How do I add a banner to my Gmail signature?
In Gmail on the web, open Settings (the gear icon), click See all settings, stay on the General tab and scroll to Signature. Select or create a signature, put the cursor below your contact details, use the Insert image control in the signature toolbar to upload your banner file, then click the inserted image and use the Link control to add your destination URL. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save changes, then send yourself a test email. The same steps work for a static PNG or JPEG and for an animated GIF.
Key facts
- Where the setting lives
- Gmail on the web: Settings (gear icon) → See all settings → General tab → Signature.
- Insert control
- The signature toolbar's Insert image control, offering Upload, My Drive or Web address (URL).
- Making it clickable
- Select the inserted image, then apply the Link control with an absolute https URL.
- Google's signature image guidance
- About 300-400 px wide by 70-100 px high, with a stated maximum of 1,000 × 100 px.
- Bannerly's tested banner canvases
- 600 × 100, 600 × 150 and 600 × 200 px - Bannerly's own testing, not Google guidance.
- Most common failure
- Not clicking Save changes at the bottom of the General tab.
Before you add your banner
Two minutes of preparation saves the most common Gmail problem, which is a banner that had to be dragged smaller after it was inserted and now looks soft in the reading pane.
- 1Export the banner at the exact size you want it displayed, rather than resizing it inside the signature editor.
- 2Have the destination URL to hand - an unlinked banner in a signature collects attention and no clicks.
- 3Decide static or animated GIF now, because the insert step is identical and swapping later means editing the signature again.
- 4Check the first frame reads on its own, in case the person reading uses a client that does not animate.
- 5Use Gmail on a desktop browser for the setup: the signature editor is not available in the Gmail mobile apps in the same form.
How to add a banner to Gmail, step by step
- 1Open Gmail settings
Click the gear icon in the top right of Gmail, then click See all settings at the top of the quick settings panel.
- 2Scroll to Signature on the General tab
The Signature section sits well down the General tab. Select the signature you want to change, or click Create new and name it.
- 3Position the cursor under your details
Click into the signature editing box and put the cursor on a new line beneath your name, role and contact details. That is where a promotional banner belongs.
- 4Insert the banner image
Use the Insert image control in the signature toolbar. You can upload the file from your computer, pick it from Google Drive, or point Gmail at a web address if the banner is already hosted.
- 5Link the banner
Click the inserted image once to select it, then use the Link control and paste your campaign URL. Confirm, and the whole banner becomes clickable.
- 6Set the signature defaults
Under Signature defaults, choose which signature Gmail uses for new emails and for replies and forwards. A banner on every reply in a long thread can get repetitive.
- 7Save changes and test
Scroll to the very bottom of the settings page and click Save changes - Gmail does not save automatically. Then send yourself a test email and click the banner.
The Gmail screens you will see
- 1Settings, then See all settings
The gear icon opens quick settings. The full signature editor is behind See all settings.
- 2General tab, Signature section
Signatures are listed on the left, with the editing box on the right. The banner goes below your contact details.
- 3Insert image
The toolbar's insert-image control offers Upload, My Drive and Web address (URL).
- 4Select the image, then add the link
With the banner selected, the Link control turns the whole image into one clickable target.
Illustrations of the Gmail signature interface, drawn to match the control names used in Gmail Help. Gmail is a trademark of Google LLC.
How to make the Gmail banner clickable
Gmail links the image, not a region of it, so one banner equals one destination. Select the inserted image in the signature editor - a selection outline appears around it - then use the Link control and paste the URL. If you type text first and link that, you have linked the text and not the picture.
- Use one destination per banner. Image maps with several hotspots are stripped by most mail clients, Gmail included.
- Use an absolute URL beginning with https://, not a relative path.
- Add campaign tracking parameters to the URL before you link it, so signature clicks are attributable in analytics.
- Click the banner in a received test email, not in the settings preview, to confirm the link survived saving.
Link problems in Gmail
- The link opens the image file instead of my page
- The banner was inserted by URL and never linked. Select the image again and apply the Link control with your campaign address.
- Only part of the banner is clickable
- Two images were inserted, or text was linked alongside the image. Delete both and insert the single exported banner file again.
- The link works for me but not for recipients
- A link pointing at an internal or permission-protected page, such as an unshared Drive file, will fail outside your organisation. Link to a public URL.
Static banner vs animated GIF in Gmail
Gmail is one of the better clients for motion: it renders animated GIFs in signatures on web, Android and iOS, and loops them as exported. That does not automatically make animation the right choice, because your recipients are not all in Gmail.
| Static image | Animated GIF | |
|---|---|---|
| How Gmail shows it | Exactly as exported | Animates and loops as exported |
| File size | Smaller, usually tens of kilobytes | Larger, often several hundred kilobytes |
| Risk elsewhere | None - every client shows a still image | Some clients, notably Outlook for Windows (classic), show frame one only |
| Best for | A single evergreen message | A sequence, such as offer then call to action |
- Static image
- Exactly as exported
- Animated GIF
- Animates and loops as exported
- Static image
- Smaller, usually tens of kilobytes
- Animated GIF
- Larger, often several hundred kilobytes
- Static image
- None - every client shows a still image
- Animated GIF
- Some clients, notably Outlook for Windows (classic), show frame one only
- Static image
- A single evergreen message
- Animated GIF
- A sequence, such as offer then call to action
Whichever you choose, the first frame has to carry the offer and the action. If you are weighing this up properly, the comparison guide covers the trade-off in full, and the GIF installation guide covers Outlook and Apple Mail alongside Gmail.
