Text guidelines is a campaign-level feature that allows you to refine your brandâs message for assets made exclusively with text customization. These guidelines help you not only to meet business and brand requirements, but also to control the output of assets created with Google AI automatically when text customization is âONâ.
This article explains how to turn on and use text guidelines for Performance Max campaigns and Search campaigns with AI Max enabled.
On this page
- Before you begin
- Understand term exclusions and messaging restrictions
- Add text guidelines for Performance Max campaigns
- Add text guidelines for Search campaigns
Before you begin
You must have text customization set to âONâ to use text guidelines.
- Learn more about turning on text customization for Search campaigns.
- Learn more about turning on text customization for Performance Max campaigns.
- Text guidelines are supported by all languages in Google Ads. Learn more About available languages in the Google Ads interface.
- Text guidelines can also be viewed, added, and edited using Google Ads Editor and the Google Ads API.
Understand term exclusions and messaging restrictions
Text guidelines has 2 options to refine your Google-optimized text assets: term exclusions and messaging restrictions. When you add text guidelines to your campaign, itâs important to remember that your term exclusions and messaging restrictions will also apply to existing Google-optimized text assets. This means that your existing Google-optimized text assets will stop serving and be marked as removed if they donât adhere with the new text guidelines.
Term exclusions
You can use this feature to add exact words or phrases that you want excluded from all generated text assets. Term exclusions aren't case sensitive, and you can add up to 25 term exclusions per campaign to refine your ad.
Examples
You can exclude single words or phrases from your text assets:
- Cheap
- Unlimited
- Low cost
- Cheapest in Paris
- A better choice than Competitor
- Term exclusions are language-specific. For example, if you exclude the English word âCheapâ and your ads are in Japanese, term exclusions won't prevent the Japanese equivalent from appearing in your ads.
- Term exclusions canât prevent assets with prices from being generated. For example, "$" as a term exclusion wonât exclude assets like "Shoes for less than $50" from being generated. Instead, you should use the messaging restriction "Donât generate assets with prices".
Messaging restrictions
This feature lets you specify what concepts, associations or styles to avoid in your text assets. You can define the tone of voice to adhere to. Alternatively, you can also define a tone of voice to avoid in your assets. You can add up to 40 restrictions per campaign to refine your ads.
Avoid restrictions that require different instructions for different asset types, for example, âUse title case for headlines and sentence case for descriptionsâ. Instead, ensure that you either specify one case for all assets or donât make any specifications.
Add an example within your guidelines to achieve the best results. For example, instead of just saying, âAvoid mention of any prices,â you can say, âAvoid mention of any prices, e.g. $45/night or $4,567.â
- Adding inefficient or counterintuitive guidelines may cause removal of a large number of good text customization assets, and lead to drop in campaign performance.
- Messaging Restrictions also apply to assets not in the language of the restriction. For example, if you write a messaging restriction in English but your ad has assets in German and Dutch, the restriction will still apply to the German and Dutch assets.
Examples of effective messaging restrictions
| Example | Explanation of effectiveness |
| âDonât imply our products are discounted.â | This restriction is clear and defined, which will ensure terms like discount, cheap, bargain and phrases associated with âdiscountedâ donât appear in your asset. |
| âMy brand name should be spelled as âCompanyName or Companynameâ | This is a clear, direct guideline to ensure your brand name is spelled accurately and stylized how your company expects. |
| âNever mention any city names in my ads.â | This is a clear restriction that prevents all city names from populating. |
| âOur brand tone clear, straightforward â | Descriptions of your brandâs tone will help to generate a copy that works for you. Be direct and descriptive. |
| âIf promoting a discount, always include "T&C applyââ | This is a clear direction. If there is an asset that includes promotions or discounts, unless it includes the âT&C applyâ the asset won't serve. |
| âDon't mention our brand name, 'CompanyName', or our competitor, 'CompetitorName'." | When referring to brands, itâs important to provide an example of what to avoid. You donât need to list numerous names, but giving an example is helpful. |
Examples of ineffective messaging restrictions
| Example | Explanation of ineffectiveness |
| âMy ads should bring joyâ | Joy is a vague description that is subjective. Provide a more direct phrasing of how you want the text to be written. |
| âWhen targeting audiences in the US ages 30-45, say âĶâ | Currently, messaging restrictions does not support this. Create a different ad group or a campaign to create specific messaging for target audiences. |
| âMy ads should deliver 1000% ROIâ | While our system is designed to drive ROI for each advertiser, Google can't guarantee specific ROI from text guidelines. |
| âAvoid implying our products are cheap. Never include mentions of any brands, other than âCompanyNameâ. My brand name should be spelled as âCompanyName or Companyname. Never mention any city names in my ads.â | Break up the requirements into separate guidelines. |
| âIf possible, talk about the ingredients of our chocolates.â | Currently, this guideline canât be supported. The model can only take hard requirements. |
| âDon't include any pricing information.â | While this guideline is fine, it may be too broad. If you donât intend for the model to remove all information about pricing, including promotions, prices, and savings, consider making this guideline more concrete. As an example, consider âDo not mention specific prices.â |
| âDonât target purely informational queries.â | This type of guidance isnât supported by text guidelines, as it relates to audience or keyword targeting rather than asset generation. |
| â25% off $60â or âBuy one get one free for items over $100â | The guideline â25% off $60â is ineffective as it is unclear if this phrase is required in all ad copy, should be prohibited entirely, or if only specific parts of the string should be avoided. |
| âMention free shipping whenever possible.â or "If possible, talk about..." | Guidelines should be direct requirements. If a concept is a âmust-haveâ for your brand, phrase it as a direct instruction. |
Add text guidelines for Performance Max campaigns
You can use text guidelines on new and existing campaigns.
