Google Ads Ad Customizers: Inserting Prices, Countdowns and Keywords

This guide uses Google Ads Help only: Create responsive search ads with customized text, About ad customizers, Create ad customizers for responsive search ads, Highlight upcoming events with countdowns, About keyword insertion for your ad text, About location insertion for responsive search ads, plus the pages linked in each section. Checked on 8 November 2026.

What ad customizers are

Google describes ad customizers as a way to "automatically customize the text of your search ads." You place a code in curly brackets in a headline or description, and Google Ads replaces it with a value when the ad shows. Google lists three benefits: messaging tailored to each search, scale ("a single text ad have hundreds of variations"), and reporting, because "The automatic text customization updates that happen when an ad is triggered don't reset the ad's performance data."

That last point matters in practice. Changing a price in a normal ad means editing it, which sends it back for review. With a customizer you change the value, and the ad keeps its history.

Customizers work in any part of the ad text except the final URL. The Help page adds that display path customization works for business data and location customizers in responsive search ads, "but not for responsive search ads countdown." The keyword insertion setup page says it plainly: "Customizers cannot be used in the Final URL field."

Google's own use cases are a sale ("discounts with certain products, for sales that change periodically, or that are limited to a specific time period") and a large inventory where product details sell. Account-level values suit "a global variable, such as current APR rates or ongoing discounts."

The four kinds of dynamic text in responsive search ads

Google's page on responsive search ads with customized text lists four:

• Countdowns: count down to an event, updating with the current time.
• Ad customizers: "parameters that change automatically based on any attribute you choose: products, categories, prices, and more."
• Keywords: insert the keyword that triggered the ad.
• Location insertion: tailor the text to "your customers' locations, regular locations or locations of interest."

All four start the same way: type an opening brace { in a headline or description and pick the type from the drop-down.

Ad customizer attributes: names and data types

An attribute is the slot, such as Product or Price. In Google's words, attributes "can be used across your account." You create them under Tools, Business data, Ad customizer attributes. Each one needs a name and a data type:

The table is Google's, from Create ad customizers for responsive search ads. Google suggests setting the data type "so that the system can provide a faster and better review and approval". Two rules to keep in mind:

• Attribute names "shouldn't start with an underscore (_) or contain symbols, punctuation, or special characters". Google warns these "may cause your ads to be disapproved." Plain names such as Price or ModelName avoid the problem.
• There is "a limit of 40 ad customizer attributes that can be created."

Deleting an attribute "will remove it from all campaigns", so check which ads use it first.

Values at account, campaign, ad group and keyword level

The value is the text that appears, such as $24.99. You set an account value on the attributes screen, then override it where needed. On the Campaigns page you add the attribute as a column (Columns, Ad customizer attributes), and for each campaign choose between "Use inherited value" (the default, which takes the account value) and "Use custom value". Ad groups and keywords work the same way.

When the ad serves, Google picks the most specific value: "customizers will use the targeting settings in this order of priority: keyword, ad group, campaign, account, and default value." A keyword-level price beats an ad group price, which beats the account price.

Set at least one value. Google says "responsive search ads that don't have a customizer value available can't be reviewed", and the values themselves "go through the ads approval process."

If your account is built with one ad group per product or service, ad group values are often the simplest fit, the same structure Google uses in its stand mixer example on About ad customizers. That choice is our suggestion; Google offers all four levels.

Bulk uploads and scheduled updates

For many values, use a spreadsheet. Under Tools, Bulk actions, Uploads, Google provides a template. The format rules from the Help page:

• The first columns hold "Attribute", "Data type" and "Account value". Google says to leave rows 8 through 12 under columns A through C blank, and the conversion page adds that "Attribute rows must come before customizer value rows".
• Value columns are named with a prefix: for an attribute called Name, the header "must be "Customizer:Name"."
• For keyword or ad group values, fill in both "Ad group" and "Campaign", or use "Ad group ID" instead.
• To clear a value so the default shows, put "remove_value" in the cell.

