Google Ads Automated Promotions: Search & PMax Guide 2026

If you've got a shopfront or a service area and you're running Google Ads, there's a fair chance Google is now writing promotions for you. Yep, really. A new account-level feature reads the offers on your website and drops them into your ads, and in plenty of accounts nobody on the team has actually touched a setting.

Sometimes that's a nice little win. Other times it means the sale you wrapped up last Friday pops up in Monday's ads. So here's what Aussie advertisers need to know, plus the stuff worth checking this week (not next month).

Quick answer: Google Ads automated promotions is an account-level automated asset. It finds offers on your landing pages, things like "20% off" or "buy one get one free", and turns them into promotion assets. It only applies to active Search and Performance Max campaigns that have location assets and no manual promotions. Each promotion runs for under 24 hours, then Google re-checks your site before it runs again.

What are Google Ads automated promotions?

Put simply, they're promotion assets Google's AI builds from your own website. It scans your landing pages, spots a live deal and attaches it to eligible ads. Google's own example is a page advertising "20% off black sweaters". That discount can then show up in search results when someone goes looking for those products.

It sits in the same bucket as the other account-level automated assets, like automated location assets and landing-page image extraction. Google pitches it as a way to get more promotion coverage and push both online sales and in-store visits.

One thing to get straight early: this isn't Merchant Center's automated promotions. Different feature that one's for Shopping. This one lives inside Google Ads and creates regular promotion assets.

And the timing matters. Google published its help article in September 2026, and industry reports say the feature has been switching on by default for eligible accounts since 12 October. If you haven’t checked your settings yet, do it today

Which campaigns qualify for automated promotions?

A campaign has to tick all three of Google's boxes:

Campaign type: an active Search or Performance Max campaign. Local Ad campaigns count too.
Location assets attached: usually through a linked Google Business Profile. No location asset means no automated promotion, simple as that.
No manual promotions running: if a campaign already has a manual promotion asset, Google skips it completely.

Oh, and the campaign still has to follow standard Google Ads policies.

PMax is where it gets a bit more interesting. A detected offer there can travel well past the search results page and out into Google's other inventory. More reach, sure. But more exposure if the offer's wrong. In practice, local retailers, clinics, tradies and hospitality venues are the most likely to qualify, mostly because they're already using location assets.

How do automated promotions work?

It's a short loop that just keeps repeating:

Detect - Google's systems read your landing pages and pick out a visible offer.
Build - that offer gets turned into a promotion asset and attached to eligible ads.
Serve (briefly) - each automated promotion can serve for less than 24 hours.
Re-verify - before it serves again, Google checks the offer's still showing on your site. If it's gone, the promotion should stop.

Why such a short window? Google says it can't read promotion start and end dates off web pages yet. It expects that'll change. Until it does, your website is basically the on-off switch – if the offer's on the page, Google may keep showing it.

How to opt in or out of automated promotions

The control lives in your account-level automated asset settings. It's a few clicks deep:

In Google Ads, go to Campaigns, then Assets.
In the filter bar, click the three-dot More icon and pick Account level automated assets.
Hit the three-dot icon again and choose Advanced settings.
Open the Automated promotions drop-down and set it to On (recommended) or Off. If you switch it off, Google might ask why.

Worth knowing: it's an account-wide switch. One decision, every eligible campaign.

Where to find promotions Google has created

Want to see what's actually live? Go to Assets, filter Asset type by Promotion, then look at the Added by column. Anything Google generated is labelled Google AI. Hover over that label to see where the offer came from, and hover over the promotion name for details like the headline.

Risks to watch

Automation saves time, no argument there. But it only knows what your website shows it. The big risks:

Expired offers. Old banners and pop-ups can still look live.
Accuracy. Fine print and exclusions might get left out.
Wrong audience. A local deal could show way too widely.
Margin and compliance. Surprise discounts eat margins, and can break Australian Consumer Law.

Action checklist

List every Search and Performance Max campaign with location assets attached.
Make the on/off call at account level before 12 October 2026.
Clear out expired offers from banners, headers, pop-ups and old landing pages.
Put offer terms, dates and exclusions on the same page as the offer itself.
Upload manual promotion assets wherever you need exact control (start and end dates included). Bonus: this also stops automation on that campaign.
Check the Promotion asset report for "Google AI" entries every week.

Honestly, a clean, well-structured site makes all of this a lot easier. If your offer pages are a bit of a mess, our web design Canberra and development team can help sort them out.

How to measure automated promotions

Don't judge this one on promotion clicks alone you'll get a skewed picture. Google suggests two steps:

Segment by click type. Add the Click type segment to your campaign report. That separates promotion clicks from headline, call and location clicks.
Look at the whole campaign. Compare overall impressions, conversions, cost per conversion and conversion value from before and after the feature went live. Google points out that campaign performance can lift even when direct promotion clicks look low.

If you're a local business, fold store visits, calls and direction requests into your conversion view as well. A promotion that gets people through the door might never show up as a website sale.

The bottom line

Google Ads Automated Promotions can help businesses highlight active offers without creating every promotion manually. But automation doesn't replace the need to review your website content, check campaign eligibility and monitor what appears in your ads.

If you're keeping the feature enabled, remove expired deals, make offer conditions clear and review the Promotions asset report regularly. If you need precise control over discounts, eligibility and dates, consider using manual promotion assets instead.

At Planet Media, we help Australian businesses improve their Google Ads campaigns, landing pages and conversion performance. Explore our search engine marketing services or book a free session to discuss your campaign setup.