Google Ads can pull promotions from your site
Updated
Automated promotions turns sale banners on your landing pages into promotions on eligible Search and PMax campaigns. Here's where to see what Google added and how to turn it off.
· 2 min read · 1 source
Source: Google Ads Help: About Automated promotions (no publish date on page)
Google Ads has an automated asset called Automated promotions. Google finds deals on your website landing pages and attaches them to eligible Search and Performance Max campaigns, without you building a promotion asset.
Google's own example: a landing page advertising "20% off on black sweaters" turns into a promotion in your ads. That's handy when the banner is current. It's a problem when the banner is from Labor Day.
What we know
- It lives in account-level automated assets. Google's settings menu lists "On (recommended)" and Off.
- Eligible campaigns are active Search or PMax campaigns with location assets attached (Local Ad campaigns included) and no manual promotions running. A campaign with your own promotion running is skipped.
- Each automated promotion is eligible to serve for less than 24 hours at a time and can be re-enabled while Google can still verify the offer on your site. Google says that will change once it can read start and end dates.
- To find them, go to Assets and filter Asset type to Promotion. Automated ones show "Google AI" in the Added by column, and hovering over Google AI shows sourcing details.
- To turn it off: Assets, then the three-dot "More" menu in the filter bar, then Account level automated assets, then the three-dot menu, then Advanced settings, then set Automated promotions to Off. Google may ask why.
What we don't know yet
- How many accounts already have it switched on. Google hasn't said.
- Whether Google reads anything beyond landing pages. The help page only mentions your website.
- Whether Google will catch conditional offers like minimum spend, member-only, or first-order codes before showing them.
- What reporting looks like beyond segmenting by click type.
What I'd do
Open Account level automated assets in every account with location assets and see where Automated promotions is set. Then make the call on purpose: on, off, or covered by your own promotion asset. If it's on, filter Assets to Promotion and look for "Google AI" in the Added by column so you know what's already showing. And look at your landing pages, because any stale sale banner can end up as ad copy.
Jerry Quin
Jerry Quin is the pen name of a paid media practitioner who has managed Google Ads accounts at an agency for 10 years. He writes about Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, ChatGPT Ads, and the rest of paid media and digital marketing, from what's rolling out to what he'd actually do about it.
