Google Merchant Center adds audience targeting for Shopping promotions

Google Merchant Center introduced audience targeting capabilities for promotions on November 6, 2025, expanding retailers' ability to segment promotional offers beyond blanket discounts. The update enables merchants to direct promotions toward new customers or specific geographic regions, adding strategic controls absent in previous promotion configurations.

According to Emmanuel Flossie, a Google Shopping Specialist and Google Ads Diamond Product Expert who documented the feature through FeedArmy, the audience targeting options appear when merchants create new promotions in Merchant Center. The initial step now presents selection between universal promotion visibility or audience-specific targeting through preferred audience configurations.

The new customer targeting option identifies users who have not previously interacted with a merchant's brand. This audience type operates exclusively for Shopping ads rather than free listings. When merchants select both Shopping ads and organic options during promotion setup, the new customer targeting applies only to paid Shopping placements.

Location-based targeting enables merchants to segment promotions by geographic criteria. These targeting parameters identify customers located in, regularly present in, or demonstrating interest in specific regions. The geographic targeting methodology resembles location controls available in standard Google Ads campaigns. The location audience type functions exclusively for organic listings. If merchants select both Shopping ads and organic distribution during configuration, the geographic targeting applies solely to organic product visibility.

"You'll need to create a region before you can submit a promotion based on location," according to Flossie's technical documentation published on the FeedArmy website. The region creation requirement precedes promotion submission for location-targeted offers.

Merchants access the targeting controls through the promotion creation workflow. The first configuration step presents radio button selections for "Show to all" users or "Show to a preferred audience" options. Selecting preferred audience activation reveals the "Add an audience" interface, where merchants choose between new customer segments or location-based criteria.

The system displays informational alerts about targeting exclusivity during selection. For new customer audiences, Merchant Center indicates the audience type exclusively serves Shopping Ads. For location audiences, the interface specifies exclusive application to organic listings.

The asymmetric availability between ad types introduces operational complexity. New customer targeting excludes free listings, while geographic targeting excludes Shopping ads. This division requires merchants to separate promotional strategies based on whether they prioritize paid or organic distribution channels.

Flossie noted the technical limitation in his analysis: "It's somewhat puzzling why new customer targeting is only available for Shopping ads, while location targeting is limited to organic searches." The restriction prevents unified targeting strategies across all Merchant Center distribution channels.

The timing positions the feature during the November-December holiday shopping period. Google launched first-order discount functionality in December 2024, establishing customer acquisition discount capabilities in Merchant Center. The audience targeting expansion builds upon that foundation with broader segmentation options.

Merchant Center promotions have expanded substantially throughout 2024 and 2025. Google enabled promotion targeting for top-performing products earlier in 2025, allowing merchants to restrict promotional offers to specific product segments based on performance metrics.

The promotion evolution continues Google's pattern of introducing granular controls for Shopping campaigns. Performance Max campaigns received profit optimization goals at Google Marketing Live 2024, enabling merchants to optimize for margin rather than revenue exclusively. The audience targeting in promotions follows similar logic, providing margin protection through selective discount distribution.

Google Merchant Center documentation indicates that promotion appearance across Google properties depends on selected audience types. The system adjusts promotion display logic based on whether merchants target all users, new customer segments, or geographic audiences.

Region creation occurs through separate Merchant Center workflows accessed before promotion configuration. Merchants define geographic boundaries through the region creation interface, establishing parameters for location-based promotion eligibility. The regions function as reusable targeting entities across multiple promotions.

The audience targeting introduction marks the third major promotion enhancement Google released in 2025. Earlier features included Google Wallet integration for payment method targeting and top-performing product filters for performance-based promotion distribution.

Merchants implementing audience targeting must account for campaign structure implications. Products available through both one-time purchases and subscription models may require separate promotion configurations. The targeting limitations between paid and organic listings necessitate strategic decisions about promotional budget allocation across distribution channels.

The new customer audience definition excludes existing customer bases, focusing promotion visibility exclusively on prospective first-time buyers. This creates distinct separation between retention-focused promotions and acquisition-focused offers within the same Merchant Center account.

For location targeting, Google's interest-based geographic identification incorporates search patterns and behavioral signals beyond physical location. Users who demonstrate interest in specific regions through search behavior qualify for location-targeted promotions even without physical presence in those areas.

The promotional targeting controls do not extend to promotion timing or scheduling parameters. Merchants continue managing promotion duration through separate date range configurations independent of audience selection. The audience controls exclusively govern who sees promotions rather than when promotions display.

