About Ad strength

Ad strength provides you with feedback to help you focus on providing the right messages to your customers. Ad strength has two components: the overall rating that indicates the effectiveness of a relevant ad, and the specific action item(s) that can improve the strength of the ad.

The Ad strength column

In the “Ads & Extensions” window for a campaign, you can see a table of that campaign’s ads. One of the columns for the table shows the Ad strength. This is shown as an overall rating such as “average” or “excellent.” You can click on this rating to see feedback on improving your ad along with a link to where you can make that change.

During ad creation

While creating or editing an ad, you will be able to see an indicator of your Ad strength while it’s being made. This indicator will change dynamically as you fill out your ad’s assets. Next to the indicator is a set of recommendations for improving Ad strength.

Ad strength helps you make the best first impression

Let's say you are creating a responsive search ad and you see the text “Make your description more unique” next to the indicator representing your ad’s strength. You can go back to your description and modify it to dynamically improve the effectiveness of the ad. If neither the indicator nor the text change, you are recommended to revise further.

Ad strength continues to help improve your ads even after the ad has been created and started showing. For instance, you might bulk upload a batch of new responsive search ads and the headlines could be redundant for some of them. In the "Ad strength" column, you may see an “Average” rating, with the specific action “Increase the length of the headline.” You can leverage that feedback and follow the necessary steps to modify your headline and improve the strength of your ad.

Common issues

Here are some common issues and how you can resolve them to improve Ad strength:

1. Missing ad group: Assign your ad to an ad group.
2. Missing keywords in ad group: Add keywords to your ad group. Your responsive search ad won’t serve without keywords.
3. Final URL is missing: Add a final URL to your ad.
4. Headlines/Descriptions are too similar: Approach your headlines and descriptions differently, and emphasize new aspects of what you’re selling or the different customers you’re appealing to. Adding more unique headlines and descriptions can increase your chances for better performance.
5. Headlines/Descriptions are too short: Provide enough details to catch the attention of your target customers.
6. Add popular keywords to your headlines: Try including text from your keywords that serve most often in your ad group to your headlines.