Search Engine Land
  • SEO
    • > All SEO
    • > What Is SEO?
    • > SEO Periodic Table
    • > Google: SEO
    • > Bing SEO
    • > Google Algorithm Updates
  • PPC
    • > All PPC
    • > What is PPC?
    • > Google Ads
    • > Microsoft Ads
    • > The Periodic Tables of PPC
  • Focuses
    • > Local
    • > Commerce
    • > Shopify SEO Guide
    • > Content
    • > Email Marketing Periodic Table
    • > Social Media Marketing
    • > Analytics
    • > Search Engine Land Awards
    • > All Focuses
  • SMX
  • Webinars
  • Intelligence Reports
  • White Papers
  • About
    • > About Search Engine Land
    • > Newsletter
    • > Third Door Media
    • > Advertise

Processing...Please wait.

Search Engine Land » Google » Google Ads » Google to sunset Gallery ads beta, focus on Image Extensions

Google to sunset Gallery ads beta, focus on Image Extensions

Simple wins out. Image extensions and dynamic image extension betas will continue.

Ginny Marvin on May 15, 2020 at 3:33 pm

Gallery ads, the splashy, image-driven format that Google introduced last year, will be phasing out. Instead, Google will focus its other image beta, image extensions.

Google is informing Gallery ad beta testers that the format will sunset beginning in August. The ads featured a large carousel of images. The format has worked for the automotive industry with the auto ad unit, but didn’t gain enough traction with other verticals.

Whereas Gallery ads required setting up a whole new ad format and having effective image assets on hand, image extensions have a much lower barrier to entry.

Image extensions. Image extensions are still in closed beta, so you won’t see them in your accounts yet unless you’ve been whitelisted. The images show as a thumbnail alongside a text ad, as shown in the example below, recently spotted by digital marketing consultant Conrad O’Connell.

An image extension displays in a Booking.com text ad. Screenshot: Conrad O’Connell

Like Gallery ads, image extensions started on mobile-only, but Google is now testing them on desktop as well. The treatment takes a page from organic listings, which also often feature a similar thumbnail image, as you can see in the organic TripAdvisor listing here.

Image ad extensions reflect the thumbnail treatment in organic listings on Google.

Dynamic image extensions. Google is also testing dynamic image extensions. Advertisers can go the manual route and upload image assets (square, recommended size 1200 x 1200) to their accounts, or go dynamic and opt to let Google select images automatically from their sites.

Why we care. Images in text ads have been a long-running experiment. This is at least Google’s third go at image extensions alone, with different tests in 2013 and again in 2016. (Microsoft Advertising image extensions have been available since 2015.)

Gallery ads likely suffered from the friction involved in setting up new ad formats and from measurement challenges. They functioned more like display ads and were aimed at broad queries. Adding a gallery ad to your ad group would likely increase impressions, but also make it more difficult to measure and manage to marketing targets. Advertisers also had to be OK with being charged once a user swiped past three images in the gallery (the minimum number of images was four). Gallery ads were more exciting than another ad extension, but in the end, they didn’t serve a clear need — at least in this go-round.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


New on Search Engine Land

    The latest jobs in search marketing
    3 content marketing strategies to support SEO success
    Google Analytics 4 guide for PPC
    SEO reporting to impress: How to successfully report your SEO process, efforts and result
    9 ways to become an SEO problem-solver

About The Author

Ginny Marvin
Ginny Marvin was Third Door Media’s former Editor-in-Chief (October 2018 to December 2020), running the day-to-day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin wrote about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.

Related Topics

GoogleGoogle AdsPPCSEO

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS The SMX Conference logo.

Learn actionable search marketing tactics that can help you drive more traffic, leads, and revenue.

March 8-9, 2022: Master Classes (virtual)

June 14-15, 2022: SMX Advanced (virtual)

November 15-16, 2022: SMX Next (virtual)

Learn More About Our SMX Events

The MarTech Conference logo.

Discover time-saving technologies and actionable tactics that can help you overcome crucial marketing challenges.

Start Discovering Now: Spring (virtual)

September 28-29, 2022: Fall (virtual)

Learn More About Our MarTech Events
Webinars

Benchmark Your Social Media Performance For a Competitive Edge

Take a Crawl, Walk, Run Approach to Multi-Channel ABM

Content Comes First: Transform Your Operations With DAM

See More Webinars
Intelligence Reports

Enterprise SEO Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Identity Resolution Platforms

Email Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Sales Enablement Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Digital Experience Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Call Analytics Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

See More Intelligence Reports
White Papers

How to use AI to make your PR more human

The State of Influencer Pricing

How to Measure Influencer Performance

Reputation Management For Healthcare Organizations

Unlock the App Marketing Potential of QR Codes

See More Whitepapers

Receive daily search news and analysis.

Processing...Please wait.

Topics

  • SEO
  • PPC

Our Events

  • Search Marketing Expo - SMX
  • MarTech

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS
  • Youtube

© 2022 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.