Tag Archives: display_network

Changes in Network Settings for the Google Ads Standard Shopping Campaigns

On February 14, 2022, Google Ads stopped serving standard Shopping campaigns on the Google Display Network, including on Gmail, Discover, and some YouTube placements. As a result, the AdWords API, Google Ads API and Google Ads scripts will make similar changes to their behavior starting the week of February 28, 2022.

AdWords API
The AdWords API will sunset on April 27th, so you must migrate to the Google Ads API by then.

In the AdWords API, the Campaign.NetworkSetting.targetContentNetwork field will always return false for standard Shopping campaigns, which are defined as campaigns where the advertisingChannelType is set to SHOPPING, and the advertisingChannelSubType is unset. If you try to set Campaign.NetworkSetting.targetContentNetwork to true, it will be ignored.

When running reports, the API will stop returning metrics for AdNetworkType1 and AdNetworkType2 of type: CONTENT, YOUTUBE_SEARCH, or YOUTUBE_WATCH for standard Shopping campaigns for date ranges after February 14, 2022. You can still download historic metrics for these fields and values.

Google Ads API
Versions v8 and v9 of the Google Ads API will behave the same way as the AdWords API – the network_settings.target_content_network field will return false, and if you try to set this field to true, it will be ignored. In version v10 and beyond, if you try to set this field to true a CANNOT_TARGET_CONTENT_NETWORK error will be returned.

When running reports, the API will stop returning metrics for these campaigns for segments.ad_network_type of type: CONTENT, YOUTUBE_SEARCH, or YOUTUBE_WATCH for date ranges after February 14, 2022. You can still download historic metrics for this field and values.

Google Ads scripts
If you use bulk uploads to target a standard Shopping campaign for Google Display Network, the server will ignore the setting.

When generating reports, the behavior will be the same for standard Shopping campaigns, independent of the method that you use:
  • With the AdsApp.report() method, reports will stop returning metrics for AdNetworkType1 and AdNetworkType2 of type: CONTENT, YOUTUBE_SEARCH, or YOUTUBE_WATCH for date ranges after Feb 14, 2022.
  • With the AdsApp.search() method, the API will stop returning metrics for segments.ad_network_type of type: CONTENT, YOUTUBE_SEARCH, or YOUTUBE_WATCH for date ranges after Feb 14, 2022.
Historical metrics will still be available.

If you would like to retrieve any existing standard Shopping campaigns before their network settings are changed, be sure to do so before Feb. 28, 2022.

If you have any questions about this change, please feel free to contact us through the forum or at [email protected] for additional help.
- Ben Karl, on behalf of the Google Ads API Team

Upcoming change to AdWords Display ad groups with no targeting options specified

Historically, ad groups in Display campaigns have not served until you added at least one positive ad group targeting criterion, such as Placement or CriterionUserList. This behavior worked well if your goal was to target specific criteria on Display, but not if your goal was to target as broad an audience as possible.

What's changing
Starting January 11, 2017, a Display ad group will be eligible to serve ads as soon as its status is set to ENABLED and it has a bid, a budget, and an approved ad. If the ad group does not have any ad group level positive targeting criteria, then the ad group will target the entire Display network, subject to exclusions and campaign-level targeting settings (such as geo, language, etc.), with the potential to quickly exhaust your campaign budget.

This change only impacts campaigns with AdvertisingChannelType of DISPLAY or VIDEO.

Before this feature is enabled on your account, any existing Display ad groups without ad group level positive targeting criteria will be set to PAUSED.

What you should do
For existing Display campaigns and ad groups:
  • If you want to target the entire Display network (subject to exclusions and campaign-level targeting settings), then after the feature is enabled, make sure you set those ad groups to ENABLED, since they will be in the PAUSED state.
  • Otherwise, add the desired positive targeting criteria to each ad group, and then set it to ENABLED.
For new Display campaigns and ad groups, review your application's ad group creation workflow to ensure that it does the following:
  • Sets the AdGroup status field to PAUSED when creating a new ad group via AdGroupService.mutate and an ADD operation.
  • Only sets the AdGroup status to ENABLED after adding targeting criteria (if desired). You can update the status of your AdGroup via AdGroupService.mutate and a SET operation.
In addition, if your application adds and removes targeting criteria from existing Display ad groups, make sure that it will also properly update the the ad group's status to PAUSED or ENABLED if the intended side-effect of criterion addition or removal is to pause or start serving. This is particularly important when removing the only positive criterion for an ad group, since this will change its reach from very narrow to very broad.

If you have any questions, please post on the forum or the Ads Developers Plus Page.
- Josh Radcliff, AdWords API Team

AdWords: Removing support for TrueView template ads in Display campaigns

Starting September 26, 2016, we will be removing support for all TrueView in-search video template ads (template ID 231) from Display campaigns, and will no longer accept new ads for that template. Existing Display ads of this template ID will stop serving and be moved to the DISABLED status. This is in line with the upgrade of TrueView campaigns during the integration into AdWords.

Please note that this only affects Display campaigns, and not existing video campaigns. Historical stats for these ads will still be available in reports.

If you have any questions about this change, or other questions about the AdWords API, please contact us via the forum.

- Michael Cloonan, AdWords API Team

Reminder: AdWords Migration to Search Network with Display Select

In April, we announced that Search Network with Display Select support would begin in AdWords API v201402. Now that all previous API versions have been sunset, we’re on schedule to begin migrating all Search and Display Network campaigns to Search Network with Display Select beginning September 16, 2014.

This blog post will walk through everything you need to know about setting up your campaigns, including what this migration means for your campaign-creation code. You can proactively migrate your campaigns by setting their displaySelect property to true.

Remember, this will not affect Search-only or Display-only campaigns. Only campaigns that target both networks simultaneously will be migrated.

