Yes, every character does. Using "&" instead of "and" is a genuine two-character saving.

Text Counting

Google Ads character counter

Your ad text

0 Words

0 Characters

0 Sentences

0 Paragraphs

Against a length limit

Headline 0 / 30 used

Description 0 / 90 used

Business name 0 / 25 used

Path field 0 / 15 used

Characters without spaces 0

Unique words 0

Lines 0

Average word length 0

Longest word —

Reading time 0 sec

Speaking time 0 sec

Local · spaces count toward every limit

Word

Type something and the most frequent words show up here.

Responsive search ads allow 30 characters per headline and 90 per description. The business name field is 25 and each display path is 15. Anything longer is rejected at upload rather than truncated.

How to write to the limits

1 Draft one headline or description at a time and watch the relevant bar.

2 Write to about 28 of the 30 rather than exactly 30 — headlines that end mid-thought read worse than short ones.

3 Paste the finished text into the editor.

Thirty characters is short enough that most of the work is deciding what to leave out. Two things help. Spaces count, so an ampersand instead of "and" buys two characters and reads fine in an ad. And numerals always beat spelled-out numbers here — "5" against "five" saves three characters and tests better besides. A caution worth repeating: with responsive search ads you supply many headlines and Google assembles combinations, so each one has to make sense on its own and beside any of the others, which is a harder constraint than the character count.

Questions

What are the Google Ads character limits? −

Headlines 30, descriptions 90, business name 25, each display path 15. Spaces count.

What happens if I go over? +

Do spaces count? +

How many headlines should I write? +

Do the limits differ by language? +

Sources

Google Ads Help — about responsive search ads

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