What Does a Google Ad Look Like?

Chances are you’ve seen a dozen Google Ads today without even thinking about it. They’re the sponsored results at the top of your search, the video that plays before your YouTube tutorial, and the banner ad on your favorite blog. This guide will walk you through what the most common Google Ad formats look like in the wild, helping you understand where and how your business can show up.

The Classic: Google Search Ads

When most people think of Google Ads, they’re thinking of Search Ads. These are the text-based ads that appear at the top and sometimes the bottom of Google's search engine results pages (SERPs). They're designed to catch the eye of people who are actively searching for a specific product, service, or solution.

What Do Search Ads Look Like?

Modern search ads are clean, simple, and look very similar to organic search results. The key differentiator is the bolded "Sponsored" label next to the display URL. Beyond that, a standard ad is built from three core components that you provide to Google:

• Headlines: Up to three headlines can be shown, each up to 30 characters long, separated by a pipe symbol ("|"). These are the most prominent part of your ad.
• Display URL: This shows the website address the user will visit. It doesn’t have to be the exact final URL, so you can simplify it (e.g., yourstore.com/summer-sale).
• Descriptions: Up to two description lines can be shown, each up to 90 characters. This is your chance to provide more detail about your offer, benefits, or a call-to-action.

The Anatomy of a Responsive Search Ad

Today, you're not writing a single, static ad. You're giving Google a set of ingredients to mix and match with what's called a Responsive Search Ad (RSA). This is Google's default - and only - search ad type. Instead of writing 3 headlines and 2 descriptions, you provide Google with a list of assets:

• Up to 15 different Headlines
• Up to 4 different Descriptions

Google's machine learning then tests different combinations of these headlines and descriptions to figure out which combination performs best for different search queries and users. It’s like a built-in A/B testing machine. For example, a local bakery might provide headlines like "Fresh Sourdough Daily," "Artisan Bread & Pastries," and "Order Online for Pickup," and Google will assemble the most relevant ad for someone searching "bakery near me."

What About Ad Extensions?

Ad extensions are extra snippets of information that can make your search ads bigger, more informative, and more compelling. They don’t cost anything extra and can significantly improve your click-through rate. An ad with extensions is much more noticeable than one without.

Here are some of the most common an ad might display:

• Image Extensions: A relatively new and powerful extension that shows a thumbnail image next to your text ad.
• Sitelink Extensions: These are clickable links that send users to specific pages on your website, like "About Us," "Contact," or "Shop Sale."
• Callout Extensions: Short, non-clickable text snippets that highlight key benefits or features like "Free Shipping," "24/7 Customer Service," or "Locally Owned."
• Structured Snippets: Allow you to highlight specific aspects of your products or services from a predefined list (e.g., Brands: Nike, Adidas, Puma, or Services: Plumbing, HVAC, Electrical).
• Location Extensions: Show your business address, a map, and the distance to your location for users who are nearby.
• Call Extensions: Add your phone number directly to the ad, allowing mobile users to click and call you instantly.

Going Visual: The Display & Shopping Network

Beyond the search results page, Google offers highly visual ad formats that appear on millions of websites, apps, and platforms across the internet.

Google Display Ads

Ever notice a banner ad on a news website or your favorite recipes blog? That’s likely a Google Display Ad. These ads aren’t targeted at users who are actively searching, but rather at people whose browsing history and online behavior suggest they might be interested in what you offer. They’re excellent for building brand awareness and retargeting people who have already visited your site.

Display ads come in various forms, but the most common today is the Responsive Display Ad. Similar to Responsive Search Ads, you upload a collection of assets:

• Images and logos
• Short and long headlines
• A company name and descriptions
• Optionally, videos

Google’s AI then automatically resizes, reskins, and combines these assets to create ads that fit perfectly into the available ad space on various publisher websites, apps, Gmail, and YouTube.

Google Shopping Ads (Product Listing Ads - PLAs)

If you sell physical products, Shopping Ads are essential. These are more than just text ads, they’re rich product cards that appear prominently at the top of the search results or in the dedicated "Shopping" tab.

A shopping ad is a compact, commerce-focused snapshot featuring:

•  Product Image.
• The Product Title.
• The Price.
• Your Store Name.
• Sometimes, special offers like "Free shipping," customer ratings, or a "Sale" tag.

Instead of bidding on keywords, Shopping campaigns pull data directly from a product feed that you set up in your Google Merchant Center account. This allows you to advertise your entire inventory with visual ads that grab the attention of users with high purchase intent.

Engaging with Video: YouTube Ads

With billions of users, YouTube is a powerhouse for advertising. YouTube ads leverage the power of sight, sound, and motion to tell a compelling brand story. Here’s what the most common formats look like.

Skippable In-stream Ads

These are the classics. They run before, during (mid-roll), or after another video on YouTube. The defining feature is the "Skip Ad" button that appears after five seconds. As an advertiser, you typically only pay if a viewer watches at least 30 seconds of your ad (or the full ad if it’s shorter) or clicks on it. This makes it a cost-effective way to reach a highly engaged audience.

Non-skippable In-stream Ads

These are short ads, 15 seconds or less in length, that viewers must watch in their entirety before their chosen video begins. They are often used for quick, high-impact messages intended to drive brand awareness and recall.

In-feed Ads (Formerly Discovery Ads)

In-feed ads look much more organic because they appear where users discover content. A typical in-feed ad appears on the YouTube home page, in the search results, or in the "Up Next" section next to a video a user is currently watching. It consists of a video thumbnail and a few lines of text. The crucial difference is that a user must actively click the ad to watch the video, indicating a much higher level of intent and interest.

The All-in-One: Performance Max (PMax)

It’s important to understand that Performance Max (PMax) isn’t a new type of ad itself, but rather a new, highly automated campaign type that leverages AI to run your ads across all of Google’s channels from a single campaign.

So, what does a PMax ad look like? The answer is... all of the above!

With PMax, you don’t create individual ads for each network. Instead, you provide Google with an "asset group" which contains all the building blocks:

• Headlines and descriptions.
• Images and logos.
• Video clips.
• Product feed (for e-commerce).

Google’s AI then takes these assets and dynamically creates ads in all the required formats, serving them wherever it calculates they will best achieve your goal (e.g., sales, leads, or website traffic). Your PMax ad could appear as a text ad on Search, a banner on the Display network, a pre-roll ad on YouTube, or a Shopping Ad in the search results. You give Google the creative pieces and the goal, and it handles the rest.

Final Thoughts

Understanding what Google Ads look like is the first step toward building a successful ad strategy. Whether you’re using text-based search ads, eye-catching shopping placements, or engaging YouTube videos, each format serves a unique purpose in reaching your customers. The key is to match the ad type to your specific business goal, whether it’s driving immediate sales or building long-term brand awareness.

Of course, launching the ads is only half the battle. Figuring out which campaigns are actually driving sales and which ones are wasting your money can be a headache. You find yourself jumping between Google Ads, Google Analytics, Shopify, and your CRM, trying to stitch the whole story together. We created Graphed because we believe analyzing this data shouldn’t feel like a full-time job. Instead of manually exporting CSVs and fighting with spreadsheets, you can hook up your ad accounts in seconds and simply ask things like, “Which YouTube ad drove the most Shopify sales last month?” to get instant, real-time reports that actually make sense.