Creative requirements & guidelines
At Zillow Group, we believe that high-quality creative provides the best customer experience for the native ads served across our network of real estate sites. All images that are used in advertising content must be appropriate for a general audience and adhere to Zillow Group’s creative guidelines and image specifications.
Zillow Group reserves the right to reject, remove or request changes to an ad at its sole discretion for any reason.
If you would like to improve your campaign performance, Zillow Group recommends uploading up to 6 creatives so your campaign can auto-optimize towards the highest-performing creative.
Creative Guidelines & Image Specifications
| General rules | • No text embedded in images (except logos, when appropriate or approved). • No imagery that encourages fear, shock, or discomfort as a selling tactic. • Visual tone should align with trust, reliability, and lifestyle relevance. |
| Featured Image (Zillow and Trulia only) | • Dimensions: 828 width x 372 height • Max File Size: 100k • Creative Types: jpeg or png • Max # of Creatives: 6 per campaign |
| Featured Image Restrictions (Zillow and Trulia only) | • Image must not contain a logo or text. • No inappropriate content including adult content, alcohol, fake news, gambling, hate speech, illegal downloads, illegal drugs, offensive language, and violence, is permitted on the platform. All creative is subject to Zillow Group approval. • Must be brand safe: neutral, professional, or lifestyle-focused visuals. • Should be directly relevant to the product or service being advertised. • May feature people, homes, or objects — provided they are shown in a positive, safe, and respectful manner. • Stock-style imagery or illustrations are permitted if not misleading or offensive. Unacceptable images: • Fear-based imagery: depictions of burglary, masked intruders, or people in threatening poses (e.g., images with a burglar or depicting violence). • Violent, graphic, or horror-themed content: blood, weapons, gore, or disturbing visuals (e.g., Halloween costumes with exaggerated scary makeup). • Sexually suggestive or provocative content: imagery that could be interpreted as adult, or inappropriate for a general audience. • Deceptive or misleading visuals: imagery that implies product features that do not exist. • Brand product misuse: ads showing competitor products, distorted Zillow logos, or any manipulation of partner brands that could confuse or misrepresent. • Avoid distorted images, low detail, disturbing artifacts and distorted perspectives |
| Logo Image | • Logo images must be branded • Dimensions: 220 width x flexible height • Logo must be cropped with no padding surrounding it • Max File Size: 50k • Creative Types: jpeg or png (no white logos) |
| Text | • Header: Up to 25 characters with spaces included • Sub-Header: Up to 70 characters with spaces included • Text must not include all capitals. Some special characters may be used sparingly but limited to a maximum of 3. • No emojis permitted in the header or sub-header text |
| Special Characters Allowed | • Slash or divide(/) Example: 9/7/2017 , ¼ • Plus (+) • Dollar ($) • Comma (,) • Full stop/period (.) • Hyphen/Dash (-) Example: Move-in *should not have space on either side of the dash • Percent (%) • Colon (:) • Semicolon (;) • Ampersand (&) • Question mark (?) • Parentheses: ()• Vertical line/Pipe: |• Asterisks *• Backslash \ |
| Special Characters Not Allowed | • Tildes ~• Carets ^• Brackets []• Curly braces {}• Angle brackets < >• Emoji or decorative characters • Sub/super script |
| Legal Disclaimer | • Not permitted on the images themselves |
| Industry Categories Not Supported (Media Manager only) | • Alcohol • Brokers • Cash Offers for Homes • Cannabis / CBD • Closing Services • Eviction Services • Electronic Cigarrettes • Gambling • iBuying Entities • Lenders • Lotteries & Scratch Cards • Medical Devices • Mortgages • New Construction Builders • Pharmaceutical • Politics • Pornography • Property Management • Real Estate Agents • Religion • Real Estate Software • Research Studies • Title Insurance • Tobacco and Nicotine Products • Weapons & Violence |
Prohibited Featured Image Examples
Text, special characters, numbers, and logos must not be visible in the main image of your local ads. Featured Images including these components will not be approved. Below are some examples of prohibited images.
We also recommend staying away from exterior images of homes to avoid your native ad getting mistaken for a typical home listing. However, this recommendation may not be applicable to home services or home repair companies. For those categories, our recommendation is to not feature a wide-angle exterior shot of the home.
Accepted image examples
Home interior images
Home interiors should feel aspirational yet warm, inviting, and approachable. The vantage point of the images echoes the view of someone moving through the home. Look for the way natural light enhances the space and helps it feel inviting. Avoid photographs that are overly staged or rigid. Instead, look to include human touches for spaces that are accessible yet appealing and inspiring.
Lifestyle images
Lifestyle images capture authentic human moments within the larger home space. In lifestyle photos, people are the main focus. The viewpoint is deep within the scene and the subject is unaware of the camera. Avoid images that feel contrived or overly posed.
Transactional images:
Transactional imagery showcases business aspects of the real estate journey in a believable way. Instead of focusing on a device or handshake, these images are about the story of the interaction. Avoid scenes that are contrived or posed, look for authentic moments where people are on the cusp of an activity instead of statically smiling at their device.
Have questions?
Fill out the support form to get in touch with our Media Manager support team.
