Business data is where you provide and manage multiple data sources (also known as data feeds) for ads, assets and targeting for different campaigns across Google Ads.
On this page
- Benefits of business data
- Key considerations to manage your business data feeds
- What's kept in business data
Benefits of business data
- Performance monitoring: Review the upload history and the status of your ads at a glance.
- Campaign management: Review the overall clicks, impressions and campaigns associated with your business data feeds.
- Ad customisation: Create ad customiser attributes for responsive search ads.
Key considerations to manage your business data feeds
- File format and content: Ensure that your feed file (for example, CSV or Google Sheets) uses the correct formatting, headers and data. Invalid URLs or exceeding row limits (for example, five million rows per account for page feeds) may cause issues.
- Upload process: Use the designated upload path in Google Ads (Business data section or bulk actions). If you encounter errors like 'No header row found' or general system errors, verify file integrity and try to clear your cache or use incognito mode.
- Google Sheet integration: If you use Google Sheets, confirm that sharing permissions allow access (for example, to Google's service account or set to public) and check for any error messages within Google Ads if data isn't imported.
- File size limits: For large files exceeding limits (for example, 500 MB for SFTP), consider splitting the file into smaller parts and uploading them individually.
What's kept in business data
When you select the Business data section of your Google Ads account, you’ll find the following:
- Data feeds
- Upload history
- Ad customiser attributes
Data feeds
Ad customiser data for expanded text ads
Ad customisers are parameters that adapt your text ad to the context of a user’s search (for ads on the Search Network), or the website that someone’s browsing (for ads on the Display Network).
- Ad customisers use ad customiser data to dynamically modify ad text.
- You upload your ad customiser data within the 'Business data' section of your Google Ads account.
Common issues and solutions when working with ad customiser feeds:
- Template and formatting: Always use the latest Google Ads template for ad customisers. Ensure that your file is correctly formatted (for example, CSV or UTF-8 encoding) with all required fields completed and no unauthorised column modifications.
- Unsupported attributes: Some attributes like 'Target location' or 'Target keyword' for responsive search ads may no longer be supported. Consider alternative strategies such as creating separate ad groups or campaigns for location-specific messaging.
- Search Ads 360 integration: When using ad customisers via Search Ads 360, ensure that business data is correctly configured in the linked Google Ads account. For bulk upload errors in Search Ads 360, check the 'Action' column (should be 'Create' for new ads) and 'Ad status' (should be 'Active').
Dynamic ads feeds
If you want to dynamically populate your ads with your products or services, you'll create a dynamic ads feed. This type of feed is an inventory of your products or services that's sourced to create ads.
- Rows are products or services. Columns are attributes of each product or service, such as images or prices.
- You upload your feed to the Business data section of your Google Ads account.
- You associate your feed with your dynamic remarketing campaign.
Learn more about Dynamic remarketing: Create a feed for your responsive ads.
Ad asset data
For legacy ad assets, Google Ads creates ad asset data in the 'Business data' section of your Google Ads account. However, once your ad assets have migrated, your ad asset data won't be stored there. You might find, for example, a 'Main sitelink feed' with the sitelink text and URLs of your sitelinks assets.
- Click on any item for the approval status, policy details and performance stats of that asset.
- Use this interface to edit the assets that you share across multiple entities (like campaigns or ad groups).
- You’ll get only one entry for the data associated with each asset, even when you share that asset across entities.
- You can edit the data for your assets. To add new assets, visit About assets.
Ad customiser attributes for responsive search ads
Unlike ad customisers for expanded text ads, you need to define the individual details about your ad that you’d like to customise before you upload the content for your customiser. For example, product name and price are all 'attributes' that can be customised at scale. These attributes can be used across your account.
Learn more about how to Create ad customisers for responsive search ads.
