Promotional codes, also known as coupons or vouchers, are monetary credit that can be added to an advertiser's account once they meet any necessary criteria. There's no way to ask for a promotional code, but Google and our partners will occasionally give out promotional codes as part of specific offers.
This article explains the criteria for promotional codes and how they work with the various payment settings.
On this page
- How promotional codes work
- Before you begin
- Enter your promotional code
- Check the progress of your promotions
- Check the progress of your accounts promotions from your manager account
- How promotional codes work with different payment settings
How promotional codes work
Promotional codes are typically for advertisers with new accounts. Criteria for promotions varies, so review your offer for the details on how much you need to spend and how much the credit will be worth. To receive the credit, you must meet all the eligibility requirements of the promotion.
Example
For example, we might have an introductory offer like "Spend $25, get $50." In order to get the $50 USD credit, you'll have to enter the promo code on your Promotions page within 14 days of creating your account and then get at least $25 USD worth of clicks in your account after entering the code. After spending $25 USD, you'll then see the $50 USD credit appear in your account within 35 days.
Before you begin
- We only count the amount you spend after entering the code. If you spent $25 before entering the code, that amount won't count toward your offer.
- Promotional credit can only be applied to advertising costs. If you cancel your account before spending the entire credit, the remaining balance can’t be refunded.
Enter your promotional code
- In your Google Ads account, click the Billing icon
.
- Click Promotions.
- Click the blue plus button
.
- Enter your promotional code.
- Click Save.
Note: Manager account users can’t enter a promotional code from the manager level through the Promotions page. Manager accounts must visit the billing page of the account they’d like to apply a promotion to and follow steps above.
Check the progress of your promotions
To check how close you are to earning your credit, visit the Promotions page in your Google Ads account. It's updated every few hours. You'll be able to quickly check your progress and the status of any credit, and view your completed or expired promotions. Use the following steps to check the progress of your promotions:
- In your Google Ads account, click the Billing icon
- Click Promotions.
- The “Promotions” page shows all promotional codes associated with your current, active billing setup, and the related amounts and statuses, including the following:
- Active: The reward associated with promotion has been granted.
- Redeemed: currently earning: The promotion was successfully redeemed, but the spend requirement (such as “Spend $25, get $50”) hasn't been met yet.
- Processing: The spend requirement has been met and our system is processing the granted reward amount.
- Expired: The promotion expired after redemption and before the spend requirement was met.
- Invalidated: The promotion was invalid or invalidated.
You can also check how much of your credit was already spent by viewing the “Spent from Promotion” column. This amount will be also reflected on the "Billing Summary" page.
Check the progress of your accounts promotions from your manager account
You can check the progress and status of all promotions applied to your manager account. Use the following steps to check the progress of your promotions:
- In your Google Ads account, click the Billing icon
- Click Promotions.
- On the "Promotions" page, you'll find all promotional codes added to the Google Ads account in your manager account, including its amount and status.
This is an informational report that shows active coupons, completed coupons, and expired coupons for all of the accounts you manage. Manager account users can’t apply promotions from the manager account level. To apply a promotional code, follow these steps at the account level.
How promotional codes work with different payment settings
Your payment setting affects how your promotional codes are applied to your account. For more information about how promotions work with your payment setting, refer to the applicable section below.
Automatic payments
If you're using automatic payments, all you need to do is enter the code before its expiration date and start advertising. After your account meets the requirements found in the promotional material, the portion of the promo code spent will appear as a sub-line under the Active promotions section in the current month’s card on the Billing Summary page within about 35 days.
Promotional credits can only be applied to future advertising costs. Costs you accrue before you get a credit, as well as costs you accrue after you use up all of your credit, will be charged to the payment method in your account.
Your ads will continue to run and accrue costs after your promotional credit has been used up. As always with Google Ads, you can stop advertising at any time by pausing your campaigns. Paused campaigns won't accrue any extra costs.
Manual payments
If you're using manual payments, you'll need to enter the code by its expiration date and then meet the requirements mentioned in the promotional material.After spending the required amount, you'll see the portion of the promo code spent as a sub-line under the "Active promotions" section in the current month’s card on the "Billing Summary" page within about 35 days.
It's a good idea to make an initial payment that's a little more than the requirement, because Google Ads may stop serving your ads before the whole amount is spent. For example, if the offer requires you to spend $25 and you make an initial payment of exactly $25, your account may never fully spend all $25 if your cost-per-click (CPC) is larger than the credit you have left. Let's say your average CPC is $0.30. If you spend everything but $0.20, that $0.20 may never get used up because your CPC is larger than the credit you have left.
The information about any active promotions will be displayed under the “Active promotions” section of the month card in the "Billing Summary" page.
To check spend from promotions for a certain month, check the Promotions section in the relevant month card.
Monthly invoicing
If you’re on monthly invoicing, make sure that your account meets the requirements specified in the promotional material. When the promotion has been applied, the portion spent for the month will appear on the “Transactions” page within 35 days. Any unused promotional credit from the current month will roll over to the next month until the promotional credit is spent.
Account budgets
Promotional credits provide additional advertising funding without affecting your account budget.For example, if you set a budget of $200 and receive a promotion for $50, your ads will serve until you reach $250 spend.You’ll be charged the original $200 account budget amount and the additional $50 is covered by the credit.
If your budget ends before you use the entire credit, the remaining credit will carry over to the next budget you activate.
