Creating Ads

At a glance

Search ads are responsive search ads: up to 15 headlines (30 characters each) and 4 descriptions (90 characters). Google mixes them for each search. Write headlines in groups: the search's words, the promise, proof, and the call to action. Each must make sense on its own. Pin only when you must (a legal line, a brand name). Every pin cuts the combinations Google can test. Add sitelinks, callouts and structured snippets. They make the ad bigger and give buyers more reasons to click. One good ad per ad group is enough to start. Replace the weakest headlines after a few weeks instead of running many ads at once.

How a responsive search ad is built

You supply the parts. Google picks up to three headlines and two descriptions for each impression, based on what it predicts will work for that search. You can't control the exact combination, so every headline must read well next to any other.

Part How many Limit Notes

Headlines 3 to 15 (aim for 10 to 15) 30 characters Up to three show, separated by " | " or on separate lines

Descriptions 2 to 4 (use all 4) 90 characters Up to two show

Display path 2 fields 15 characters each Shown after your domain, e.g. /contracts/demo. Doesn't have to be a real URL

Final URL 1

The landing page. Must be on the same domain as the display URL

A headline formula that works

Write headlines in these groups, using your messaging brief:

Keyword echo (3 or 4): the words of the search. "Contract Management Software", "Contract Tracking for Legal". These help ad relevance. Promise (3 or 4): the outcome. "Never Miss a Renewal Again", "Find Any Contract in Seconds". Proof (2 or 3): "Used by 600 Legal Teams", "Rated 4.7 on G2", "Live in 6 Weeks". Call to action and offer (2 or 3): what happens when they click. Qualifier (1 or 2): who it's for, which filters out bad clicks. "Built for Teams of 50+", "Plans From $29/User".

Descriptions expand on the promise and proof and end with the next step. Make two of them strong enough to stand alone.

Example ads for your goal

Example for a free trial of an API monitoring tool, ad group "api monitoring tool":

Sponsored example-monitor.com › api-monitoring › free-trial API Monitoring Tool | Alerts Before Customers Notice | Free Trial, No Card Set up your first API monitor in 5 minutes. Uptime, latency and error alerts to Slack. Start free. Rated 4.7 by 300+ engineering teams. SOC 2 Type II. Try it free for 14 days. Pricing · Integrations · Docs · Compare plans

Full set All 15 headlines and 4 descriptions

Responsive search ad

Headlines (≤30 chars)
API Monitoring Tool              (19)
Monitor APIs in Real Time        (25)
REST and GraphQL Monitoring      (27)
Alerts Before Customers Notice   (30)
Catch API Errors in Seconds      (27)
First Monitor in 5 Minutes       (26)
Rated 4.7 by Engineering Teams   (30)
Used by 10,000 Developers        (25)
SOC 2 Type II Certified          (23)
Free Trial, No Card Needed       (26)
Start Monitoring Free            (21)
Free for Your First 5 APIs       (26)
Slack and PagerDuty Alerts       (26)
Built for SaaS Engineering       (26)
See Pricing Plans                (17)

Descriptions (≤90 chars)
Set up your first API monitor in 5 minutes. Uptime, latency and error alerts to Slack.    (86)
Rated 4.7 by 300+ engineering teams. SOC 2 Type II. Try it free for 14 days, no card.     (85)
Monitor REST and GraphQL endpoints from 12 regions. Alert the right person, not everyone.  (89)
Stop finding out about outages from customers. Start free and see your first alert today.  (89)

Note the headlines talk about speed to value and no-card risk. For trials, the click is cheap for the user, so you want the ad to promise a fast first result and filter out people who'll never activate.

Example for a demo request for contract management software, ad group "contract management software":

Sponsored example-contracts.com › contract-management › demo Contract Management Software | Never Miss a Renewal | Book a 30-Min Demo Every contract searchable, every renewal flagged. See it with your own contract types. Used by 600 legal teams. Live in 6 weeks. Built for companies with 200+ staff. See pricing · Customer stories · Security · Integrations

Full set All 15 headlines and 4 descriptions

Responsive search ad

Headlines (≤30 chars)
Contract Management Software     (28)
Contract Tracking for Legal      (27)
Contract Lifecycle Management    (29)
Never Miss a Renewal Again       (26)
Find Any Contract in Seconds     (28)
Audit-Ready Contract Records     (28)
Used by 600 Legal Teams          (23)
Live in 6 Weeks, On Average      (27)
SOC 2 and GDPR Compliant         (24)
Book a 30-Min Demo               (18)
See It With Your Contracts       (26)
Talk to a Contract Expert        (25)
Built for Teams of 200+          (23)
Salesforce and DocuSign Sync     (28)
Plans for Mid-Size Companies     (28)

Descriptions (≤90 chars)
Every contract searchable, every renewal flagged. See it with your own contract types.   (86)
Used by 600 legal teams. Live in 6 weeks. Book a 30-minute demo with a product expert.   (86)
Stop chasing contracts in email and shared drives. Central repository, alerts, audit log. (89)
Built for companies with 200+ staff. Salesforce, DocuSign and Microsoft 365 integrations. (89)

Note the qualifiers ("Built for Teams of 200+", "Plans for Mid-Size Companies"). For demos, every unqualified request costs a salesperson's time, so it's worth losing some clicks to filter them out.

