Google Ads extensions (now assets): which to use and how to set them up

Start with sitelinks, callouts and structured snippets on every Search campaign. Add a call asset for the hours someone answers, plus a location asset only if customers visit.

Then add images, a business name and logo, prices, promotions and lead forms where eligible and helpful. Even an approved asset is never guaranteed to show.

Extensions are now called assets

Google retired the word extensions and now calls everything that makes up an ad an asset. That puts three different things under one name.

Headlines and descriptions are the text assets inside a responsive search ad. Our guide on how to write Google Ads covers those. Performance Max asset groups are the bundles of text, images and video that campaign type assembles itself.

This guide is about the third group, the former extensions:

• sitelinks

• callouts

• structured snippets

• calls

• locations

• images

• business information

• prices

• promotions

• lead forms

• a few specialist formats

Google's overview of assets describes them as content pieces that make up your ad with useful business information. It lists the three conditions for showing them.

The asset is approved and associated with an active account, campaign or ad group. Google predicts it will improve the ad. The ad clears a minimum Ad Rank that factors in the assets. Higher positions get the first chance to show more of them.

The figures come from Google's help page for each asset, linked in the sections below. Put together, an example electrician's ad looks like this.

On a phone, a call asset would add a call button under the ad. It would use the business's own verified number.

Account setup, billing and the first campaign are a separate job. Our guide to setting up Google Ads for a small business covers them.

Write useful sitelinks, callouts and snippets

Sitelinks and destination pages

A sitelink is a labelled link to a page other than the ad's final URL. Its job is to let a searcher skip straight to the thing they wanted.

Google's sitelinks page sets the limits in the quick reference above. The two description lines are optional. But Google highly recommends them, because some ad formats need them. Sitelinks can also be scheduled by dates, days and times.

Aim for at least four useful choices. Make it six where the site has six pages worth the click. Either way, Google decides how many show.

Each sitelink should go to a distinct page that does what the label says. The label itself should describe the destination.

Choose labels and destinations that match what the searcher needs. "Services" tells someone nothing new. "Switchboard Upgrades" tells them the business does the job they searched for. The sitelink then takes them to the page that proves it.

A useful About page is not automatically a weak sitelink. For a searcher choosing between providers, "Meet the Electricians" can be exactly the page they want. Relevance to the search and the decision is the test. Once a searcher lands, the destination has a job to do. Our guide to choosing a Google Ads landing page or the homepage covers it.

Callouts and evidence

Callouts are short, non clickable phrases that sit under the ad. Google's callouts page prefers the short fact to the sentence. Its own example favours "Free delivery" over "We have free delivery". Shorter text also lets more of them show.

Use them for provable benefits the business would be comfortable defending to a customer who relied on them.

Every one of the four improved callouts is a claim. Each belongs in the ad only if the business offers it. Do not write "Licensed and Insured" without the licence or "500 Five Star Reviews" without the count. Do not write "No Call Out Fee" without the policy or "Same Day Response" without the roster to deliver it.

The ACCC's guidance on false or misleading claims judges the overall impression. A callout is advertising like any other line. Keep callouts distinct from the RSA text rather than repeating it. Keep them distinct from each other, too.

Structured snippets and valid headers

Structured snippets show a header and a list. The header has to be one of Google's. Google's structured snippets page lists the valid headers:

• Amenities

• Brands

• Courses

• Degree programmes

• Destinations

• Featured hotels

• Insurance coverage

• Models

• Neighbourhoods

• Service catalogue

• Shows

• Styles

• Types

Google warns that a mismatch between the header and its values is the most likely reason for disapproval.

"Services" is not one of those headers. In the Australian English interface the header is "Service catalogue". An electrician's values might be Fault Repairs, Switchboard Upgrades, EV Charger Installation and Safety Checks. Confirm the current interface wording when you set it up.

A common mistake is to put the service list in the callouts and the benefits in the snippet. Callouts explain a benefit. Snippets describe the range.

Add calls, locations and visual identity

A call asset puts a phone action on the ad. Google's call assets page describes a call button under responsive search ads on mobile. On desktop, a Call us button reveals the number with a QR code. Clicks are charged at the same cost as a headline click.

The number must be verified as the business's own, under the format rules in the quick reference. Dynamic number insertion swaps the number each visitor sees. That swap can stop Google verifying the number. Our guide to Google Ads call tracking covers that fix, forwarding numbers, call reporting and qualified call imports.

Schedule the asset to the days and hours someone answers, in the account's time zone. A call button at 2am sends paid clicks to voicemail.

A location asset may supply a location number. If it does, an ad showing that location may display that number instead of the call asset's. Check which number is being shown.

