A callout extension is a short line of non-clickable text attached to a search ad, used to state a selling point such as "Free shipping", "24/7 phone support" or "Price match guarantee". Each callout holds up to 25 characters, carries no link and sits beneath the ad's headlines and description. The format exists because headline and description space is scarce and contested: callouts let an advertiser state general benefits without spending ad copy on them, and without building a landing page for each claim. Google has called the format a callout asset since its 2022 rename of ad extensions to assets. Microsoft Advertising still uses the older name, callout extensions. This explainer covers both, leading with Google's version.

How callouts are built and served

The object is minimal. In the Google Ads API, a CalloutAsset has one required field, callout_text, which must be between 1 and 25 characters inclusive, according to the field definitions in Google's open-source Python client library. Three optional fields control timing: a start date, an end date and a list of ad schedules, capped at six schedules per day and 42 in total. There is no URL field, which is the main structural difference from a sitelink. In Chinese, Japanese and Korean the limit falls to 12 characters, according to Google's help page on callout assets.

Callouts are attached at three levels: account, campaign or ad group. Google's examples show the logic. A general claim such as "24/7 phone support" belongs at account or campaign level, while "free gift wrapping" or "20% off cameras" suits a specific ad group. The help page also favours concrete wording, contrasting "34 MPG max mileage" with "Great fuel economy".

Serving is decided per auction, not at setup. According to the same help page, an ad "can show up to 10 callouts", depending on character spacing, browser and device. On a computer, callouts "are separated by dots and listed on a single line"; on mobile and tablet they wrap in paragraph form. Their order, length and past performance all affect how many appear. Ads with callouts can show at the top or bottom of results. Whether any appear at all depends on Ad Rank, the score Google uses to order ads, which according to Google's Ad Rank documentation includes "the expected impact of assets and other ad formats". The relationship runs both ways: callouts can lift an ad's rank, and a higher rank earns room for callouts.

Pricing is simple. "There's no cost to add a callout," Google states, and charges apply only to clicks on the ad itself. Callouts cannot be clicked, so they generate no separate charge. Edits do not reset performance statistics, and callouts are managed in the Assets report under an Associations tab.

Campaign coverage is narrower than for sitelinks. Google's help page lists Search Network campaigns, including Search campaigns opted into the Display Network. In Performance Max, callouts cannot be linked to asset groups: the Performance Max asset requirements list only headlines, descriptions, images, logos, business name, video and call-to-action types for asset groups, and say other types must be linked to the campaign instead.

Editorial rules are brief. According to the callout asset requirements, Google disapproves punctuation and symbols that "serve no purpose other than to draw attention to the ad", citing exclamation marks, leading punctuation and a ► symbol. Callout text also cannot repeat within a callout, or duplicate text in other callouts, the ad or sitelinks in the same ad group, campaign or account. "Free shipping" in both a headline and a callout gets the callout rejected.

Not every callout is written by the advertiser. Dynamic callouts are generated by Google from the landing site and run at account level. The help page says they "may show alongside or in place of" manual callouts and recommends keeping them on, with individual generated assets able to be paused or removed.

Microsoft's product works on similar lines with tighter display numbers. According to the CalloutAdExtension reference, text runs from 1 to 25 characters (12 in Traditional Chinese) and must differ from the ad text. Between 2 and 20 callouts can be associated with an account, campaign or ad group; with one or fewer, none serve. Each ad shows 2 to 4 per impression, and ad group callouts override campaign ones.

Origin and evolution

Google launched callout extensions on September 3, 2014. In the announcement on the Inside AdWords blog, product manager Senthil Hariramasamy described them as "additional text that shows with your Google search ads", with a 25-character limit and up to four callouts per ad. The post said callouts counted towards Ad Rank and could co-trigger with other extensions. Its only performance evidence was a testimonial from James Harrower, senior search manager at Hilton Worldwide: "we've seen a 9% increase in conversion rate". No baseline or method was given. The AdWords API team added support through the existing Feed API on September 16, 2014, according to Google's developer blog.

Practitioners framed the format against sitelinks from the start. "The nice thing about callouts is that you don't have to have unique links for each one," Elizabeth Marsten, then search marketing director at Portent, told Search Engine Watch on September 5, 2014. Bing Ads followed with its own callout extensions, which PPC Hero described as recently released in April 2016, with two to four shown per ad.

The plumbing changed in 2021. Google moved callouts from feeds to the asset system, auto-migrating them on October 20, 2021 and switching off callout feeds on February 15, 2022, according to Google's migration schedule. Serving rules followed. In February 2022, Google said that from mid-March, callouts set at higher levels could serve alongside lower-level ones, and that dynamic callouts would become eligible to show alongside manually created ones. The name changed that September. Google announced on September 15, 2022 that extensions would be called assets, a change WordStream described as "just the name", according to its contemporaneous report.

