Promotions is an add-on feature available in Merchant Center for Shopping ads, Local Inventory Ads (LIA) and free listings that lets you promote offers to increase the appeal of your products, attract more shoppers, and boost sales. Learn the benefits of leveraging promotions within Google Merchant Center to enhance your product visibility on Google Search, Shopping, and other platforms.
On this page
- Benefits
- Eligibility requirements
- Status and performance summary card
- Create a promotion
- Promotions Preview
- Promotion criteria
- Policies and editorial requirements
- Automated promotions data source
- Fix promotions issues
- Frequently asked questions
Benefits
Promotions allow you to showcase your local and online offers across different Google properties like Google Search, the Shopping tab, Google Chrome, Google Wallet, Safari browser, and other marketing methods. Learn more about What are Marketing methods?
When you add promotions to products that you sell on Google, shoppers will view a “special offer” link (for example, 15% off or free shipping) that can increase the appeal of the products you show and encourage more shoppers to buy.
The deals page on Search
In the US, Google also has a deals page on Search that shows on-sale products from merchants across the web. When you create promotions that are eligible to be shown on Search, your products will appear on the deals page. No additional action is needed from you.
Shoppers can access the deals page by searching “shop deals”. They can look for deals in specific categories by searching “shop electronic deals”, for example.
Eligibility requirements
To be eligible for the Google Merchant Center Promotions add-on, you must meet the below criteria:
- You have offers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Spain, the UK, or the US.
- You aren’t connected to a marketplace, an online platform that provides a place for multiple individual merchants to sell their products.
- You have an active Merchant Center account, with at least one active product and one claimed URL.
If you're currently ineligible for Google Merchant Center promotions, you may still need to meet one or more of the eligibility requirements. Contact us for help enrolling in promotions.
Activate the Promotions add-on
The Promotions add-on may be automatically activated to eligible accounts. If you're eligible but the add-on wasn't activated automatically, follow these steps to activate Promotions manually:
- In your Merchant Center account, select Settings
in the left navigation menu.
- Select Add-ons.
- Locate the “Promotions” add-on card under the “Discover” tab.
- Select Add.
The Promotions add-on will now be activated for your account. You may skip these steps if the add-on was automatically enabled.
Status and performance summary card
At the top of the “Promotions” page, you’ll find “Your promotions at a glance” section, which gives you an overview of your promotions. This enhanced view is designed to help you quickly understand the status and performance of your promotions.
The status card shows the current state of your promotions so you know which ones need attention or review.
The performance summary card gives you a quick look at your promotions' performance data. The key metrics included in this card are clicks, impressions, and CTR (click through rate) for all your active promotions, including traffic from both Shopping ads and free listings. This helps you easily check the effectiveness of your promotions and make decisions about your next steps.
Create a promotion
If the add-on is enabled, “Promotions” will appear under “Marketing” in the navigation bar of your Merchant Center Next account. To create a new promotion:
- In your Merchant Center account, select Promotions under Marketing.
- Above the promotions table, select Add promotion. You can choose to select from the following options:
- Create promotion
- Add promotion source
- You can add promotions in 3 ways:
- Add each promotion individually with the promotion builder tool.
- Submit a promotions data source.
- Upload promotions using the Merchant API.
Promotion approval process
Before your promotion can show on Google, it'll go through a Policy review and SKU review to ensure your promotion meets all Editorial requirements and Promotions policies.
This process is typically completed within 12-24 hours of the promotion effective start time (the time that your promotion becomes active on your site). Learn more about the Promotion approval process and find answers to FAQs about Promotion Status.
Promotions Preview
Promotions Preview in Merchant Center gives you a sneak peek of how your promotion will look before they go live. This feature helps create more effective promotion by enabling you to preview in real-time.
Promotions Preview is available within the promotion builder tool, and used as a reference only. While creating your promotion, the current version only shows a preview for Google Search. However, your promotion will appear on all the relevant Google channels. To create promotions and check their preview:
- In your Merchant Center account, select Promotions under Marketing.
- Above the promotions table, select Add promotion, then select Create promotion.
- On the “New promotion” page, follow the instructions to provide the country and language, how you want to show the promotion on Google, Promotion category, Promotion type, and Promotion details.
- Select Next.
- On the “New promotion” page, add Products, Promotion title and ID, Promotion code (optional), Event (optional), and Event URL (optional).
