How Can I Get the 400 Euros From Google Ads?

You have probably seen the promise: 400 euros of free advertising credit to launch your Google Ads campaigns. The offer is genuinely real but it is also widely misunderstood. Many advertisers create their account, start spending and then discover the credit never arrives because a condition was missed at the very beginning. So how do you actually get the 400 euros from Google Ads and what does it really require?

The mechanic is straightforward once you understand it. Google does not hand you 400 euros upfront. You must spend 400 euros of real advertising costs within a set window, typically 60 days after activating the offer, and Google then credits your account with 400 euros to apply against future campaigns. It functions as an advertising credit rather than a discount or a refund, and crucially the credit itself cannot count toward reaching the spending threshold.

Several conditions determine your eligibility. The offer is reserved for new advertisers or accounts that have never run campaigns, it must be activated when you create your account through the official promotional path, you need a valid payment method and a billing address in the eligible country. An account created outside this process cannot receive the code afterwards. In 2026 Google actually offers several tiers in France ranging from 400 euros up to 1,700 euros depending on how much you commit to spending.

The real question though is not how to get the credit but how to spend it well. Burning 400 euros faster on campaigns built around the wrong products changes nothing. This is where Trendtrack available at app.trendtrack.io/en/sign-up matters, revealing any shop's complete Google ad strategy including their top performing ads, formats and landing pages.

In this article we explain how to get the 400 euros from Google Ads.

What Exactly Is the Google Ads 400 Euro Credit?

The Google Ads 400 euro credit is a promotional advertising credit offered to new advertisers who reach a defined spending threshold within a limited period. It is not free money handed to you at signup and this misunderstanding is precisely why so many advertisers miss out. Google itself describes these offers as advertising credits rather than discounts or refunds.

The mechanic works in a specific order. You first activate the offer when creating your account through the official promotional path. You then spend 400 euros of genuine advertising costs within the allotted window, typically 60 days. Google verifies that the threshold has been reached and finally applies a 400 euro credit against your future campaign spending. The credit arrives after the fact rather than before.

Two details catch out most advertisers. First the spending must be real advertising cost generated by clicks and impressions, not simply a 400 euro payment sitting in your account balance. Second the credit itself cannot count toward the threshold which means you cannot use one to unlock the other.

The credit also comes with an expiry window. Once applied to your account you generally have a limited period, often around 60 days, to consume it. Unused credit is lost which makes timing genuinely important.

It is worth knowing that 400 euros is only the entry tier. In 2026 Google offers several levels in France ranging from 400 euros up to 1,700 euros depending on the spending commitment you accept. Higher tiers require proportionally larger spend before the credit unlocks.

What Are the Eligibility Conditions?

Several conditions must be met and missing a single one disqualifies you permanently for that account. Here are the eligibility conditions for the Google Ads 400 euro credit.

Table: Google Ads credit eligibility conditions

As the table shows the most restrictive condition is account status. The offer is reserved for new advertisers which means your Google account must never have been used to run Google Ads. If your website URL or business details already appear on an existing Google Ads account creating a fresh one will not qualify you.

The second decisive condition is activation timing. The offer must be activated when you create your account through the official promotional path. An account created outside this process cannot receive the code retroactively which is the single most common reason advertisers lose the credit before even starting.

The third condition to watch is the spending threshold which must consist of genuine advertising cost generated by clicks and impressions. Simply adding 400 euros to your account balance does not count.

Finally note that credits cannot be stacked. One promotional offer applies per customer regardless of how many accounts you create.

How to Claim the 400 Euros Step by Step?

Claiming the credit follows a precise sequence and the order genuinely matters. Here is how to claim the 400 euros step by step.

1. Check your eligibility before creating anything

2. Create your account through the official promotional page

3. Activate the offer during account creation

4. Add a valid payment method

5. Set your account currency and billing details

6. Launch your campaigns and spend 400 euros

7. Wait for validation and track your credit

The first step is to check your eligibility. Confirm that your Google account has never run Google Ads and that your website and business details do not already appear on an existing account. Creating a new account to bypass this does not work.

The second step is to create your account through the official promotional page rather than the standard signup. This is the most critical point since an account created outside this path can never receive the credit retroactively.

The third step is to activate the offer during account creation. The promotion must be attached to your account from the start.

The fourth step is to add a valid payment method. Without registered billing details the offer cannot be validated even if you meet every other condition.

The fifth step is to set your currency and billing details correctly with a billing address in the eligible country and your account currency in euros.

The sixth step is to launch your campaigns and spend 400 euros in genuine advertising cost within the window, typically 60 days. This represents roughly 7 euros per day over two months.

The seventh step is to track your credit in the Billing then Promotions section of your account. Validation can take up to several weeks.

What Mistakes Make You Lose the Google Ads Credit?

Most advertisers lose the credit through avoidable errors made before their first campaign even runs. Here are the mistakes that make you lose the Google Ads credit.

• Creating your account outside the promotional path which is the single most common error since the offer cannot be attached retroactively to a standard account

• Using a Google account that already ran ads as the offer is strictly reserved for genuinely new advertisers

• Reusing a website or business already registered on another Google Ads account which disqualifies you even with a fresh email address

• Forgetting to add a payment method meaning the offer cannot be validated regardless of how much you spend

• Confusing account funding with advertising spend since adding 400 euros to your balance counts for nothing, only real cost from clicks and impressions qualifies

• Missing the spending window by not reaching 400 euros within the allotted period, typically 60 days from activation

• Setting the wrong currency or billing country which makes your account ineligible for the euro offer

• Letting the credit expire once received since it must generally be consumed within around 60 days of being applied

• Pausing campaigns too long and losing momentum which makes reaching the threshold in time far harder

Among these the account creation path is by far the most costly mistake. Advertisers routinely sign up through the standard Google Ads homepage, run campaigns for weeks and only then discover no credit will ever arrive. There is no recovery from this.

The second most frequent error is confusing funding with spending. Depositing 400 euros does not trigger anything. Google counts only the advertising cost actually generated by your live campaigns.

How to Make the Most of Your Google Ads Credit?

Getting the credit is one thing. Turning it into actual revenue is another entirely. Here is how to make the most of your Google Ads credit.

• Prepare before activating the offer since the 60-day window starts immediately and every day spent building your campaigns is a day of the clock lost

• Set up conversion tracking first because spending 400 euros without measuring what converts produces no usable learning whatsoever

• Study what competitors already run rather than guessing at keywords, formats and messaging from scratch

• Start with high-intent keywords targeting people actively searching for what you sell rather than broad discovery terms that burn budget

• Test a limited number of campaigns instead of spreading a modest budget across too many which prevents any of them gathering enough data

• Write landing pages that match your ads since sending qualified traffic to a weak page wastes the entire click cost

• Monitor daily during the first two weeks to cut what clearly fails before it consumes your threshold budget

• Plan how you will use the credit itself once it arrives given it expires within roughly 60 days of being applied

Among these preparing before activation matters most. The clock starts the moment you activate and advertisers who spend three weeks building campaigns effectively lose a third of their window.

Studying competitors is the highest-leverage step. Rather than discovering through expensive testing which formats and angles work in your market you can start from what already performs. This is precisely what Trendtrack available at app.trendtrack.io/en/sign-up delivers with its Shop Analytics tab revealing any shop's complete Google ad strategy including their full ad history, top performing ads, formats across Search, Shopping, YouTube and Display, landing pages and headlines.

Spending your credit informed beats spending it blind.