About message assets

Message assets allow you to configure an ad asset or button with your responsive search ads in Google Ads. After configuration is complete, user clicks are directed to your preferred messaging platform, so customers can start a conversation with your business. Message assets can be used with Search and Performance Max campaigns.

Note: Message assets are currently in beta. If you’re unable to access this feature, it may not be available to you yet.

Before you begin

To use message assets, make sure that you take the following actions. You can review the steps to set up message assets in the Instructions section below.

Set up your preferred messaging platform by providing a phone number, URL, or username for the message asset.
Under “Starter message”, enter a message that meets Google Ads policies.
Confirm that your headline has no mention of the messaging platform. Mentioning your messaging platform in a headline can cause confusion for users who click on the headline when they are redirected to your webpage instead of the respective platform.
In Google Ads message assets configuration, select the country for your WhatsApp or SMS number and in the“phone number input” box, provide an active WhatsApp Business or SMS number. For Facebook Messenger and Zalo, provide your URL with username. You can also provide a custom URL name or your account ID for Zalo. These URLs can look like the examples below:
- Facebook Messenger URL with username: https://m.me/username
- Zalo Official account ID: https://zalo.me/OA ID
- Zalo custom URL: https://zalo.me/custom URL name

Keep in mind

During message asset creation, select “Conversions” as your bid goal. If you have Conversion Based bidding as your primary objective, set Max conversions or tCPA, else if you choose Value Based bidding then set Target ROAS & Max conversion value. Learn more about how to Determine a bid strategy based on your goals.

How it works

Message assets can serve on both Android and iOS as an extension to your text ads. When your message asset appears on the Google Search results page, potential customers are shown:

Headlines
Descriptions
URL
Your message asset

If a potential customer clicks or taps on your headline, they’ll be directed to your website. However, if a potential customer clicks or taps on your messaging call to action or button, they’ll start a conversation with your business.

Note: No other asset types are triggered when serving the message button. This means that your message assets won’t show calls, lead forms, or other asset types.

Requirements

To use message assets, make sure that you have:

A good history of policy compliance.
A Google Ads account in an eligible vertical or sub-vertical. Sensitive verticals or sub-verticals, for example, campaigns and elections, aren't eligible for message assets.
Completed Advertiser verification program. Learn more About verification.

Important: If you’re a new advertiser to Google, your message asset impressions may be temporarily limited until you have accumulated positive user interactions. These limits help Google better assess your account.

Instructions

Steps to add message assets

Follow the steps below to add message assets to a campaign.

In your Google Ads account, select the create button , then select Campaign.
Select “Leads” as your campaign objective.
- Note: You can begin with your existing account-level goals. When a message asset is added and approved, the "Leads from Messages" conversion goal will automatically be made available for your account. You'll then find it as a goal option for subsequent campaign set ups.
After you confirm your conversion goals, select Search or Performance Max as your campaign type, then select Continue.
For Search campaigns, select “Messages from your ads” as the way you’d like to reach your goal.
Select Continue to finalize your campaign creation.

Add message assets to an existing campaign

Go to Campaigns within the Campaigns menu .
Choose the campaign you’d like to add a message asset to, then click the gear icon to open the “Settings” window.
From the “Settings” window, select Conversion Goals.
Select “Campaign-specific” from the dropdown, then select Choose campaign goals.
Select “Messages from your ads”.
Select Save.
- Note: The "Leads from Messages" conversion goal will be available after your message asset is added and approved.

Steps to configure message assets

After you’ve added assets to your campaign, you can configure your message assets in 2 ways:

From the Google Ads account-level
From your Google Ads campaign creation menu

Configure message assets from the account-level

Go to Assets within the Campaigns menu .
Click the blue plus button , then select Message.
Provide a WhatsApp or SMS number or a URL for Facebook Messenger or Zalo. Then, provide a starter message to display with your ad.

Configure message assets during campaign creation

In your Google Ads account, click the create button , then select Campaign.
Select “Leads” as your campaign objective.
- Note: You can begin with your existing account-level goals. When a message asset is added and approved, the "Leads from Messages" conversion goal will automatically be made available for your account. You'll then find it as a goal option for subsequent campaign set ups.
After you confirm your conversion goals, select Search or Performance Max as your campaign type, then click Continue.
For Search campaigns, select “Messages from your ads” as the way you’d like to reach your goal.
- After you've chosen your goal, you'll need to name your campaign, select your bidding strategy, and choose additional campaign settings, like location and language.
Under the “Ads” section, click on the “Messages” dropdown, then click + Message.
In the “Messages” asset, provide a WhatsApp or SMS number or a URL for Facebook Messenger or Zalo.Then, provide a starter message to display with your ad.

Reporting

Standard Google Ads reporting is supported for message assets. You can find details about the following metrics in your Google Ads account or in the Reporting editor.

Standard metrics

Impressions
Clicks
Cost
CTR (Click-Through-Rate)
CPC (Cost-Per-Click)
Conversions
View-Through Conversions
Offline tracking, including Store Visit Rate/Store Sale Rate
- Supported for retailers already using Store Visits/Sales in Google Ads.

Troubleshoot serving issues

If your assets aren’t serving, they may be limited by Google Ads policies, and it’s recommended that you review the policies to determine if you’re in violation. The following types of content may be restricted based on Search Ads policies:

Sexual content
Gambling-related content
Misusing personal information
Affiliate network/lead aggregator
Healthcare and medicines
Unavailable offers
Alcohol-related content
Political content
Trademarks

Learn more about What happens if you violate our policies.

If your ads have been flagged or labeled as a sensitive vertical, Google suggests that you remove the content and resubmit for a review. If the issue persists, reach out for additional support.

If nothing has been flagged as a sensitive vertical but your campaign is still not serving impressions, review your Account Goal settings to confirm that you’re not using a legacy campaign goal like “Leads from messages (Google Hosted). It’s recommended that you use the “Leads from messages” account goal.

Where you’ll be able to view message ads

Message ads are available globally on Android. On iOS, message ads are eligible to serve in the following countries:

Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Croatia
Czech Republic
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
Finland
France
Germany
Hong Kong
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Kazakhstan
Kuwait
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Mexico
Netherlands
Pakistan
Paraguay
Peru
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
Switzerland
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom

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