On April 3, 2025, Google introduced “Marketing Content Usage,” a new feature available to businesses using Google Merchant Center. If you’re looking to boost your visibility on Google, this program provides another way to promote your products and brand on Google services—and it presents businesses with a choice. Here’s what you need to know to make an informed decision on this new feature.
What Google’s Marketing Content Usage Feature Does
Google’s new feature automatically extracts promotional information directly from your existing marketing emails. Specifically, Google scans for:
- New product announcements
- Current and upcoming sales or promotions
- Highlighted social media content and profile links
- Brand images, videos, and your unique brand voice
This content is then displayed across platforms like Google Search, the Shopping tab, and Maps to help drive traffic and engagement—all without any extra effort on your part.
While most people’s first instinct is to regard this new feature as “creepy,” it falls in line with how Google treats your existing product data—such as images, titles, descriptions, and pricing—that it already pulls from your product feed and website. There are no new or separate terms involved, and your business remains in control of what gets included.
Should You Opt-Out?
We don’t recommend opting out entirely—at least not by default. If you’re actively trying to grow your search visibility or improve your online presence, then it makes sense to embrace new features like this. Google’s not doing anything fundamentally new here; they’re just indexing another content source, similar to how they already use your website content, product titles, pricing, and descriptions. That said, if you run exclusive subscriber promotions or limited-access sales, you may want to use segmentation to keep those emails private. This way, you get the exposure benefits while still protecting your best offers.
How to Opt-In and Share Your Marketing Content
If you want Google to start promoting your marketing content right away, simply ensure Google’s designated email address is included in your mailing lists. Here’s how to opt in:
- Open your email marketing software or platform.
- Add
[email protected]to your email distribution list. - Send your promotional emails normally, and Google will automatically scan and display relevant content.
How to Completely Opt-Out of Google’s Email Marketing Content Feature
If you prefer to completely stop Google from using your marketing content, follow these steps:
- Log into your Google Merchant Center account.
- Navigate to General account options.
- Scroll down to the Marketing content usage section.
- Select “Do not share data” and click Save.
How to Selectively Exclude Certain Emails from Google’s Promotion
To retain more precise control while still benefiting from this new feature, we recommend opting into the feature, then selectively excluding sensitive or exclusive email campaigns. Here’s one way to do this:
- Create a dedicated email segment specifically for Google’s marketing email (
[email protected]) in your email marketing platform. - When sending sensitive or exclusive promotions, explicitly exclude this Google-specific segment from your campaign.
- Continue sending regular campaigns normally, ensuring your general promotional content still reaches Google’s indexing.
Depending on your email client, you could alternatively exclude individual blocks or sections of your email (say an email subscriber exclusive promotion) using conditional logic.
Stress-Free Content Marketing with Sprucely
Managing your email marketing strategy—and keeping up with changes from platforms like Google—can be daunting. At Sprucely, we specialize in personalized, comprehensive Content Marketing Services designed to simplify your marketing and maximize your results.
From expert segmentation and automations to engaging long-form content and optimized campaigns, our experienced team is ready to handle the heavy lifting—so you can focus on running your business.
