Since 12 October 2026, Google Ads has been spotting coupons and offers published on an advertiser's website and adding them on its own, as promotion assets, to Search and Performance Max campaigns linked to location assets that have no manual promotion, unless the setting is turned off at account level. The email Google sent to advertisers, published on 5 October by Search Engine Roundtable, announces the default-on switch; the help page had documented the feature since early September. The website becomes a direct source of the advertising message, and an expired or ambiguous offer can end up in an ad without anyone having approved it. Three settings remain possible, and the choice deserves to be written down.
The facts
- In the email published by Search Engine Roundtable on 5 October, Google writes that from 12 October 2026 Google Ads will automatically identify and extract high-quality promotions, coupons and deals, from the advertiser's website and apply them to campaigns, with no manual setup. The setting is on by default, with about a week's notice; it is turned off in the account-level automated assets settings, by switching Automated promotions to Off.
- According to Google's help page, three conditions make a campaign eligible: an active Search or Performance Max campaign with location assets (Local Ad campaigns included), no manual promotion currently running on that campaign, and compliance with Google's advertising policies. Sourced promotions may serve alongside ads on Google Search or across Google's broader ad inventory. Each promotion is eligible for less than 24 hours, then re-enabled as long as Google's systems verify it is still visible on the site; Google says this will change once it can extract start and end dates.
- The feature was spotted on 7 September by Hana Kobzová (PPC News Feed) and relayed the same day by Search Engine Roundtable, then on 8 September by eMarketer. PPC Land noted on 6 October that assets with zero impressions do not appear in the Assets section, and that Google Ads' terms of service of 1 July 2026 restate the advertiser's responsibility for automatically generated campaigns and assets. Relevant Audience notes that no source lists the countries or languages covered, and that the email went to some advertisers.
What changes on 12 October, and for which accounts
Retailers and businesses with physical premises are the first concerned, since the location asset conditions eligibility: a business address attached to ads on Google Search and Maps. An account with no location asset is not concerned according to Google's description. An account that has one and runs a Search or Performance Max campaign without a manual promotion is, unless the setting has been turned off. No list of countries has been published: the question remains open for Luxembourg and European accounts, and not having received the email does not prove an account is out of scope. No impact figure on click-through rate or conversion has been published; the help page only advises segmenting reports by click type and states that overall campaign performance often improves even when clicks on the promotion bubble stay low, with no measurement to back it. The table below separates what Google wrote and where.
| Item | What Google says | Where it says it |
|---|---|---|
| Date | On by default from 12 October 2026, can be turned off at any time | Email to advertisers, published on 5 October by Search Engine Roundtable |
| Campaigns concerned | Search and Performance Max with location assets, no manual promotion running | Help page and email |
| Source of offers | Landing pages of the advertiser's website (example: 20% off black sweaters) | Help page |
| Duration | Less than 24 hours per promotion, then re-enabled as long as the offer stays visible on the site | Help page |
| Opt-out | Assets, account-level automated assets, advanced settings, Automated promotions: Off, reason requested | Help page and email |
| Identification | Google AI label in the Added by column; assets with zero impressions do not appear | Help page and email |
| Countries and languages | Not specified | No source |
An offer read by AI commits the advertiser like an offer written by its team
In 27 years of campaigns, we have seen enough sale banners forgotten on home pages in February to know what an automated system risks reading there. The help page says it in its own way: keep the website's promotional details up to date, or upload promotions manually when exact control over what is shown is needed, start and end dates included. The verification Google promises concerns the presence of the offer on the page, and an expired banner is, to a system, a visible offer.
A discount shown in an ad commits the advertiser just like an offer written by its team. The rules on displaying prices and discounts apply, and Google Ads' terms of service of 1 July 2026 restate, according to PPC Land, that it is up to the advertiser to review, approve or remove automatically generated campaigns and assets. Until now the website was only a destination; it becomes a source of the advertising message, and keeping it up to date becomes an advertising task.
Three possible settings, and the choice deserves to be written down
Leaving the feature on assumes a website kept up to date offer by offer, with someone who removes expired banners the same day. Adding your own manual promotions takes the campaign out of scope, since Google only acts on those that have none: it is the setting that keeps the benefit of the promotion asset with chosen dates and conditions. Turning it off is done at account level, in the advanced settings of automated assets, by switching Automated promotions to Off; Google then asks for a reason, and the help page describes no per-campaign switch.
There is no fourth way: waiting for Google to decide in the advertiser's place amounts to choosing the first option without taking on its upkeep.
Five checks to run this week
The checks below come from our own practice; Google publishes none.
- Setting. Check in each account whether the feature is on (Assets, account-level automated assets, advanced settings), then record the choice made and its reason.
- Identification. Filter assets by the Promotion type and review every week those labelled Google AI in the Added by column, knowing that those not yet served do not appear there.
- Website. List the offers online, their end dates and conditions. Remove expired banners and ambiguous wording, on the campaigns' landing pages first.
- Responsibility. Name the person who updates the website's offers, knowing that this work now feeds advertising.
- Confusion to avoid. Google Merchant Center's automated promotions and the bidding promotion mode are separate features with their own settings; check each one separately.
Google extends its automated assets account after account, and each one switches on before the advertiser has decided: AI voice-over on Performance Max videos in March, automatic upgrade to AI Max in August, automated promotions in October, according to PPC Land's timeline. Reviewing these settings becomes a routine, just like reviewing bids and budgets.
AIxH's view
In our Google Ads team, reviewing automated assets is part of the monthly check of the accounts we run, and every new default-on setting is decided account by account, in writing, before it produces an ad. We explained in an op-ed why the platform that bills the budget should not be the only one running it; a promotion extracted from the website without review is a concrete case. If your Search or Performance Max campaigns use location assets, the setting deserves a check this week.
