Assets

Assets are units of shareable data—such as images, videos, headlines, and descriptions—that are used to construct different types of ads across multiple formats, such as display, YouTube, app store, and others.

Objects

The most basic objects in the API are the following:

  • Asset: A unit of shareable advertising data
    • AssetType: The kind of content the asset contains—for example, text or image
    • AssetFieldType: How the asset is used—for example, a text asset type can be used as a headline or a description asset field type
  • AssetSet: A collection of assets centered around a theme or organized by campaign
    • AssetSetType: The class of the asset set

There are objects that represent links among assets, asset sets, ad groups, campaigns, and customers:

  • Linkages to assets

    • CustomerAsset: The link between a customer and an asset
    • CampaignAsset: The link between a campaign and an asset
    • AdGroupAsset: The link between an ad group and an asset
    • AssetSetAsset: The link between an asset set and an asset

  • Linkages to asset sets

    • CustomerAssetSet: The link between a customer and an asset set
    • CampaignAssetSet: The link between a campaign and an asset set
    • AdGroupAssetSet: The link between an ad group and an asset set

Campaign assets example

Here's a visual representation of how some of the objects can be linked. The example starts with campaigns at the top, but the same hierarchy also applies to customers and ad groups.

Campaign asset set diagram
Diagram of campaign asset sets

Before you create a CampaignAssetSet, you must first create a Campaign and an AssetSet containing one or more assets. You can assemble assets to create an inventory for all applicable ad formats in your campaign, or let Google Ads mix and match available assets based on which channel the ad is being served: YouTube, Gmail, Search, and others.

Asset types linked to ads

Some asset types can be linked directly to ads.

Asset type AssetFieldType Ad type
Video YOUTUBE_VIDEO App ad
App engagement ad
Local ad
Responsive display ad
Media bundle MEDIA_BUNDLE
CUSTOM_LAYOUT		 App ad
Display upload Ad
Image MARKETING_IMAGE
SQUARE_MARKETING_IMAGE
LOGO
LANDSCAPE_LOGO
PORTRAIT_MARKETING_IMAGE		 App ad
App engagement ad
Local ad
Responsive display ad
Text HEADLINE
LONG_HEADLINE
DESCRIPTION
MANDATORY_AD_TEXT
CALL_TO_ACTION_SELECTION
BUSINESS_NAME		 App ad
App engagement ad
Local ad
Responsive display ad
Responsive search ad
Smart campaign ad
Call to Action CALL_TO_ACTION Local ad
Responsive display ad

Asset types linked to customers, campaigns, and ad groups

Some types of assets can be linked to customers, campaigns, or ad groups through linkage objects.

Asset type AssetFieldType Linkage Mutable
Business message BUSINESS_MESSAGE CustomerAsset
CampaignAsset
AdGroupAsset		 Yes
Text BUSINESS_NAME CampaignAsset
AdGroupAsset		 No
Image AD_IMAGE CampaignAsset
AdGroupAsset		 No
Image BUSINESS_LOGO CampaignAsset No
Lead form LEAD_FORM CampaignAsset Yes
Promotion PROMOTION CustomerAsset
CampaignAsset
AdGroupAsset		 Yes
Callout CALLOUT CustomerAsset
CampaignAsset
AdGroupAsset		 Yes
Structured snippet STRUCTURED_SNIPPET CustomerAsset
CampaignAsset
AdGroupAsset		 Yes
Sitelink SITELINK CustomerAsset
CampaignAsset
AdGroupAsset		 Yes
Mobile app MOBILE_APP CustomerAsset
CampaignAsset
AdGroupAsset		 Yes
Hotel callout HOTEL_CALLOUT CustomerAsset
CampaignAsset
AdGroupAsset		 Yes
Call CALL CustomerAsset
CampaignAsset
AdGroupAsset		 Yes
Price PRICE CustomerAsset
CampaignAsset
AdGroupAsset		 Yes

Location assets

Location assets are handled differently from other asset types. See Location assets for details.

Automatically created assets

Automatically created assets cannot be modified. The AssetSource indicates whether an asset was user-created or was automatically generated by the system. Mutable types like sitelink can't be linked to automatically created assets.

Asset types linked to asset sets

Certain asset types can be linked to specific types of asset sets.

AssetType AssetSetType Linkage Mutable
PAGE_FEED PAGE_FEED CampaignAssetSet Yes
DYNAMIC_EDUCATION DYNAMIC_EDUCATION CampaignAssetSet Yes
DYNAMIC_CUSTOM DYNAMIC_CUSTOM CampaignAssetSet Yes
DYNAMIC_HOTELS_AND_RENTALS DYNAMIC_HOTELS_AND_RENTALS CampaignAssetSet Yes
DYNAMIC_REAL_ESTATE DYNAMIC_REAL_ESTATE CampaignAssetSet Yes
DYNAMIC_LOCAL DYNAMIC_LOCAL CampaignAssetSet Yes
DYNAMIC_FLIGHTS DYNAMIC_FLIGHTS CampaignAssetSet Yes
DYNAMIC_JOBS DYNAMIC_JOBS CampaignAssetSet Yes
DYNAMIC_TRAVEL DYNAMIC_TRAVEL CampaignAssetSet Yes
LOCATION LOCATION_SYNC CustomerAssetSet
CampaignAssetSet
AdGroupAssetSet		 No (system generated)
GMB_DYNAMIC_LOCATION_GROUP CampaignAssetSet
AdGroupAssetSet
CHAIN_DYNAMIC_LOCATION_GROUP CampaignAssetSet
AdGroupAssetSet
STATIC_LOCATION_GROUP CampaignAssetSet
AdGroupAssetSet
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Creation and usage