Google is expanding its Direct Offers pilot with new AI-powered promotion formats, native checkout integrations and travel-focused deal experiences as announced today at Google Marketing Live 2026.
Driving the news. The company announced several updates designed to make promotional offers more discoverable inside AI-powered Search experiences.
Brands will soon be able to upload:
- Discounts
- Giveaways
- Local coupons
- Product bundles
Google says Gemini will help dynamically construct personalized offers based on search intent.
How it works. Advertisers upload eligible promotions, products and campaign guardrails into Google Ads. Gemini then assembles contextual offers — such as bundles, coupons or discounts — based on a shopper’s query and browsing behavior inside AI-powered Search experiences.
The company is also adding native checkout support for merchants using Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), allowing users to complete purchases directly from AI-assisted shopping flows.
Travel partners including Booking and Expedia will also soon be able to surface travel offers directly inside AI-assisted trip planning experiences.
Why we care. Google is turning promotions into a more integrated part of conversational shopping experiences.
Instead of relying on traditional deal extensions or static offers, advertisers may increasingly need to optimize promotions for AI-assisted discovery and contextual recommendation engines.
The native checkout integrations could also reduce friction between product discovery and conversion.
What to watch. Google appears to be moving promotional commerce experiences closer to AI-assisted discovery flows. Advertisers should watch how native checkout and AI-generated deal recommendations affect conversion rates and shopping behavior.
Availability. Direct Offers remains in pilot for U.S. advertisers.
Dig deeper. More Google Marketing Live 2026 news from today:
- Google tests new conversational ad formats in AI Mode and Search
- Google launches AI Performance Insights and Conversational Attributes in Merchant Center
- Google brings Meridian marketing mix modeling into Analytics 360
- Google expands Demand Gen with YouTube creator tools
- Google upgrades Asset Studio with Gemini-powered creative generation and video tools
- Google expands Universal Commerce Protocol and launches new agentic shopping tools
- Google launches Ask Advisor across Ads, Analytics and Merchant Center