Promotion assets in Google Ads: sales and offers in your ads

This guide is built from Google Ads Help: About promotion assets, About Automated promotions, About assets and Measure ad asset performance, the Advertising Policies page Promotion asset requirements, and the Google Ads API reference (PromotionAsset, occasions and discount modifier) for the exact field names. The overview of all asset types is in our sitelinks and assets guide; this page goes into promotion assets only.

What promotion assets are and where they show

A promotion asset adds a sale or offer to your ad: for example a percentage or amount off a product, with an optional promo code or minimum order. Google's help page says they can be added to "Search Network text ads, Shorts, and In-stream video ads".

When it shows, the occasion you picked (Google's examples are "Back-to-school" and "Mother's Day") appears as a bold label next to the promotion text in Search ads, and below Performance Max Shorts and In-stream ads on YouTube. The asset shows "up to 2 lines of text" with the details of the offer, and a click goes straight to the offer, at the final URL you set for the asset.

Google lists the surfaces as mobile and desktop, the top and bottom of Google search results, and the bottom of Shorts and In-stream ads on YouTube. If the promotion is added to a Performance Max campaign with store goals, it may also show in Maps on mobile, where people can view, save and share it.

The fields you fill in

Google's steps start in Assets in the Campaigns menu: click the plus button and choose Promotion. Then:

1. Level: account, campaign or ad group.
2. Occasion (optional): picked from Google's list. Its name appears in the ad, and its dates limit when the asset can show.
3. Language and currency of the promotion.
4. Promotion type: a monetary discount or a percentage discount. In the API this is either money_amount_off or percent_off, and one of the two is required. The only discount modifier the API lists is "Up to".
5. Item: the name of the product or service on offer. The API calls this promotion_target and describes it as "a freeform description of what the promotion is targeting"; it is the one required text field.
6. Final URL: the page the asset links to.
7. Promotional details: any requirement, such as a promo code or a spending limit. The API allows one trigger per asset: a promotion code, a minimum order amount (orders_over_amount), or a QR code or barcode.
8. Promotion dates (optional): the dates you want to show on the ad.

Two details from the API reference are easy to miss. It keeps two sets of dates: start_date and end_date control when the asset can serve, while redemption_start_date and redemption_end_date describe when the offer can be redeemed. And there are fields for terms and conditions, as text or as a link. Google's help page asks for those terms on local promotions in Performance Max for store goals campaigns: the expiry date, how the offer is redeemed (in store, online or both) and any other conditions, with a link to the full terms where one exists.

QR code and barcode promotions are a special case. Google says they "don't serve on Search, Shorts, or In-stream video ads. They only serve on Maps."

Occasions and their date windows

Each occasion has a window when the asset may be eligible to show. Google's table, in calendar order:

A second group has no fixed window ("Any" in Google's table): Back to school, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Independence Day, National Day, End of Season, Winter Sale, Summer Sale, Fall Sale, Spring Sale, Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. Two more exist for one language each: Year-end Gift in Japanese (Nov 1 to Dec 31) and Songkran in Thai (Mar 15 to May 1). Google notes that Labor Day is not available in Dutch, Norwegian, Hebrew and Japanese, and Halloween not in Malay, Polish and Hebrew.

The API adds one rule: "If an occasion is set, the redemption window will need to fall within the date range associated with the occasion." A Black Friday offer that runs into January needs a different occasion, or none.

The 6-month rule

Google's help page says occasion promotions "must be created or edited within 6 months of their start date to be eligible to serve", and that "Existing promotion assets that haven't been modified for the last 6 months are automatically paused." So last year's Christmas asset will not simply come back on its own. Open it before the season, check the offer and the dates, and save it.

Account, campaign or ad group

Promotion assets can sit at account, campaign or ad group level. Google says "the most specific will be used": ad group assets show instead of campaign or account ones, and campaign assets override account ones. Within the same level, occasion promotions are preferred over promotions without an occasion.

In practice: a store-wide sale can sit at account level, while an offer on one product line belongs on the ad group whose keywords match that product. Campaign structure is covered in our account structure guide.

Dates and schedules

Under Advanced options you can narrow when the asset is eligible. With an occasion selected, you can narrow its date range but not go outside it; for other dates, deselect the occasion and enter your own start and end dates. Days and hours limits it further to set days and times. The API reference allows up to 6 schedules per day and 42 in total for one asset.

