When shoppers ask AI for your discount codes, the answer comes from whoever wrote your deals down where AI can read them: you, on your own promo page, or coupon sites. Google Merchant Center promotions put your offers in Google's own results too. Before this post first ran in February 2026, I asked AI tools for deals from two brands, and on most of the tools I tried, coupon sites did the talking. Here's what I saw and what I'd do about it.
Where AI sent me for Darc Sport and Nike discount codes
This started with a question on Reddit about whether AI tools make up web addresses for brands. It got me wondering what AI pulls up when someone asks for a brand's deals. So I tested it.
I picked Darc Sport, and its Wolves line in particular. I asked several AI chatbots for spring promos, current coupon codes and active deals. The brand's own site rarely showed up. The answers cited coupon and deal sites instead: Wethrift, SimplyCodes, Knoji, Dealspotr and JoinCheckmate, each with its own Darc Sport page. When the AI couldn't find a clear path to the brand itself, it fell back on the safest advice it had. Sign up for their email list.
Then I wanted to see if the same thing happened to a brand with more resources. Nike has a promotions page, a student discount, a military discount and a membership program. I asked an AI chatbot for Nike discount codes.
Groupon. CouponFollow. SimplyCodes. Garage Gym Reviews. Student Beans answered. Nike.com showed up in two of the eight citations.
When I asked Perplexity for Nike discount codes, it didn't stop at citing a few sites. It built a whole shopping plan in five numbered sections. Step one was to check Nike's own promo page. The rest covered coupon sites, stacking member perks, timing the purchase, and a step-by-step that told the shopper to open two or three coupon sites' Nike pages and copy codes. Nike's own page became one step in a plan Nike had no part in building.
That's what I saw, on those tools, before February 2026. AI answers vary from one run to the next, so I'd read it as one person's test.
Why Gemini sent shoppers to the brands instead
I ran the same questions through Google's Gemini. Same brands, same wording.
Gemini sent me straight to Nike.com/Sale. It explained the discounts and the member perks and walked through how to use a code at checkout. For Darc Sport, it named athlete and ambassador codes, the rewards program, and the Secret Sale and SMS alerts on the brand's own site. Rakuten came up once. The rest came from the brands.
Nothing about the question changed. Nothing about the brands changed. The tool did.
My read at the time was that Gemini draws on what brands have been sending Google for years through Merchant Center and Shopping feeds. Google had said as much about products a few months earlier. In November 2025, it wrote that AI Mode is "powered by the Shopping Graph (which includes more than 50 billion product listings, 2 billion of which are updated every hour)," and that shopping ideas in the Gemini app are "powered by Shopping Graph information." Google hasn't said that Merchant Center promotions show up in Gemini, though. So for deals, my read is still a guess.
What coupon sites put on their pages that AI can use
I pulled up the pages the AI cited and looked at what they had. Each coupon site keeps one page per brand at a plain address, like couponfollow.com/site/nike.com or wethrift.com/darc-sport. The codes sit at the top. The questions are written the way a shopper would ask them. And there are dates everywhere.
They still look that way. As of October 16, 2026, CouponFollow's Nike page was headed "Top Nike Promo Codes for October 16, 2026," and Wethrift's Darc Sport page showed its "LAST WORKING CODE today." Wethrift also says it works out "the chance of a code working... based on real shopper feedback and data."
Nike has its own promo page, and coupon sites still did most of the talking in the first answers I got. Gemini sent me to Nike's page. My read is that a clear, dated page of your own gives AI something from you to quote, and it's the one part of this you control.
None of this means the tools are being gamed. They're doing what they're built to do with what they can find.
What shoppers ask next when the codes don't work
This is the part I'd watch most. A shopper who gets sent to coupon sites and doesn't find a code that works might ask something else.
So I asked: "Best alternatives to Darc Sport with discount codes." Perplexity made a table of seven competing brands, with where to find their deals and which ones were running promotions right then. I'm not going to name them.
The point is the path. Ask for one brand's deals. Get sent to coupon sites. Ask for alternatives. Get a list of other brands with deals running now. That's one path I followed. I'd try it with your own brand before reading much into it.
How Google Merchant Center promotions work
Google Merchant Center promotions are how you send your own offers to Google, the same way you send your products. Google's help pages say promotions show across Google Search, the Shopping tab, Chrome and more, in 13 countries, the US and Canada among them.
Each offer gets a short title, a start and end date, the products it covers, and the code if there is one. Google also asks for a link to the page on your site where shoppers can see the deal, and says that page has to match what you sent. I'd keep the titles plain. Google caps them at 60 characters and may rewrite ones that leave out a condition.
183 days
The longest a Google Merchant Center promotion can run. Every promotion is sent with a start and an end date.
Which deals Google Merchant Center promotions won't take
This part is easy to miss. Google turns down promotions that only some customers can get. Its own examples of "overly restrictive" promotions include "$10 off for Teachers & Students" and "10% off for Seniors and Military." It also won't take trade-ins, mail-in rebates, sweepstakes, or discounts under 5% or $5, whichever is lower.
