Google Ads automated promotions: is Google showing your Diwali offers in your ads?

Since 12 October 2026, Google Ads can find offers on your website and add them to your ads by itself. Google calls these automated promotions. If you run Search or Performance Max campaigns with location assets, a discount line from your Diwali landing page could already be showing under your ads, or soon will be, without anyone in your team setting it up.

The short answer: check your account this week. Look at which promotions Google has added, make sure every offer on your website is one you are happy to see in an ad, and decide whether to leave the feature on, switch it off, or replace it with a promotion you write yourself. With Diwali on Sunday, 8 November, this is a 20-minute job worth doing before the busiest week of the festive season, not after it.

What Google changed on 12 October

Promotion assets add a bold occasion label, such as "Diwali", and a short offer line to an ad. Until now, someone had to create them by hand. Automated promotions do the same job automatically: Google scans your website for deals, such as a percentage off or a "buy one, get one" offer, and turns the ones it judges to be valid and high quality into promotion assets.

According to Search Engine Roundtable, Google emailed advertisers that eligible accounts would be enrolled from 12 October and that no manual setup is needed. Google's own help page on automated promotions describes it as an account-level setting you can switch on or off. Because the two don't read exactly the same way, don't assume either way. Open your account and check the setting.

Which campaigns are affected

Google's help page lists four conditions. Automated promotions can only appear in campaigns that:

• Are active Search or Performance Max campaigns.
• Have location assets attached, the address and directions that usually come from a linked Google Business Profile. Local campaigns count too.
• Have no manual promotion assets. If you have already added your own promotion, the automated system skips that campaign.
• Follow Google Ads policies.

That describes many local businesses in India: clinics, showrooms, salons, restaurants and coaching centres that link their Google Business Profile to Google Ads. If that's you, and you have never added a promotion asset, you're probably eligible.

Google's account-level automated assets page also says the feature can find offers "from your website and other sources", without saying what those other sources are. Another reason to check what's actually serving.

Why this matters before Diwali

Offers matter during the festive season. Google's Think with Google India festive report (September 2026) says search interest in "Diwali sales" started rising as early as August, and that 9 in 10 festive shoppers who bought something researched first. A clear offer next to your ad can help you win that comparison. In Google's promotion asset settings, the Diwali occasion runs from 1 September to 1 December, so festive labels are allowed right now.

The risk is that Google picks the wrong offer, or the right offer without its conditions. A few ways that can go wrong:

• An old offer is still on your site. An Onam or Independence Day banner nobody took down, or a "launch offer" page from last year, can be read as a live deal.
• The offer is for one branch only. If your Whitefield store runs a deal your HSR Layout branch doesn't, an ad near either branch could show it.
• The conditions get lost. "Up to 40% off" on your page might apply to a few items. A short promotion line has little room for "on selected models".
• The offer hurts your lead quality. For service businesses, a heavy discount can bring in price-shoppers instead of the customers you want. If you sell on value, you may not want a discount next to your ad at all.

None of this makes the feature bad. It means your website is now part of your ad copy.

How to check if Google has added promotions to your ads

Google's help page gives the path:

1. In Google Ads, open Campaigns, then Assets.
2. Filter by Asset type: Promotion.
3. Look at the Added by column. Automated promotions are labelled Google AI.
4. Hover over "Google AI" to see where the offer was found, and over the promotion name to see the full text.

To see or change the setting itself: go to Assets, open the three-dot menu, choose Account level automated assets, open the three-dot menu again and choose Advanced settings. You'll find Automated promotions in the list. The same screen controls other automated assets, such as dynamic sitelinks and callouts.

What to do: a five-step plan for this week

1. Audit every offer on your website

List each page that mentions a discount, deal, free item or limited-time price. Include old pages that still load. For each one, ask: is this offer live, is it valid at every branch, and would I be happy to see it in an ad? Remove or update anything that fails. A good landing page states the offer, its end date and its conditions in plain words near the top, which helps both your visitors and Google.

2. Decide: leave it on, or switch it off

Leave automated promotions on if your website offers are current, simple and apply everywhere you advertise. Switch them off if you have branch-specific deals, offers with lots of conditions, or a brand that doesn't compete on price. Note that the switch is account-wide. Google's help page doesn't describe a way to turn it off for one campaign, and it doesn't describe removing a single automated promotion either. Google will ask you for a reason when you switch it off.

