Google Ads Display Ad Specs: The Image Rules That Catch Buyers

Your designer sent back the 300 × 600 half-page, you uploaded it, and Google disapproved it within the hour. The size was right. The file type was right. The thing that failed sits inside the picture, and it is not on the page most teams check before they upload.

Below is one upload walked through the clauses that catch image ads on the Display Network: the button rule, the transparency rule, the file limit that gets confused with a different one, and what changes when the same picture is uploaded as a responsive display asset instead. Every rule is quoted from Google's own page and linked.

The short version

• Google names "Download or install buttons or icons in image ads" as a violation, whatever the rest of the picture does.
• The fix is one edit: take the button out and let the copy carry the offer.
• Right behind it sit transparent backgrounds, GIFs that run past 30 seconds, and the 150KB cap that applies to uploaded image ads only.

Checked against Google Ads's Misleading ad design, Image ad requirements and Uploaded display ads specifications on 20 October 2026.

The ad

Larder is a fictional meal-planning app. Its half-page shows the wordmark, the line "Dinner, sorted by Sunday.", three weeknight dishes on a wooden table, and a red button at the bottom reading "Download now" with a download arrow beside it.

Everything there is allowed in a display ad except the last item. The size is on Google's list. The JPG is under the size cap. The dishes match the landing page. None of that counts once the reviewer sees a button painted into the file.

The rule

The Misleading ad design policy states the principle first, then the examples it enforces:

"Ads that make it difficult for the user to understand they're interacting with an ad aren't allowed."

Two entries from that page's example list matter at upload time:

"Download or install buttons or icons in image ads"

"Standalone buttons in image ads that lack clear context explaining their function, or whose prominence relative to the surrounding ad content is disproportionate"

Source: Google Ads policy: Misleading ad design.

In plain English: write "Download now" in your headline if you want, but do not draw the button that says it, arrow included. A download arrow promises something the ad cannot deliver, because the click lands on your site and the person still has to find the file. That gap is what the policy is for.

The second entry is the one buyers misread the other way round. Not every button is banned. A "Shop now" or "Book a table" can stay when the picture explains what is happening and the button does not shout over the product. A download button gets no such room: it has its own line.

The fix

Delete the pill, the arrow and the word "Download". Move the offer into the headline, where the reviewer reads it as a claim rather than as a piece of interface. Larder keeps the same photograph and layout, with one line of copy doing the work the button was doing. Same photograph, same frame, no button and no arrow.

That edit clears the rule the disapproval cited. It does not clear the other clauses in the file, which is why the rest of this piece exists. A picture can pass one check and fail three.

Preflight runs the file specs and the image content rules for each placement you plan to buy, and quotes the line behind every change. It reads still PNG, JPEG and WebP files, so a GIF or an HTML5 build is outside what it can tell you.

What to run instead

Six directions a designer can brief from, all of them lower-risk than a button drawn into the artwork:

1. The product as the subject. Larder's plates fill the frame and the offer lives in type above them. No interface, no pointer, nothing that looks clickable inside the picture.
2. A single strong photograph, cropped once. One plate, one pour, one bottle, cropped for the 1.91:1 asset and the 1:1 asset separately. Separate crops beat one file forced into both shapes.
3. Ingredient or component detail. The cut, the pour, the texture. It reads as product photography, it survives a narrow 320 × 50 banner, and it gives the reviewer nothing to mistake for an interface.
4. Flat-lay or overhead arrangement. Objects laid out on one surface, shot from above, with the brand name on a card in the composition rather than a logo pasted on top.
5. A quiet type card. Brand colour, one line of copy, generous margins. The cheapest asset to produce and the easiest to approve, because there is nothing in it to misread.
6. People doing the thing, product in frame. A hand on the pan, someone at the table. Keep the product visible and skip any gesture toward the camera that reads as an instruction to tap.

For a regulated vertical the list narrows again. Alcohol, gambling and adult creative carry their own restricted-content requirements on top of these, and Google's alcohol rules are worth reading before the artwork is commissioned rather than after.

