Promotional codes (also known as coupons or vouchers) offer a credit to an advertiser's account. 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.
Offer criteria
Most offers require you to meet certain criteria before the credit will show up in your account, and they're typically for new advertisers with new accounts. Be sure to check the terms that came with your promotional code for details about your offer.
For example, we might have an introductory offer like "Spend $25, get $50." In order to get the $50 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 worth of clicks in your account after entering the code. After spending $25, you'll then see the $50 credit appear in your account within 35 days.
Note
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.
In order to use your credit, you’ll also need to have entered billing details in your account. Also, keep in mind that promotional credit is good for advertising only. If you cancel your account before spending the entire credit, the remaining balance can't be refunded.
Note: In case of a Billing transfer (for example, a change in account ownership), any active promotional credits will not be transferred or refunded. Your promotional credits will expire and will not be available for future use once the transfer is completed. You can continue to use them in the meantime.
You can view promotions associated with any past billing setup by selecting the past billing setup from the Billing transfers page and then navigating to the promotions page.
Check the progress of your promotions
To see how close you are to earning your credit, visit the Promotions page in your account. It's updated every few hours. You'll be able to quickly check your progress and the status of any credit, and see 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.
- On the "Promotions" page, you'll see all promotional codes associated with your current, active billing setup, and the related amounts and statuses, including the following:
- “Active”: Reward associated with coupon has been granted.
- “Redeemed: currently earning”: Coupon was successfully redeemed, but the spend requirement(i.e. “Spend $25, get $50”) hasn't been met yet.
- “Processing”: Spend requirement (i.e. “Spend $25, get $50”) has been met and our system is processing the granted reward amount.
- “Expired”: Coupon expired after redemption and before spend requirement was met
- “Invalidated”: Coupon was invalid/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 see all promotional codes added to the Google Ads account in your manager account, including it’s amount and status (active coupons, completed coupons, expired coupons, etc).
Please note this is an informational report. 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
You can pay your Google Ads costs manually (manual payments), automatically (automatic payments), or have a credit line (monthly invoicing). The setting you use affects how your promotional code will work. Here's what you'll need to know:
Automatic paymentsIf you're using automatic payments, all you need to do is enter the code by 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. For example, if the offer says that you need to spend $25 within 30 days, you'll need to accrue at least $25 worth of clicks within 30 days before the credit will appear in your account.
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.
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. For example, if the offer says you need to spend $25 within 30 days, you'll need to make a manual payment of at least $25 and also spend the $25 entirely by accruing enough clicks within 30 days. 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.
If there are promotions that are being spent during the current month, you’ll see the "Promotions" section on the right hand panel of the opened month card.
Note
If Value Added Tax (VAT) is deducted from Google Ads payments in your country, be sure to factor VAT into your payment.
If you're on monthly invoicing, enter your code only after your account has been set up for invoicing. Then, after your account meets the requirements specified in the promotional material, the portion of the promo code spent will appear on the billing Transactions page, typically within 35 days. If you have more credit than you can use during one month, don't worry -- any unused promotional credit from one month will be rolled over to the next month.
Account budgets
The credit provides additional advertising 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 but you'll be charged the original $200 account budget amount, since the additional $50 is covered by the credit.
If your budget ends before the credit is fully consumed, the remaining credit will carry over to the next budget you activate.
Related links
- Find out how to use your promotional code.
- Read about general promo code terms and conditions for various countries.