A tap is not an answered call. A call that lasts a minute is not a qualified enquiry either. Distinguish clicks, connected calls, answered calls and qualified calls. Set any duration threshold from your own call log rather than a universal figure.

Our managed account sample is 45 service accounts from May 2024 to September 2026. In the trades accounts, the call asset carries 15% to 30% of all ad clicks. That is why its schedule and its answer rate deserve the same attention as the keywords.

Google's call only ad notice was posted on 3 October 2025. It states that all options to create a new call only ad were removed in February 2026. All existing call only ads stop receiving impressions in February 2027. Advertisers must transition to call assets within responsive search ads.

Existing call only ads can keep running until then. So the task is a migration, not an emergency. Build the responsive search ad with a call asset, then test its landing page and call route. Check the conversion goals and the schedule. Retire the call only ads once the replacement is validated.

Location assets add the address, a map and directions. They're drawn from a connected Business Profile or another supported location source. Check that the right profile is linked and that location groups cover the right branches. Make sure the address, hours and the answer to "can customers visit" are all true.

A remote consultancy or an online store does not need a public location asset. An industry table saying otherwise does not change that. Google Ads location targeting is easy to confuse with a location asset. It's a different setting that decides where the ads show.

Image assets have eligibility rules. That's why a new account may not see the option at all. Google's image assets page requires an account open for at least 60 days. Its other conditions are in the quick reference. Google takes images at the campaign or ad group level.

Images with digitally added text, logos or graphic overlays are disapproved immediately. By uploading you confirm you hold the rights. Use real, relevant photographs of the work, the products or the team. Never use a results image that implies an outcome the business cannot promise.

Business name and logo assets are different again. Google's business information page requires completed advertiser verification. The name must match the verified domain or legal business name. If a trademark covers a different name, brand verification is the route.

Google says business information assets are not guaranteed to serve. So uploading a logo does not force it to show. Don't treat image assets and logos as interchangeable: each has its own rules and place in the ad.

Set up assets at the right level

Association rules are type specific. Because of that, one universal override rule is wrong. For sitelinks, Google says account level sitelinks can serve alongside campaign level ones in the same branch. That happens when it predicts they will help. So a service specific ad group does not automatically suppress the account's sitelinks.

Keep account level sitelinks universally suitable, or move them into the campaigns where they belong.

For callouts, an ad group with its own callouts uses those instead of the campaign's. For structured snippets, a snippet at a more granular level blocks the higher level snippet from serving. Check each type rather than assuming they behave the same. Use our guide to Google Ads account structure to decide which campaigns deserve their own set.

Editing a reusable asset changes it everywhere it is associated. Before rewriting a sitelink or a callout, open its associations and look at every campaign that uses it. The "Request a Quote" sitelink that suits the services campaign may be sitting under the brand campaign as well. Location groups need the same check when a business has several branches.

Google's page on account level automated assets lists those types. It says they are compatible with manual assets and may show alongside or instead of them. It also shows how to switch an individual type off. The route is Assets, the Associations tab, Account level automated assets, then Advanced settings.

Three separate controls get lumped together under "automation". Account level automated assets are the first. The second, AI Max text customisation, rewrites headlines and descriptions. The third, Final URL expansion, changes the destination.

No single switch turns all of them off. Manual assets do not stop the automated alternatives from serving either. Our guide to the Google Ads settings that waste budget covers the other two controls.

Our audit sample is 180 Google Ads account audits from August 2021 to September 2026. In it, about 1 in 4 accounts with automated assets serving had at least one faulty automated asset. It showed an expired offer, a wrong price or a page the business would not choose.

Use optional assets with a follow up plan

Price assets need an honest unit, the currency, any qualifier and a destination that shows the same price. Promotion assets need genuine conditions and dates. App assets are for a real app. Affiliate location assets help people find the stores that stock a product.

Use any of them when it helps the searcher act, not to fill every slot the interface offers. Leave the specialist setup to the specialist.

Lead forms deserve more care because they collect personal information inside Google's interface. Google's lead form assets page sets the conditions. You need a good policy compliance history, an eligible vertical and an eligible country.

For an active form to serve, the campaign must run responsive search ads with conversion focused bidding. It must also optimise towards a Google lead form conversion goal. A privacy policy link is mandatory and appears at the end of the form. Our guide to privacy policies and website terms covers what yours should say.

Google's lead form policy adds that healthcare related advertisements are not allowed for lead forms at all. Personal information cannot be used in ways people have not consented to.

Ask for the minimum the enquiry needs. Keep health histories, financial account details and other restricted information out of a generic ad form. Remember that answering an enquiry does not establish permission for unrelated marketing.

