Google Merchant Center 2025: Event Promotions, Brand Tools & Q4 Prep
- 4M Digital
- Sep 18
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 23
If you’re heading into Black Friday, Christmas, Boxing Day and the whole Q4 hoopla with your Merchant Center looking a little neglected, it’s time for a wake-up call.
Because 2025 has quietly been a big year for the Merchant Center. We’ve had:
Event Promotions - bigger, bolder promo types that go beyond SKUs.
Merchant API (v1) - the new back-office engine to speed up feeds and campaigns.
Brand Management - your own verified brand shopfront inside Google.
And to top it off, a facelift for the Merchant Center itself, with more tools tucked neatly into the left-hand menu.
If you thought the Merchant Center was just the dusty corner where you dump a feed file once a week, think again.
Google Merchant Center Promotions: A Quick Refresher
Promotions aren’t new, but plenty of advertisers forget they exist. You have to opt into the Promotions programme in the Merchant Center first. Once approved, you get access to the Promotions tab, where you can set up things like:
10% off a product
Free shipping offers
Buy-one-get-one deals
These show up directly on your Shopping ads and free listings. In Q4, when everyone’s shouting about discounts, that extra promo badge could be the nudge that wins the click.
But the real news? Google’s taken promotions up a level.
Google Merchant Center Event Promotions: What’s New for Q4
Event Promotions are the shiny new toy and they land just in time for peak season.
Instead of attaching promos to every single SKU, you can now create a promotion around a theme or event. Think:
Black Friday mega sale
Christmas gift shop
Winter clearance
A one-off collab launch
Here’s how it works:
You link to a dedicated landing page (a homepage won’t cut it).
You can upload up to three promotional images, finally, a chance to make your promo look like an actual campaign rather than a text label.
If your sale only applies to certain categories, you can tag those in. If you pretend it’s sitewide when it isn’t, Google will disapprove it faster than you can say “Boxing Day”.
Availability: still US-only (for now)
As of September 2025, Event Promotions are only publicly confirmed for free listings in the U.S. There’s no official documentation saying they’re live in the UK or EU yet and we’re yet to see it in the wild!
But let’s be real: Google doesn’t build a whole new promo type just to keep it siloed forever.
They’ve already rolled out other promotion formats (like Local Promotions) across multiple countries including the UK. So it’s only a matter of time before Event Promotions follow.
Which means: build your event landing pages, prep your creative assets, and when the rollout hits your market, you’ll be first in line.
Why SEO should care
And here’s the kicker: because Event Promotions are currently tied to free listings, this isn’t just a PPC tool, it’s an SEO win. Most SEO teams barely touch the Merchant Center, but this is a feature they can own. Event Promotions let you dress up organic Shopping listings with visuals and sale messaging. If you’re in SEO and you’ve ignored the Merchant Center so far, Q4 is the time to get involved.
Merchant API v1: Faster Feeds, Smarter Campaigns
If Event Promotions are the shop window, the Merchant API (v1) is the engine room.
Launched this summer, it replaces the old Content API for Shopping. And this isn’t just a rename, it’s faster, more flexible, and designed to help you manage data at scale.
Why it matters for Q4:
Lightning-fast updates for stock, prices, and promotions.
Access to Product Studio for AI-powered image edits (goodbye dodgy white backgrounds).
Cleaner reporting, including click-potential rankings and aggregated product statuses.
Multi-account management that won’t leave you crying into your coffee.
⚠️ One big date for your diary: the old Content API will be shut down on 18 August 2026. Migration isn’t optional, it’s happening.
Platform readiness: who’s actually prepared?
This is where it gets messy.
Shopify: Still using the Content API via the Google & YouTube app. Some merchants report partial “Shopify app API” feeds, but there’s no public confirmation that Shopify fully supports Merchant API v1.
WooCommerce (Google for WooCommerce plugin): Attribute mapping is improving (GTIN fields, better feed options), but no sign yet that the plugin supports Merchant API v1’s new endpoints like promotions or brand assets.
Feed tools (Feedonomics, GoDataFeed, DataFeedWatch, etc.): Many are developing or beta testing v1 integrations. But whether they support the full range of features like Event Promotions and Brand profiles is still unclear.
💡 What you should do now:
Ask your vendor outright: “Do you support Merchant API v1, including promotions_v1 endpoints?”
Check your own setup - are you on Content API, feed files, or a hybrid?
Plan migration & monitor your tools in case they start the migration without you, as nobody wants a feed meltdown mid-peak.
Brand Management in the Merchant Center: Your Google Shopfront
Google also launched a new Brand Management feature inside the Merchant Center. Think of it as your official brand hub on Google.
You can now:
Claim your brand and manage it under a new Brands tab.
Upload logos, colours, imagery, and even brand descriptions.
Build a consistent, polished brand presence across Shopping and Search.
Coordinate better if you have multiple resellers using your brand data.
Why this matters in Q4: not everything is about price. When everyone’s screaming about “50% OFF!”, a verified, well-presented brand profile adds trust and authority. And we all know trust drives conversions.
Like Event Promotions, Brand Management is still in early rollout, but if you’ve got access, use it.
Merchant Center Facelift: Don’t Panic When Things Move
If you’ve logged into the Merchant Center recently and thought “where the hell has that tab gone?”, you’re not imagining it.
Google is rolling out a facelift to the Merchant Center. Expect to see more functionality tucked into the left-hand menu, with new sections like Brands and restructured navigation.
It’s cleaner, more AI-driven, and frankly overdue. But it does mean you’ll need to reorient yourself before peak season. Don’t wait until November to hunt for the Promotions tab.
Q4 Action Plan for the Merchant Center
So, how do you get ready for the madness?
First, check you’re opted into Promotions, if you’re not, you won’t even see half these features. Then build your landing pages for Black Friday, Christmas, Boxing Day and beyond. Even if Event Promotions aren’t live in your market yet, assume they will be. It’s better to be prepared than scrambling at the last minute.
Don’t forget your visuals: Event Promotions allow three images, and the new Brand Management tab gives you space for logos and lifestyle imagery. That’s your chance to look polished when everyone else is slapping “SALE” on a JPEG.
Finally, speak to your platform or feed vendor. Ask if they’re supporting Merchant API v1 yet, because the old Content API is being retired in 2026. If they’re not ready, you need to know that now, not when you’re knee-deep in disapprovals.
💡 Bookmark these official docs so you’re not caught out:
And remember: while some of these features are US-only right now, history tells us they will roll out more widely. So read up, prepare yourself, and when the switch flips in your market, you’ll be ahead of the curve.
🔹 Final Thoughts
Between Event Promotions, the Merchant API, Brand Management, and a shiny new interface, Google Merchant Center has had its biggest glow-up in years.
If you prep now, you’ll look sharper, move faster, and avoid the usual November panic. And if you’re in SEO and you’ve ignored Merchant Center until now? Event Promotions are your entry ticket.
Q4 is chaos enough without letting Merchant Center trip you up.
4M Digital is a paid media consultancy specialising in Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and Paid Social campaigns. With over 15 years of expertise, we help businesses unlock the full potential of their digital advertising strategies through tailored management, audits, and training.
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