Other rules that catch image ads on Google

Each of these appears on a Google page, quoting the clause that governs it.

Transparent backgrounds. A PNG exported with a cut-out product gets flagged as easily as the download button:

"Ads with a transparent background"

Source: Google Ads policy: Misleading ad design.

Flatten the file onto a colour before upload. The same example list also blocks "Images that are segmented" and "An image that contains multiple copies of itself within the ad", which covers the three-phone-mockups-in-one-banner layout designers like.

One image, one ad. The Image ad requirements page puts it plainly: "Image ads can't contain images that resemble site warnings or error messages, and images can't appear to be in more than one ad." A banner that looks like two stacked offers is a violation even when both offers are yours.

Animation length. The same page says: "Animations that last longer than 30 seconds". The note under it is the part people miss: "The animation can only loop within 30 seconds; more than that will lead to disapproval." The uploaded display ads specs add the rest: "Animated GIF ads must be slower than 5 FPS".

150KB for uploaded image ads. On the same specs page, formats are "GIF, JPG, PNG" and the maximum size is 150KB. That number does not apply to responsive display assets, which take up to 5120 KB. Teams that build to one limit and upload to the other lose an afternoon to a resize that was never needed.

No text or logo overlay on responsive assets. The image asset requirements say the following is not allowed: "Images with text or graphic overlay including brand logos or brand logos being used as the image asset". Upload the logo as a logo, not baked into the picture. In Performance Max the same page allows overlays with limitations, which is where the confusion starts.

Some verticals cannot use image assets at all. From the same page: "Some sensitive verticals or sub-verticals (for example, sexual content and gambling) aren't eligible for image assets." If you run dating, adult or iGaming, the image asset field may simply not be available to you, and no amount of resizing changes that.

The related creative specs for other placements differ again, so check the file against the placement rather than against the last campaign that worked. On adult inventory, the network-by-network specs guide covers the sizes each of those networks accepts.

Pre-launch checklist

• No button, arrow, play icon or pointer drawn inside the file.
• Background opaque, flattened, no alpha channel.
• One picture, one offer, no internal dividers or repeated copies.
• GIF: 30 seconds or less, stops at the end, under 5 FPS.
• File under 150KB for uploaded ads, under 5120 KB for responsive assets.
• Logo uploaded as an asset, not painted into the picture.
• Important content inside the centre 80% for responsive placements.
• Each placement's dimensions checked separately, not scaled from one master file.

Frequently asked

Why was my Google Ads display image disapproved?
The common causes are a button or download arrow inside the picture, a transparent background, an image that reads as more than one ad, or an animation running past 30 seconds. Google shows the policy name in the status column; match that name to the page it links and the fix is usually one element, not a rebuild.

Can an image ad contain a button?
A download or install button cannot, and an arrow makes it worse. Other buttons are judged on context: the policy prohibits standalone buttons that "lack clear context explaining their function, or whose prominence relative to the surrounding ad content is disproportionate". If the button needs explaining, it is the wrong device for a static file.

What file size and formats can I upload?
Uploaded image ads take GIF, JPG and PNG at 150KB or less. Responsive display assets take JPG and PNG at 5120 KB or less, with wide images at 1200 × 628, minimum 600 × 314, and square images at 1200 × 1200, minimum 300 × 300. Two different limits, two different upload paths.

Do animated GIF banners still run on the Display Network?
They do, within limits: 30 seconds or shorter, stopping at the end, slower than 5 FPS. A GIF that loops forever or speeds past five frames a second gets disapproved rather than trimmed. If you want motion without that ceiling, HTML5 exists but needs an account that meets Google's access criteria.

Can I use the same image for every placement?
Not well. Each size has its own aspect ratio, and one file scaled into all of them either letterboxes or cuts the product out of frame. For responsive display, put the important content in the centre 80% so every crop keeps it.

Samples in this piece are fictional. Larder is not a real product. Preflight checks published creative rules for the placements you choose and reports what it found; the network makes the final decision on every ad. Nothing here is legal advice.