Google Ads automated promotions from Oct 12

From October 12, 2026, Google Ads will decide on its own which discount from your website appears in your ads, at least in eligible accounts. The feature is called Automated promotions, it is switched on by default, and advertisers got exactly one week's notice. If your margin depends on price discipline, this is the week to open your account.

Starting October 12, 2026, Google Ads automatically pulls discounts and coupons from your landing pages and attaches them as promotion assets to Search and Performance Max campaigns that use location assets and don't already run their own promotions. It is on by default and can only be turned off at account level, under Account level automated assets → Advanced settings → Automated promotions. Decide whether to keep it based on margin per conversion, not click-through rate.

What Google Ads automated promotions actually change

On October 5, 2026, Search Engine Roundtable published an email Google had sent to some advertisers. It says that from October 12, 2026, Google Ads will automatically identify and extract high-quality promotions, such as coupons and deals, from your website and apply them directly to your campaigns, without any manual setup on your part. PPC Land confirmed and expanded on the story a day later.

The feature itself is not brand new. Google published its "About Automated promotions" help page in early September. What changes now is the rollout: from the cut-off date, the feature switches on automatically for eligible campaigns. According to the official help page, Google spots an offer on your landing page, such as "Buy one get one free" or "20% off black sweaters", turns it into a promotion asset and shows it beneath your ad.

Context matters here. Google lists automated promotions as one of several account level automated assets, alongside dynamic sitelinks, dynamic callouts, seller ratings and dynamic image assets. The parent help page describes it as an AI-powered feature that finds deals and offers from your website "and other sources". Google does not say what those other sources are.

Who is affected and who isn't

The eligibility rules are narrow, which makes the audit quick. According to the help page, only active Search or Performance Max campaigns with linked location assets qualify, and only if no manual promotions are currently running on them. Standard Google Ads policies apply on top.

That gives you a clear picture. A pure SaaS company or B2B service provider without location assets is not affected as things stand. The people who should pay attention are retailers with physical stores, multi-location businesses, franchise systems and regional chains that use Performance Max to drive store visits as well as online sales. In those accounts, many campaigns often sit on top of one linked business profile, so the whole account can be in scope.

The second rule is your lever: campaigns with their own, manually managed promotion assets are skipped. If you already control discounts actively through promotion assets, you keep that control.

The risks: margin, pricing strategy, brand

The first risk is margin. A visible discount in the ad often lifts click-through rate, but it also cuts the contribution margin of every order that would have happened anyway. In brand campaigns or campaigns heavy on returning customers, a discount can easily destroy more margin than it wins in additional sales.

The second risk is pricing strategy. Plenty of websites display offers that aren't meant for everyone: first-order codes, newsletter-only discounts, partner deals or volume pricing above a minimum quantity. The help page does not say which conditions Google keeps when it extracts an offer. If a restriction is missing from the ad, you will only spot it in the account after the asset has already served.

The third risk is brand. If you compete on quality, service or expertise, you probably don't want a percentage sign in every search ad. A discount that is always visible teaches customers to wait for the next one.

One detail works in Google's favour. Per the help page, each automated promotion serves for less than 24 hours and is only renewed if Google can still verify the offer on your website. Expired campaigns shouldn't linger for weeks. The flip side for you: whatever is on your site today can be in your ads tomorrow.

How to audit your account and turn it off

The steps below come from Google's official help pages on automated promotions and on account level automated assets.

Check exposure: List the Search and Performance Max campaigns that use location assets, and whether they already run manual promotion assets.
Check the setting: In the Campaigns menu, open Assets. Use the three-dot menu on the right to select Account level automated assets, then open the three-dot menu again and choose Advanced settings. Automated promotions will show as On (recommended) or Off.
Turn it off if needed: Set Automated promotions to Off, pick a reason and save. The setting applies to the whole account; Google does not describe a campaign-level switch.
Exclude campaigns selectively: In campaigns where you don't want auto-extracted discounts, add your own promotion asset. According to the help page, those campaigns are skipped.
Find what is already serving: In Assets, filter by asset type Promotion. Automated promotions show "Google AI" in the Added by column, and hovering reveals the sourcing details.
Clean up your site: Review which offers are publicly visible on your landing pages. Google itself recommends keeping promotion details on your site current, or uploading promotions manually if you need exact control.

One caveat reported by PPC Land: assets with zero impressions don't appear in reporting. An offer that never served leaves no trace, so the real audit happens on your website.

When automated promotions are worth keeping

Turning it off is not automatically the right call. The feature fits when you run public promotions regularly, your discounts are properly costed, and maintaining manual promotion assets keeps slipping down the to-do list. An online retailer with stores that already features seasonal sales on its homepage gets those offers into its ads with zero extra work.

It's a poor fit when your site shows conditional offers, when pricing has to be aligned with resellers or manufacturers, or when your campaigns lean heavily on brand searches and existing customers. That makes it a decision for the table where sales and leadership sit, not just the performance team.

Measuring impact: CTR is the wrong metric

Google recommends segmenting campaign reports by click type and also reviewing overall campaign impressions and conversions. That's a start. What actually matters is whether the discount generates more contribution margin than it costs.

A worked example: your average order value is €120 and your gross margin is 40%. Without a discount, each order leaves €48 before ad spend. A 15% discount takes €18 off the price, leaving €30. To keep total contribution flat, you need 48 ÷ 30 = 1.6, meaning 60% more conversions on the same budget. The general rule: required conversion uplift = margin ÷ (margin − discount) − 1, both in currency per order.

Most discounts don't clear that bar. So set a baseline before October 12: conversions, conversion value, average order value and discount rate per campaign over the last 28 days. Then compare the weeks with and without automated promotions. You'll get a cleaner read if you send margin rather than revenue to Google as your conversion value, so bidding optimises for what you actually keep. Our tracking and analytics page covers how to set that up, and performance marketing explains how promotion assets fit into a campaign structure with clear margin targets.

FAQ

Can I turn off automated promotions for individual campaigns only?

Google doesn't describe a campaign-level switch; the setting applies to the account. However, the help page says campaigns with manual promotions running are skipped, which gives you an indirect way to exclude specific campaigns.

How do I know if Google is already serving automated promotions?

In Assets, filter by asset type Promotion and look for "Google AI" in the Added by column. Hovering shows where the offer came from. Assets with zero impressions won't appear there, though.

Does this affect campaigns without location assets?

Not at the moment. Both the help page and the email explicitly refer to Search and Performance Max campaigns with linked location assets. Google does say the feature "currently" applies only to these, so an expansion can't be ruled out.

Sources

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Google Ads automated promotions: what changes on October 12 and how to protect your margin