Google Ads is starting to find discounts on advertisers' websites and add them to ads on its own. The feature is called Automated promotions: the system scans landing pages, checks that an offer is live and attaches it to Search and Performance Max ads. According to Search Engine Roundtable, Google has emailed advertisers that automated promotions start applying on October 12, and they are on by default. Here's how it works, what the risks are and where to turn it off.
What Automated promotions are in Google Ads
Automated promotions are a new type of account-level automated asset. Previously you had to create a Promotion asset manually: set the discount, dates and terms, and keep it up to date. Now Google does it for you.
As the Google Ads help page describes, the system finds live offers on landing pages — for example "20% off black sweaters" or "buy one get one free" — and shows them as a separate promotion element in the ad. Users see a concrete benefit right in the search results, not just the store name.
How automatic discount sourcing works
- Sourcing. Google scans landing pages and finds offers on them.
- Verification. According to Google, "advanced verification" filters out inactive and expired offers.
- Serving. The offer becomes a promotion asset and is attached to a matching campaign.
- Re-verification. Each automated promotion serves for under 24 hours. After that it can be re-enabled only if the system confirms the offer is still visible on the site. Google says this will change once it can extract promotion start and end dates.
Which campaigns are affected
It doesn't apply everywhere. Per Google's requirements, you need:
- active Search or Performance Max campaigns with location assets attached, including Local campaigns;
- no manual promotions running on the campaign — if you've added a Promotion asset yourself, Google won't create an automated one on top;
- compliance with standard Google Ads policies;
- account-level automated assets opted in.
Note: this is not the same as automated promotions in Google Merchant Center, as PPC News Feed points out. This is about promotion assets in Search and PMax ads.
The risk: Google may misread an offer
On a good site a discount is clear: old price, new price, dates. But terms are often trickier: the discount applies only after sign-up, only to one category or above a minimum order. The page shows a big "−30%", while the restrictions sit in small print below. That's where automation can get it wrong.
If the ad shows the wrong discount, it's not just CTR that suffers. A user who came for "−30%" and didn't find it leaves — and you pay for the click. So watch automated promotions closely during big sales, when several offers run at once and terms change every couple of days.
Where to see what Google found: in Assets, filter by asset type "Promotion". Automated promotions are marked "Google AI" in the "Added by" column. Hover over the label to see where the offer came from.
How to turn off Automated promotions
The feature is on by default. To turn it off, following Google's instructions:
- Go to Campaigns → Assets.
- In the filter bar, click More (⋮) and select Account level automated assets.
- On that page, click More (⋮) again → Advanced settings.
- In the Automated promotions drop-down, choose "Off" and give a reason if prompted.
If you need exact control over the offer text, dates or promo code, add a Promotion asset manually — then no automated promotion will appear in that campaign. It's safer for short sales: if an offer ends tonight, don't count on Google reading all the terms from the page in time.
What it means for affiliates running Google Ads
- E-commerce with frequent sales benefits: no need to duplicate every discount in the account by hand.
- If your landing pages or pre-landers show "discounts" for decoration, review them: Google may put that promise right into the ad, and mismatched terms on the page can get the ad flagged. How to avoid a ban: Circumventing Systems in Google Ads.
- Look beyond the click. A promotion label may lift CTR, but that isn't profit. Compare CR, CPA and ROI before and after — the formulas are in Affiliate math. Google suggests segmenting reports by click type and looking at overall campaign impressions and conversions, not only clicks on the promotion itself.
- "Discount-only" audiences. Watch whether traffic starts bringing people who only buy on sale — that hurts average order value and LTV.
If you're new to Google, see Google Ads for beginners: how to launch ads.
In short
- From October 12, Google Ads finds offers on your site and adds them to Search and PMax ads.
- It requires location assets and no manual promotions on the campaign.
- Each automated promotion lives under 24 hours and is re-verified.
- Sourced offers are labelled "Google AI"; you can turn the feature off in account-level automated asset settings.
More ad platform news in our Telegram channel.
Sources: Google Ads Help — About automated promotions, Google Ads Help — Account level automated assets, Search Engine Roundtable, PPC News Feed.