3. Write your own Diwali promotion where it matters

If you want an offer in your ads but want control over the wording, add a manual promotion asset. Under the eligibility rules, campaigns with manual promotions are excluded from automated ones. According to Google's promotion assets help page, you can choose Diwali as the occasion, set a percentage or amount off, name the product or service, add any condition such as a promo code or minimum spend, set start and end dates, and limit it to certain days and hours. You can add promotions at account, campaign or ad group level. The most specific level wins, so a branch-level campaign can carry its own offer.

4. Plan the clean-up for after the festival

Google says each automated promotion can serve for less than 24 hours at a time and may be re-enabled if the offer is still visible on your website. So the way to stop an expired deal appearing is to take it off your site when it ends. Put an end date in your calendar now for every festive banner and page, and set an end date on any manual promotion too.

5. Measure the right thing

Google suggests segmenting reports by click type to see how people interact with offers, and also checking overall campaign impressions and conversions, because people may notice the offer and then click the main ad rather than the promotion itself. For lead generation, go one step further: compare the quality of enquiries, not just the number. If more leads come in but fewer turn into customers, the offer may be attracting the wrong people. Our guide to cutting your cost per lead shows how to track this.

Example: a Bangalore interiors showroom, before and after

This is an illustrative example. The business is made up, and it's here only to show how the steps above fit together.

Before. The showroom sells modular kitchens and wardrobes from two branches in Bangalore. It runs a Google Ads Search campaign with its Google Business Profile linked, so its address shows under its ads, and it has never created a promotion asset. That makes it eligible for automated promotions. Its website has a Diwali page with a festive discount on modular kitchens, which applies only at one branch. A banner from an earlier sale is still live on an older wardrobe landing page.

After.

• Checking (how-to section): the owner filters Assets by Promotion and sees whether anything is labelled "Google AI", and where it came from.
• Step 1: the old sale banner is removed. The Diwali page now says which branch the offer applies to, what it covers and when it ends.
• Step 2: because the main offer is branch-specific, the owner switches automated promotions off for the account.
• Step 3: the showroom splits its campaign by branch and adds a manual promotion with the Diwali occasion only to the branch that runs the offer, with an end date and a link to the offer page.
• Step 4: a calendar reminder is set for the day after the offer ends to take the Diwali page down.
• Step 5: the team adds a "came from Google Ads" column to its lead sheet and notes which enquiries book a site visit.

What to expect. These changes don't guarantee more leads. Google decides when to show any asset, and a promotion may appear on some searches and not others. What they do guarantee is that the showroom's ads only make offers it actually stands behind. To judge the result, the owner should compare two weeks before and after on enquiries, site-visit bookings and cost per booked visit,, remembering that festive weeks are never a clean comparison.

Limits and fine print

• Countries aren't listed. Google's help page doesn't say which countries automated promotions are live in. Check your own account rather than assuming.
• Not every promotion serves. Google only shows offers it judges valid and high quality, and promotions must follow its editorial rules.
• Older promotions need refreshing. Google says occasion-based promotion assets must be created or edited within six months of their start date, or they stop serving.

Frequently asked questions

What are automated promotions in Google Ads?

They are promotion assets that Google creates for you by finding offers on your website, such as a percentage off or a "buy one, get one" deal, and showing them with your Search and Performance Max ads. They only apply to campaigns with location assets and no manual promotions.

How do I turn off automated promotions in Google Ads?

Go to Assets, open the three-dot menu, choose Account level automated assets, then the three-dot menu again and Advanced settings. Set Automated promotions to Off and pick a reason. The setting applies to the whole account.

How do I see which offers Google has added to my ads?

In Assets, filter by Asset type: Promotion and check the Added by column. Promotions created automatically are labelled Google AI. Hover over the label to see where the offer came from.

Can I add a Diwali promotion to my Google Ads myself?

Yes. Create a promotion asset, choose Diwali as the occasion, and add your offer, conditions and dates. Google's Diwali occasion window runs from 1 September to 1 December. Campaigns with a manual promotion won't get automated ones.

Will automated promotions get me more leads?

There's no guarantee. Judge them on the quality of enquiries, not only the number, and switch them off if they attract the wrong customers.

The short version

1. Since 12 October, Google Ads can turn your website offers into promotion assets automatically.
2. It applies to Search and Performance Max campaigns with location assets and no manual promotions.
3. Clean up old or branch-specific offers on your website, then decide whether to leave the feature on.
4. For full control this Diwali, write your own promotion with clear dates, and measure lead quality, not just clicks.

If you'd like a second pair of eyes on your festive campaigns, our performance marketing team in Bengaluru can check your promotions, automated assets and landing pages and tell you what we'd change before 8 November. For the wider festive plan, see our last-minute Diwali marketing strategy.