When you're building a new Google Ads display campaign, a few key sizes are your bread and butter. You'll want to focus your creative efforts on the 300×250 Medium Rectangle, the 728×90 Leaderboard, and the 320×50 Mobile Leaderboard.

These three formats are the workhorses of the Google Display Network, consistently giving you the most reach across both desktop and mobile. If you want to make sure your ads can show up on the widest range of websites and apps, prioritizing these google ads display sizes is the smartest and most efficient way to do it.

Your Quick Reference for Top Performing Display Ad Sizes

The sheer number of available ad dimensions can be a bit much, but here's the good news: a handful of them account for the vast majority of ad inventory out there. Concentrating on these top performers means you get the most from your budget without sinking time and design resources into obscure formats. It's the classic 80/20 rule applied to display ads—a few key sizes will drive most of your results.

This isn't about cutting corners; it's about working smarter. By focusing on the proven winners, you’ll:

• Maximize Campaign Reach: Get your ads in front of more people on more sites.
• Improve Efficiency: Avoid wasting your designer’s time on banners that will hardly ever get shown.
• Boost Performance: These sizes are popular for a reason—they tend to perform better and drive more engagement.

The Most Impactful Ad Sizes

Here’s a quick-reference table outlining the most effective and widely available Google Ads display sizes. These should form the backbone of any display campaign, whether you're building brand awareness or hunting for direct conversions.

Top Performing Google Display Ad Sizes at a Glance

This table summarizes the most effective ad sizes, their dimensions, and where they work best to help you get your campaigns set up quickly.

Ad Name	Dimensions (Pixels)	Best For	Performance Rank
Medium Rectangle	300 x 250	In-content, sidebars (Desktop & Mobile)	#1
Leaderboard	728 x 90	Above-the-fold headers (Desktop)	#2
Large Rectangle	336 x 280	In-content, sidebars (Desktop)	#3
Wide Skyscraper	160 x 600	Sidebars (Desktop)	#4
Mobile Leaderboard	320 x 50	Banners (Mobile)	#5

By sticking to these top four or five ad sizes, you'll be eligible to serve ads on over 85% of all available inventory on the Google Display Network. It’s a strategic move that saves creative resources while ensuring you can scale your campaigns effectively.

This diagram breaks down the most critical ad sizes and shows where they typically appear on desktop and mobile.

As you can see, certain dimensions are clearly designed for specific environments, which really drives home the need for a multi-format creative strategy. If you want to get into the nitty-gritty of performance data, you can check out our more detailed analysis of banner ads dimensions.

Understanding the Four Most Popular Ad Sizes

While the Google Display Network supports dozens of different ad dimensions, a handful truly dominate the available inventory. If you want to maximize your reach and impact, focusing your design efforts on these core Google Ads display sizes is the smartest move you can make.

Think of these four formats as the foundation of any solid display advertising strategy. By building your campaigns around them, you ensure your ads are eligible to show up on the widest possible range of high-traffic websites and apps.

This visual from Google gives you a clear idea of how these common ad sizes fit into a typical webpage. The main takeaway here is that you need a mix of horizontal, vertical, and square-ish ads to cover all your bases and get into every possible placement.

The 300×250 Medium Rectangle

The 300×250 Medium Rectangle is an absolute workhorse. It performs incredibly well when it’s embedded within text content or placed at the end of articles, as it feels like a natural part of the page on both desktop and mobile. Its huge availability makes it a non-negotiable part of any campaign.

In the Canadian market, this format is the undisputed king, accounting for a massive 34% of all display advertisements on the Google Display Network. Its knack for blending into content helps it earn an average click-through rate (CTR) of 0.51% for consumer services—a crucial stat for any Vancouver-based business trying to generate leads. You can dig into more performance data in this breakdown of the top Google display ad sizes on directiveconsulting.com.

The 728×90 Leaderboard

You’ll almost always find the 728×90 Leaderboard right at the top of a webpage, "above the fold." This prime real estate makes it impossible to miss and perfect for brand awareness campaigns where visibility is everything. It's often the first thing a user sees, grabbing their attention instantly.

Because of its prominent spot, the Leaderboard is a staple for major news sites and popular blogs. It’s a reliable choice for top-of-funnel marketing because it guarantees brand exposure on pages that get a ton of traffic.

Other Essential Ad Formats

Beyond those top two, a couple of other formats are critical for a well-rounded creative portfolio.

