What is Callout Text on Google Ad?

Google Ads callout text boosts your ad’s visibility and click-through rate by letting you highlight extra features or promotions. This article will show you what callouts are, why they’re important, and how to write effective ones that get you more qualified clicks.

Graphed

Still Building Reports Manually?

Watch how growth teams are getting answers in seconds — not days.

Watch the Demo

What Are Google Ads Callout Extensions?

Callouts are a type of Ad Asset (formerly known as an ad extension) that lets you include additional, brief snippets of text beneath your main ad. Think of them as bullet points or short, punchy highlights for your business offerings. They aren't clickable themselves, but they add more context and detail to your main ad, making the entire ad unit larger and more informative.

Key characteristics of callout extensions include:

• Concise Format: Each callout is limited to just 25 characters, forcing you to be direct and to the point.
• Increased Ad Size: Google can show up to ten callouts on desktop searches and up to eight on mobile (though two to four is more common). This makes your ad take up more valuable space on the search engine results page (SERP), pushing competitors further down the page.
• Non-Clickable Text: Unlike sitelink extensions, callouts are purely informational. Users can't click on an individual callout, they can only click your ad’s main headline or display URL.
• Flexibility: You can add callouts at the account, campaign, or ad group level, giving you control over how specific your messaging is.

For example, a standard search ad for an online shoe store might have a headline and description. With callouts, that same ad could be enhanced with valuable additions like "Free Next-Day Delivery," "Easy 30-Day Returns," and "Over 1,000 5-Star Reviews." These details can be the deciding factor that convinces a user to click on your ad over a competitor's.

Why You Should Be Using Callouts in Your Google Ads

Ignoring callouts is like leaving free money on the table. They are one of the simplest and most effective ways to improve the performance of your Google Ads campaigns without spending an extra dime. Here are the core benefits of making them a standard part of your strategy.

Graphed

Still Building Reports Manually?

Watch how growth teams are getting answers in seconds — not days.

Watch the Demo

They Increase Your Ad's Visibility and Real Estate

The most immediate and obvious benefit of using callouts is that they make your ad bigger. In the crowded space of a Google search results page, size and visibility matter. By adding one or two extra lines of text, your ad takes up more vertical space, capturing more attention and physically pushing competitor ads further down the list. This increased prominence naturally leads to a higher impression share and helps your ad stand out.

They Pre-Qualify Clicks and Improve Click-Through Rate (CTR)

A more detailed ad is a more compelling ad. Callouts give searchers more information upfront, helping them quickly understand your unique value propositions. When a user sees "Free Shipping," "24/7 Customer Support," or "No Contracts," they get a better sense of what to expect. This extra context helps attract users who are genuinely interested in what you offer, leading to more qualified clicks. Google’s auction system also tends to reward ads that use extensions because they provide a better user experience, which can contribute to a higher Ad Rank and, consequently, a better CTR for a lower cost.

They Highlight Your Key Selling Points

Your ad's headline and description need to work hard to capture interest and promote your main offer. Callouts give you the space to communicate all the other important things that set your business apart. This is your chance to shout about unique features, special offers, or trust signals that might not fit in the main ad copy.

These could be benefits like:

• Free Shipping
• Next-Day Delivery
• 24/7 Customer Service
• Free Estimates
• No Long-Term Contracts
• Satisfaction Guarantee
• Eco-Friendly Products

Without callouts, this valuable information might never be seen by potential customers.

Graphed

Still Building Reports Manually?

Watch how growth teams are getting answers in seconds — not days.

Watch the Demo

They Offer Excellent Flexibility and Customization

Callouts aren’t a one-size-fits-all solution, you can tailor them with incredible precision. You can apply them at three different levels:

• Account Level: Good for business-wide selling points that apply to all products and services, like "24/7 Customer Support" or "Authorized Retailer."
• Campaign Level: Useful for benefits that apply to a broad category. For instance, a "Men's Clothing" campaign could have callouts like "Wrinkle-Free Fabrics" and "Durable Materials."
• Ad Group Level: The most specific level. An ad group for "Men's Formal Shirts" could use hyper-relevant callouts like "100% Egyptian Cotton" and "Modern Slim Fit."

This hierarchy ensures that the most relevant callouts are always shown, with ad group level callouts overriding campaign and account level ones. You can also create device-specific callouts, showing different messages to users on mobile versus desktop.

They Cost Nothing Extra to Add

This is arguably the best part. Ad extensions, including callouts, are completely free to add to your campaigns. You are not charged anything extra for the impressions or the space they take up. You only pay the usual Cost Per Click (CPC) when a user clicks on your ad's headline. Considering their proven ability to improve CTR and Quality Score, there is literally no downside to implementing them.

