Author Archives: Google Ads Developer Advisor

Structured Data Files v4.2 now available in the DoubleClick Bid Manager API

Today we're announcing the general availability of Structured Data Files (SDF) v4.2 in the DoubleClick Bid Manager API. Highlights of this release include:
  • Support for TrueView connected TV bid adjustments
  • Ability to inherit Insertion Order start and end dates at the Line Item level
  • Renaming changes to better align SDF with the Display & Video 360 UI
All SDF users are encouraged to begin requesting v4.2 files to take advantage of these new features. To do so, simply pass 4.2 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.


 - , DBM API Team

Registration open for Google Ads scripts 2019 workshops

Join us for informative talks and interactive codelabs at our 2019 Google Ads scripts workshops in Europe, Asia, and Australia from April through June.

The curriculum at each of the 6 workshops will be the same, so make sure to sign up for the one that's most convenient for you.

Please visit the event sites below for more details and to register for an event near you. We will be hosting the following sessions: We hope to see you there!
- Mike Cloonan, Google Ads Scripts Team

Introducing the Google Ads Query Builder tool

Today we are excited to announce that the Google Ads Query Builder tool is now available on the Google Ads API Developer Site.

The Google Ads API has a robust reporting system that utilizes our new Google Ads Query Language. The language’s syntax allows you to select from all the resources that are available for reporting, and also filter or sort the result set on the server before they are returned to your application.

This tool provides a friendly web interface for you to explore our API’s reporting capabilities, and generate queries that you can copy and paste right into your applications. You can visit the site and try out the tool today!

Example usage of the Google Ads Query Builder: A screenshot showing a sample usage of the Google Ads Query Builder UI, including both filtering and ordering. Happy reporting!
- Cory Liseno, Google Ads API Team

Google Ads API Policy Notes

In our recent blog post we announced the launch of Google Ads API v1. Since the Google Ads API and AdWords API can both be used in production systems, we'd like to clarify a couple of policy items.

Terms and Conditions
You will need to accept our updated Terms and Conditions to access production-ready versions of the Google Ads API. If you attempt to access v1 without accepting the new terms, your request will fail with the error AuthorizationError.MISSING_TOS. Existing AdWords API users will not be required to re-accept the new Terms and Conditions to access the legacy API. For instructions on how to accept the new terms, please take a look at this blog post.

Rate Limits
All Google Ads API rate limits are independent of a developer's use of the AdWords API. If a developer token with Basic Access sends a request to one Ads API, the daily request limit for the other API will not be affected.

Furthermore, daily limits for Basic Access developer tokens are different in the Google Ads API than in the AdWords API. They have been set to accommodate the new GoogleAdsService, which is the unified object retrieval and reporting service. Developer tokens with Basic Access can issue 15,000 requests per day. GoogleAdsService.Search requests with the page_token field set, will not count towards the Basic Access limit.

  • Note: All developer tokens are subject to the daily limit of 1,000 get requests.
Required Minimum Functionality (RMF)
Standard Access tools will continue to be subject to RMF policies. As these tools migrate their functionalities off of the legacy API, they can achieve RMF compliance by using either the AdWords API, Google Ads API or a combination of the two. Required features that are available in both APIs will be documented on both developer sites.

The Google Ads API RMF guide will contain the most up to date RMF list. This list will be made up of RMF items available in the AdWords API as well as new required functionalities that will be made available only in the Google Ads API. RMF due dates for new features will take into account migration efforts from the AdWords API to the Google Ads API.

Resources
For more information on these policy updates, please take a look at the following Google Ads API resources: If you have any questions or need help, please contact us via the forum.
--Google Ads API Team

AdWords API v201806 sunset reminder

AdWords API v201806 will be sunset on April 2, 2019. After this date, all v201806 API requests will begin to fail. You have the option of migrating directly to Google Ads API v1, which is ready for your production systems. If you’re not ready for the v1 migration, then please migrate to v201809 prior to April 2, 2019 to ensure your API access is unaffected.

We've prepared various resources to help you with the migration: If you have questions while you’re upgrading, please reach out to us on the forum.
Nadine Sundquist, Google Ads API Team

Upgrade to the new Google Ads API to get the latest services

Today we’re announcing the production-ready release of the Google Ads API. You should start using v1 in your production systems as we are now out of beta. The v0 beta version of Google Ads API will sunset on April 30, 2019. After this date, all v0 requests will begin to fail. You’ll be pointing to a new v1 endpoint which is different from the v0 endpoint. Please update your client libraries to use the v1 endpoint.

What is the Google Ads API?
The Google Ads API is the replacement of our AdWords API and brings significant advances in innovation and developer productivity. It can be accessed via gRPC with our client libraries and JSON REST for debugging. We are working on getting the last few features released so that all the features in the AdWords API also exist in the Google Ads API. In addition, new features are being added to the Google Ads API that will not be available in the AdWords API.
  • Google Ads Query Language makes querying more flexible.
  • Querying returns objects that can immediately be updated in the API.
  • Coding becomes easier as interacting with lists is more intuitive.
  • Querying and managing budgets is available to everyone for accounts using consolidated billing.
  • You can query, apply, and dismiss Recommendations.
  • Most resources can be mutated synchronously through a single service.
  • Querying change status in the API is more detailed.
How do I get started?
For existing AdWords API developers:
  • Use your existing developer token from the AdWords API.
  • Important: The Terms and Conditions have changed. You’ll need to accept the updated Terms and Conditions and update your contact information in API center. If you don’t, you will get an error when trying to access v1.
    • Sign into the API Center of the manager account where you have your developer token at ads.google.com/aw/apicenter.
    • Scroll down to API contact email, and update it.
    • Scroll down to Principal place of business, accept the new conditions, and click Save.
For new API developers, sign up for a developer token.