• 336×280 Large Rectangle: This is a slightly bigger version of the Medium Rectangle, giving you a bit more canvas to work with for your message. It’s also often embedded within content and its generous size helps it stand out and capture a user's attention.
• 160×600 Wide Skyscraper: This tall, vertical ad usually sits in a webpage's sidebar. Its vertical design means it stays visible as a user scrolls down the page, giving your brand sustained exposure for the entire visit.

Getting the Most Out of Your Desktop Ad Formats

While it's smart to think mobile-first these days, completely ignoring desktop users is a mistake that can really cost you. Desktop is still a massive platform, especially for B2B campaigns or for products that require a lot of research before someone decides to buy. Think about it—that's where people are often doing their deep-dive comparisons.

This is where specific Google ads display sizes built for the desktop experience come in. They're designed to grab attention during those longer, more focused browsing sessions. You’ll find that the best-performing desktop formats are usually larger and fit naturally into the layouts of news sites, forums, and detailed blog posts, giving you more space to tell a compelling story.

Capitalizing on Prime Desktop Real Estate

To make a real impression on desktop, your ads need to have some visual weight. The key is to get noticed without being annoying, and a few specific sizes are tailor-made for that job.

• 728×90 Leaderboard: An absolute classic for a reason. You'll usually see this banner right at the top of a webpage, making it one of the first things a visitor lays eyes on. It’s perfect for getting your brand seen immediately.
• 160×600 Wide Skyscraper: The tall, vertical format of the Skyscraper is its superpower. It slots perfectly into sidebars and often stays on-screen as people scroll, which means your message gets a lot more time in front of them.
• 970×250 Billboard: Think of this as the Leaderboard's bigger, bolder cousin. The Billboard gives you a huge canvas for stunning visuals and is a favourite for homepage takeovers on major publisher sites where a strong first impression is everything.

These formats work particularly well on websites where people are actively looking for information. Your ad becomes part of their discovery process instead of just another interruption.

Someone browsing on a desktop is often in a "lean-in" mode—they're focused and engaged. This is a golden opportunity for ads that need a bit more copy or more detailed visuals to really land their point.

Putting It All Together for Maximum Impact

Picking the right desktop ad size is just the start; how you use it is what really counts. If you’re marketing B2B services or complex e-commerce items, your desktop campaigns should be a top priority. This is the environment where potential customers are deep in the weeds, comparing features and getting ready to make that final call.

For instance, Canadian advertisers have consistently seen the 728×90 Leaderboard Banner deliver fantastic results. It’s often one of the top three performing ad sizes because of its excellent reach on sites with heavy desktop traffic. On popular news portals in British Columbia, this format can hit a solid CTR of around 0.09-0.10%, and its visibility metrics often beat smaller banners by 20-30% simply because it owns that premium, top-of-page space. You can dig into more stats about Google Ad banner sizes on viewst.com.

When you match your ad sizes to how people behave on different devices, your whole campaign just works better. By making these powerful desktop formats a key part of your strategy, you’re setting yourself up to connect with high-intent users right when they’re most open to your message, which ultimately leads to better leads and more sales.

Getting Mobile Ad Sizes Right

It’s no secret that most web traffic now comes from smartphones. This means that if your display ads aren't built for smaller screens first, you're already behind. Mobile users browse differently—they scroll fast and have zero patience for ads that are slow, clunky, or just plain look wrong. Getting your google ads display sizes right for mobile is a foundational step for any successful campaign.

Focusing on mobile-specific formats from the get-go ensures your message is sharp and effective in a much smaller space. These ads are built to grab attention quickly without getting in the way, which is exactly what you need to drive engagement with people on the move.

Top-Performing Mobile Ad Formats

The best mobile display ads pack a punch in a small package. They're designed to be seen in crowded social feeds or pinned to the top or bottom of an app. To really succeed here, you need to know what each of the key mobile ad sizes does best.

• 320×50 Mobile Leaderboard: Think of this as the "mobile anchor" ad. You’ll usually see it stuck to the top or bottom of the screen as you scroll. It’s an absolute workhorse, accounting for an estimated 12% of global mobile display impressions, making it perfect for consistent brand presence. Because it's small, you need to keep the message dead simple with a clear call-to-action.
• 320×100 Large Mobile Banner: This one gives you double the vertical space of the standard mobile leaderboard. That extra room is a huge advantage when you need to show off a bit more of your product or add a slightly longer headline. It strikes a great balance between getting noticed and not taking over the whole screen.
• 300×250 Medium Rectangle: While it's a star performer on desktops, the 300×250 is a powerhouse on mobile, too. It fits neatly inside the content, like between paragraphs of an article, so it feels less disruptive. That natural integration is why it often sees much higher engagement rates.

