In brief: Google accepts up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions in one responsive search ad. Headlines are capped at 30 characters and descriptions at 90. Google assembles them into combinations while avoiding redundancy, so near-identical headlines add nothing. Ad Strength rates the mix from Incomplete to Excellent, and Google states the rating does not directly influence whether the ad is eligible to serve.
Ad copy is the text a person reads before deciding to click. In Google Ads you no longer write one finished ad. You hand Google a pile of headlines and descriptions. It builds a different ad for each search. Writing for that machine is a different job.
Key Takeaways
- Google accepts up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions in one responsive search ad.
- Headlines stop at 30 characters. Descriptions stop at 90.
- Ad Strength runs from Incomplete to Excellent, and Google says it does not decide whether your ad can run.
- Pinning guarantees a slot, and it shrinks the combinations Google can test for you.
- Your ad and your landing page have to promise the same thing.
What Makes Ad Copy Get Clicked?
Relevance to what the person typed, plus a clear next step. Google asks you to work your keywords into the message, because people engage with the ads that look closest to their search. After that it comes down to specifics. A price, a date or an offer that the shop next door cannot copy.
Vague copy loses quietly. It still gets impressions, so the campaign looks alive on the Monday morning review, while the cost per lead drifts up week by week. Nobody can point at why. The answer is that nothing in the ad gave anyone a push.
Google also suggests putting real numbers in. Its advice on effective search ads says to “include prices, promotions, or exclusives in the headline or description”. It also says to mention any discount or exclusive product you have. A travel agency selling monsoon trips has something solid to say there. A general “quality service” headline does not.
How Many Headlines Does Google Want, and How Long?
As many as you can write. Google’s guide to responsive search ads says “you can provide up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions for a single responsive search ad”. Its Ad Strength guidance adds that you should “make sure to provide as many as you can”.
Most accounts we take on in Ahmedabad have three headlines and an empty box below them.
The reason the number matters is in how the ad gets built. Google explains that “a minimum of one headline and one description will be selected to show in different combinations and orders”. You are not writing an ad. You are stocking a shelf that Google picks from, thousands of times a day, against searches you never guessed.
There is a limit to how clever it can be with a thin shelf. Google says it “assembles the text into multiple ad combinations in a way that avoids redundancy”. Give it three headlines and it has very little room. Give it twelve good ones and the range opens up. The same ad can serve a buyer in Prahlad Nagar who wants prices. It can also serve one in Satellite who wants a phone number.
Thirty characters for a headline, ninety for a description. Google’s help page is exact about it: “The headline fields for responsive search ads support up to 30 characters.” Descriptions “support up to 90 characters each”, and the path fields “support up to 15 each”. Thirty characters runs to about four words. A wasted word is a real cost. The description gives you three times that room, so the detail belongs there.
Write the headlines somewhere you can see the character count as you type. “Monsoon Packages to Kerala” is 26 characters and fits. “Affordable Monsoon Holiday Packages to Kerala” does not, and Google will refuse to save it.
Why Do Similar Headlines Waste Your Budget?
Because Google throws the near copies away. It builds mixes while avoiding repeats. Two headlines with the same idea give it just one. Ad Strength asks you to “create unique headlines and descriptions” that cover different reasons to buy, aimed at different kinds of customer.
This is the most common problem we find in an account we take over. Someone has filled all 15 slots to make the rating go green. Ten of them are the same sentence with the words moved around, which leaves Google with one idea to work from.
Before you write, list the reasons somebody buys from you. Price, location, speed, a guarantee, a person who answers the phone. Each reason becomes a headline. That gives you range without making anything up. It is far faster than staring at fifteen empty boxes.
What Does Ad Strength Really Measure?
The spread of assets you have supplied, and nothing more than that. Google rates it Incomplete, Poor, Average, Good or Excellent on its Ad Strength scale. It is worth reading what Google says the rating does not do. A lot of agency reporting in India treats it as a score for how well a campaign is doing.
Google’s wording is direct. “The Ad strength rating of an ad doesn’t directly influence your ad’s serving eligibility.” The rating is there to show you what to improve while you write. A Poor ad with a strong offer can still beat an Excellent ad for something nobody wants.
The number Google publishes is worth quoting with care. Advertisers who improve Ad Strength “for their Responsive Search Ads and Sitelinks” from Poor to Excellent see “15% more conversions on average”. That covers sitelinks, the extra links under an ad, as well as the ad text. It is an average across many accounts. Treat it as a reason to fill the boxes properly. Judge your own campaign on what the leads actually cost you.
Should You Pin a Headline to Position One?
Most of the time, leave pinning alone. Pinning locks one headline into one slot. That matters when a line has to appear for legal or brand reasons. The rest of the time it costs you more than it gives you back.
