This guide is for small advertisers and agency owners who run Google Ads Search campaigns and want their sitelinks, promotions, callouts and call assets to switch on and off at the right moment during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It explains what asset scheduling does, where to find it, how it differs from an ad schedule, and gives a checklist you can work through before the sale.
Contents
What asset scheduling is
Assets (formerly called extensions) are the extra pieces that sit alongside your ad: sitelinks, callouts, promotions, calls and so on. Google’s “About assets” help page says you can schedule supported assets so they show only during specific times of day or a specific time frame. Its example is a call asset that shows only during the hours your business can answer the phone. The page also notes that this scheduling information applies to assets that are not headlines or descriptions.
For a holiday sale this matters because an expired offer in a sitelink or promotion is one of the easiest ways to send shoppers to a page that no longer matches the ad. Scheduling lets you load everything in advance and let it expire on its own.
The three levers: dates, days and hours
- Start and end dates. The asset shows only inside that date window.
- Days of the week. You can limit an asset to certain days.
- Times of day. You can limit it to certain hours on those days.
Google’s help page does not state a maximum number of schedules, the size of time slots, or how time zones are handled, so check those in your own account rather than assuming.
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Where to set it for most assets
According to Google’s “About assets” page, the steps are:
- In Google Ads, open Assets in the Campaigns menu.
- Set the Table view drop-down to Association to see a table of your assets.
- Choose an asset type from the list above the table toolbar.
- Click the pencil icon beside the asset and choose Edit.
- Open the Advanced settings drop-down and set a start date and an end date.
- Under Asset schedule, pick the days and times, and select Add Schedule for extra slots.
- Select Save.
Google also reminds advertisers that an asset must be approved and associated with an active ad group, campaign or account before it can show. Menu labels change over time, so if yours differ slightly, follow the same path using the nearest equivalent.
Scheduling promotion assets
Promotion assets add offer text, such as a percentage or monetary discount, to Search text ads, Shorts and in-stream video ads. Per Google’s “About promotion assets” page, they are free to add and can be set at account, campaign or ad group level, with the most specific level winning.
To create one, go to Assets in the Campaigns menu, click the plus button and select Promotion. You can optionally choose an occasion, whose name appears in the ad. Each occasion has a built-in start and end date. Under Advanced options you can narrow that range, but you cannot pick dates outside it. To use your own dates, deselect the occasion and enter a start and end date. The same Advanced options section lets you choose days and hours.
Two rules from that page are easy to miss. Occasion-specific assets must be created or edited within six months of their start date, and assets not modified for six months stop serving or are paused. Also, promotions tied to an occasion are preferred over non-occasion promotions at the same level.
Asset scheduling dates versus promotion dates
Google’s help page for promotion assets in App campaigns separates two ideas: asset scheduling dates are when you want the asset served, while displayed promotion dates are when the promotion is eligible for customers. It warns that if you provide displayed promotion dates but no asset scheduling dates, the asset may keep serving outside the promotion window until you stop or pause it. That page is about App campaigns, but the lesson is useful anywhere: set an actual end date rather than relying on the offer text alone.
The same page suggests starting to serve before the offer begins to build interest, then showing displayed dates that match the real offer window. For example, you might begin an early-access teaser days before Black Friday and let the displayed dates cover only the sale itself.
If you are weighing manual promotions against Google’s AI-generated ones, our guide to Google Ads automated promotions for small advertisers covers that decision. Here we focus on manual assets, which is where you control dates.
Asset schedules versus ad schedules
These are separate controls that are easy to confuse.
| Asset schedule | Ad schedule | |
|---|---|---|
| What it controls | When a particular asset can appear | When your ads can show for the campaign |
| Where you set it | Assets, in the Campaigns menu | The Ad schedule page |
| Bid adjustments | Not part of it | You can raise or lower bids for specific days and times |
| Default | Shows whenever the asset is eligible | Ads run “All day” by default |
Google’s “About ad scheduling” page says ad scheduling lets you pick hours or days for ads to show and adjust bids for those times. It also says scheduled campaigns pace toward a monthly spend of 30.4 times the average daily budget, and that ad scheduling is not compatible with App campaigns. In practice: use the ad schedule to decide when you are bidding, and the asset schedule to decide which supporting messages appear while you are.
Reported: new day ranges (not confirmed by Google)
PPC Land, an industry news site, reported on 8 November 2026 that asset scheduling now offers three predefined day choices under Advanced options: “All days,” “Mondays – Fridays” and “Saturdays – Sundays,” so one entry can replace several. This is a secondary source only. The article describes the change as unannounced, links to no Google announcement and notes that Google has published no date for it, so it may be appearing in stages. Google’s “About assets” help page does not mention these ranges.
So treat it as something to look for, not rely on. If you do not see the ranges, you can still schedule individual days using the steps above.
Holiday checklist
- List every asset that mentions the sale. Include promotions, sitelinks, callouts and any structured snippets that reference prices or deadlines.
- Check landing pages first. Each asset’s final URL should load the correct offer page before you schedule anything.
- Set an end date on everything. Do not depend on remembering to pause on Tuesday morning.
- Plan the phases. A teaser before Black Friday, the Black Friday weekend offer, a separate Cyber Monday offer, then a clean return to evergreen assets.
- Check the occasion rule. If you use an occasion, confirm the asset was created or edited within six months of its start date.
- Review your ad schedule. Make sure it does not unintentionally exclude hours when your asset schedule expects to run.
- Watch during the sale. Check the Assets table and your ads in the first hours of each phase, and remove expired sale assets afterwards.
Common mistakes
- Putting sale dates only in the text and leaving the schedule empty.
- Scheduling an asset for hours the campaign itself is not running.
- Editing an asset at the last minute, which can send it back through review.
- Expecting an asset to display every time. Google decides which assets show, so scheduling makes an asset eligible rather than guaranteed.
Afterwards, measure what the sale actually produced. Our comparison of Google Ads conversion tracking with the tag versus GA4 import helps you check that the numbers you report are reliable, and the Search Terms report guide shows how to review which queries triggered your holiday ads.
Key takeaways
- Asset scheduling controls when individual assets can show, using dates, days and times.
- Find it by editing an asset from Assets in the Campaigns menu, under Advanced settings and Asset schedule.
- An ad schedule is a different, campaign-level control that can also adjust bids.
- Always set an end date, and do not rely on offer text to stop an asset.
- The new day ranges are reported by PPC Land only and unconfirmed by Google.
FAQ
Does asset scheduling work for all asset types?
Google’s page says scheduling applies to supported assets and does not list them all. It does say the scheduling information applies to assets other than headlines and descriptions. Open an asset in your account to see which options it offers.
Can I schedule a promotion outside its occasion dates?
Not while the occasion is selected. You can narrow the range but not go outside it. To use your own dates, deselect the occasion and enter a start and end date.
Will my promotion stop automatically after Cyber Monday?
Only if you set an end date. Google warns that without asset scheduling dates, a promotion asset may keep serving after the displayed promotion dates until stopped or paused.
Is an asset schedule the same as an ad schedule?
No. The asset schedule applies to a single asset. The ad schedule applies to when campaign ads show and supports bid adjustments.
