Creative Formats & Assets

Expanded Text Ads vs Uploaded Image Ads: A Retired Format Against a Manual One

In short: Both formats give, or gave, exact line-by-line control over what shows, but that's where the similarity ends. Expanded Text Ads were Google's fixed-copy Search format, retired from new creation in mid-2022, where you wrote and ordered every headline and description. Uploaded Image Ads are a currently active Display format where you design and upload a finished banner or HTML5 file that renders exactly as built. Both hand full creative control to the advertiser rather than an algorithm, but one is a dead Search format and the other is a live Display format. There's no real choice between them today - ETA is a historical reference point, while Uploaded Image Ads remain legitimate whenever you need pixel-perfect Display creative.

By the AdFlint research team · Fact-checked against current Google and Meta platform behavior · Last reviewed July 2026

Expanded Text Ads

Google's legacy fixed-copy search ad with three headlines and two descriptions, retired in favor of responsive search ads and no longer creatable.

For years this was the standard search unit, with headlines and descriptions you wrote and controlled exactly. Google stopped new creation and editing in mid-2022 and has since wound the format down, migrating advertisers to responsive search ads. If an old playbook references it, translate the copy into RSA assets instead. The recurring frustration is expecting the same line-by-line control, which RSAs deliberately do not offer.

Full definition

Uploaded Image Ads

Fixed-size display banners you design yourself and upload as image or HTML5 files, rendering exactly as built with no automatic reassembly.

Because dimensions are fixed, these only serve where a matching slot exists, so reach is narrower than responsive display ads unless you upload the full size set. Reach for them when brand control over layout and typography is non-negotiable. The common mistake is running them alone: without responsive ads in the same ad group, large parts of the network have nothing eligible to show.

Full definition

Side by side.

The differences that actually change what happens in your account.

	Expanded Text Ads	Uploaded Image Ads
Status today	Retired - no new creation or edits.	Active and fully creatable.
Network	Search results and search partners.	Display Network placements matching your uploaded size.
Creative format	Plain text - three headlines, two descriptions.	A designed image or HTML5 file.
Control level	Full control over wording and order, no algorithmic reassembly.	Full control over every visual element, no algorithmic reassembly.
Reach mechanics	Any Search auction matching your keywords, while it was creatable.	Only placements offering the exact dimensions uploaded.
Update process	Not possible anymore - pause or remove only.	Design and upload a replacement file, then wait for ad review.
Failure mode	Expecting to still edit or clone one today.	Uploading a narrow size set and assuming Search-like broad reach.

What actually separates them.

Both trade automated assembly for advertiser control, but ETA's control was over words on a Search results page and Uploaded Image Ads' control is over pixels on a Display placement - entirely different mediums.

ETA is frozen and cannot be created or edited; Uploaded Image Ads remain fully buildable and editable, via re-upload, today.

ETA reach was governed by keyword and query matching; Uploaded Image Ad reach is governed by exact dimension matching against publisher inventory.

Updating an ETA meant editing text in place, when it was still possible; updating an Uploaded Image Ad means producing and uploading an entirely new file.

Neither format lets Google recombine or resize your creative, and that shared trait is also why both have narrower reach than their responsive counterparts, RSA and RDA, when eligible inventory doesn't match exactly.

Which one should you use?

Use Expanded Text Ads when

You're reviewing an old account's ad history and need to explain the fixed three-headline, two-description structure.
You're converting archived ETA copy into current RSA assets and want to understand what's lost, fixed order, versus gained, testing.
You're documenting why certain Search ads in an audit can't be edited.
You want the historical context for why control arguments about RSA sometimes reference ETA nostalgically.

Use Uploaded Image Ads when

You need Display creative that renders pixel-for-pixel as designed, with no auto-crop or auto-generated video risk.
Legal, brand, or partner requirements mandate a specific fixed layout for certain placements.
You have professionally designed banners in standard sizes ready to go.
You're supplementing Responsive Display Ads with exact-match creative for a few high-value, known-dimension placements.

Common questions.

Since both formats give full creative control, is Uploaded Image Ads the RDA version of Expanded Text Ads?

Not really - they share the trait of no algorithmic reassembly, but they solve different problems on different networks. ETA gave word-for-word control over Search text; Uploaded Image Ads give pixel-for-pixel control over a Display banner, so think of them as parallel philosophies rather than equivalent formats.

Can I upload an image version of my old Expanded Text Ad?

You can design a banner that echoes the same messaging, but it would run as a new Uploaded Image Ad on the Display Network, not as any continuation of the ETA on Search. The two formats don't convert into each other, since they belong to different networks entirely.

Why doesn't Google let me edit my Uploaded Image Ads the way I used to edit Expanded Text Ads?

Uploaded Image Ads were never text-in-a-form the way ETAs were - they're a finished file, so there's nothing to edit inline. Any change means designing a new image or HTML5 file and uploading it as a new ad, which is a different workflow, not a removed feature.

Or stop choosing between them.

AdFlint picks the setting, writes the ads, and keeps optimizing inside the Google and Meta accounts you already own.

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