- Note: Check the Preview panel on the right side of the page. As you add more information while creating your promotion, Preview may update assets, titles, and formats to reflect your promotion.
- Select Save.
Note: Currently, only selective Percent off or Amount off shopper incentives having no additional conditions enable the Preview panel. This may change in the future as Preview capabilities are expanded.
Promotion criteria
To use promotions, they must meet the following criteria:
- Be redeemable at checkout or by the time of purchase
- Expire within 6 months (183 days) of the date the promotion starts
- Comply with Google Merchant Center Promotions policies and Editorial requirements
- Adhere to the account's limit on the total number of active promotions
You also need to create promotion types that are usable for anyone who shops on Google.
Promotion types allowed
You can use the following promotion types:
| Promotion | Type | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|
| Discounts | $ off or % off | Discounts must be at least $5 or 5% off |
| x% off, maximum discount $y | n/a | |
| $x off $50+, $y off $100, or $z off $150 | Tiered discounts allowed | |
| x% to y% off | Floor discounts (like minimum amount or percent saved) must be stated | |
| Buy one get one free or buy one get 2nd x% off | n/a | |
| $x cash back or $x cash rebates | Must be reflected at cart or checkout | |
| Free gifts | Free item | Must clearly describe the free gift and any associated restrictions or conditions (like if a purchase is required), and the item can't be samples or trials |
| $x gift card on purchase | Title must clearly state the gift card value and gift card must be from your own store | |
| Shipping | Free shipping |
Must have valid redemption code Exception: No redemption code necessary when combined with another permissible promotion (for example: free shipping + 10% off) |
Promotion types not allowed
You can't use the following Google promotion types:
| Promotion | Type | Additional information |
|---|---|---|
| Vague discounts | Up to y% off or “as much as x saved” | Floor discount must be stated |
| x% Cash Back or Reward Points Back |
Cash back in percent and reward points aren't allowed. Exception: If combined with a permissible promotion |
|
| Overly restrictive | All promotions restricted to a subset of shoppers (for example: military discounts, birthdays, PayPal users, and others) | n/a |
| Other | Discounts must not already be reflected on the product landing page | n/a |
| Shipping discounts without a redemption code and not combined with a permissible promotion | n/a | |
| Promotions exceeding a duration of 6 months | n/a |
Policies and editorial requirements
Google’s policies provide important guidance for retailers participating in promotions. To make sure you understand the expectations, review the Editorial requirements and Promotions policies. Google disapproves promotions that don't comply with these requirements and policies.
Automated promotions data source
The automated promotions data source helps you automatically share your live promotions with Google without having to manually create them in your Merchant Center account.
Google will extract eligible live promotions from your products’ webpages (also referred to as the Product Detail page) so that they'll be automatically showcased on free listings and Shopping ads on Google.
Learn how to Manage automated promotions.
Fix promotions issues
Common issues with Google Merchant Center Promotions typically. Below are the most frequent causes of promotion disapproval, and steps to resolve them.
Common disapproval reasons
- Promotion ID mismatch: The
promotion_idin your product data source doesn’t exactly match the one in your promotions source or promotion builder. - Promotion implementation issues: The discount isn’t reflected correctly at checkout, the redemption code is incorrect or not working, a different coupon code exists, or sale prices are already displayed on the landing page.
- Applicability issues: The promotion applicability is inconsistent with the products it is applied to (for example, claiming "storewide" when only specific products are eligible).
- Restricted availability: Promotions are limited to specific customer groups (for example, "first-time customers"), specific locations, or contain unprofessional text, which violates policies.
- Editorial requirements: Long titles containing spelling errors, excessive capitalization, or abbreviations.
- Incorrect shopper incentive chosen during setup: the promo settings indicate a % off, while the promotion is $ off or any other kind.
Fix promotions issues
These are common fixes and best practices for you to troubleshoot your Merchant Center Promotions issues and to prevent future common errors:
- Check the promotion status: Go to “Promotions” in Merchant Center, identify the disapproved promotion, and select “See review status” to identify the specific reasons and fix them.
- Apply consistent redemption codes: Ensure your code is spelled exactly as it appears on your website and works correctly during checkout.
- Ensure data consistency: Verify that your
promotion_idis mapped correctly to your eligible products and that the product applicability matches the promotion's title. - Request a retest: After you have made the necessary corrections, find the promotion in your dashboard, select “See review status”, and select the option to request a review.