Design Tips for Small Screens

Designing for mobile requires a "less is more" approach. Every single pixel matters, and clutter is the fastest way to get ignored. To make your mobile ads really work, you have to prioritize clarity and immediate impact over everything else.

Make sure your design includes:

• Clear, Readable Text: Use a clean, simple font that's easy to read on a small screen. Steer clear of fancy script fonts that will just turn into a blurry mess when they're scaled down.
• High-Contrast Colours: Your text and call-to-action button need to pop. Strong colour contrast makes your ad more visible and guides the user's eye right where you want it to go.
• One Obvious Focal Point: Don't try to say everything at once. Pick one powerful image or a short, punchy headline to grab attention instantly.

A bit of hard-won advice: on mobile, a user's thumb is your biggest competition. Your ad has to be interesting enough to make them stop scrolling. A bold, simple visual and a clear, benefit-driven headline are your most effective tools for that.

And don't forget what happens after the click. Your landing page absolutely must be mobile-friendly. A fast, easy-to-use landing page is non-negotiable if you want to convert the traffic your perfectly sized mobile ads are bringing in. If your page is slow or broken on mobile, you're just throwing your ad spend away.

Getting the Most Out of Responsive Display Ads

Responsive Display Ads, or RDAs, are now the standard on the Google Display Network, and for good reason—they’re incredibly flexible. Instead of meticulously creating dozens of individual image ads for various google ads display sizes, you just supply Google with a toolkit of creative assets. From there, its machine learning takes over, mixing and matching your components to assemble ads that slot perfectly into almost any available ad space.

This automated approach allows your ads to appear in far more places, dramatically expanding your campaign's reach. Google's system is constantly running thousands of tiny experiments with your headlines, descriptions, and images, figuring out which combinations resonate best with specific audiences and placements. Over time, it naturally optimises for clicks and conversions, essentially running a massive, continuous A/B test on your behalf. To get a better handle on how this automated process works behind the scenes, you can read our guide on what is programmatic advertising.

What You'll Need: The Building Blocks of an RDA

To get an effective RDA campaign off the ground, you need to feed Google’s system a solid variety of high-quality assets. Think of these as the ingredients it will use to cook up your final ads.

• Headlines: You can provide up to five short headlines (30 characters each) and one long headline (90 characters). I always recommend a mix of short, attention-grabbing phrases and slightly more descriptive ones.
• Descriptions: You get up to five descriptions (90 characters each). Use this space to elaborate on your headlines and always include a clear call-to-action.
• Images: Upload up to 15 images. The most critical part here is providing images in both landscape (1.91:1) and square (1:1) formats. This is key for unlocking the most ad inventory.
• Logos: You can add up to five logos, but make sure you at least have one high-resolution square (1:1) logo ready to go.

The real trick is to ensure every single asset—every headline, every description—can stand on its own but also works well when paired with any other component. Google will combine them in ways you might not expect.

Tips for Creating RDAs That Actually Work

Success with RDAs comes down to giving Google's algorithm the best possible ingredients to work with. Your job is to provide a rich, varied set of creative components for it to test and learn from.

First and foremost, your images need to be top-notch and, importantly, free of any overlaid text. Google will add your headlines and descriptions dynamically, so any text baked into the image itself can result in a messy, unreadable ad.

Pro Tip: Make sure your headlines and descriptions are all distinct. Don't just rephrase the same benefit five different ways. Each asset should offer a unique angle or piece of information, giving the algorithm more meaningful variations to test.

Finally, and I can't stress this enough, always upload both landscape (1.91:1) and square (1:1) images. According to Google's own data, campaigns that include both aspect ratios see an average of 10% more conversions at a similar cost per acquisition. It's a simple step that opens up a huge chunk of additional ad inventory across the network.

Getting the Technical Specs and File Requirements Right

Nothing grinds a campaign launch to a halt faster than an ad rejection over a technicality. It’s a frustrating waste of time and energy. Getting a handle on the specific file requirements for your Google Ads display sizes is the secret to a smooth, headache-free launch. These rules aren't just there to make our lives difficult; they exist to make sure ads load quickly and look consistent across the millions of websites in the Google Display Network.

