How to Add an Image to a Gmail Signature and Make It a Link

Adding an image to a Gmail signature takes about two minutes. Making sure it shows up, and takes people somewhere when they click it, takes a little longer.

Below are the steps, the sizes Google recommends, the fixes for a blank image, and the part most guides skip: what that image or link should send a reader to. I wrote it for people who send email for a business and want the bottom of every message to do some work.

How to add an image to a Gmail signature

You need Gmail open on a computer. The steps below follow Google's page on creating a signature and How-To Geek's walkthrough of the image step:

1. Open Gmail. At the top right, click Settings, then See all settings.
2. On the General tab, scroll to Signature. Pick the signature you want to change, or click Create new.
3. Click in the box where you want the image to sit, then click the Insert image icon in the toolbar.
4. Choose Web Address, My Drive or Upload, find your image, and click Select.
5. Click the image in the box and pick Small, Medium, Large or Original size.
6. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes.

One limit from Google's page: a signature can hold up to 10,000 characters, and your image counts toward that. If you get an error, resize the image.

Which of the three ways to add it

Google's troubleshooting page describes them like this: Web Address takes the URL of an image that is publicly available on the web, My Drive takes a public image from your Google Drive, and Upload takes a file from your device. If one does not work, Google says to try the other two.

How big the image should be

Google recommends a signature image 70 to 100 pixels high and 300 to 400 pixels wide. The maximum is 100 pixels high and 1000 pixels wide.

Resize the file itself, not just the display size. Exclaimer, which sells signature software, warns that some email clients ignore the display size and show the original file. A 2000-pixel logo shrunk on screen can still arrive huge.

How to make the image a link

Google's signature page does not cover this step. Its page on formatting messages covers links in a message you are writing: highlight the text, click Insert at the bottom (or press Ctrl + K), paste the URL, click Apply.

For an image in the signature box, two software vendors describe the same idea. Copper, a CRM, says to click the image so it shows a blue highlight, then click Link in the toolbar or use Ctrl or Cmd + K. WiseStamp, which makes signature software, adds one detail: paste the full address, starting with https://, and click OK. Then click Save Changes.

Check it before you trust it. WiseStamp says you can click the image in the box and see the link with a remove option. Better still, send yourself an email and click the image in the message.

If the image is blank, broken or will not upload

Most of these come from Google's troubleshooting page:

• The image is on Google Drive. Its sharing must be public: under Get link, choose Anyone with the link, and set it to Viewer. Google adds that if you use a work or school account and can only add images by URL, you cannot change your Drive sharing settings. Ask your administrator to allow public sharing.
• The file was deleted. If the image file in Drive, or a Google Doc holding it, is deleted, the image disappears from your signature.
• The image is too big. A signature image that is too large can make the signature display wrongly. Use the sizes above.
• It still will not upload. Delete the image and add it again, try another of the three methods, clear your browser cache and cookies, use an incognito window, or try a different browser.
• You cannot find the signature in a sent message. It may be hidden. Google says to scroll to the bottom and click Show trimmed content.

What your reader actually sees

Do not let the image carry anything that matters. Classic Outlook is set by default to block automatic picture downloads, so a prospect on it may see your logo as an empty box. And Exclaimer says that when a single image is the whole signature, people cannot copy contact details from it and the links inside it do not work as separate clickable elements.

So this is how I build mine. Name, title, company and the link I want clicked go in as text. The logo is decoration. If it never loads, nothing is lost.

What your phone sends

Gmail on your phone has its own setting. Google's pages for Android and iPhone and iPad both say a mobile signature shows up only on emails you send from the Gmail app, and that if you don't create one, new messages use the signature you set up on your computer. So if you have not set a mobile one, your computer signature goes out from your phone too. Send yourself a test from your phone and look.

Which link to put behind it

Most people link the logo to their homepage. EmailAnalytics, which sells email analytics software, says one call to action is worth including if it points somewhere specific, such as a booking link or a demo page, and that a generic homepage link adds length without changing behavior. I agree. Your signature goes on every email you send, so give it one next step.

For a SaaS team, I use two links side by side: "Book a demo" for the buyer who is ready to talk, and "Watch a Demo" for the buyer who wants to look first. I wrote about which link to choose earlier, and if some of your team uses Outlook, here is how to add a link there.

Add a Watch a Demo link in Gmail

Capture Leads gives you a clickable link labelled "Watch a Demo". In DemoSix, each link has an Add to signature button. Here is how it goes in Gmail:

1. In DemoSix, press Add to signature on your link. It copies a clickable link labelled "Watch a Demo".
2. In Gmail, open Settings, See all settings, General, Signature, and click in the box next to your "Book a demo" link.
3. Paste it.
4. If you want different words, select them and use the Link icon (or Ctrl + K) to change the text. The address behind it stays the same. Change the words, not the address.
5. Click Save Changes, then send yourself an email and click the link.

If your signature is plain text, DemoSix gives you the address itself to paste.

When a prospect clicks, they land on a page with your branding and enter their name and email. They do not need an account. They watch the demos you chose. You see who watched which demos and how far they got. Capture Leads is on every plan: Basic has one signature link and 50 new leads a month, free; Standard and Teams have unlimited leads and a link for each rep. The pricing page has the details.

The takeaway

Put the image in, size it to 70 to 100 pixels high, link it if you like, and keep every important word as text. Then spend your one link on something that gives a stranger a next step.

Send yourself a test, click every link, and look at it on your phone. It takes a minute, and your signature rides on every email you send.