Sunset of the Average Position Metric in AdWords and Google Ads APIs

In the week of September 30, 2019, the average position metric will be sunset. This change was announced this past February in the Google Ads Help Center. The new alternatives were described in this November 2018 blog post. Once the sunset occurs, requests for the average position (AdWords API, Google Ads API) will return NULL values.

In the AdWords API v201809, NULL values are returned as two dashes. In the Google Ads API, NULL values are returned as NullValues.

If you use ValueTrack parameters, we encourage you to remove the ValueTrack parameter {adposition} from your tracking templates. When average position is sunset, the ValueTrack parameter {adposition} will begin returning the empty string.

Note that average position has already been removed from the current beta version of the Google Ads API, but is accessible in the earlier V1_x versions.

In lieu of average position, we recommend you use the new metrics of Impression (Absolute Top) %" and "Impression (Top) %. These are the new metrics:

Absolute Top Metrics
AdWords API Google Ads API
AbsoluteTopImpressionPercentage absolute_top_impression_percentage
SearchAbsoluteTopImpressionShare search_absolute_top_impression_share
SearchBudgetLostAbsoluteTopImpressionShare search_budget_lost_absolute_top_impression_share
SearchRankLostAbsoluteTopImpressionShare search_rank_lost_absolute_top_impression_share


Top Metrics
AdWords API Google Ads API
TopImpressionPercentage top_impression_percentage
SearchTopImpressionShare search_top_impression_share
SearchBudgetLostTopImpressionShare search_budget_lost_top_impression_share
SearchRankLostTopImpressionShare search_rank_lost_top_impression_share


As always, don't hesitate to reach out to us on the developer forum with any questions.
, Google Ads API Team