Scheduling decides when the asset can show; it does not change bids. If a sale is expected to lift conversion rates sharply for a few days, the bidding side is covered in our seasonality adjustments guide, and day and hour targeting for the ads themselves in the ad schedule guide.

Policy rules

Promotion assets follow the standard Google Ads policies. The promotion asset requirements page has one rule of its own: the promo code field must hold a promo code. Google's examples of what is not allowed there are "Product descriptions, phone numbers, promotional statements".

The same page lists the policies most often behind disapprovals:

• Editorial: clarity, spelling, capitalization and symbols. The help page adds that "Incorrect use of capitalization, symbols, and phone numbers may result in ad disapproval."
• Trademarks: you are responsible for trademark use in your text.
• Unavailable offers: "Products or services should be priced accurately, easily found at the ad's destination, and match with headers and descriptions."
• Unclear relevance: every field must represent the same advertiser and relate to what is promoted.
• Unsupported language: the asset and its landing page must be in a supported language.

The practical rule: the landing page must show the same offer, at the same discount, for the same dates. A sale that ends on the site but not in the asset is an unavailable offer. How to find and appeal disapprovals is in our Policy Manager guide.

Automated promotions

Google can also create promotions for you. Per About Automated promotions, Google Ads finds offers on your landing pages (its example is "20% off on black sweaters") and attaches them to eligible ads. The requirements are:

• an active Search or Performance Max campaign with location assets attached (Local Ad campaigns included);
• no manual promotions currently running on that campaign;
• compliance with the standard Google Ads policies.

Each automated promotion is eligible for "less than 24 hours" at a time and may be re-enabled as long as Google can still verify the offer on your website. If you need exact control, for example over start and end dates, Google suggests uploading the promotion yourself. The switch is under Assets > Account level automated assets > Advanced settings > Automated promotions (On or Off). To find them, filter the asset table by type Promotion: automated ones show "Google AI" in the Added by column.

This is one reason to keep old sale banners off your pages. If a page still says "20% off", Google may pick it up.

Cost and reporting

Promotion assets are free to add. Google says a click on the asset "equals the cost of a click on the headline in the same ad", you won't be charged for more than two clicks per ad impression, and quick clicks on more than one link are treated as a second click and not charged. Like every asset, a promotion only shows when it is predicted to improve the ad's performance, and ads in higher positions "get the first opportunity to show more assets" (About assets).

You can edit a promotion asset without resetting its statistics. On the Assets page, the Clicks column "combines clicks on the ad headline and on the ad asset"; segment by Click type to see clicks on the asset alone. The Automated promotions page makes the same point and adds that you should judge the campaign's total impressions and conversions as well, not only the clicks on the promotion itself.

Promotion assets vs Merchant Center promotions

These are two different features. Promotion assets are created in Google Ads and attach to your ads. Merchant Center promotions are created in Merchant Center and attach to products in Shopping ads and free listings, with their own eligibility and review. If you sell products online you may use both; the Merchant Center side is in our Merchant Center promotions guide.

Our checklist

This is how we work, not a Google rule:

• Put the offer on the landing page first, then create the asset with the same wording, discount and dates.
• Choose the occasion only if the whole offer fits inside its window; otherwise use your own dates.
• Put product-specific offers on the matching ad group, and keep one general offer at campaign or account level.
• A month before each season, open last year's assets, update and save them so the 6-month rule does not keep them paused.
• Set the end date on the day the sale ends, and remove the sale text from the site at the same time.
• Check the Policy details column the day after you add or edit an asset.

Frequently asked questions

Do promotion assets cost extra in Google Ads?

No. They are free to add. A click on the promotion costs the same as a click on the ad's headline, and Google does not charge for more than two clicks per ad impression.

Why did my promotion asset stop showing?

Common causes are an occasion window or end date that has passed, the 6-month rule (assets not modified for 6 months are paused automatically), a disapproval, or a more specific promotion at ad group or campaign level taking its place. Assets also only show when Google predicts they will improve the ad.

Can I use a promotion asset without an occasion?

Yes. The occasion is optional. Without one you set your own start and end dates. Within the same level, Google prefers occasion promotions over ones without an occasion.

What can I put in the promo code field?

Only a promo code. Google's policy lists product descriptions, phone numbers and promotional statements as not allowed in that field.

How do I turn off automated promotions?

Go to Assets, open Account level automated assets, then Advanced settings, and set Automated promotions to Off. Google also skips any campaign that already has a manual promotion running.

For more on Google Ads, see our guides to sitelinks and other assets, price assets, image assets and responsive search ads.