. This means that you can reuse old images you’ve created, create new images, purchase an image, or hire a company to make you an image. You can’t use existing images without permission. You can also use the display ad builder to make image ads with AdWords library of free images.
Height and width: Your ad’s dimensions must be the height and width of the format you chose.
Graphical Google ads overlay: In each image ad, AdWords will include a small informational graphic overlay. They won’t resize your image to accommodate this element. Your ad should take this overlay element into account. You can preview how your ad will appear with this overlay during the ad creation process for a standard image ad or a template image ad in the display ad builder.
Creating your image ad
You can build your image ad in two different ways:
1. Upload a standard image ad: If you have an ad file prepared, upload it in AdWords.
2. Use display ad builder image ad templates: You can also take advantage of available templates in display ad builder to build a custom ad. Use a mix of images you upload and images AdWords provides in their stock image gallery, and edit the content of your image within the tool.
Uploading your image ad:
- Sign in to AdWords.
- Click the Campaigns tab.
- Click the Ads tab within the page.
- Click the + New ad menu and select Image ad. Don’t see this option? Check that your ad campaign is set to show ads on the Display Network.
- In the “Select an ad group” section, choose the campaign and ad group that you’d like your new ad to be a part of. Your ad will use the settings you selected for that campaign and ad group.
- Upload your ad file and fill out the fields in the “New image ad” section. Make sure your file conforms to the ad size and format guidelines above. Both the ad name and Display URL are used for reporting and approval reasons only, and won’t actually be displayed in your ad.
- Preview your ad on the right. If it looks good, click Save.
Once you save your image ad, AdWords will review your ad to make sure it meets their advertising policies. Once approved, depending on your ad content and your campaign settings, your ad can start running almost immediately.
Think before you use Flash…
Not all devices support Flash. To help you reach customers using devices that don’t support Flash, AdWords can create a non-Flash version of the ad for you. Don’t see an option to preview a non-Flash version of your ad? Make sure your SWF file uses ActionScript 2.0 and avoid filters or blending if possible.
More details on converting your ad
AdWords can convert Flash to HTML5, which can be viewed on most major desktops, tablets, and mobile devices. The converted ad may not be 100% identical to the Flash ad you created, so be sure to preview it before saving. Most shapes, embedded fonts, timeline animation, text, movie clips, buttons, and scripting are supported, but not filters or blending. The system automatically determines which version of your ad to show, based on the device that your customer is using.
Using the display ad builder:
- Sign in to AdWords.
- Select the campaign or ad group where you want to create your image ad.
- Select the Ads tab.
- Select Display ad builder from the “New ad” drop-down menu above the statistics table. If you don’t see this option, make sure your campaign is set to target the Display Network.
- Choose an image-based template from the gallery.
- Complete the required fields of the template, including uploading any images. You’ll be able to preview what your ad will look like as you build your ad. You can select from AdWords stock of free images, your media library of previously uploaded content, or use an image hosted on your own site.
- Click Next to preview your ad again in all the available image sizes. Deselect the checkboxes for any sizes that don’t display your ad content correctly.
- Click Save Ad when you are finished.
Once you save your image ad, AdWords will review your ad to make sure it’s okay within their advertising policies. Once approved, depending on your ad content and your campaign settings, your ad can start running almost immediately.
Tip
It’s a good idea to include text in your image ad, such as a brief product description or a call-toaction to reinforce your ad’s message. This also helps people realize they can actually engage with your ad, instead of assuming it’s there for eye candy. See more tips for creating effective display ads.
Want to showcase your product images on Google search results? Consider creating product ads.
Note
A small “x” appears in the corner of image ads on the Google Display Network, like in the example below.
When people click the “x,” they tell Google that they no longer want to see ads from that ad’s web domain. This means that, in the future, Google will try to avoid showing people ads associated with this ad campaign URL. For example, if someone mutes an ad from europeancarweb.com, ads at the domain level of europeancarweb.com as well as specific pages like europeancarweb.com/germain-cars will be muted. This feature gives consumers control over the ads they see, and advertisers don’t need to pay to show ads to people who aren’t interested in them.
Image Ad Guidelines and Policies
Image ads are ads that appear with a picture. The rules that apply to text ads generally apply to image ads too. This policy applies to both standalone image ads and images ads created using the display ad builder.
Regardless of format, your ads should always follow the AdWords advertising policies. They also recommend that you follow these guidelines to make sure your ads are eligible to run:
- Permissions: You need to own or have permission to use the image in your ad. This means that you can reuse old images you’ve created, create new images, purchase an image, or hire a company to make you an image. You can’t use existing images without permission. You can also use the display ad builder to make image ads with AdWords library of free images.
- Height and width: Your ad’s dimensions must be the height and width of the format you chose.
- Graphical Google ads overlay: In each image ad, AdWords will include a small informational graphic overlay. They won’t resize your image to accommodate this element. Your ad should take this overlay element into account. You can preview how your ad will appear with this overlay during the ad creation process for a standard image ad or a template image ad in the display ad builder.
To ensure your image ads are appropriate, they also have additional requirements when using the image ad format. A full review of image ad policies can be found on the Google AdWords Policy page.