- Run sale ads across Search, Performance Max, Shopping, and YouTube for full Google coverage.
- Add promotion assets to Search ads to show discounts below your main ad text at no extra cost.
- Start Performance Max campaigns 2-3 weeks before a sale and refresh assets as the date nears.
- Use sale_price in your product feed and specific promotion titles to unlock Shopping ad promotions.
- Include prices and discounts in RSA headlines. Specific offers beat generic CTAs.
TL;DR: The best Google sale ad strategy runs across four surfaces at once. Promotion assets for Search and YouTube. Refreshed creative for Performance Max. Sale pricing in your product feed for Shopping. Start 2-3 weeks before a sale, refresh assets often, and keep copy specific.
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The Best Way to Create Sale Google Ads: A Multi-Surface Approach
Google ads live across Search, Performance Max, Shopping, and YouTube. A sale campaign that only touches one surface leaves money on the table. The best approach aligns assets, copy, and feed data across all four.
Use Promotion Assets for Search & YouTube Ads
What promotion assets are and why they work
Promotion assets are a native Google Ads feature. They attach directly to your Search, Shorts, and In-stream video ads and highlight discounts below your main ad text. Per Google's Ads Help Center, they show monetary or percentage discounts in an easy-to-read format that catches buyer attention. You don't pay extra to add them. You only pay when users click.
How to set up promotion assets with occasions
Google offers pre-populated occasions: Black Friday, Mother's Day, Back to School, and more. Pick the occasion that fits your sale. Set a date range. Choose your discount type, either percentage or monetary. Write a short promotion description tied to your offer.
One timing rule matters: occasion-specific assets must be created or edited within 6 months of their start date. Assets older than 6 months without edits auto-pause and stop serving.
Best practices: display, scheduling, and performance
Schedule assets to run only during your active sale window. When multiple promotion assets exist at the same ad group, campaign, or account level, Google prioritizes occasion-specific assets over generic ones. Check impression share after launch and adjust bids if your promotion assets aren't showing.
Refresh Creative Assets for Performance Max Sales Campaigns
Why asset refresh matters for time-bound promotions
Performance Max campaigns serve across all Google channels using a single asset group. Stale, generic assets hurt performance during a time-sensitive promotion. Per Google's Performance Max best practices, refreshing assets and moving from generic store creative to sales-focused messaging is a core part of running a sale campaign effectively.
Timeline: Start 2-3 weeks ahead, refresh frequently
Per Google's Ads Help Center, start a Performance Max sale campaign 2-3 weeks before a weekend or short-window sale. Give the system time to learn before the sale window opens. Then layer in sale-specific creative as the date gets closer.
Image asset requirements (minimum 7, including 1200x1200)
Per Google's documentation on Performance Max image assets, campaigns require a minimum of 7 image assets: at least 3 landscape, 3 square, and 1 portrait. Include at least one 1200 x 1200 square image. Maximum file size is 5 MB per image. Accepted formats are JPG and PNG only. Keep your main subject within the center 80% of each image. Google crops edges across placements, and anything outside that safe zone may get cut.
Write Promotion-Focused Copy for Search Ads
Include prices and discounts in headlines or descriptions
Per Google's Search ad best practices, include prices, promotions, or exclusive offers directly in your headlines or descriptions. "20% Off All Orders This Weekend" outperforms "Shop Our Sale." Specificity drives clicks and helps users make faster decisions.
Use specific, benefit-driven language
Skip vague CTAs during a sale. "Save 20% Today" or "Buy Before Sunday" creates urgency. Google's documentation is clear: avoid generic language. Every character should do work.
Pair with responsive search ads for flexibility
Responsive search ads let you supply up to 15 headlines (30 characters each) and 4 descriptions (90 characters each). Google tests combinations and serves the best performers. Ads with Good or Excellent Ad Strength generate 15% more clicks and conversions on average than lower-strength ads. Fill every available slot with sale-specific options.
Use Merchant Center Structured Data for Shopping Ads
Use sale_price and custom labels for promotions
For Shopping ads, the `sale_price` attribute is your primary lever. Set it alongside your regular price so Google displays a strikethrough and a sale badge. Tag on-sale products with custom labels for budget control and segmented reporting. Per Google Merchant Center's promotions best practices, promotion titles must be specific. "20% off running shoes" gets approved. "Big savings" does not.
Ensure accurate product data and timely inventory updates
Keep inventory and pricing data current. Stale pricing or out-of-stock products waste budget and frustrate buyers. Google's Merchant Center guidance recommends automatic item updates to keep product data accurate throughout a promotion.
Monitor performance and adjust in real-time
Track performance throughout the sale window. Adjust end dates, budgets, and bids based on live inventory and conversion data. What works on day one may need revision by day three.
Generate and Refresh Sale Creative at Scale with Coinis
Why manual asset refresh slows down your promotion timeline
Google wants multiple image formats, multiple headlines, and frequent creative refreshes. Building all of that manually across a 2-3 week campaign window is slow. Design queues and back-and-forth approvals eat into your launch time.
How Coinis Sale Promo accelerates creative generation
Coinis's Sale Promo workflow generates sale-focused ad creatives from your product URL. Input your discount, your product details, and your brand profile. The platform outputs ready-to-use assets across formats using premium AI models. Brand Profile ensures every output matches your voice and visual identity. Coinis currently publishes directly to Meta (Facebook and Instagram). The creatives you generate work for Google campaigns too. Download them, upload to Google Ads, and run.
Organize and test variations with Creative Library
Creative Library stores every asset you generate. Organize by campaign, sale event, or format. Pull variations quickly when it is time to refresh mid-campaign. No digging through folders or chasing files across tools.
Or let Coinis do it.
From a product URL to a live Meta campaign. AI-generated creatives. On-brand copy. Direct publish to Facebook and Instagram. Real performance reporting. All in one platform.
Start free. Upgrade when you're ready.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best Google Ads format for a sale promotion?
No single format wins alone. Use promotion assets for Search and YouTube to show discounts below your ad text. Run Performance Max with sale-specific creative for broad reach. Add sale_price to your Merchant Center feed for Shopping. All three working together outperform any single surface.
When should I start a Google Ads campaign for a sale?
Per Google's Performance Max best practices, start 2-3 weeks before the sale date. This gives the campaign time to learn before the sale window opens, so it serves more efficiently once the promotion goes live.
How many image assets does a Performance Max sale campaign need?
Google requires a minimum of 7 image assets: at least 3 landscape, 3 square, and 1 portrait. At least one square image must be 1200 x 1200 pixels. Maximum file size is 5 MB. Accepted formats are JPG and PNG.