Everyone should go through our Quickstart guide to enable Google Ads API and retrieve the newest client libraries.

What resources are available?
Check out these helpful resources: The updated client libraries and code examples will be published by March 6, 2019. If you have any questions or need help, please contact us via the forum.

--Google Ads API Team

Change to the Google Ads API and the AdWords API Showcase Ads Clicks Reporting

Update (Feb 21, 2019): clarified wording of the Clicks impact.
On February 27, 2019, the data returned in the Clicks metric for Showcase ads will change in order to more accurately show you the interactions with products via Showcase ads in reporting.

In the AdWords API and the Google Ads API, the Clicks metric (clicks for Google Ads API) will change for the Shopping Performance Report and the Product Partition Report (product_group_view for Google Ads API) as follows:
  • Current reporting: Clicks only include charged clicks.
  • New reporting: Clicks will report all clicks, including free clicks. As a result, you may see a change in the number of reported clicks.
If you have questions, please reach out to us on the forum.
Nadine Sundquist, Google Ads API Team

Changes to responsive ads in the AdWords API and Google Ads API

What's changing?
Starting May 15, 2019, AdWords API and Google Ads API requests that attempt to create or modify a responsive ad will fail. Make sure you migrate to the new asset-based responsive display ad before the deprecation date.

Due to changes and improvements to ad types in Display campaigns, keeping track of the names in the UI and APIs can be tricky, so here's a quick overview:
Ad type in the UI AdWords API type Google Ads API type
Responsive ad ResponsiveDisplayAd ResponsiveDisplayAdInfo
Responsive display ad MultiAssetResponsiveDisplayAd Available in an upcoming release

After the deprecation date, behavior of the APIs will change as follows:
  • AdWords API
    • AdGroupAdService requests that attempt to create a ResponsiveDisplayAd will fail with the error AdGroupAdError.CANNOT_CREATE_DEPRECATED_ADS. The API will continue to allow you to remove ResponsiveDisplayAds and modify the status of existing ads.
    • AdService requests that attempt to modify a ResponsiveDisplayAd will fail with the error AdError.CANNOT_MODIFY_AD.
  • Google Ads API
    • AdGroupAdService requests that attempt to create a ResponsiveDisplayAdInfo will fail with the error AdGroupAdError.CANNOT_CREATE_DEPRECATED_ADS. The API will continue to allow you to remove ResponsiveDisplayAdInfos and modify the status of existing ads.
Both APIs will continue to return performance statistics for the deprecated ad types.

Why is this happening?
In October, 2018, responsive display ads replaced responsive ads as the default asset-based ad type for the Display network. To simplify the product suite, we'll be deprecating creation and modification of responsive ads.

What should you do?
Before the deprecation date: If you have any questions or need help, please contact us via the forum.
- Josh Radcliff, Google Ads API Team

Upgrade Dynamic Search Ads in AdWords API and Google Ads API by March 6, 2019

Upgrade your AdWords API and Google Ads API ads to use ExpandedDynamicSearchAd (EXPANDED_DYNAMIC_SEARCH_AD) instead of DynamicSearchAd (DYNAMIC_SEARCH_AD) by March 6, 2019. After March 6th, creating these ads through the APIs will fail with an AdGroupAdError.CANNOT_CREATE_DEPRECATED_ADS error, while updating them will result in an AdError.CANNOT_MODIFY_AD error. Existing DynamicSearchAds will continue to serve.

An ExpandedDynamicSearchAd goes beyond automating just headlines and adds the advantage of automating display URLs, so that the subdomain of your ad matches the subdomain of your landing page. In addition, Google Ads will add a path when it expects the path to outperform a plain URL. In order to increase the performance for all our advertisers, Google Ads is moving everyone to the newer format.

If you have any questions while upgrading, please reach out to us on our forum.
Nadine Sundquist, Google Ads API Team

Announcing v201902 of the Google Ad Manager API

We're happy to announce that v201902 of the Google Ad Manager API is available starting today. The two main areas that are getting new API functionality are forecasting and video.

In v201902, you can set LineItems to be paced based on their projected traffic instead of their historical traffic by setting DeliveryForecastSource to FORECASTING. This API version also adds the AdjustmentService to manage traffic forecast adjustments. For example, if you’re expecting an increase in traffic for an upcoming holiday, you can manually adjust your forecasts to take that increase into consideration.

There are also several updates to video features in this version of the API. You can now target LineItems by CmsMetadataValues (content targeting) and custom AdSpots (position targeting).

For a full list of API changes in v201902, see the release notes.

For questions about this or any other API changes, reach out to us on the Ad Manager API forum.
 - , Ad Manager API Team