How to Set Up Callout Extensions in Google Ads (Step-by-Step)

Adding callouts to your campaigns is a straightforward process. Here’s how to do it in your Google Ads dashboard:

1. Log into your Google Ads account.
2. In the page menu on the left side, click on Ads & assets, and then select the Assets sub-menu item.
3. Click the blue plus (+) icon to create a new asset.
4. From the dropdown menu that appears, select Callout.
5. Next, you’ll choose which level to add your callout to. Your options are Account, Campaign, or Ad Group. Choose the level that makes the most sense for the callout you’re writing.
6. In the "Add callout text" box, type in your callout. Remember the 25-character limit per callout! You can add multiple callouts at once. Google recommends adding at least four to six to give its system more options to test and optimize for performance.
7. Under Advanced options, you can set device preferences (e.g., show only on mobile) or schedule your callouts to run on specific days or times of the day. This is perfect for time-sensitive promotions like "Weekend Sale" or "Offer Ends Friday."
8. Once you're finished, click Save.

Your new callouts will be submitted for review. As long as they meet Google's advertising policies, they will typically be approved within a few hours and begin showing alongside your ads.

Best Practices for Writing High-Converting Callout Text

Knowing how to set up callouts is easy, writing ones that actually convert requires a bit more thought. Follow these best practices to get the most out of your callout text.

• Be Specific and Keep It Short: With only 25 characters, there’s no room for filler words. Get straight to the point. Instead of "We offer free shipping," use "Free Shipping." Instead of "Call us anytime for support," use "24/7 Customer Support."
• Showcase Your Unique Value Props: What makes you truly different from the competition? Use callouts to highlight these differentiators. Phrases like "Ethically Sourced," "Family-Owned Since 1992," or "Handmade in Italy" can be very persuasive.
• Quantify with Numbers: Numbers are specific, tangible, and grab attention. "50,000+ Happy Customers," "5-Year Warranty," or "Under 2-Minute Response" are much more powerful than vague statements.
• Focus on Benefits, Not Just Features: Always try to answer the customer's question: "What's in it for me?" Instead of a feature like "Heavy-Duty Zippers," frame it as a benefit like "Built to Last."
• Tailor Callouts to Your Ad Groups: Generic, account-level callouts are good, but specific, ad group-level callouts are better. An ad group about "cheap flights" should have callouts like "No Hidden Fees" and "Price Match Guarantee," while an ad group for "luxury hotels" is better served by "Oceanfront Balconies" and "5-Star Restaurants."
• Avoid Repetition: Don't waste valuable space by repeating information that is already in your ad's headline or description. Callouts should provide new, supplementary information.
• Use Title Case for Readability: Capitalizing the first letter of each word (e.g., "Hassle-Free Returns") makes your callouts look cleaner, more professional, and easier to scan quickly on a crowded page.
• A/B Test Your Callouts: Don’t just set them and forget them. Keep an eye on your performance data in the "Assets" section of your Google Ads account. If certain callouts are getting a lot more impressions, it means an algorithm is favoring them. Pause the underperforming ones and test new variations to continuously improve your results.

Graphed

Still Building Reports Manually?

Watch how growth teams are getting answers in seconds — not days.

Watch the Demo

Examples of Effective Callout Extensions by Industry

To help bring these concepts to life, here are some examples of effective callouts tailored to different types of businesses.

E-commerce

• Free Shipping On Orders $50+
• Easy 30-Day Returns
• Secure Online Checkout
• Daily Deals Section
• Shop Our New Arrivals

SaaS (Software-as-a-Service)

• Get a Free 14-Day Trial
• No Credit Card Required
• Cancel Anytime
• 24/7 Live Chat Support
• Integrates With Your Tools

Local Services (Plumber, Electrician, etc.)

• 24-Hour Emergency Service
• Licensed & Insured Pros
• Get a Free Estimate Today
• Family Owned & Operated
• Serving [Your City] for 25+ Years

Real Estate

• View Our Virtual Tours
• Free Home Valuation
• Award-Winning Agents
• Download Our Free Guide
• Flexible Showings Available

Final Thoughts

Callout extensions are a simple but incredibly powerful feature within Google Ads. They provide a cost-free way to make your ads larger, more informative, and more compelling, which directly contributes to higher visibility, better click-through rates, and a stronger return on your ad spend. By following the best practices outlined here, you can effectively communicate your key value propositions and gain a critical edge over the competition.

Of course, running successful ad campaigns means more than just writing good copy, it also amounts to paying close attention to performance data to see what’s working. Manually exporting data and wrangling it in spreadsheets to analyze asset performance can take hours. We created Graphed to simplify that entire process. After a 30-second setup, you can ask plain-English questions like, "Compare the CTR for my top 5 callouts this month" or "Show me a report of my best performing Facebook vs Google Ad campaigns," and get instant answers and live dashboards, turning hours of analysis into a quick conversation.