The image is the advertisement. It is what a publisher’s audience judges the page by, and it is accordingly the most closely reviewed element of a campaign. Creatives that do not meet these standards are rejected.
Specifications
| Requirement | |
|---|---|
| Image size | 1200 × 628 pixels. Smaller images are upscaled by the publisher and look it. |
| Aspect ratio | Approximately 1.91:1. Other ratios are cropped to fit, and you do not control where. |
| Format | JPEG, PNG or WebP. No animated formats. |
| Title | Up to 90 characters. |
| Description | Up to 90 characters. |
| Brand name | Required, and must be the business behind the offer. |
Image quality
- A clear, well-lit, in-focus photograph or a purpose-made graphic.
- One subject, recognisable at thumbnail size on a phone.
- Natural colour, and contrast that holds up against a white page.
- Imagery you own or are licensed to use, with model releases where people are identifiable.
- Blurry, pixelated, heavily compressed, stretched or upscaled images.
- Visible watermarks, stock-library marks, borders, frames or letterboxing.
- Collages, split screens and grids that cram several images into one slot.
- Screenshots of another platform’s interface, of a chat thread, or of a document.
- Solid-colour backgrounds carrying nothing but text.
Text on the image
The headline is a separate field and the publisher renders it. Text baked into the image competes with it, survives cropping badly, and reads as low quality.
- Headlines, prices, offers or calls to action rendered into the image.
- Arrows, circles, highlights and other markings pointing at part of the image.
- Logos and brand marks large enough to be the subject of the creative.
A discreet logo in a corner, and text that genuinely belongs to the scene, are fine.
Interface deception
Anything drawn onto a creative to make a person believe they are clicking a control rather than an ad is rejected on sight, and repeated attempts cost the account.
- Play buttons, video scrubbers and progress bars on a static image.
- Cursors, pointers, taps, close buttons and X marks.
- Form fields, checkboxes, dropdowns and buttons that are not real.
- Notification badges, unread counts, message bubbles and system alerts.
- Anything imitating the surrounding site’s own navigation or controls.
People and sensitive imagery
- Nudity, sexualised posing, and framing that isolates a body part.
- Before-and-after comparisons of any kind.
- Close-ups of skin conditions, wounds, surgery, parasites, insects, decay or bodily fluids.
- Violence, weapons pointed at the viewer, blood, injury and distressing accident imagery.
- Children as the subject of a creative, and any imagery designed to appeal primarily to children.
- Real people used without permission, including public figures, and images implying an endorsement that does not exist.
Video
- A strong opening frame: it is the thumbnail, and it is judged by every rule on this page.
- Legible without sound. Most video placements start muted.
- Length matched to the placement, with the point made in the first few seconds.
- Audio that starts loud, and sudden volume changes.
- Rapid flashing, strobing, or high-frequency flicker.
- Fake buffering, fake playback controls and fake pause states.
- Simulated screen recordings of software the advertiser does not operate.
Consistency with the rest of the ad
A creative is reviewed together with its headline and its destination. An image that is accurate on its own but implies something the landing page does not deliver fails as a set — see titles and claims and landing pages.
- Show the product being advertised, not a more impressive relative of it.
- If the ad implies a person, a place or a result, the destination has to substantiate it.
- Do not use a news photograph, a disaster image or a public event to sell an unrelated product.