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.

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	AdGroupAsset CampaignAsset CustomerAsset	Yes
Text	BUSINESS_NAME	CampaignAsset CustomerAsset	No
Image	AD_IMAGE	AdGroupAsset CampaignAsset	No
Image	BUSINESS_LOGO	CampaignAsset CustomerAsset	No
Lead form	LEAD_FORM	CampaignAsset	Yes
Promotion	PROMOTION	AdGroupAsset CampaignAsset CustomerAsset	Yes
Callout	CALLOUT	AdGroupAsset CampaignAsset CustomerAsset	Yes
Structured snippet	STRUCTURED_SNIPPET	AdGroupAsset CampaignAsset CustomerAsset	Yes
Sitelink	SITELINK	AdGroupAsset CampaignAsset CustomerAsset	Yes
Mobile app	MOBILE_APP	AdGroupAsset CampaignAsset CustomerAsset	Yes
Hotel callout	HOTEL_CALLOUT	AdGroupAsset CampaignAsset CustomerAsset	Yes
Call	CALL	AdGroupAsset CampaignAsset CustomerAsset	Yes
Price	PRICE	AdGroupAsset CampaignAsset CustomerAsset	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.