New campaigns
- Go to Campaigns in the Campaigns menu
and select New Campaign.
- Select Performance Max as your campaign type.
- Go to Brand guidelines in the âAsset groupâ step and select More options.
- If your campaign doesnât have brand guidelines enabled already, you have 2 options. You can either access text guidelines via the asset optimization step, outlined below, or you can upgrade your brand guidelines experience to the campaign level. Follow the steps listed in the Upgrade existing campaigns with brand guidelines to gain access, or contact your Google representative for additional guidance.
- Scroll down to the âText guidelinesâ panel. Enter any term exclusions and messaging restrictions you would like to apply to your campaign.
Text guidelines can also be found in Asset optimization inside the âAsset groupâ step.
- Go to Campaigns in the Campaigns menu
- Select Performance Max as your campaign type.
- Go to âAsset groupâ and select Asset optimization. In the âTextâ field, check the Customization box. Below, select Add text guidelines.
Existing campaigns
- Go to Settings in the Campaigns menu
- Locate âCampaign settingsâ in the panel and select Brand guidelines. âText guidelinesâ is located under âBrand identityâ.
-
If your campaign does not have brand guidelines enabled already, please follow the steps listed in the Upgrade existing campaigns with brand guidelines to gain access. You may contact your Google representative for additional guidance.
-
Add text guidelines for Search campaigns
To use text guidelines in Search campaigns, you must be opted in to the Text customization feature in AI Max. You can enable text guidelines for new and existing AI Max campaigns.
New campaigns
- Go to the Create button
and select Campaign.
- Create a new Search campaign.
- When you reach the âAI Maxâ page, toggle to opt-in to AI Max settings.
- Below the opt-in toggle, find the âAsset optimizationâ panel. The âText customizationâ setting will be enabled by default. Below that, select Add text guidelines.
- Enter any term exclusions and messaging restrictions you would like to apply to your campaign.
Existing campaigns
- Go to Settings in the Campaigns menu
- Select AI Max in the section menu.
- Toggle to opt-in to AI Max settings.
- Below the opt-in toggle, find the âAsset optimizationâ panel. The âText customizationâ setting will be enabled by default. Below that, select Add text guidelines.
- Enter any term exclusions and messaging restrictions you would like to apply to your campaign.
Copy text guidelines across campaigns
You can reuse text guidelines by copying them from an existing campaign to a new or existing campaign. This feature streamlines the process of applying term exclusions and messaging restrictions, helping you save time from manual re-entry.
Use the following steps to copy text guidelines from another campaign;
- Navigate to the âText guidelinesâ section for your Performance Max or Search campaign either on campaign creation or in existing campaign settings.
- Select Copy guidelines from existing campaign.
- From the campaign picker, select a source campaign that contains the guidelines you want to copy.
- If you already have existing text guidelines, youâll be prompted to either Replace existing guidelines or Add to existing guidelines.
- Confirm your selection to apply the copied guidelines to your campaign.
Note:
- Copied text guidelines are independent of the source campaign. Any edits you make to the guidelines in the target campaign donât affect the source campaign.
- This copy functionality supports both Performance Max and Search campaigns with AI Max enabled.