Automation then extended further. On February 1, 2024, Google said AI-generated callouts, alongside sitelinks and structured snippets, could appear with or replace manually created assets if predicted to perform better.

Why callouts matter to marketers

The argument is about space and message. A callout row makes an ad taller and allows claims such as returns policy or delivery terms to be made once at account level instead of in every responsive search ad. That frees headline slots, which Google's systems now assemble dynamically, as covered in Explaining headline. Results pages have become more crowded, with ads grouped under a single "Sponsored results" header and new formats such as the non-clickable site visits asset, launched officially in May 2026. Callouts compete for the same lines.

Responsibility is shifting too. Under Google Ads terms effective July 1, 2026, advertisers must "review, approve or remove" AI-generated assets, which brings generated callouts within their legal exposure.

Limitations, criticisms and conflicting documentation

Google's own documentation disagrees with itself on hierarchy. Its current help page says a callout at a more granular level "blocks" higher-level callouts, with ad group callouts overriding campaign ones. That is the pre-2022 rule. Google's February 2022 announcement, as reported by PPC Land, said higher-level callouts would be "eligible to serve alongside" lower-level ones. As of October 2026, the help page had not reconciled the two.

Display numbers also conflict. Google's 2014 launch allowed up to four callouts per ad; its help page now says up to 10; Microsoft says 2 to 4. Since none of these sources sets a guaranteed count, advertisers cannot predict how many lines will appear.

Evidence of effect is thin. Google has published no aggregate uplift figure for callouts. Its launch claim rested on one customer, and because Ad Rank weighs expected asset impact, callouts can move an ad's position, which muddies any before-and-after comparison. Dynamic callouts reduce control further: Google can write claims an advertiser never approved, while the duplication rule means a manual callout repeating the ad copy is rejected outright.

Callouts and adjacent terms

Sitelinks. Clickable links to deeper pages, with up to 25 characters of link text and optional descriptions. Callouts share their hierarchy rules but carry no URL.

Structured snippets. A header from a fixed list, such as "Brands" or "Types", followed by values. Callouts are free-form phrases with no header.

Hotel callouts. A separate asset for hotel ads. According to Google's hotel callouts page, up to 100 can be set per entity but only two, one or none show, and they are language-specific.

Promotion assets. Structured offers with discount fields and occasions. A callout can state "20% off" but has no promotion mechanics.

Recent developments

Google has continued to adjust management rather than the format. On January 30, 2026, PPC News Feed reported that Google had quietly published bulk-editing help pages, spotted by Hana Kobzová. The callout bulk-edit page lists edit, find and replace, add text and change case operations. The AI Max migration that began on September 1, 2026 left callouts largely untouched: dynamic callouts, as an account-level automated format, are outside the migration, which covers campaign-level constructs such as legacy automatically created assets. As of October 2026, callouts remain a Search-centred asset, while the surrounding format, including headlines in sitelink positions, is increasingly assembled by Google's systems, as Google's ad design team described in February 2026.

Timeline

  • September 3, 2014: Google launches callout extensions in AdWords, 25 characters, up to four per ad
  • September 16, 2014: AdWords API supports callouts through the Feed API
  • April 2016: Bing Ads callout extensions reported as recently released
  • October 20, 2021: Google auto-migrates callouts from feeds to assets
  • February 15, 2022: Callout feeds sunset
  • Mid-March 2022: Higher-level callouts can serve alongside lower-level ones; dynamic callouts can serve alongside manual ones
  • September 15, 2022: Google announces extensions are renamed assets
  • February 1, 2024: AI-generated callouts can show alongside or instead of manual ones
  • January 30, 2026: Bulk-editing pages for callouts reported
  • July 1, 2026: Google Ads terms make advertisers responsible for reviewing generated assets
  • September 1, 2026: AI Max migration begins, excluding account-level dynamic callouts

Summary

Who: Google and Microsoft operate callouts in their search ad platforms. Advertisers and agencies write them, and Google also generates dynamic callouts from landing pages.

What: Short, non-clickable phrases of up to 25 characters shown beneath a search ad to state benefits such as free shipping or support hours, now called callout assets by Google.

When: Launched by Google on September 3, 2014, moved to the asset system in 2021 and 2022, renamed in September 2022 and supplemented by AI-generated versions from February 2024.

Where: Google Search campaigns, including those opted into the Display Network, linked to the campaign rather than asset groups in Performance Max, and in Microsoft Advertising, with a separate hotel callout format.

Why: Ad copy is limited. Callouts let advertisers state account-wide claims once, enlarge the ad and potentially lift Ad Rank, at the cost of growing automation and inconsistent documentation on how they serve.