What size should a Gmail signature banner be?
There are two separate answers here and they are often confused. Google's Gmail Help guidance is about signature images in general: it suggests roughly 300 to 400 px wide by 70 to 100 px high, and states a maximum of 1,000 px wide by 100 px high. That guidance is written with logos and small signature graphics in mind.
A promotional banner is a different job, and it is not something Google publishes a recommendation for. Bannerly's own tested canvases are 600 × 100, 600 × 150 and 600 × 200 px, checked by exporting the same design at each size and viewing it in Gmail web, Gmail on Android, Apple Mail on iPhone and Outlook web. Note that 600 × 150 and 600 × 200 exceed Google's stated 100 px height guidance for signature images, so if you want to stay inside it, 600 × 100 is the size to pick.
| Guidance | Dimensions | Whose guidance |
|---|---|---|
| General signature image | About 300-400 px wide × 70-100 px high | Google, Gmail Help |
| Stated maximum signature image | 1,000 px wide × 100 px high | Google, Gmail Help |
| Compact promotional banner | 600 × 100 px | Bannerly, own testing |
| Standard promotional banner | 600 × 150 px | Bannerly, own testing |
| Roomy promotional banner | 600 × 200 px | Bannerly, own testing |
- Dimensions
- About 300-400 px wide × 70-100 px high
- Whose guidance
- Google, Gmail Help
- Dimensions
- 1,000 px wide × 100 px high
- Whose guidance
- Google, Gmail Help
- Dimensions
- 600 × 100 px
- Whose guidance
- Bannerly, own testing
- Dimensions
- 600 × 150 px
- Whose guidance
- Bannerly, own testing
- Dimensions
- 600 × 200 px
- Whose guidance
- Bannerly, own testing
The compact canvas, and the one that stays within Google's stated signature image height.
Retina exports, mobile scaling and how different reading panes treat width are covered properly in the sizing guide rather than repeated here.
Gmail banner not showing? Common fixes
Why a Gmail signature banner does not appear
- You did not click Save changes
- Gmail settings only apply once you scroll to the bottom of the General tab and click Save changes. Reopen the settings page and check the signature is still there.
- The signature default is not set
- Under Signature defaults, the signature has to be selected for new emails and, if you want it there too, for replies and forwards. A signature that exists but is not assigned never sends.
- The banner was inserted by URL and the file moved
- Inserting by web address means Gmail loads the image from that address every time. If the file is deleted, renamed or made private, recipients see a broken image. Uploading the file avoids this.
- A Drive image is not shared publicly
- An image inserted from Drive must be viewable by anyone with the link, or people outside your organisation see nothing.
- The recipient has images turned off
- Gmail can ask before displaying external images, and some corporate configurations block them. Your text signature still needs to work with the banner missing.
- The message went out as plain text
- Plain text mode strips images entirely. Turn plain text mode off in the compose window's more-options menu.
- The signature was clipped
- Gmail clips very long messages behind a 'View entire message' link, which can hide a signature at the bottom of a long thread. Keeping the banner light helps.
- You are looking at a cached copy
- Gmail proxies and caches images. After replacing a banner, test with a fresh message rather than reloading an old one.
How to test the banner properly
The signature will always look right in the editor you built it in. The test that means something is receiving it somewhere else.
| Test | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Send to yourself in Gmail | That the signature is assigned, saved and rendering. |
| Send to a non-Gmail address | Whether the banner survives outside Google's rendering, and whether animation plays. |
| Open the test on a phone | Whether the copy is still readable once the banner is scaled to the message width. |
| Click the banner in the received email | That the hyperlink saved and points at a public URL. |
| Reply to the test twice | How the banner reads when it repeats down a thread. |
| View with images blocked | What a recipient sees before they load images - the text signature has to stand alone. |
- What it tells you
- That the signature is assigned, saved and rendering.
- What it tells you
- Whether the banner survives outside Google's rendering, and whether animation plays.
- What it tells you
- Whether the copy is still readable once the banner is scaled to the message width.
- What it tells you
- That the hyperlink saved and points at a public URL.
- What it tells you
- How the banner reads when it repeats down a thread.
- What it tells you
- What a recipient sees before they load images - the text signature has to stand alone.
Key terms
- Gmail signature banner
- A Gmail signature banner is a wide promotional image placed beneath your contact details in a Gmail signature, usually linked to a landing page.
- Signature defaults
- Signature defaults are the Gmail settings that decide which signature is applied to new emails and to replies and forwards.
- Clickable banner
- A clickable banner is a signature image that has a single hyperlink applied to the whole image, so any click opens the destination page.
Sources & further reading
Common questions
Settings, then See all settings, then the Signature section on the General tab. Put the cursor beneath your contact details, use Insert image to upload the banner, select the image and apply a link, then click Save changes at the bottom of the page.