If you have any questions about this change, please contact us on the forum or via our Google+ page.
 - , AdWords API Team.

Search Network with Display Select (SNDS) is now supported in v201402

Starting with v201402 of the AdWords API, all newly created Search and Display Network campaigns will automatically be Search Network with Display Select campaigns. This means:
  • If you don't specify displaySelect when creating a Search and Display Network campaign, it will default to true, creating a Search Network with Display Select campaign
  • If you edit the networkSetting of an existing Search only campaign to target Content Network and do not specify displaySelect, we will upgrade the campaign to Search Network with Display Select by setting displaySelect to true
  • If you create a Search and Display Network campaign or edit the networkSetting of an existing Search only campaign to target Content Network, and specify displaySelect as false, you will receive an OPERATION_NOT_PERMITTED_FOR_CAMPAIGN_TYPE error
We encourage you to update your campaigns to Search Network with Display Select by setting the displaySelect property to true. Starting on September 16, 2014, we will start converting all Search and Display Network campaigns to Search Network with Display Select.

Search Network with Display Select uses improved signals and methods of predicting when and where your ads are likely to perform best, and sets a higher bar for when to show them. That means your ads are more likely to be shown to a smaller number of prospective customers, who are more likely to be interested in your offerings.

For more information about creating these types of campaigns, see our previous blog post. For more general information about this AdWords feature, please see here.

If you have any questions about this change, please contact us on the forum or via our Google+ page.

- Michael Cloonan, AdWords API Team

Changes Required for Creating New Campaigns in the AdWords API v201402

With v201402 of the AdWords API, it is now necessary to set the advertisingChannelType when you create a new Campaign. As part of this change, the networkSetting attribute is now used to define in more detail where you want your ads to appear.

All newly created campaigns, or campaigns that are switched into targeting both Search and Display using v201402, will automatically be SNDS campaigns. This behavior is the same as you will see in the AdWords User Interface, bringing that and the API into closer alignment. Existing applications are unaffected. As we continue to invest in Search Network with Display Select (SNDS) and see strong adoption from advertisers, we will over time be upgrading Search & Display Network campaigns to Search Network with Display Select.

With the introduction of both SNDS and Shopping campaigns, the new advertisingChannelType field allows you to state which kind of Campaign you're building. The field is an enumeration, which can be set to:
  • SEARCH, for the Search Network, including (for campaigns created with older API releases) Search and Display hybrids, and now SNDS campaigns;
  • DISPLAY, for the Google Display Network only;
  • SHOPPING, for Shopping campaigns serving Product Listing Ads on Google and Google Shopping.
Note that an UNKNOWN value can be returned if the value set isn't supported by the called version of the API. This covers situations where new options are added in newer releases.

This table specifies the only valid combinations of parameters for newly created campaigns on the networks that you intend to target.

Networks Targeted by the settings on the right
advertisingChannelType
displaySelect
Enabled networkSettings
Search Network
SEARCH
false
Search Networks only
Search Network with Display Select
SEARCH
true or unspecified
Search & Content networks
Display only
DISPLAY
false or unspecified
Content Network only
Shopping only
SHOPPING
false or unspecified
Search Network only

Any parameter combination other than the above when creating a new campaign or making targeting changes to existing campaigns will be rejected with an OPERATION_NOT_PERMITTED_FOR_CAMPAIGN_TYPE error.

While you can no longer create Search & Display Network campaigns, existing campaigns of this type will remain unchanged. You can identify them by their displaySelect attribute being false, while both the Search and Content Networks are enabled. These campaigns should be migrated to SNDS by setting displaySelect to true.

The advertiserChannelType and isDisplaySelect fields are also present in reporting, so you can see how your Campaigns are configured.

If you have any questions about this change or the AdWords API in general, you can post them on our developer forum. You can also follow our Google+ page for updates about the AdWords API.
 - , AdWords API Team

Reminder: Change to contentBid setting in “Display Network Only” campaigns

We previously announced that we are removing the ability to set contentBid for “Display Network only” campaigns in the AdWords API on February 18th, 2014. However, based on developer feedback, we are moving this date to March 3, 2014.

If your application modifies ad group bids for Display-only campaigns, then your application may be affected by this change.

To make sure your applications and scripts work properly, you should make the following changes to your application code before March 3, 2014:
  • Modify your code to set the default ad group bid instead of contentBid for “Display Only Campaigns”.
  • Clear out the contentBid field for “Display Only Campaigns” by setting it to zero so that AdWords will start using the default ad group bid when serving your ads.
  • If you store campaigns in a local data store, re-sync your data store with AdWords to pick up the updated default bid values.
If you have any questions about this change or the AdWords API in general, you can post them on our developer forum. You can also follow our Google+ page for updates about the AdWords API.

Anash P. Oommen, AdWords API Team

Reminder: Change to contentBid setting in “Display Network Only” campaigns

As previously announced, we are removing the ability to set contentBid for “Display Network only” campaigns in the AdWords API on February 18th, 2014. Once this change happens, you will start receiving a ReadOnlyError.READ_ONLY error for all versions of the API if you set contentBid for a “Display Network only” campaign. You can use the fieldPath of the ApiError object to identify the operation triggering the error.

To make sure your applications and scripts work properly, you should make the following changes to your application code before February 18th, 2014:
  • modify your code to set the default ad group bid instead of contentBid for “Display Only Campaigns”
  • clear out the contentBid field for “Display Only Campaigns” so that AdWords will start using the default ad group bid when serving your ads
  • if you store campaigns in a local data store, re-sync your data store with AdWords to pick up the updated default bid values
If you have any questions about this change or the AdWords API in general, you can post them on our developer forum. You can also follow our Google+ page for updates about the AdWords API.

Anash P. Oommen, AdWords API Team