Attributes uploaded in bulk "only need to be created individually in Google Ads once." Uploads can also run on a schedule: under Uploads, Schedules, you choose a source, a frequency and a time. That suits prices or stock counts kept in a sheet you already update.

Adding a customizer to the ad

In a new or existing responsive search ad, type { where the value should go, choose Ad customizer, pick the attribute, and enter a default value "if you'd like to specify what text will show when nothing triggers your customizer." Then apply and save.

Google's example on About ad customizers shows the idea: a store with hundreds of mixers writes one ad with slots for model, capacity, type and sale price, and the keyword "prowhip 300" fills them with that model's details.

Countdowns

A countdown shows how long is left until a date, counting "by day, then by hour, then by minute." Google offers two functions on Highlight upcoming events with countdowns:

• COUNTDOWN "Counts down to a set time, adjusted to the timezone of the person searching." Google suggests it for events that are not tied to one place, "like an online sale".
• GLOBAL_COUNTDOWN counts down to a time consistent with your account's time zone. Google suggests this for "an event that happens in a specific place, like a game, talk, concert, or conference".

Countdowns work in responsive search ads, text ads and Dynamic Search Ads. In the widget you set the end date and time, and how many days before the end the ad should start showing. Leave it blank and the ad "will start showing 5 days before your end date." Days are counted as midnights.

Things to plan for:

• The countdown text "could generate a string that's 8 characters long", so leave room in the headline.
• Google asks you to "add at least 3 headlines without a countdown customizer, or you can use default text."
• You cannot change the countdown language in responsive search ads. It follows the language of the ad.
• "Ads with countdown customizers automatically stop showing after their specified end date." Google's reminder: "unpin or change the headline when the countdown is over to ensure your ad continues to serve."
• "The preview always shows a static countdown that does not reflect real-time."

The written syntax for responsive search ads is {COUNTDOWN(yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss,daysBefore)} or {GLOBAL_COUNTDOWN(yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss,daysBefore)}, with no equals sign, no quotes and no language field. Countdowns run on clock time, while an ad schedule decides the hours the ad can show at all, so check both for a sale that ends at a set hour.

Keyword insertion

Keyword insertion replaces a code with "the keywords in your ad group that caused your ads to show." Google's example is Buy {KeyWord:Chocolate}: Google Ads tries to insert an ad group keyword, and if it can't, it uses "Chocolate". Two points from About keyword insertion for your ad text:

• It inserts the keyword, not the search: "the person's search term isn't always the same as the keyword." That lets you predict what the ad will say.
• If the keyword is too long, the default text is used. In Google's example, "gourmet chocolate truffles" is too long for the headline, so the ad shows "Buy Chocolate".

The capitalization in the code controls the output. On Set up keyword insertion for your ad text, keyword gives "dark chocolate", Keyword gives "Dark chocolate" and KeyWord gives "Dark Chocolate". Google also lists the common reasons it fails: over the character limits, inserted words that make no sense or break grammar, Dynamic Search Ads (no keyword targeting, so the default text appears), Healthcare and Sexual Content, and trademarks restricted under Google's Trademarks policy, which "will not insert into ad text." Misspelled keywords are corrected or replaced by the default text.

Google's best practices: group keywords by theme, use it with ad groups built around product or service types and locations, and keep only keyword variants you would want inserted. Our search terms guide covers which searches actually trigger your keywords.

Location insertion

Location insertion, only in responsive search ads, adds a city, state or country, as in Google's example We deliver to {LOCATION(City)}. The locations come from the campaign's location targeting, so the targeting must match the level you insert. From About location insertion for responsive search ads:

• You can use 1 location insertion in the headlines and up to 2 in the descriptions.
• You need "at least 3 headlines without location insertion, or you can use default text."
• With targeting by DMA region, "the closest city will be inserted."
• The State level "isn't compatible with other countries' equivalents, such as provinces, preferences, or regions."
• Leave room for long place names, or the slot cannot be filled.

