Jimmy KimCEO & Founder, Commerce Roundtable · Marketer of 17+ Years, 4x Founder. Former DTC/Retailer & SaaS Founder. Newsletter. Host of ASOM & Send it! Podcast. DTC Event: Commerce Roundtable

Gmail Just Turned the Promotions Tab Into an Algorithm Feed

22 Dec 2025 · 1 min

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In this segment of Jimmy Kim’s YouTube video, the host explains Gmail’s recent overhaul of the Promotions tab. The tab no longer displays promotional emails in simple reverse‑chronological order; instead, Gmail now applies an algorithm that ranks messages by relevance, using engagement signals much like search‑engine optimization (SEO). The update introduces a “Top deals for you” section and subtle nudges that highlight limited‑time offers directly within the inbox. This change rolls out by default to personal Gmail accounts, meaning users will see a feed‑style view rather than a list ordered by arrival time. The discussion highlights how these shifts could affect email visibility, user interaction, and marketers’ strategies for reaching audiences.

Promotions tab is huge because I'd say it fundamentally changes how promotional emails are displayed to users. So instead of showing emails in the kind of the current chronological order where you see that kind of from the first to the last, right, the newest first, email's now going to sort it by relevance.
It's like almost like SEO in a way, which means that email thinks users actually care about based on engagement show up on top, like social media basically. And they've nudged, added this like top deals for you section that has gentle reminders called nudges about limited time offers. Even they're like really in your emails all the time.
That's crazy. And I'd say for Gmail users, this is going to happen by default now on personal accounts. So the promotions tab isn't chronological anymore. It's relevance-ranked feeds.
Which means if your email consistently doesn't get engagement, they're going to sink to the bottom where nobody sees them. Ultimately, even if you sent an email 5 minutes ago, if Gmail's algorithm thinks the user doesn't care about it, it could show up below an email like 3 days ago that's more likely to be engaged with, man.