Pinning You can pin a headline to position 1, 2 or 3. Do it only when something must always show, such as a regulated disclaimer or your brand name in a brand campaign. If you pin, pin two or three alternatives to the same position so Google still has something to test. Ad Strength will drop; that's acceptable when the pin is needed.

Assets (formerly extensions)

Assets add lines and links to your ad. They raise click-through rate and take up more of the page. Add these at campaign or account level before launch:

Sitelinks (at least 4): links to pricing, customer stories, security, integrations. 25 characters for the link text, plus two optional 35-character description lines. Every sitelink must go to a different, working page. Callouts (4 to 6): short non-clickable phrases, 25 characters. "SOC 2 Type II", "24/5 Support", "No Setup Fees". Structured snippets: a header plus values. "Types: Contract Repository, Renewal Alerts, E-Signature". Image assets and business name and logo: optional but often shown on mobile.

Google may also generate assets automatically from your site. For launch, check under campaign settings that automatically created assets are off, so you know what's showing. You can test them later. As of October 2026

Drafting ads with your LLM

LLMs are good at producing many headline variations and bad at counting characters. Always ask for the count, then check it yourself or paste the list into a sheet with =LEN().

Policy basics that trip up B2B ads

Ads are reviewed automatically, usually within a day. These cause most disapprovals and limited serving in B2B software:

Editorial: no gimmicky capitals ("FREE"), repeated punctuation, exclamation marks in headlines, or symbols used as words. Unverified superlatives: "#1" or "best" need a third-party source shown on the landing page. Destination: the landing page must work, load on mobile, and match the ad's domain. Broken sitelinks get disapproved. Trademarks: using a competitor's name in ad text can be restricted if they've filed a complaint. See Advertising against competitors. Misleading claims: "free" must actually be free (say "free trial" or "free plan", not just "free" if a card is charged later).

If an ad is disapproved, the Policy details column says why. Fix and resubmit; repeated serious violations can suspend the account.

Language for your region

Write separate ad groups or campaigns for each language rather than mixing languages in one ad. Use British spelling for the UK ("optimise", "organisation"). Character limits are the same in every language, and German compound words make 30 characters tight, so have a native speaker check what your LLM drafts.

English ads work for most B2B software searches. Show INR pricing if you show prices at all, and avoid "free" as a standalone hook unless the page qualifies who it's for.

Google counts Japanese, Korean and Chinese characters as two each toward the 30 and 90 limits, so you fit about half as many characters. Write these ads natively rather than translating English ones.

Write Brazilian Portuguese and Spanish ads separately, and use regional Spanish where it matters (Mexico versus Argentina). Mention local currency or local support if you offer them; it's a real differentiator.

Arabic ads need right-to-left landing pages to match. In markets where English dominates B2B search, start with English and add Arabic or French ad groups once you see search volume in the search terms report.

Spot the problems

This ad is for a demo of HR onboarding software, running on the keyword "employee onboarding software". The landing page is the company homepage.

Sponsored example-hr.com The #1 HR Platform!! | Innovative Solutions | Welcome to ExampleHR ExampleHR is a leading provider of next-generation, AI-powered human capital solutions for the modern enterprise. Contact us today to learn more about our offerings.

Go deeper Ad Strength, testing and when to add a second ad

Google shows an Ad Strength rating (Poor to Excellent) while you write. It measures variety and how many headlines you've filled in, not results. Aim for Good or better, but don't add weak headlines just to raise it. After three or four weeks, open the ad's Assets view to see which headlines get the most impressions. Google shows the ones it predicts work. Replace the two or three that rarely show with new angles, rather than starting a second ad. Add a second RSA to an ad group only when you want to test a genuinely different message (for example, a price-led ad versus a proof-led ad), and judge them on conversions, not CTR. Ad customisers and keyword insertion exist but add complexity. You don't need them to start.

Do this now

Write one responsive search ad per ad group: 10 to 15 headlines, 4 descriptions, character counts checked. Include at least one qualifier headline that filters out people you can't sell to. Add 4 sitelinks, 4 to 6 callouts and one structured snippet. Check automatically created assets are off for launch. Run the ad-check prompt and fix any policy or length problems before uploading.

Next: Landing Pages