Our guide to location targeting explains presence versus interest, which decides whose location is used.

Default text, character limits and policy

Default text is your safety net. Google says the default value is used "in the event your ad customizer doesn't show or the text exceeds the character limit." The limits are on the keyword insertion setup page: 30 characters per headline, 90 per description line and 15 per URL path. Count the longest value you expect, not the typical one.

Google's Default values definition adds that default values are optional, "However, if an ad contains more than one ad customizer, default values must be provided for each customizer." Write each default so the sentence still works: "Buy Chocolate" reads fine, a blank slot does not.

Every inserted value is still ad text under Google Ads policies. Keyword and location insertion pages both say so, and Google adds that when you accept the "add new keywords" recommendation, "you must ensure that your ads comply with advertising policies after the keywords are inserted." A price or discount in a customizer should match the landing page.

What did not carry over from text ads

Customizers began in expanded text ads, which Google stopped letting advertisers create or edit from June 30, 2022. Existing text ad customizers served until May 31, 2024. Some features were left behind:

• IF functions. On text ads, the IF function "Inserts specific text if a condition is met for any of the following dimensions: device or audience" (Create text ads with customized text). For responsive search ads, Google says it "is not currently supported". Guides that show {=IF(device=mobile,...)} describe the old format.
• Targeting columns in business data. Google's conversion page lists text ad attributes not supported for responsive search ads: target location, target location restriction, device preferences, scheduling, start and end time, daypart, mobile preferred, and countdown within the business data. Location insertion replaces target location.
• The feed format. Old sheets used "Target campaign", "Target ad group" and "Target keyword", and value columns with a data type in brackets. For responsive search ads, drop "Target" and rename values to the "Customizer:" format, then upload with Preview to check before you apply.

The older {=Feed.Attribute} codes with an equals sign belong to text ads. In responsive search ads you insert customizers from the brace menu.

A checklist before you publish

The rules are Google's; the order is our suggestion:

1. Decide which facts change often (price, stock, end date) and give each a plainly named attribute with the right data type.
2. Set an account value for every attribute, then override at campaign, ad group or keyword level only where it differs.
3. Add a default value that reads well in every customized headline and description.
4. Count characters with the longest value: 30 per headline, 90 per description, plus 8 for a countdown.
5. Keep at least 3 headlines with no countdown or location insertion.
6. For a dated offer, pick COUNTDOWN or GLOBAL_COUNTDOWN, set the start days, and diary the end date to unpin or change the headline.
7. Check that the landing page shows the same price or offer as the ad.
8. After launch, read the asset report for responsive search ads as usual. Value changes do not reset the ad's data.

Frequently asked questions

What are ad customizers in Google Ads?

Ad customizers are pieces of ad text that Google Ads fills in when the ad shows. In responsive search ads you can insert ad customizer attributes such as a price or product name, a countdown to a date, the keyword that triggered the ad, or a location. You set the values once and the ad text updates without writing a new ad.

Can I use IF functions in responsive search ads?

No. Google's page on responsive search ads with customized text says the IF function, which inserts a message when a condition such as device or audience is met, is not currently supported with responsive search ads. It only worked in text ads.

What happens if a customizer has no value?

For ad customizer attributes, Google says a responsive search ad that uses a customizer without a value available cannot be reviewed. When the ad serves, Google uses values in this order: keyword, ad group, campaign, account, and then the default value you typed in the ad.

How many ad customizer attributes can I create?

Google's Help pages give a limit of 40 ad customizer attributes.

Does a countdown keep the ad running after the date?

No. Google says ads with countdown customizers automatically stop showing after their end date, and reminds you to unpin or change the headline when the countdown is over so the ad continues to serve.

An ad that quotes the right price only helps if the page it opens shows the same thing. See our Google Ads basics guide, our website development service and all our services, or email [email protected].