Google Ads Limitations

Limitations for Campaigns, Ad Groups, and Ads in Google Ads

Google Ads gives businesses a chance to reach their customers online through search, display, video, and shopping ads. It is flexible and powerful, but Google also puts certain limits on campaigns, ad groups, and ads. These limits make sure the system runs smoothly and advertisers don’t overload the platform.

If you are planning or managing Google Ads, it is important to know these limits so you can structure your account properly. Below are the main limitations explained in simple words.

Campaign-Level Limitations

A campaign is the highest level in your account. It contains ad groups, budgets, and targeting settings. Google Ads allows many campaigns, but there are still maximum limits.

• Maximum campaigns per account: You can create up to 10,000 campaigns in one Google Ads account. This number includes both active and paused campaigns. For small businesses, this is more than enough, but large organizations need to plan carefully.
• Shared budgets: Google allows one budget to be shared across multiple campaigns, but you can only create 20 shared budgets in an account.
• Location targeting: A single campaign can target up to 10,000 locations. If you need to cover more areas, you may need to combine or group them.
• Negative keyword lists: You can create shared lists of negative keywords and apply them across campaigns. The limit is 20 shared lists, each containing up to 5,000 keywords.
• Bidding strategy: Only one bidding strategy can be used per campaign. For example, if you are running “Target CPA,” all ad groups and ads inside that campaign will follow it.

Ad Group-Level Limitations

Ad groups sit inside campaigns and organize your ads and keywords. They allow you to target specific themes, but they also have certain limits.

• Ad groups per campaign: Each campaign can hold up to 20,000 ad groups. While this is a huge number, it’s best to keep fewer ad groups for easier optimization.
• Keywords per ad group: You can add up to 20,000 keywords in an ad group. But best practice is to use only a small set of keywords (10–20) to keep targeting accurate.
• Negative keywords: Each ad group can hold up to 5,000 negative keywords. This helps filter out irrelevant searches.
• Audience targeting: You can add audience lists (like remarketing or interests) to each ad group. A maximum of 10,000 audience lists can be applied to a single ad group.
• Ad group names: Google allows up to 255 characters for naming ad groups, though shorter and clear names are recommended.

Ad-Level Limitations

Ads are the creative part that users see on Google. They have specific limits to ensure clarity and consistency.

• Ads per ad group: Each ad group can hold up to 50 text ads. However, running too many at once is not useful because Google rotates them and shows only the best-performing ones.
• Responsive Search Ads (RSA): You can create up to 3 RSAs per ad group. For each RSA, you can enter 15 headlines and 4 descriptions. Google then mixes and matches to find the best combination.
• Expanded Text Ads (ETA): Google has stopped creating new ETAs, but old ones can still run if they are already in your account.
• Character limits:
  • Headlines: Maximum 30 characters each.
  • Descriptions: Maximum 90 characters each.
  • Path fields (display URL): 15 characters each.
• Responsive Display Ads: You can upload up to 15 images, 5 logos, 5 headlines, and 5 descriptions. Google will automatically test different versions.
• Video Ads: There are no strict numbers on video uploads, but they must follow YouTube ad policies and size guidelines.
• Policy restrictions: Even if your ads meet all character and number limits, Google can still reject them if they violate policies (for example, misleading content, restricted products, or inappropriate wording).

Conclusion

Google Ads gives plenty of flexibility, but it also has set limits at the campaign, ad group, and ad level.

• Campaigns are limited by the number of campaigns, shared budgets, targeting options, and negative keyword lists.
• Ad groups are limited by the number of keywords, negative keywords, and audiences you can apply.
• Ads are limited by the number of ad variations you can create and the character counts in headlines and descriptions.

For most advertisers, these limits are more than enough and will not create problems. But if you manage large accounts with multiple campaigns and hundreds of ads, knowing these rules helps you plan better and avoid errors during setup.