Banner ads from a template: display and social ad variants from data

A display or social ad campaign is the same design in many sizes and many variations: three headlines to test, a price per product, a version per region. Building each file by hand is slow, and the tools that do it automatically are usually full ad suites. With Shareglint the design is an HTML template and the variations are rows of data: one batch renders every headline × size, as PNG or JPEG files you upload to Google Ads, Meta or LinkedIn.

This page lists what each platform specifies (read 2026-11-06), how to render to those specs, and — just as important — which ad formats this does not cover.

Google Ads: what fits and what does not

Uploaded image ads (fixed-size display banners) accept GIF, JPG and PNG, at most 150 KB per file (Google Ads Help). Templates here must be at least 200 pixels on each edge, so of Google's list:

Animated uploaded ads are out too: Google requires animated GIFs to run "slower than 5 FPS", and our GIFs start at 10 fps. HTML5 ads are a separate format (a ZIP of HTML, behind an eligibility check) that this API does not produce.

Responsive display ads — where Google assembles the ad from your assets — fit well. Their images (Google Ads Help):

• Horizontal 1.91:1: recommended 1200×628, minimum 600×314.
• Square 1:1: recommended 1200×1200, minimum 300×300 (Google's specs table recommends 600×600 for this ad type — anything from the minimum up works).
• Vertical 9:16: recommended 900×1600, minimum 600×1067.
• Logos 1:1 (1200×1200) and 4:1 (1200×300), JPG or PNG, up to 5120 KB per image.

Performance Max and Demand Gen use 1.91:1 and 1:1 too, with 4:5 (960×1200 recommended) as the vertical image instead of 9:16 (Performance Max, Demand Gen).

The presets map onto these: square (1080×1080) for 1:1, story (1080×1920) for 9:16, portrait (1080×1350) for 4:5. For the horizontal image use a template saved at exactly 1200×628 — the og preset is 1200×630, which is not exactly 1.91:1.

Meta and LinkedIn

• Meta (Facebook and Instagram feed): 4:5 at 1440×1800, JPG or PNG up to 30 MB, at least 600 px wide (Meta Ads Guide); Stories and Reels 9:16. Meta says "there is no longer a limit on the amount of text that can exist in your ad image" (Meta Business Help). The portrait and story presets match the ratios.
• LinkedIn single image ads: 1.91:1 (1200×628), 1:1 (1200×1200) or 4:5 (720×900), JPG, PNG or GIF up to 5 MB (LinkedIn Help).

A size per template, every variation per batch

Presets cover the social ratios in one request ("sizes": ["square", "portrait", "story"]). Fixed display sizes such as 300×250 need a template of that size: copy a built-in template into your account (POST /v1/templates/library/{slug}/copy), change its width and height and adjust the CSS with PATCH /v1/templates/{id}, or write the HTML yourself. One template per ad size, then every variation as a batch:

curl -X POST "https://shareglint.com/v1/batches" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "template": "ad-300x250",
    "format": "jpeg",
    "quality": 75,
    "scale": 1,
    "csv_url": "https://example.com/campaigns/autumn-sale.csv"
  }'

The CSV has one row per variation — headline, price, cta, photo, an id such as v3-shoes-de and a filename — and the ZIP comes back with one file per row, named for upload. Rows per batch by plan: Free 50, Starter 500, Pro 1,000, Scale 2,000, Business 5,000. Run the same batch against ad-336x280 and ad-300x600 for the other sizes. A changed row renders anew; unchanged ones are free.

File size: the 150 KB limit

Google's uploaded image ads allow 150 KB. By default raster files come out at twice the template size for sharp screens, which is the wrong trade here. For display banners:

• "scale": 1 — the file at the ad's own size (300×250, not 600×500).
• "format": "jpeg" with quality around 70–80 for photos; PNG only for flat colour and text. WebP is not accepted for uploaded image ads.
• Check each file's size before upload; a busy photo at 300×600 can still pass 150 KB, in which case lower quality for that template.

Responsive display, Performance Max, Meta and LinkedIn allow megabytes, so the default 2× files are fine there.

Text on ad images

Neither Google nor Meta sets a hard limit on text in ad images. Google's responsive display guidance says to "avoid inserting text on top of an image" because overlaid text "can be unreadable in smaller ad sizes", and calls its guidelines best practices, "not mandatory" (Google Ads Help). For responsive display assets, keep the headline in the ad's text fields and the image mostly picture; for fixed banners, the text is the design, so keep it short and large.

Cost

One render per file: three headlines × four sizes × ten products is 120 renders, and re-running the batch after changing one price renders only that product. The Free plan's 100 renders a month carry a watermark, so campaigns need a paid plan: Starter is $9 a month for 2,000 renders (pricing).

What it does not do

• No leaderboards or mobile banners below 200 px on an edge (728×90, 320×50 and the like).
• No HTML5 ads and no animated GIFs slow enough for Google's 5 fps rule; MP4 output exists for social video placements.
• No upload to ad accounts, bidding or reporting — that stays in Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager or LinkedIn Campaign Manager.
• No automatic resizing of one fixed banner into another: each display size is its own template.