Why Asset Studio Shows Different Assets to Different Users in Google Ads

This scenario ranks high among the most perplexing and distrust-inducing encounters for marketers:

The assets seen in Asset Studio differ when two users access the same Google Ads account.

Images and headlines may seem differently to different users.
Active assets are visible to one user but not another, and different creative sets are visible to other users as well.

This brings up important worries:

Has someone noticed this issue?
Is there a cover-up going on?
Does Google Ads not work?
Ad delivery will be impacted by this.

The gist of it is that this is not random activity, but rather genuine, purposeful, and produced by the system.

This blog delves into the reasons for Asset Studio showing different assets to different users, the inner workings of Google Ads, and the differences between normal and abnormal behavior.

Table of Contents

1. Should All Users See the Same Assets in Asset Studio?

2. The Internal Workings of Asset Studio

3. The Main Justifications for Why Each User Sees Different Assets in Asset Studio

4. Impact of Role on Access and Permissions

5. Qualification for Assets vs. Availability of Assets

6. Dynamic Filtering, Learning Phase, and Automation

7. Sessions, Caching, and User Interface Customization

8. Campaign Types That Impact Asset Visibility

9. At Times When This Is the Standard

10. What to Do When This Suggests Trouble

11. Methods for Confirming the Truth

12. Methods That Work Best to Keep Things Clear

13. Important Point to Remember

Should All Users See the Same Assets in Asset Studio?

Yes, in principle.
Not necessarily in actuality.

The Asset Studio is not only a collection of static assets. A filtering interface that changes and responds to things like:

Job function
Campaign setting
Automation choices
Status of eligibility
State of the backend

Therefore, even though the assets are physically present in the account, two individuals may have distinct "views" of them.

The Internal Workings of Asset Studio

You can't just think of Asset Studio as a collection of assets.

What it does is:

Accurate representation of eligible assets
An additional level of filtering above the campaign rationale
Not based on actual data, but on automation decisions

Viewed content is not necessarily "everything" but rather what the system deems pertinent, useful, and visible to you in the present instant.

The Main Justifications for Why Each User Sees Different Assets in Asset Studio

1. Access and Permissions Based on Role

The items that various user roles can see vary.

Take this case in point:

Administrators frequently view complete sets of assets.
Inactive campaign assets may be the only ones visible to standard users.
Patrons with read-only access may be able to view restricted previews.

Differences in authorization, no matter how minor, can alter:

Transparency of assets
Ability to edit
Visualization preview

Team members may become confused due to this alone.

Impact of Role on Access and Permissions

A user's ability to:

Can you see which categories of assets?
If assets that are currently in the experimental or halted state show up
Shown here are assets from either the learning phase or the draft.

The same account, but separate layers, could be visible to two users with different roles.

Qualification for Assets vs. Availability of Assets

Many people fail to grasp this idea.

There are various types of assets:

Uploaded
Given the green light,
Put away in the bank

However, remain:

Not qualified for the campaigns underway
Robots don't cover
Not included in the testing pool

In these instances:

Potentially, just one user can view the asset.
Someone else might not

Because eligibility, not existence, is the criterion by which Asset Studio sorts assets.

Dynamic Filtering, Learning Phase, and Automation

There is a close relationship between Asset Studio and:

Systems for machine learning
Models for asset ranking
Assessment of the learning process

What happens if Google thinks an asset is:

Not really important
For the time being repressed
Excluded from the ongoing evaluation

Not all users may see it at the same time.

This tends to happen more frequently when:

Changes to the learning phase
Changes in performance risk
Volatility of the signal

Sessions, Caching, and User Interface Customization

Ads by Google utilize:

Using a session to display
Background UI states
Customized memory for the office

What this implies is:

Only one person can view a collection of cached assets.
The other person views a modified or updated collection

Reasons for discrepancies include:

Current state of the browser session
Previous logins
Current relationships with resources

Rather than being a problem, this is an improvement in performance.

How Asset Visibility Is Affected by Campaign Type

Asset visibility is purposefully restricted by some campaign types.

Optimal Performance

Property is automatically grouped
If you don't choose them, some assets will be hidden.
Various users might see various asset groups.

Mobile-Friendly Ads in Search

Keep up with the ever-changing headlines and descriptions
What is seen is affected by asset combinations.

Generation of Demand

Contextual filtering is applied to assets.
The positioning and intent determine the visibility.

A complete list is not shown in these campaigns by Asset Studio; only what is important to the system is.

At Times When This Is the Standard

It is common practice for Asset Studio to display different assets for each user when:

Varying degrees of access are granted to users.
Belongings are undergoing examination or educational processes.
Assets with lower rankings are being eroded by automation.
The use of AI in campaign type selection is crucial
Cached states or sessions are different

There will be no impact on ad delivery in these instances.

What to Do When This Suggests Trouble

If you want to dig deeper, you should:

In the same position, one user can edit assets while another cannot.
Certain users may have their assets vanish irretrievably.
Users have vastly different asset counts.
Discordance between delivery metrics and visible assets
Warnings or errors show up in an inconsistent manner

Perhaps this indicates:

Sync problems at the account level
Problems with the backend's layout
Misconfiguration of permissions

Methods for Confirming the Truth

Verify instead of making assumptions:

View Permissions Granted to Users

Verify that the permissions of both users are the same.

Analyze the Value of Assets

Take a look at:

Reports that detail assets
Performance tables
Summary of campaign assets

Make Use of Private Mode or Start Over

Disabling cached UI makes it obsolete.

Review the Past Changes

Recent alterations could account for variations in visibility.

Evaluate on a Campaign-Level Basis

Some assets associated with dormant campaigns might not show up.

Methods That Work Best to Keep Things Clear

Make sure that all teams utilize the same user roles
Learn not to make several changes to assets at once.
Transferring and deleting document assets
Go beyond Asset Studio and review assets on a campaign level.
Decisions shouldn't be based on just one user's UI view.

Keep Asset Studio in mind that it is just a diagnostic tool and not gospel.

Important Point to Remember

It is not necessarily a bug or completely arbitrary that different users see different assets in Asset Studio.

The reason behind this is that Asset Studio shows:

Permissions
Determination of Status
Automation choices
Learning status
UI session actions

Speed and reliability of delivery are more important than visually similar user interfaces.

Realizing this stops:

Team uncertainty
Determining the cause of false alarms
Delete assets in the wrong way
Be wary of Google Ads's automated features