Author Archives: Google Ads Developer Advisor

Join the beta for the new AdWords API

Today we’re announcing the beta release of Google Ads API v0. The Google Ads API is the next generation of our current AdWords API, and it can be accessed via gRPC and JSON REST from a variety of client environments. As this API gradually rolls out, it will reach full parity with the current API.

What’s in the beta?
For the beta, you have the ability to manage search campaigns from creation all the way to reporting. By getting in early, you’ll get to:
  • Integrate newer technologies like gRPC or JSON REST into your product sooner.
  • Provide feedback when requested on the beta in order to influence the new Google Ads API.
  • Try out features such as the new Google Ads Query Language that gives more querying flexibility.
  • Start using the API to query metrics with the accompanying resources and then mutate those resources. For example, you can query all the keywords that have zero impressions and then immediately mutate those keywords to change their bids.
The functionality for Google Ads API v0 includes:
  • Creating, updating, and removing search campaigns.
  • Managing campaign budgets.
  • Managing ad groups in search campaigns.
  • Managing 5 different kinds of ads in search campaigns.
  • Setting shared and portfolio bidding strategies.
  • Setting up targeting using keywords in search campaigns.
  • Retrieving detailed advertiser information.
  • Reporting on various metrics for search campaigns.
Please see the release notes for more details.

How do I join the beta?
Anyone with an existing developer token can apply to join this beta by submitting an application. People who join the beta are expected to submit feedback in order to help us make improvements.

Once you are approved, start with the Get Started guide, and get familiar with our other guides. We’ve also created client libraries for Java, C#, and Ruby with examples to help get you started.

Where do I learn more?
To get started with the API, our team has put together resources: If you have any questions or need help, please contact us via the forum.
Nadine Sundquist, on behalf of the AdWords API Team

Content API for Shopping Roundup

There have been some smaller API updates and announcements that we'd like to let you know about!

If you have any questions or feedback about these items or any other questions about the Content API for Shopping, please let us know on the forum.
 - , Content API for Shopping Team

Structured Data Files v4 now available in the DoubleClick Bid Manager API


Today we're announcing the general availability of Structured Data Files (SDF) v4 in the DoubleClick Bid Manager API. Highlights of this release include support for:
  • Bid Multipliers
  • TrueView bumper ads
  • Enhanced YouTube tracking
  • Exchange Targeting settings inheritance

Details of these features and all other changes can be found in the release notes.

All SDF users are encouraged to begin requesting v4 files to take advantage of these new features. To do so, simply pass 4 as the value of version when calling Sdf.download. For users with workflows that are dependent on older SDF formats, details of the file format changes between versions can be found in the release notes.

- Jonathon Imperiosi, DBM API Team

Improvements to the DFP API documentation

An API is only as good as its documentation, which is why we’re pleased to announce some exciting improvements to the DFP API documentation based on user feedback. We hope these changes will make your workflow a little easier.

Additional information on report entities. We have added documentation for each Dimension, DimensionAttribute, and Column that states its UI name. This mapping from API entity names to UI entity names should make it easier to mimic report queries from the UI. Also, each of these report entities now has a list of compatible report types to help you determine which entities can be used with each other before running a report query.

Filtering report entity tables. There are a large number of Dimensions, DimensionAttributes, and Columns over which you can query a report. Also, as mentioned, we have added even more useful information to these entities. In order to better navigate this large body of documentation, you can now filter these entities on their name or description by entering keywords in the textbox that appears above each table.



Overall DFP documentation search. In addition to the reporting documentation improvements, we have also improved the overall search functionality on the DFP API documentation site. When you type a query into the search bar at the top of each page, the list of suggested results are now pulled only from the latest version, which allows more results to be shown instead of showing the same result across multiple versions.


As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to reach out to us on our forum.

 - , DFP API Team

Sunset of DFP API v201705

On Thursday, May 31, 2018, in accordance with the deprecation schedule, v201705 of the DFP API will be sunset. At that time, any requests made to this version will return errors.

If you’re still using this version, now’s the time to upgrade to the latest release and take advantage of new features such as Preferred Deal support, reporting time zone configuration, and reporting currency configuration.

In order to upgrade, check the release notes to identify any breaking changes, grab the latest version of your client library, and update your code.

Significant changes include:

This is not an exhaustive list, so as always, don't hesitate to reach out to us with any questions. To be notified of future deprecations and sunsets, join the DFP API Sunset Announcements group and adjust your notification settings.

 - , DFP API Team

AdWords and DFP client library for Java will soon require Java 8+

Starting on July 1, 2018, all releases of the Google Ads API Client Library for Java will only be compatible with Java 8 (1.8) and higher.

Why this change is happening
The primary reasons for this change are:
Next steps
If you are using Java 8 or higher, no action is required.

If you are still using Java 7, you'll have to migrate your runtime to Java 8 or higher. Check out the Java 8 adoption guide from Oracle to get started.

Still have questions? Feel free to file an issue on the library's issues page or contact us via our Google+ page.
- Josh Radcliff, AdWords API Team

Support for v201802 reports in AdWords scripts

We have added support for AdWords API v201802 reports in AdWords scripts. The key changes in this release include:
  • A new report type, LANDING_PAGE_REPORT, to provide performance stats for the pages that receive traffic from your ads.
  • ConversionLagBucket field added to various reports to help you determine how long it takes customers to convert.
  • New fields added to support Gmail ads.
Read the AdWords API release notes for complete details, including additional features not listed here.

If you use API versioning in your reports, you need to modify your code to use v201802: 

var report = AdWordsApp.report(query, {
  apiVersion: 'v201802'
});
If you don't use API versioning, no code changes are required. We are updating the default reporting version to v201710 along with this change, and your reports will upgrade automatically.

If you have any questions about these changes or AdWords scripts in general, you can post them on our developer forum.
- Mike Cloonan, AdWords API Team

Onboarding for local inventory ads via the Content API for Shopping

Today, we're announcing the ability to configure your local inventory ads (LIA) settings and link Google My Business (GMB) accounts via the Content API for Shopping. This allows you to onboard accounts for LIA programmatically, instead of needing to manually configure each account separately via the Merchant Center website.

The new Liasettings service lets you perform the following actions via the Content API: In addition, the new googleMyBusinessLink field in the Accounts resource states which business account should be linked. After setting this field, you can provide inventory information for the locations in that business account by uploading product and inventory information either through local product feeds and local product inventory feeds or through the Content API for Shopping with the channel field set to "local".

If you have any questions or feedback about these new features or any other questions about the Content API for Shopping, please let us know on the forum.
 - , Content API for Shopping Team

Google Media Framework for Android is Deprecated

As previously announced, as of March 15th, 2018, the Google Media Framework (GMF) for Android is deprecated in favor of the IMA ExoPlayer plugin. All development and support for GMF has been halted. If you are a GMF Android user, we recommend you migrate to the IMA ExoPlayer plugin at your earliest convenience. Alternatively, to keep using GMF Android, you will have to fork and maintain it yourself.

Note: We are NOT deprecating GMF for iOS.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us via the IMA SDK developer forum.

 - , IMA SDK Team

Ad Exchange Seller REST API Deprecation Reminder

The Ad Exchange Seller REST API is deprecated. Existing API clients should migrate to the DoubleClick for Publishers API before July 26, 2018. After this date, all requests to the Ad Exchange Seller REST API will return errors.

This migration guide provides instructions for getting started, as well as a mapping of each Ad Exchange reporting metric to its equivalent in the DFP API.

For more details about reporting in the DFP API, see the reporting guide.

For general assistance with the DFP API or your migration, reach out on our developer forum.

 - , DFP API Team