One of the newest ad formats, which began for some in beta way back in late Q2 to early Q4 of 2019, is the Gallery Ad.

What is a Gallery Ad?

For starters, a Gallery Ad is a carousel of images. A user/searcher can swipe through multiple images which are individually linked to landing pages of your choice. They were initially designed for the automotive industry but have since been rolled out to a multitude of verticals.

Gallery Ad Requirements:

• Headlines (3): Aside from the imagery, each Gallery Ad starts with three (3) unique Headlines
• Display URL: with 2 paths of 15 characters each (ex: www.website.com/Path-1/Path-2).
• Images: An advertiser can upload a minimum of four (4) up to a maximum of eight (8) images. These images should have an aspect ratio of 1.91:1, a minimum resolution of 600 pixels in width by 314 pixels in height. Maximum file size is 5 MB.
• Tagline: Also, referred to as text description, each gallery image requires a Tagline of up to 70 characters, crafted to be unique and relevant to each image. This includes proper grammar, spelling and punctuation - if you stand any chance of getting them approved and live on Google in a timely manner.
• Disclaimer: You are optionally able to provide up to 2,500 characters for legal disclaimers. What you put in here can and will really differ from advertiser to advertiser. There are plenty of B2B advertisers who have very tight regulations and policies. So, in these cases, I would advise to include that information here as a safety measure.

Where Can You Find a Gallery Ad?

A Gallery Ad will show up on the Google Search Network rather than the Display Network. It is a visual ad with images you can upload. They do not conflict with Shopping Ads and are currently only presented in first position on mobile devices.

Other than this initial Gallery Ads release, Google isn’t releasing much information or details within their typically highly useful Ads Help section on this ad format. This is most likely due to the fact that Gallery Ads are still fairly new and not available for every single Google Ads advertiser.

How Do Gallery Ads Work? And How Much Do They Cost?

How a Gallery Ad appears on a Google SERP is initially the same as any other Search ad. A user enters a query into Google Search and the ad is triggered - again, only for mobile searches. A searcher can swipe through the gallery of images or tap on an image to open the full gallery of up to 8 images. The full gallery view will then display the images vertically.

Here is where this ad format varies. An advertiser is only charged when someone clicks on any carousel slide, OR views the third image in your gallery. If a user performs both of these actions, the advertiser is only charged once.

Additional Takeaways and Tips on Google's Gallery Ads

1. Gallery Ads can be added into existing ad groups as just another format and does not require the advertiser to create a new and specific campaign.
2. They compete in the same auction with other text ads. Because they only show in first position, Gallery Ads get top billing above all other ads in that auction. If your bid is not high enough for that auction, your text ad will show in 2nd and lower positions.

In Conclusion

Preliminary studies show that ad groups with gallery ads can see 25% more interactions than groups that only utilize text ads. Also, humans are visual creatures and are more apt to catch some gazes and be enticed into swiping through images versus reading and clicking on text ads.

In my opinion, Google Gallery Ads don't show up as often as they should. By only allowing the Gallery Ads to show up if they are approved and the advertiser has a top position bid, Google severely throttles the exposure of this format. Regardless, I would recommend that any advertiser looking to advance and promote their brand exposure and story should give Gallery Ads a fair shake and include them in your ad format arsenal.

If you would like additional advice, further paid search insight, are interested in having an audit performed on your Pay-Per-Click account or if you have any questions about Gallery Ads or anything PPC-related, feel free to contact Ecreativeworks at your convenience.