Read the Switch. October 12 Did Not Settle Automated Promotions.

Open the Automated promotions dropdown before you tell anyone Google turned it on today.

The help page has a path to On, and a path to Off. An October 5 article quotes an email that names October 12. Those are not the same sentence. If you run Search or Performance Max with a location asset, read the switch. Brief the option you opened, not the date in someone else's inbox.

I fetched Google's About Automated promotions page on 12 October 2026. I didn't sign in to an ads account. The clicks below are the ones that page names. If a label is missing in your session, that is the account in front of you. It is not a menu I skipped.

What the page says the feature does

Google's help page says Automated promotions highlights valid, high-quality deals inside your ads. Google Ads identifies and sources promotions from your website landing pages. The example in the opening is "Buy one get one free." A later example is a landing page that advertises "20% off on black sweaters." The page says Google extracts that offer and can attach it to eligible ads, so the discount shows in search results when someone looks for your products.[1]

Those promotions show on eligible Search and Performance Max campaigns that have location assets attached, and that do not currently have manual promotions running.[1] Local Ad campaigns count. The ads also have to comply with standard Google Ads advertising policies.[1]

The compatibility section adds the condition the email story drops. Extraction happens "when you opt in to account-level automated assets."[1] Campaigns that already have a manual promotion are bypassed.[1]

If you need the wording under your control, including a start date and an end date, upload the promotion yourself. Keep the site's offer text current either way. Both lines are on the page.[1]

Each automated promotion is eligible to serve for less than 24 hours. After that, it may come back on if Google's systems can still verify that the offer is visible on the site. The page says that limit is expected to change when Google can extract start and end dates. It doesn't give that date.[1]

The October 12 date is a quoted email

Search Engine Roundtable stamps its writeup October 5, 2026, at 7:41 am. The stamp I fetched does not name a timezone.[2] Barry Schwartz writes that Google Ads sent an email notifying some advertisers. His summary says Google will automatically identify and extract high-quality promotions from your website and apply them to your campaigns starting October 12, 2026. He says this applies to Search and Performance Max campaigns with linked location assets.[2]

He also writes that Google launched automated promotions some time ago, and that the email is Google communicating about it.[2] The help page doesn't date a launch. Leave "some time ago" as his phrase.[1][2]

The article says Arpan Banerjee sent Barry the email via LinkedIn. The blockquote on the page is this:[2]

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. These promotion assets are designed to improve your ad's performance by providing users with valid offers without requiring any manual setup on your part.

Note: This functionality currently only applies to Search and Performance Max campaigns with linked location assets that don't already have promotion assets attached.

I didn't receive the email. The page says a screenshot is there. I didn't read the image, and I didn't open the LinkedIn discussion the page points at. Leave both out of the brief.[2]

The next sentence sits outside that blockquote. Barry writes: "This is opt out, so Google will automatically opt you in for this starting October 12th." He then says to turn it off in account-level automated assets settings, find Automated Promotions, and select Off.[2]

That opt-out sentence is his. It is not inside the email blockquote.[2] The help page has an opt-in path, an opt-out path, and the words "when you opt in."[1] The quote says the assets arrive "without requiring any manual setup on your part."[2] Those lines don't settle a default. The dropdown does.

Today is October 12. The date in the quote has arrived. That still does not tell you what your account shows.

Open the dropdown

Use the help page's clicks. Barry's turn-off line is a shorter summary of the same idea. The menu names are on Google's page.[1][2]

If you have no Search or Performance Max campaign with a location asset, the page's requirements say this feature doesn't attach to the campaigns you are running.[1] Open the dropdown anyway and write down what it says. Skip the traffic brief.[1]

The opt-in list and the opt-out list are the same door. The page words the third click two ways. I am keeping both, so you are not hunting for a second menu.

Go to Assets in the Campaigns menu.[1]
From the filter bar, select the More (three-dot) icon, then Account level automated assets.[1]
On that page, the opt-in list says to select the three-dot icon. The opt-out list says to select the More (three-dot) icon. Same control. Use the label your page shows.[1]
Select Advanced settings.[1]
Open the Automated promotions dropdown.[1]

Read the option that is already chosen before you change it. The page's On choice is written "On (recommended)."[1] Off is the other choice. If you choose Off, the page says to provide a reason if prompted.[1]

I didn't open an account, so I'm not describing a status badge the help page doesn't name. Open the dropdown. If your session doesn't show a chosen option, write "no selection visible" and stop. Fill that blank from the account, not from the email.[1][2]

If it says On, and you want site offers in eligible ads, leave it. The page marks that option recommended.[1] If it says On and you don't want a landing-page coupon written into the ad, choose Off and give the reason if the page asks.[1]

If you want the words, the start, and the end under your control, upload a manual promotion. Campaigns that already have one are bypassed.[1] That is the control path. Use it when the extracted line is close, and close is not good enough.

See what is already attached

A switch that says Off does not answer the second question. Something may already be serving.

Go to Assets in the Campaigns menu.[1]
In the filter bar, select Asset type and choose Promotion.[1]
Look in the Added by column. Automated promotions are labeled Google AI.[1]
Hover over Google AI for sourcing details.[1]
Hover over the promo name in the first column for more, including the headline.[1]

If Google AI is in that column, an automated promotion is attached, whether or not you remember touching the switch. Read the headline before you assume the landing-page sale is the line in the ad. The page says the hover shows details such as the headline. It doesn't say the hover shows a start date or an end date.[1]

Hold the serve window next to that headline. Less than 24 hours, then a possible return if the offer is still visible on the site.[1] A sale you wrote as "through Sunday" can still be extracted as a line with no end date on this page. When the dates have to match the brief, upload the promotion. That upload is how the page says you control the exact content, including start and end dates.[1]

The help page also has a measurement note. Segment campaign reports by click type if you want to see how people interact with the offers. Then look at overall impressions and conversions. The page says broader campaign performance often improves even when direct clicks on the promotion bubble look low.[1] That line is Google's claim. I didn't recount it in an account. Leave it out of a forecast.

What to hand the person who runs the account

Hand them the dropdown reading, not the email.

If the menu isn't there, say so. The help page I fetched doesn't explain a missing menu. Leave October 12 out of that sentence.[1][2]

One page says "location assets." The email note says "linked location assets."[1][2] I didn't find a sentence on either page that says those are different objects. If the campaign has a location asset, you're in the set both pages describe. If it doesn't, you're outside it.[1][2]

Put the dropdown reading in the note. If someone still wants the date, add that October 12 is the email quoted on October 5, and that Barry's sentence about Google opting you in sits after the quote.[1][2] Then filter Assets by Promotion and look for Google AI in Added by, so you can see what is already attached before the next sale goes on the site.[1]

You have a switch, a filter, and a manual upload. The email is why someone asked this morning. It is not the setting.

Sources

[1] https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/18057626 — About Automated promotions, Google Ads Help. Fetched 12 October 2026.

[2] https://www.seroundtable.com/google-ads-automated-promotions-october-12-42223.html — Barry Schwartz, "Google Ads To Automated Promotions For Some Search Campaigns On October 12th," stamped October 5, 2026, 7:41 am. Fetched 12 October 2026.