Google Ads assets are what used to be called ad extensions. They are the extra pieces that show under or beside your ad: sitelinks, callouts, phone numbers, prices, images and more. Google says assets “often increase your total number of clicks”, mostly because they make your ad physically larger and give people more reasons to click.
The rename happened a while ago but the old word stuck, so you will see both terms used. The feature is the same.
Assets are also the cheapest improvement available in most accounts. They cost nothing extra to add, they take an afternoon, and a lot of accounts are running with two of the fifteen available types.
What asset types does Google offer?
Google’s asset documentation lists headlines and descriptions as required, then the following as optional: location, call, sitelink, callout, structured snippet, text disclaimer, price, promotion, app, lead form, image, message, and business links.
Not all of them apply to every business. Here are the ones that earn their place in most accounts.
| Asset | What it does | Who should use it |
|---|---|---|
| Sitelink | Links to specific pages under your ad | Everyone. This is the highest value asset. |
| Callout | Short non clickable phrases, like free delivery | Everyone |
| Structured snippet | A header plus a list, like Services: roofing, gutters, siding | Anyone with a clear list of services or brands |
| Call | A phone number and tap to call button | Any business where people phone to buy |
| Location | Address, call button, link to business details | Businesses customers physically visit |
| Image | A photo beside your search ad | Products and visual services |
| Price | Services or categories with prices | Anyone comfortable publishing prices |
| Promotion | Limited time offers and sales | Ecommerce and seasonal offers |
| Lead form | Collects details without leaving Google | Use with care, see below |
What this means for you: if you add nothing else, add sitelinks, callouts and structured snippets. Those three apply to nearly every business and take about an hour.
How many sitelinks should you add?
Add at least six, and write them as destinations a real person might want, not as a copy of your top navigation menu.
Google shows different numbers of sitelinks depending on device, position and space, so having more than will show is normal and useful. It gives Google choice.
The common mistake is sitelinks that read About Us, Contact, Blog, Careers. Those are the pages your site has, not the things your customer wants. Better sitelinks answer the next question the searcher has: See Pricing, Same Day Service, View Case Studies, Get A Free Quote.
Each sitelink can carry two description lines. Fill them. A sitelink with descriptions takes up more space and gives more reason to click.
Do assets affect Quality Score or cost?
Not directly, and this is worth being precise about because a lot of articles get it wrong. Google documents Quality Score as a 1 to 10 measure built from three components: expected click through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience. Assets are not one of them.
The connection is indirect. Assets raise click through rate, and expected click through rate is a Quality Score component. So better assets can feed into a better Quality Score over time, through actual performance rather than through a direct rule.
Assets do count toward Ad Rank, which is what decides whether you show and in what position. That is a separate calculation from Quality Score, and it is why two advertisers with similar bids can end up in different positions.
Google publishes no uplift percentage for assets on its own documentation page, so be skeptical of articles that quote a precise figure.
Which assets cause problems?
Three deserve a warning.
Lead form assets. They collect the enquiry inside Google, which raises volume and usually lowers quality. People fill in a form without ever seeing your site, so they have no idea who you are when you call. If you use them, expect to work harder on qualification. Our post on Google Ads lead quality covers this in detail.
Automated assets. Google will generate sitelinks, callouts and dynamic descriptions for you by pulling from your site. Sometimes they are fine. Sometimes they surface a page you did not want advertised, or phrase something in a way your compliance team would not approve. Review what is being generated rather than assuming.
Price assets on a business that negotiates. If your prices genuinely vary by job, publishing a starting price can attract the wrong enquiries and set an expectation you then have to walk back.
What is the difference between account, campaign and ad group assets?
Assets can be set at three levels, and the lower level wins. An ad group asset overrides a campaign asset, which overrides an account asset.
Use account level for things that are true everywhere: your main phone number, your headline callouts about the business. Use campaign level for anything specific to a service line or location. Use ad group level sparingly, when a specific set of keywords deserves its own sitelinks.
This ties directly into how the account is organized. If your campaigns are not split in a way that reflects your service lines, you cannot give each line the right assets. Our post on account structure covers where to draw those lines.
Do assets work in Performance Max?
Yes, and they matter more there. Performance Max runs on asset groups, and the assets are effectively the entire creative. There are no keywords to lean on, so what you supply is the whole input.
Google will also generate and combine assets in Performance Max more aggressively than in Search. Check the asset reporting, and remove or replace anything performing poorly. Our Performance Max guide covers what control you retain.
Common questions
Do assets always show?
No. Google decides per auction based on position, device, space and predicted performance. Adding an asset makes it eligible to show, not guaranteed to show.
Do I pay extra when someone clicks a sitelink?
You pay a standard click, the same as if they had clicked the headline. You are not charged twice for one ad impression, so clicking the ad and then a sitelink does not double your cost.
Should I use call assets or a call only campaign?
Call assets add a phone option to a normal ad. A call only campaign removes the website entirely and drives phone calls exclusively. Use call assets by default. Use call only when the phone is genuinely the only way you take business.
How often should assets be refreshed?
Review quarterly, and change anything seasonal or promotional as soon as it expires. An expired promotion asset still showing in November is a common and avoidable embarrassment.
Should I turn off automated assets?
Review them first. Some accounts get real value from automatically generated sitelinks. Others find Google promoting a careers page to people searching for a service. Look at what is actually being generated before deciding.
Do assets help with AI Overviews or AI search?
Assets are a paid ad feature and do not affect organic AI answers. They are about making your ad occupy more of the results page, which matters more now that organic click through rate has fallen. One study found organic click through on queries with an AI Overview bottomed at 1.3% in December 2025 and recovered to 2.4% by February 2026, against roughly 3.3% for queries without one.
Where to go from here
Open your ads preview and look at what your ad actually shows. Count the lines. If it is two lines of text and nothing else, you are giving away space that your competitors are taking for free.
Adding sitelinks, callouts and structured snippets is an afternoon of work with no extra media cost, and it is one of the few changes in Google Ads that is almost impossible to get wrong. If you want us to do it, our Google Ads management page explains how we work, and you can get in touch for a look at what your ads are missing.