Some conditions are fine. Google allows deals for a first order, an email or text sign-up, or subscribe and save. It also allows deals for a loyalty club, as long as joining is free and the terms are clear.
So Merchant Center can't carry every offer. Student and military discounts are the kind Google's examples rule out. Those offers need a home on your own site. Your promo page is that home either way, since Google wants a link to it.
Do ChatGPT and Perplexity read your deals?
When I first wrote this post, I said ChatGPT and Perplexity rely on public web pages, which is just what coupon sites are built for. That was too simple. Both take product data straight from merchants, and Perplexity was already doing it when I wrote that.
OpenAI's help page says ChatGPT's shopping results use "structured metadata from first-party and third-party providers (e.g., price, product description)." Perplexity started a free Merchant Program in November 2024 for large retailers "to share their product specs with us." I go through the product side, and checkout, in my post on agentic commerce.
What I didn't find on either company's pages is anything about promo codes. Price and product details, yes. Your current code, who qualifies, and when it ends, no. So for a deal question, I'd expect these tools to read whatever public pages say about your deals. I'd want your own promo page to be one of them.
It's the same problem online stores have with marketplaces, where someone else gets the credit for your product. We cover that on our e-commerce page. And it's a close cousin of why AI can cite your content and still recommend your competitor.
How to get your own deals into AI answers
Here's what I'd do first.
- Put one promo page at a plain address, like /promo-code or /deals.
- List every live offer on it, who qualifies, and when it ends. Show the date you last updated it.
- Answer the questions shoppers ask, in plain words. Is there a student discount? Can I stack codes? What do I get on my birthday?
- Link it from your main menu or footer, so it's one click from anywhere on your site.
- If you sell through Google, add your offers as Merchant Center promotions and point each one at that page.
- Take expired codes down the day they end.
Then check what comes back. Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google for your brand's discount codes, the way a shopper would. Write down who gets cited, and check again later. Our measurement page covers what's worth tracking over time. You're the one who knows which codes still work, so your page should be the one that says so.
If you'd rather we take a look, the AI Search Game Plan shows where you stand in Google and in AI answers, who comes up instead, and what to do first.
Common questions
Why does ChatGPT show coupon sites when people ask for my discount codes?
ChatGPT can take product data from merchants, but OpenAI's help page doesn't mention promo codes in that data. So for a deal question, I'd expect it to read public pages, and coupon sites keep a dated page for each brand they cover. A clear, current promo page on your own site gives ChatGPT something from you to cite.
Do Google Merchant Center promotions show up in AI answers?
Google hasn't said so. Its help pages say promotions show across Google Search, the Shopping tab, Chrome and more. Google does say AI Mode and the Gemini app's shopping features run on its Shopping Graph, which is built from product listings. Outside the US, promotions run with Shopping ads or local inventory ads, since Google says the free listings option is US only.
Do I need a promo code page if I already use Merchant Center?
I'd have one. Google asks for a link to a page with each promotion's details, and some common offers are on Google's list of promotions it won't take. Your own page is the one place every offer can live, and AI tools that read public pages can find it.
Can a student or military discount go in Merchant Center promotions?
Not as Google describes its rules. Its examples of "overly restrictive" promotions include teacher, student, senior and military discounts, so put those on your own promo page.
Can I stop coupon sites from listing my brand?
That's a legal question, and I'm not the right person to answer it. What you can control is your own page. If it lists every live offer and changes when they do, shoppers and AI tools have a source that comes from you.
Sources
- Google Merchant Center Help. Promotions data specification. Checked October 16, 2026.
- Google Merchant Center Help. Promotions policies. Checked October 16, 2026.
- Google Merchant Center Help. Promotion URL and Promotion destination. Checked October 16, 2026.
- Google. Let AI do the hard parts of your holiday shopping. November 13, 2025.
- OpenAI Help Center. Shopping with ChatGPT Search. Checked October 16, 2026.
- Perplexity. Shop like a Pro: Perplexity's new AI-powered shopping assistant. November 18, 2024.
- Nike. Nike Promo Codes, Coupons, & Deals. Checked October 16, 2026.
- CouponFollow. Nike promo codes. Checked October 16, 2026.
- Wethrift. Darc Sport discount codes. Checked October 16, 2026.
- Hayden Bond. First-party test of AI answers for Darc Sport and Nike deals, run before this post first ran on February 10, 2026.
Curious how your business looks on Google and in AI answers?
Plate Lunch Collective is an AI SEO agency that gets brands named when buyers ask, in search, on social, and in AI. If you'd like to talk it through, we're easy to reach.
Hayden Bond
Hayden Bond, in SEO since 2004, founded Plate Lunch Collective, an AI SEO agency that gets brands named when buyers ask, in search, on social, and in AI.
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