Google has not indicated whether audience targeting will expand to additional parameters. Customer lifetime value segmentation, purchase frequency targeting, or cart abandonment audiences remain unavailable in the current implementation. The feature set focuses exclusively on new customer identification and geographic parameters.

The promotion audience controls operate independently from Shopping campaign audience signals. Performance Max campaigns use audience signals as optimization hints rather than hard targeting parameters. Merchant Center promotion audiences function as definitive targeting criteria that determine promotion visibility.

Implementation complexity increases for merchants managing international operations. The location targeting limitation to organic listings affects how global retailers structure regional promotional strategies. Country-specific promotions require coordination between organic visibility controls and separate paid campaign configurations.

The feature documentation does not specify whether audience targeting affects promotion bid adjustments or competitive auction dynamics. Traditional Shopping campaigns allow audience bid modifiers, but promotion-level audience targeting operates at visibility level rather than bidding level.

Merchants must maintain promotion feed accuracy alongside audience targeting configurations. Google's promotion policies require accurate representation of discount terms, minimum purchase requirements, and expiration dates. The audience targeting layer adds complexity to promotion management without changing underlying promotion feed requirements.

The timing of this release during early November positions merchants to implement audience-segmented promotions for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The 2024 holiday shopping period features five fewer days between Cyber Week and Christmas compared to 2023, creating compressed timeframes for promotional campaign execution.

Google's Merchant Center Next platform completed its global rollout in August 2024, consolidating promotion management within the modernized interface. The audience targeting features integrate with Merchant Center Next's streamlined promotion creation workflows.

The promotion controls complement other targeting capabilities available across Google's advertising ecosystem. Display & Video 360 introduced targeting templates in September 2025, enabling reusable audience configurations. The Merchant Center audience targeting operates independently but reflects similar strategic segmentation logic.

Merchants implementing the feature should consider interaction between audience targeting and existing campaign structures. Shopping campaigns using custom labels or product groups for promotion targeting must coordinate with the new audience-level controls to avoid conflicting configurations.

The promotional audience feature does not integrate with Customer Match lists or first-party data uploads. New customer identification operates through Google's transaction tracking rather than merchant-provided customer databases. This technical separation distinguishes Merchant Center promotion audiences from campaign-level audience targeting in Shopping and Performance Max campaigns.

Google has not announced whether the feature will expand to video Shopping ads or other emerging Shopping ad formats. The current implementation focuses on standard Shopping ads and organic listings, excluding specialty ad formats introduced through experimental programs.

Timeline

• December 2024: Google introduced first-order discount option enabling targeted promotions for new customers
• May 2024: Google announced profit optimization for Shopping campaigns at Marketing Live, expanding goal options beyond revenue
• August 2024: Google completed Merchant Center Next rollout globally with AI-powered Product Studio
• August 2024: Google introduced AI-powered automated discounts for back-to-school season
• August 2025: Google launched Merchant API with enhanced promotion data source capabilities
• November 6, 2025: Google released audience targeting for Merchant Center promotions with new customer and location options

Summary

Who: Google introduced the feature for all eligible Merchant Center users. Emmanuel Flossie, a Google Shopping Specialist and Google Ads Diamond Product Expert, first documented and analyzed the capability through FeedArmy. The feature affects retailers using Shopping ads and organic listings to promote products.

What: Google Merchant Center now enables audience targeting for promotions through two distinct options: new customer segments and location-based audiences. New customer targeting identifies users without prior brand interaction and operates exclusively for Shopping ads. Location targeting enables geographic segmentation and applies exclusively to organic listings. The feature introduces asymmetric availability across distribution channels.

When: Google released the audience targeting capability on November 6, 2025, as documented by Flossie through FeedArmy's technical analysis and video demonstration. The timing coincides with the November-December holiday shopping period.

Where: The feature operates within Google Merchant Center's promotion creation workflow, accessible through both Merchant Center Classic and Merchant Center Next interfaces. New customer targeting applies to Shopping ads across Google's search results and Shopping surfaces. Location targeting functions within organic product listings appearing in Google Search and Shopping tabs.

Why: The audience targeting capability enables retailers to protect profit margins through selective discount distribution rather than universal promotional offers. Merchants can test promotions on high-potential customer segments, restrict offers to specific geographic markets, and avoid blanket discounting that erodes profitability. The feature addresses merchant feedback requesting more granular promotion controls beyond product-level targeting.