Google Ads Automated Promotions Setting: What to Check Before Black Friday

As you prepare for November sales, you may think you've checked every ad copy one by one. However, thanks to the Google Ads automated promotions feature, your ads can now show discount information that you never entered. Google can crawl the promotions on your website on its own and add them to your ads, and this setting is turned on by default.

In this guide, we walk you through what the feature is, which campaigns it applies to, how to find the promotions Google has added and, if needed, how to turn the setting off. That way, you can prevent an expired or incorrect discount from appearing in your ads during Black Friday.

What is the Google Ads automated promotions feature?

Let's clarify the basic concept first. A Promotion asset is an extra line below your search ads that highlights a discount or promotion. Normally, advertisers create this asset themselves, manually entering the discount amount, the dates the promotion is valid and its terms.

According to Granular Marketing's article on the October 2026 Google Ads update, starting October 12, 2026, Google Ads can find promotions on an advertiser's website by itself and turn them into promotion assets. In other words, a discount announcement on your homepage, a campaign page or a product page can be carried over to your ad without waiting for your approval.

According to the same source, this setting is called Automated promotions and is turned on by default. In short, if you do nothing, the feature starts working for you.

Which campaigns does it apply to?

The feature doesn't work in every campaign type or under every condition. According to Granular Marketing, the following conditions must be met for automated promotions to kick in:

• Campaign type: The feature applies to Search and Performance Max campaigns. Performance Max is Google's campaign type that uses AI to serve ads across Search, YouTube, Gmail and other channels from a single campaign.
• Location asset: A location asset (the asset that shows your business address in the ad) must be added to the campaign.
• No manually added promotion: The campaign must not contain a promotion asset you created yourself.

This last point offers an important clue: if your campaign already has an up-to-date promotion asset you entered yourself, automated promotions won't kick in for that campaign. That's one way to stay in control.

Why is this setting risky ahead of Black Friday?

On paper, automated promotions are a time-saving feature. But during busy sales periods, the information on your site changes very quickly, and what Google picks up may not always be the most current. In November, pay special attention to the following situations:

• Expired promotions: An old banner or summer sale page you forgot to remove from your site could reappear in your ad.
• Conditional discounts: A discount that only applies above a certain order value or to selected products may come across as an unconditional discount in the ad.
• Early or late publishing: The announcement for a promotion that hasn't started yet could appear in your ad too early, or a promotion that has ended could stay live for a while longer.
• Stock and price mismatch: Users who can't find the discount they saw in the ad on your site get disappointed, abandon their cart and lose trust in your brand.

Also remember that you pay for every user who clicks your ad. A visitor who arrives expecting the wrong discount both drains your budget and may leave your site without converting.

How do you find the promotions Google has added?

Before deciding to turn the setting off, reviewing the current situation is a good starting point. According to Granular Marketing, you can find the promotions Google has created as follows:

1. Sign in to your Google Ads account and go to the Assets section.
2. Filter by asset type and select Promotion.
3. Look at the Added by column in the list. Promotions automatically created by Google are labeled Google AI here.
4. Review each promotion's text, discount details and the campaign it's used in, one by one.
5. Compare them with the current promotions on your site and note any information that doesn't match.

If your account has multiple campaigns, running this check campaign by campaign makes it easier to see which ad groups are affected.

Should you turn the setting off or keep it on?

There's no single right answer. For a business that updates its site regularly and announces its promotions clearly, the feature can be useful. But if your campaign pages are complex or you don't have the resources to update your site every day during the busy season, staying in control is the safer option.

To turn the setting off

According to the source, you can turn off Automated promotions by switching the setting to Off. Follow these steps:

1. Open the relevant Search or Performance Max campaign in your Google Ads account.
2. Find the Automated promotions option among the settings and assets. Since the interface changes from time to time, you can use the search bar at the top of Google Ads if you have trouble finding it.
3. Switch the setting to Off and save your changes.
4. Go back to the Assets section and check the status of the promotions added by Google AI again.

If you keep it on

If you want to keep using the feature, pay attention to the following to reduce the risks:

• Write the promotion copy on your site in a short, clear way, including the terms.
• Remove the visuals and pages of ended promotions without delay.
• Check promotions labeled Google AI every day during the busy season.

A monitoring routine you can follow throughout November

Whether you turn the setting off or keep it on, building a regular check routine during the busy sales season makes your job easier. You can turn the items below into a weekly habit, or a daily one depending on your campaign volume:

• Asset check: List all promotion assets using the Promotion filter in the Assets section and check the Added by column.
• Site and ad consistency: Make sure the discount information in the ad also appears the same way on the page users land on.
• New campaigns: Remember that the setting may be on by default whenever you add a new Search or Performance Max campaign to your account, and check that campaign too.
• Promotion end: When your discount ends, update both the announcement on your site and the promotion asset in your ad on the same day.
• Team communication: Make sure the person updating the site and the person managing the ads are working from the same promotion calendar.

Get your website ready for this process too

Since the automated promotions feature pulls information directly from your site, how well your website is organized becomes part of this process. Old campaign pages, forgotten pop-ups or outdated banners can now show up not just for visitors but in your ads as well.

Do a quick cleanup of your site before November: list all live campaign pages, remove the expired ones and clearly state the terms of your new promotions. If your online store has a large number of products and promotions, you may also want to consider e-commerce management support to keep things organized.

If you'd like a professional review of your ad settings and promotion assets for Black Friday, take a look at Collapssi's ad management service.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which campaigns does the Google Ads automated promotions feature work in?

According to Granular Marketing, the feature applies to Search and Performance Max campaigns. The campaign must have a location asset and must not have a manually added promotion asset.

Is this setting on by default?

Yes. The Automated promotions setting is on by default and can be turned off by switching it to Off.

How can I tell which promotions Google has added?

Filter the asset type by Promotion in the Assets section. Promotions created by Google are labeled Google AI in the Added by column.

Can I stay in control without turning the setting off?

According to the source, if you manually add your own promotion asset to your campaign, automated promotions won't kick in for that campaign. It's also recommended to check assets labeled Google AI regularly.

Sources

• October 2026 Google Ads Update – Automated Promotions from Your Website