Campaign Setup
Programmatic creative delivery
Check whether programmatic ads can serve, render correctly and send clicks to the intended landing page.
Programmatic creative delivery runs from an assigned ad asset to a rendered impression and, on click, to the intended landing page. Check eligibility, assignment, rendering and destination separately: a creative can be approved yet have little matching inventory, or serve correctly while its click leads to the wrong page.
Trace the delivery path
Keep the creative ID, format, serving dimensions, language, assigned line item and intended landing page together. Record who owns the asset and the page so a fault can be traced to the right team.
| Stage | Check |
|---|---|
| Eligibility | Does the format and size match inventory available under the campaign’s targeting or deal? |
| Assignment | Is the intended creative active, assigned and within its run dates? |
| Rendering | Does it display at the affected size and in the relevant device or app context? |
| Destination | Does its click reach a working page that fulfils the ad’s promise? |
An inventory forecast estimates opportunity; it cannot prove that a particular creative will win an auction. A preview can expose an asset problem, but it cannot reproduce every publisher layout.
Confirm serving eligibility
Eligibility includes more than a matching format. Display & Video 360 requires creatives to follow its content and policy guidelines and other applicable IAB guidelines; rich media must also meet technical limits. Its guidelines set a maximum asset dimension of 4096 × 4096 pixels and a maximum total browser download of 5 MB, though a publisher may require a smaller file.
Rich media ads may animate for no longer than 30 seconds. Autoplay video is allowed only with muted audio; ads that autoplay audio or spawn pop-ups or surveys are prohibited. Check these requirements before assigning an asset, so policy or technical rejection is not mistaken for a shortage of eligible delivery opportunities.
Key Technical Limits for Creatives
- Max Asset Dimension
- 4096 × 4096 pixels
- Max Browser Download Size
- 5 MB
- Autoplay Audio
- Not allowed (only muted audio permitted)
Confirm assignment readiness
A responsive HTML5 creative must be published before it can be assigned to line items. Treat publishing as a hand-off in the delivery path: confirm the intended asset is ready, then check that the assignment points to that creative rather than an earlier draft or another version.
Pre-Serve Creative Readiness Checklist
- Creative Published?Yes – confirm in Display & Video 360 before assignment.
- Correct Version Assigned?No draft or outdated version used.
- Run Dates Active?Within start and end dates set in the line item.
- Policy Compliant?Follows Display & Video 360 content and technical policies.
Check format and size
For fixed-size display, compare the creative's declared dimensions with inventory available under the actual targeting. Display & Video 360 lists common sizes, but supported dimensions differ across sites, apps and regions. For a private deal, confirm accepted sizes with the publisher and inspect creative-related filtering when requests arrive.
Responsive HTML5 still needs selected serving sizes. Preview each size for cropped text, hidden terms and unusable buttons.
Native assets are arranged by publishers, so a fixed creative-size filter is unsuitable for assessing native availability in Display & Video 360. Video needs a separate check against the intended player and inventory requirements.
Preview the creative in context
Display & Video 360 previews are available from the Creatives list, a creative's details or Ad Canvas tab, and a line item's Creatives section. A preview opens in a new window and does not count clicks or impressions towards creative performance. Use it to review the asset before relying on live delivery as the first rendering check.
For display, preview modes include mobile, in-app and mobile web. A preview can also simulate a named device and show an interstitial with or without scaling. If the ad will run in an app, scan the preview's QR code with the Creative Preview app and test interactions on a real device before it serves.
Using Preview vs Live Delivery for Testing
- Pros of PreviewSafe testing without affecting performance metrics; simulates device and context; useful for catching layout issues early.
- Cons of PreviewCannot reproduce every publisher layout; does not count clicks or impressions; may miss real-world rendering bugs.
Check exits and rotation
Test the click in relevant device and location contexts. A URL in a creative record is no substitute for following the click.
Where several creatives share a line item, check how they are selected. Display & Video 360 now determines creative optimisation from the line item's bidding strategy; its manual line-item setting was deprecated in August 2026.
For display, its documented rotation applies to creatives of the same size. Even entry into the auction does not guarantee equal served-impression counts.
Check that the destination can be reviewed
Google requires the ad destination and creatives to be crawlable by Google AdsBot so it can verify that the destination is relevant to the clicked ad. If a landing page is flagged, compare the URL in the creative's review feedback with the final URL after redirects. When they differ, update the declared landing page or correct the click tracker or redirects so they reach the declared domain.
If the flagged URL is also the final destination, inspect whether the page is crawlable and address the cause, or use a different crawlable URL. When the platform cannot detect a landing page, Display & Video 360 may use the advertiser website instead; check that setting before assuming the creative's intended destination was evaluated.
Investigate the failed stage
For low delivery, inspect creative rejection reasons alongside targeting, budget and auction filters. A dimension mismatch calls for a different response from a format rejection or lost auction.
If an impression served but appears blank, inspect the asset, backup and affected placement. Display & Video 360 can serve a system-generated pixel when an HTML5 backup is needed and none was supplied.
If the ad renders but its click fails, trace the exit and redirects. Keep the creative ID, affected context, evidence and proposed correction in an incident record. Record a fix as verified only after a later check in the affected context.
Use delivery diagnostics as evidence
For a deal or line item that is not spending, Display & Video 360's Troubleshooter can show why availability was lost and why a line item did not win available inventory. Its views include total available requests, bid responses, impressions won and win rate; the tool supports private auctions, guaranteed deals, non-guaranteed fixed deals and open-auction line items.
Data for total available requests, impressions won and win rate is available within an hour, while more detailed targeting or creative data may take longer. Use the evidence to identify which delivery stage needs attention, then verify any correction in the affected context rather than treating a report or preview as proof of a successful live impression.
In this guide
- Matching creative sizes to available placementsUse eligible inventory, deal specifications and serving-size checks to choose display creative dimensions that can run.
- Checking landing-page consistency across creative variantsAudit each creative promise, click route and final page so variants lead to destinations that match their message.
- Rotating creative without losing a comparable testCheck current rotation behaviour, keep creative conditions comparable and avoid mistaking optimised delivery for a clean message test.
- Diagnosing blank or incorrectly rendered adsSeparate an empty placement from a served blank ad, then investigate backups, assets and video-tag faults in the affected context.
