Google Ads switches on automated promotions October 12. Should your account opt out?

Google emailed advertisers on 5 October 2026 with a quiet but structural change: starting 12 October, Google Ads will automatically scan eligible accounts' websites for active promotions and attach them to live Search and Performance Max ads, whether or not anyone asked it to. It is opt-out, not opt-in. If your account meets three conditions, Google enrols it by default, and the first time you learn your website's promo copy is now ad copy may be the day a customer asks why your ad advertised a sale that ended last week.

What actually changes on 12 October

Automated promotions is a new type of automated asset at the account level. Google's system reads your landing pages, identifies what it judges to be a high-quality, currently active offer — a percentage-off code, a free-shipping threshold, a seasonal deal — and attaches it to eligible campaigns as a promotion asset, the same slot you'd normally fill in by hand. In Assets, anything Google added this way shows "Added by: Google AI" so you can tell it apart from a promotion you created yourself.

All three have to be true at once. A multi-location service business running Search campaigns with location extensions and no promotion asset of its own is the textbook eligible account, which is exactly the profile of a large share of HyberX's own client base: local and regional service businesses, multi-location retailers, and franchise-style operators who use location assets to show proximity and trust.

Two features, same name — don't confuse them

"Automated promotions" is also the name of a separate, unrelated Google feature inside Merchant Center, and most of the reporting on the October 12 change doesn't draw the line clearly. If you run both Search/PMax and Shopping, you have two settings to check, not one.

The two systems were built for different ad surfaces and shipped on different timelines, but they share a name, a mechanism (reading your site instead of a feed you control), and a root cause: Google increasingly treats your own web pages as a data source it can act on without a request from you.

Should you opt out? A decision by account type

There's no universal right answer; it depends on how precisely you need to control what an ad promises and how current your site's promo copy actually is.

How to opt out, step by step

1. Open Campaigns in the left navigation.
2. Click Assets, then open Account-level automated assets.
3. Find Automated promotions in the list and open its three-dot menu.
4. Select Advanced settings, then set the Automated promotions toggle to Off.
5. Provide a reason if asked. Google may prompt for one; any answer completes the opt-out.
6. Repeat per account, not per campaign — the setting is account-wide, so a portfolio of accounts needs this done once for each one.

The setting can be switched back on at any time, so opting out on 12 October to review the feature first costs nothing beyond a few minutes to revisit later.

What to audit on your site either way

Whether you opt out or let it run, the underlying exposure is the same: Google is now reading your promotional copy as a live data source, not a one-time proofread. That makes this a website content and conversion problem as much as a Google Ads setting.

1. Find every page with a promo mention. Banners, popups, footer strips and old landing pages you forgot were still indexed can all qualify as "active" if the copy doesn't say otherwise.
2. Add explicit end conditions to time-boxed offers. A visible end date or an automatic removal when a sale ends gives Google's system (and your own visitors) a clearer signal than copy that just says "limited time".
3. Remove expired promo language immediately, rather than leaving it live until someone notices. A page that still reads "20% off this week" a month later is now a direct liability, not just stale copy.
4. Decide where location assets are actually necessary. If a campaign doesn't need them for proximity or service-area signalling, removing them is also the simplest way to stay outside this feature's eligibility entirely.
5. Check Assets for "Added by: Google AI" on any eligible campaign after 12 October, whether you opted out or not, to confirm the setting took effect.

Frequently asked questions

What is Google Ads automated promotions?

It is an account-level feature that lets Google Ads identify active offers, such as coupon codes and deals, directly from your website's landing pages and attach them as promotion assets to eligible Search and Performance Max campaigns, without you creating the promotion manually.

When does Google Ads turn on automated promotions?

Google emailed advertisers on 5 October 2026 saying automated promotions would switch on by default on 12 October 2026 for every eligible account. It is opt-out, not opt-in: accounts that meet the eligibility conditions are enrolled automatically unless someone turns the setting off first.

Which accounts are eligible for automated promotions?

Three conditions have to be true at once: the campaign is a Search or Performance Max campaign, it has location assets attached, and it does not already have a manual promotion asset running. A campaign with an active manual promotion is skipped entirely, since Google's system will not override one you already created.

How do I turn off Google Ads automated promotions?

Go to Campaigns, open Assets, select Account-level automated assets, open the three-dot menu, choose Advanced settings, and set Automated promotions to Off. The setting applies to the whole account, not one campaign, and Google may ask for a reason when you turn it off. You can switch it back on at any time.

Is Google Ads automated promotions the same as Merchant Center's automated promotions?

No, they are two separate features that share a name. The Merchant Center version reads your product pages and shows promotions on free listings and Shopping ads; it is a closed beta limited to a handful of countries. The Google Ads version reads your landing pages and attaches deals to Search and Performance Max ads; it is the one rolling out account-wide on 12 October. Running Shopping campaigns means checking both settings separately.

What is the risk of leaving automated promotions on?

The main risk is timing, not accuracy of detection. Google says it re-verifies a detected promotion within roughly 24 hours, so a discount you end or change on your site can still show in a live ad for up to a day afterward. For short, time-boxed sales, that lag is long enough to advertise a deal that is already over.

The takeaway

This is a small setting with an outsized consequence: the accuracy and freshness of your own website copy just became a variable in what your live ads promise a stranger. Evergreen offers have little to fear from the 24-hour lag; short sales and inconsistent multi-location pages do. Decide per account before 12 October rather than discovering the answer in your Assets tab afterward, and treat the audit above as a chance to clean up promo copy that needed attention anyway.