By far, the most common roadblock I see is the file size. Google is incredibly strict about its 150 KB limit for image ads. This isn't arbitrary—it's all about page load speed. A heavy ad can slow down a website, and a slow website means frustrated visitors who are more likely to click away before your ad even has a chance to be seen.

Supported File Types and Key Constraints

Google keeps it pretty straightforward with the file formats it accepts for both static and animated ads. Your design team just needs to be aware of the specific rules for each to stay out of trouble.

• JPG and PNG: These are your workhorses for static, non-moving ads. I usually recommend PNGs when you need a transparent background, while JPGs are fantastic for compressing photographic images without a noticeable drop in quality.
• GIF: If you’re going for a simple animation, GIF is the way to go. Just remember, the animation has to be 30 seconds or shorter. It can’t loop forever, and the frame rate must be kept below 5 FPS (frames per second) to avoid being too frantic.
• HTML5: For richer, more interactive ads, you can package them as a .ZIP file. This opens up a world of creative possibilities, but it also comes with a much more detailed set of technical hoops to jump through.

A classic mistake is saving a beautiful, high-resolution image at its full pixel dimensions. That will almost always blow past the 150 KB limit. Always, always use the "Save for Web" or "Export As" features in tools like Photoshop to get that file size down without sacrificing too much quality.

If you want to dive deeper into optimizing your visuals, a lot of the same core principles apply as they do for websites. We cover this in detail in our guide on recommended website image sizes.

A Quick Technical Checklist

Before you hit that upload button in Google Ads, it's a great habit to run through this checklist. Taking a few seconds to double-check these common problem areas can save you from the vast majority of technical rejections and keep your campaign timeline intact.

Here’s a handy table to keep nearby.

Google Ads Technical Specifications Checklist

Specification	Requirement	Best Practice Note
Max File Size	150 KB	Always use image compression tools. Tools like TinyPNG or ImageOptim can work wonders without making your ad look grainy.
Accepted Formats	JPG, PNG, GIF, HTML5	Choose the right tool for the job. Don't force a complex animation into a GIF if HTML5 would be a better fit.
Animation Length	30 seconds max	Your message should be delivered quickly. If you need more than 30 seconds, a display ad probably isn't the right format.
Animation Looping	No infinite loops	The animation is allowed to loop, but it has to come to a complete stop after the 30-second mark.

Think of this checklist as your pre-flight inspection. By making sure these simple but critical requirements are met, you’re setting your campaign up for a smooth take-off.

Common Questions About Google Ad Sizes

Getting the hang of Google Display ad specs can feel a bit like learning a new language. You're bound to have questions, especially when you're trying to make every ad dollar count.

We see the same queries pop up time and time again, so we've put together some quick, straightforward answers to help you get your creative assets right from the start.

What Ad Sizes Should I Focus On If I Have a Small Budget?

If you're working with limited resources, you need to be strategic. The goal is to get the most bang for your buck, which means focusing on the ad sizes that give you access to the most available ad space, or "inventory."

You'll want to pour your efforts into creating top-notch creative for the 300×250 Medium Rectangle and the 320×50 Mobile Leaderboard. Just these two sizes will make your ads eligible to show up on a huge portion of websites and apps, ensuring your budget is spent where it has the best chance to perform.

How Do Responsive Ads Decide Which Size to Display?

This is where Google's machine learning comes into play. With Responsive Display Ads (RDAs), you don't upload finished ads; you upload the ingredients—images, headlines, descriptions, and logos.

Google's system then acts like a chef, mixing and matching those assets to assemble the perfect ad for any given ad slot on the Display Network. It considers the space available, the device, and the user's context to build the ad on the fly. It's constantly testing which combinations get the best results, automatically favouring the winners to improve your campaign's performance over time.

My Ads Got Disapproved for Size. What Did I Do Wrong?

This is a frustratingly common problem, but it usually comes down to one of two things. The most frequent culprit is the file size. Google has a strict 150 KB limit for image ads, and it’s surprisingly easy to go over that with high-resolution images that haven't been properly compressed.

The other common issue is a pixel-perfect dimension mismatch. Your ad creative must be the exact size specified by Google—being off by even a single pixel will get it rejected. Double-check your canvas size in your design tool before exporting.

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