Google puts the downside plainly. Pinning “reduces the overall number of headlines or descriptions that can be matched to a potential customer’s search”. It also “isn’t recommended for most advertisers and can affect ad strength”.
If you do need a line to appear every time, position matters. Google says content pinned to Headline position 1, Headline position 2 or Description position 1 “will always show”. Anything pinned to Headline position 3 or Description position 2 is “not guaranteed to show in every ad”.
There is a middle road that keeps some control. Google suggests pinning two or three unique headlines to the same position. Any of them can then appear there, and the system can still test between them. It also warns against pinning very similar text to one slot. That restricts the system and can lower your Ad Strength.
What Does Google Not Allow in Ad Copy?
Four rules in Google’s editorial policy catch Indian advertisers more than any others. Google’s policy disallows “capitalization that isn’t used correctly or for its intended purpose”. The same goes for “punctuation or symbols that aren’t used correctly or for their intended purpose”.
BOOK NOW in full capitals, followed by a row of exclamation marks, is the usual way in for a small shop.
The third is repetition. Google bans “non-standard, gimmicky, or unnecessary repetition of names, words, or phrases”, which is what a headline like “Best Best Deals” trips. The fourth is the widest. Ads “that are incomprehensible or don’t make sense” get turned down. Short forms crammed into 30 characters often count.
You do not need a policy expert to catch any of this. Read the headline aloud. If it sounds like a shouted banner, write it again in plain sentence case, and it will clear review.
How Do You Write a Call to Action That Works?
Say exactly what happens next. Google’s guidance is blunt. It says “generic calls to action often show decreased engagement with ads”. You should “give people a clear indicator of what they should do next”. A line like “Book a Site Visit” tells a reader what is coming. “Learn More” tells them nothing at all.
Match the action to the way the person buys. A skincare clinic in Satellite wants a booking, so the call to action names the booking. A developer near S.G. Highway is asking for a site visit, which is a bigger ask, so the ad should say what the visit involves. Our performance marketing team writes these against the enquiry the client wants, never against a template.
One warning from experience. A call to action that promises what the business cannot do quickly brings cheap clicks and angry callers. If nobody answers the phone on a Sunday, “Call Now” is the wrong line for a weekend campaign.
Your Ad and Your Landing Page Must Match
Google asks you to “ensure the promotions or products in your ad are included on your website”. It warns that “people may leave your website if promotions and information aren’t consistent”. An ad promising a monsoon package has to arrive on the monsoon package page. The same offer must be on it.
This is where most wasted spend in a small Indian account hides. The copy is fine and the click is paid for. Then the person lands on a homepage and leaves. Our guide to landing pages that convert covers the page side in detail, including what Google looks at when it scores the visit.
The platform you choose changes the job too. A search ad answers a question somebody typed. If you are still deciding where the budget goes, Google Ads against Meta Ads sets out how the two behave for lead generation.
Where to Start This Week
Open your best performing campaign and count the headlines. If there are fewer than ten, that is this week’s job. Google gives you fifteen slots, and an empty slot is reach you have already paid for and left on the table.
List the real reasons people buy from you, then turn each reason into one headline under 30 characters. Check that every pin is doing something you actually need.
Then read your top three headlines aloud, and open the page they point at. If the ad and the page say the same thing, you are ahead of most advertisers in Ahmedabad. If they do not, fix the page first. Our Google Ads team can take it on.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many headlines should I write for one ad?
Google allows 15 and asks for as many as you can supply. Ten to twelve distinct ones is a realistic target for a small business. The count matters far less than the variety does. Google skips near duplicates when it builds the ad, so they give it nothing extra to work with.
Does a Poor Ad Strength rating stop my ad from running?
No. Google states that the rating “doesn’t directly influence your ad’s serving eligibility”. It is guidance during writing and editing. A Poor rating usually means you have left slots empty or repeated yourself. Both are worth fixing, and the ad keeps running while you sort them out.
Can I put a price in my ad copy?
Yes, and Google recommends it. Its advice is to put prices, offers or exclusives in the headline or description. The condition is consistency. Whatever price or offer appears in the ad has to appear on the page the click lands on. Otherwise you risk a rejection and a wasted click.
Is it worth pinning my brand name to Headline 1?
Rarely. Pinning cuts the number of mixes Google can match to a search and can lower your Ad Strength. If the brand name really has to appear every time, pin two or three different brand headlines to that position. The system then still has something to test between.
How often should I rewrite my ad copy?
Change it when the numbers say so, or when the offer changes. Rewriting every week stops Google from learning which mixes work. A sensible rhythm for most Ahmedabad accounts is a proper look each month. Rewrite at once whenever a festive offer or a seasonal package starts.