Whether the Privacy Act covers the business at all is a separate question. The OAIC's small business guidance sets out the $3 million turnover test. It also lists the businesses covered regardless of size, such as health service providers. Check where the business sits before assuming either way. Our guide to Australian privacy law changes for websites explains which businesses are covered.

The record is operational, not consent wording. Delivery is where lead forms fail quietly, because Google only holds the leads for a short window.

The Google Ads API can export up to 60 days of lead data to a CRM. There are also email notifications, webhooks to a CRM and a Zapier connection.

Configure one supported delivery route and send a test lead. Confirm the test lead arrived where the response owner will see it. Set a backup export before launch. A monthly manual download is not a process. Nor is the Google interface a customer database.

Our guide to Google Ads conversion tracking covers which conversion goal the form feeds. It also explains how that goal relates to a qualified enquiry.

Text disclaimer assets let a Search campaign carry required terms or disclosures. Google's text disclaimers page says an approved disclaimer is guaranteed to appear. It goes in the description area of the campaign's responsive search ads, up to 90 characters.

The disclaimer is compatible with AI Max and overrides anything pinned to description line one. In rare cases, it may be truncated. It does not serve while disapproved. In that case, the ad can still serve without it.

A text disclaimer is a display control, not legal compliance. So check its status and how it actually presents.

Business links, by contrast, have been retired. Google's business links notice says the pilot stopped serving automatically from 6 November 2025. So ignore the setup instructions further down that page. Message assets depend on current availability and on a staffed channel to answer.

Measure useful actions and business outcomes

The Assets view in the account shows each asset's status, association, source and the metrics that apply. Segmenting by click type, where available, separates sitelink clicks, headline clicks and call button taps.

Google's ad level asset report now carries full performance statistics for the text assets inside responsive search ads. The figures cover dates from 5 June 2025. Other asset formats have their own reports.

The report's Performance label column has been deprecated. It rated each asset against others of the same type. Do not optimise current RSA text on those ratings.

Read asset metrics as what they are: Google counts an impression for every asset shown in an ad. So three assets served together each record one impression. That's why the rows don't add up to the ad's total. The ratios are shaped by whichever combination served. Asset level CTR is directional, not a controlled test of one asset.

Judge what matters at the ad or campaign level: qualified enquiries, sales and acquisition cost. And allow for conversion lag. A higher click through rate on its own does not prove the leads got better. Say one callout's row shows a lower CTR than another's. Pausing it is a common mistake when the other happened to serve with stronger sitelinks.

Pinning belongs to headlines and descriptions, not to sitelinks or callouts. If specific wording must appear, control it through a verified route such as a text disclaimer. Then check the AI Max behaviour. Never remove a required disclosure to improve an Ad Strength rating.

Assets count in the auction through one of six factors listed on Google's Ad Rank page. That factor is the expected impact from your ad assets and other ad formats.

Quality Score is a diagnostic rating for Search keywords, not an input in the ad auction. Google's Quality Score page states this. So adding assets guarantees neither a better position nor a lower CPC. Our guide to Google Ads Quality Score covers the difference in full.

On cost, there is no charge to add assets. Clicks on clickable ones are charged under the campaign's normal rules. No more than two clicks are charged per impression for an ad and its assets. Non clickable callouts and snippets have no click charge of their own. Clicks on seller ratings are the documented exception that is not charged.

Why your assets are not showing

An approved asset that does not appear may be behaving exactly as designed. Work the checks in order before touching the asset itself.

Eligibility comes first. An image asset in a 40 day old account will not show because it cannot. The same goes for a logo without advertiser verification or a lead form in a healthcare campaign. Approval is next. Association comes after that, because an asset attached to one campaign does not serve in another.

Then come dates and schedules, because a call asset outside its hours is working correctly by not showing.

If the ad itself is not getting impressions in that context, the problem is the campaign. That is where our check by check guide for when Google Ads is not working takes over.

If everything checks out, the system is choosing other combinations. Optional assets show some of the time, on some searches, in some positions. Text disclaimers have their own serving rules and their own failure checks.

Whatever the cause, do not keep searching for your own ad and clicking it to check. Each click is charged. Use the ad preview instead.

Your asset launch checklist

Start with the assets your business type needs, then run the checklist.

Then check each item before the campaign goes live.

The ad text needs its own check before launch. Our free copy grader checks responsive search ad headlines and descriptions against the character limits and for repeats. It doesn't check sitelinks, callouts or policy. Nor can it predict results.

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Written by Ajay K.Co-founder, Elev8d

Ajay is the co-founder of Elev8d and writes most of what you will read here. Psychology grad turned marketer, which is a fancy way of saying he cares about why people click, not just where things rank. Every guide is written in plain English for Australian businesses, tested on real campaigns before it earns a spot on this site.