Launching on Google Ads (Performance Max & Demand Gen)
Last updated August 14, 2026
Google Ads works differently from Meta and TikTok: Performance Max campaigns run on asset groups - bundles of images, texts and videos that Google mixes into ads across Search, YouTube, Display, Gmail and Maps. Demand Gen campaigns run classic ads on YouTube, Discover and Gmail - and take 9:16 creatives natively. uplads launches into both.
Start a launch
- Open Launch and switch Launch to to Google.
- Select creatives from your media library (up to 20 - the Google limit per asset group or ad).
- Pick your Google Ads account and the campaign type:
- Performance Max → New asset group - creates one asset group with your creatives and texts in every selected campaign.
- Performance Max → Add to existing asset groups - links the selected creatives into asset groups that already run. No texts needed.
- Demand Gen - creates one image ad (and one video ad, if you selected videos) per selected ad group.
Texts for a new asset group
Google requires a minimum text set per asset group; the wizard enforces it:
| Field | Count | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Headlines | 3-15 | 30 characters |
| Long headlines | 1-5 | 90 characters |
| Descriptions | 2-5 | first 60, rest 90 characters |
| Business name | 1 | 25 characters |
Images, logo and videos
- Performance Max wants images in 1.91:1, 1:1 or 4:5; Demand Gen additionally takes 9:16 natively. Anything else is center-cropped automatically to the nearest ratio - same idea as the TikTok 9:16 auto-resize.
- Google requires at least one landscape image, one square image and a logo. Pick a real logo from your library in the Text step - or let uplads derive the missing slots from your best-fitting image so the launch never fails on a technicality.
- Video files upload automatically: Google only serves YouTube-hosted videos, so uplads uploads your video files (unlisted) to the YouTube channel of your connected Google login, then attaches them. This needs the YouTube permission - if your connection is older, click Reauthorize in Configuration once. You can also paste up to 5 YouTube links in the Text step. Without a video, Performance Max auto-generates one from your images.
After the launch
New asset groups and ads are created paused by default, so nothing spends until you enable them - flip the toggle in the Review step to launch active. Track progress on the Launch step or under Launches, and retry any failed items with one click.