Google Merchant Center Automated Discounts: How Dynamic Promotions Work
Google's automated discounts program allows Merchant Center to dynamically adjust the prices shown on Shopping ads when it predicts a lower price would increase conversion probability. This is a Google-controlled feature, separate from promotions you manually set up. Understanding how it works and what errors it creates is important for sellers who want control over their pricing presentation.
What Automated Discounts Are
Automated discounts (formerly called Dynamic promotions in some markets) let Google automatically show a sale price on your Shopping ad without you creating a promotion manually. Google uses its own pricing signals to decide when to apply a discount badge. The discount is funded by you as the seller: Google effectively shows a lower price and charges you accordingly. You can opt into or out of automated discounts in your Merchant Center account settings under Promotions.
Manual Promotions vs. Automated Discounts
Manual promotions require you to submit a promotions feed with specific discount codes, percentage offs, or buy-one-get-one offers. They appear as the "Special Offer" annotation on Shopping ads. Automated discounts are controlled by Google and applied algorithmically. They appear as a strikethrough price with the discounted price shown. Both can increase click-through rate, but they operate differently in your Merchant Center account and require different setup and maintenance.
Setting Up a Promotions Feed
To run manual promotions, you need a promotions feed submitted to Merchant Center. The feed format is a CSV or XML file with required fields: promotion ID, product applicability (all products or specific IDs), offer type (generic promotion, discount, free gift, free shipping), long title, and redemption channel. Promotions must be active for at least 24 hours and no longer than six months. A common error is submitting promotions with end dates in the past or start dates in the future without accounting for the processing delay. Allow at least 48 hours for a promotion to go live.
Common Promotion Errors in Merchant Center
The most frequent promotion errors are: invalid promotion IDs (must match exactly between the product feed and promotions feed), missing required fields, promotions applied to products that are not approved or are suspended, and price discrepancies where the sale price in the promotions feed does not match the sale price on the landing page. Price discrepancies are checked automatically and cause the promotion to be disapproved. Fix by ensuring your landing page price matches the promotion's offered price exactly during the active promotion period.
Promotions and Account Suspension Risk
Promotions themselves rarely cause account suspensions. However, misleading promotions that show a "discount" based on an artificially inflated reference price do trigger policy violations. If your standard price is never actually charged at the "original" price level, and you show it as a markdown, Google considers this price inflation. This falls under the Misrepresentation policy and can cause account-level suspension if repeated. Only show markdowns from prices that were genuinely charged for a meaningful period.