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Make a search ad render taller with extensions

A Search ad only wins the space above the organic results if it renders large. The levers that grow it vertically are the text extensions: sitelinks (extra links), callouts (short highlights), and structured snippets (a labelled list). This recipe adds all three and attaches them to a campaign.

Each extension is two pieces: an asset that holds the content, and a link that attaches the asset to a campaign (or ad group). You author both in your .bid files, so plan / apply and refresh manage them like everything else.

1. Author the assets

resource "google_ads_sitelink_asset" "add_to_chrome" {
  link_text    = "Add to Chrome"
  description1  = "Free, open source"
  description2  = "Install in 10 seconds"
  final_urls   = ["https://www.ghostery.com/ghostery-ad-blocker"]
}


resource "google_ads_callout_asset" "free_open_source" {
  text = "Free & Open Source"
}


resource "google_ads_structured_snippet_asset" "features" {
  header = "Features"
  values = ["Cookie Banner Blocker", "Ad Blocker", "Tracker Blocker"]
}

Add a few sitelinks (Google shows them in pairs) and a handful of callouts — the more eligible extensions, the more real estate the ad can claim.

2. Attach them to the campaign

A google_ads_campaign_asset links one asset to one campaign. The field_type says how the asset is used and must match the asset’s kind:

resource "google_ads_campaign_asset" "gh_cookies_sitelink" {
  campaign   = google_ads_campaign.gh_cookies.id
  asset      = google_ads_sitelink_asset.add_to_chrome.id
  field_type = "SITELINK"
}


resource "google_ads_campaign_asset" "gh_cookies_callout" {
  campaign   = google_ads_campaign.gh_cookies.id
  asset      = google_ads_callout_asset.free_open_source.id
  field_type = "CALLOUT"
}


resource "google_ads_campaign_asset" "gh_cookies_snippet" {
  campaign   = google_ads_campaign.gh_cookies.id
  asset      = google_ads_structured_snippet_asset.features.id
  field_type = "STRUCTURED_SNIPPET"
}

Run bidsmith plan to preview the new assets and links, then bidsmith apply.

A note on editing an extension’s text

Extension assets are content-immutable in Google Ads — you can’t edit a sitelink’s text in place; the platform mints a new asset. So changing link_text (or a callout’s text, or a snippet’s values) plans as a new asset plus a new link, not an in-place update. That’s expected, and it matches how the Google Ads UI behaves.

See also