Google Ads now shows your promotions without approval: what Belgian firms must check

Since 12 October 2026, Google Ads can add promotions to certain campaigns on its own, pulling them straight from the advertiser's website. Google announced the change on 5 October 2026 and switched it on by default for eligible accounts. For a Belgian business running its own Search or Performance Max campaigns, an expired or poorly worded offer on its site can now appear in an ad without any human check. The setting can be turned off in a few clicks, but only if you know it exists.

1. What Google changed on 12 October

The feature, called automated promotions, applies to Search and Performance Max campaigns that have location assets attached and no manually added promotion already running. Google scans the advertiser's website every 24 hours for an active offer (a discount code, a flash sale, a conditional perk) and inserts it straight into the ad.

Inside the account, these additions show up with the label "Google AI" in the "Added by" column. Enrolment happens without any action from the advertiser: it is an opt-out setting, not an opt-in one.

2. A real risk for SMEs that manage their own ads

A Belgian business using location extensions, a Google profile linked to its account, or a physical address tied to its campaigns falls squarely within the scope of this feature. The risk is not theoretical: a members-only offer, a limited-stock deal, or one tied to a single location can be read by the algorithm as a general promotion.

The advertiser's liability remains the same as if it had written the offer itself, even though Google chose and published it inside the ad.

3. How to check and switch off the setting

The control sits under Assets, then Account-level automated assets, then Advanced settings: simply toggle "Automated promotions" to Off. Before switching anything off, it is worth opening the "Added by" column on active campaigns to see whether Google has already inserted an offer, and checking that it still matches what is shown on the website.

4. One signal among others: Google Ads accounts keep getting more automated

This feature arrives a week after new channel prioritisation and budget allocation settings, announced by Google on 14 October 2026. The pattern is the same each time: more decisions made by default, following an opt-out rather than an opt-in logic. For a business that only checks its account once a month, the number of settings to monitor grows faster than the time available to do it.

The AI lens, humans first

On this one, Google's AI does the spotting: it reads a website, identifies an offer, and judges whether it is reliable enough to become an ad promotion. It knows neither the business's commercial strategy nor the real conditions behind an offer shown on a product page. Deciding whether a promotion should appear in an ad, and in what form, remains a choice that affects the brand. AI executes. Expertise decides, and keeps watch.