Google Ads will add offers from your website to ads on October 12

Starting October 12, 2026, Google Ads will read the offers on your website and show them in your ads without asking you first. It applies to Search and Performance Max campaigns that have location assets attached and no promotion asset of their own. You are opted in by default. If your site still shows a “$50 off” line from last season, that line can now appear under your ad. One account setting turns it off.

What actually changed

The feature is called Automated promotions. Google’s help page on Automated promotions says Google Ads “identifies and sources promotions from your website landing pages” and attaches them to eligible campaigns. Eligible means an active Search or Performance Max campaign with location assets attached (Local Ad campaigns included), and no manual promotion already running on that campaign.

The help page has been up since September. What is new is the date. On October 5, Search Engine Roundtable published the email Google sent to some advertisers: “Starting October 12, 2026, Google Ads will automatically identify and extract high-quality promotions, such as coupons and deals, from your website and apply them directly to your campaigns.” The email calls it opt out, and says Google “will automatically opt you in”.

Three details from Google’s own text matter for a small account:

• Each sourced offer serves for less than 24 hours, then can serve again “so long as our systems can continuously verify that the promotion is still visibly available on your website”. The check is whether the offer is still on the page, not whether you still honour it.
• Sourced offers show in the Assets table with “Google AI” in the Added by column. Per the email, as PPC Land reports it, an offer that never got an impression does not appear there at all.
• The switch is account wide. It sits in the account level automated assets settings, and the email names no control per campaign.

What this means for Georgian Bay businesses

This hits the trade running its own Search campaign with its Business Profile linked as a location asset. That is a common setup for a Collingwood plumber, a Wasaga Beach landscaper, or a Thornbury HVAC company, because the location asset puts the address and distance under the ad.

The risk is old copy. Trade sites collect offers: a spring furnace tune-up price, a seniors’ discount with conditions in the small print, a “free estimate this month” banner nobody took down in August. Google’s check is that the text is still visible. If it is, a searcher can see it under your ad and quote it back to you on the phone.

Google’s page names no country limit, and neither does the email. We have not yet seen a sourced promotion in a Canadian account, so treat it as reaching Canada and check your own account. If an agency runs your account, this is a setting they should already have an opinion on. Ask them.

Promotions can lift clicks, and Google says so. We have not measured that on a trade account, so we are not telling you to keep it on or turn it off for performance reasons. The question here is control.

What to do

1. Check whether you are eligible. In Google Ads, open Assets and look for location assets on your Search or Performance Max campaigns. No location assets, or a promotion asset you made yourself on every campaign, means nothing changes for you.
2. Read your landing pages for offers. Every page your ads point to, plus the homepage. Take down any offer that has expired or that you would not honour to a stranger.
3. Decide on the setting before October 12. If you cannot name every offer on your site, set it to Off: Assets, the three-dot menu, Account level automated assets, the three-dot menu again, Advanced settings, Automated promotions, Off.
4. If you leave it on, check it weekly. Filter Assets by type Promotion and look for “Google AI” in the Added by column.
5. Want exact wording? Add your own promotion asset. Google skips any campaign that already has one.

What else to check in a small account is in our questions to ask a Google Ads agency in Ontario, and how we run accounts is on our page for Google Ads management for trades.

Frequently asked questions

Does this change my budget or my bids? No. It adds a promotion line to ads you already run. Your budget, bids, and keywords stay as they are.

What counts as an offer? Google’s examples are “Buy one get one free” and “20% off on black sweaters”, plus coupons and deals in the email. It does not publish a full list, so treat any discount or dollar figure on a landing page as a possible source.

Can I turn it off for one campaign only? Not with the setting. The switch is account wide. Adding your own promotion asset to a campaign keeps Google’s sourced offers off that campaign.

Does this affect Local Services Ads? Google’s page lists Search and Performance Max campaigns with location assets, including Local Ad campaigns. Local Services Ads are not on the list.