Author Archives: Google Ads Developer Advisor

Display & Video 360 API v3 entering general availability

Today we’re announcing the launch of Display & Video 360 API v3 out of public beta and into general availability. With this launch, v3 becomes our recommended version, and our guides have been updated to reflect v3 features and conventions.

Today’s launch also makes the following changes:

Read the Display & Video 360 API release notes for more details on this and previous updates. Instructions on migrating from v2 to v3 can be found in our migration guide. Before using these new features, make sure to update your client library to the latest version.

If you have questions regarding breaking changes, run into issues, or need help with these new features, please contact us using our support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

Display & Video 360 API v3 entering general availability

Today we’re announcing the launch of Display & Video 360 API v3 out of public beta and into general availability. With this launch, v3 becomes our recommended version, and our guides have been updated to reflect v3 features and conventions.

Today’s launch also makes the following changes:

Read the Display & Video 360 API release notes for more details on this and previous updates. Instructions on migrating from v2 to v3 can be found in our migration guide. Before using these new features, make sure to update your client library to the latest version.

If you have questions regarding breaking changes, run into issues, or need help with these new features, please contact us using our support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

Upcoming changes to YouTube Select (YTS) in Reach Plan Service

We are expanding support for YouTube Select forecasting in ReachPlanService to additional markets on November 14, 2023. We introduced two new error codes in v15 of the Google Ads API to support these new markets.

Error code Reason
ReachPlanError.NOT_FORECASTABLE_NOT_ENOUGH_INVENTORY There isn’t enough inventory available for forecast.
ReachPlanError.NOT_FORECASTABLE_ACCOUNT_NOT_ENABLED The account isn’t enabled.

Note: earlier versions of the Google Ads API that do not contain these error codes will throw a ReachPlanError.UNKNOWN error.

If you use this feature, make sure you update your code to handle these additional error codes before November 14, 2023.

For more information regarding Reach Forecasting, visit the Reach Forecasting guide. If you have any questions, please contact us through our support page or on the forum.

 - , Google Ads API Team

Updates to Customer Match, Conversions, and Store Sales Uploads

Google announced in September that there would be upcoming changes to support the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Google is releasing changes to the Google Ads API and the Display & Video 360 API as quickly as possible so that our developers have time to make application changes before DMA starts being enforced, expected March 6, 2024. Review the EU user consent policy for a reminder on our consent requirements for users in the European Economic Area.

What should I change for the Google Ads API?

The Google Ads API v15 release introduced the Consent object for uploading consent with your data. This Consent is used across all uploads for call conversions, click conversions , Customer Match, and Store Sales. Here is where to set the Consent for each feature.

Feature Code change
Call Conversions Set Consent for each call conversion event at CallConversion.consent. See the guide for details.
Click Conversions Set Consent for each click conversion event at ClickConversion.consent. See the guide for details.
Customer Match Set Consent for each Customer Match job at CustomerMatchUserListMetadata.consent. See the guide for details.
Store Sales Set Consent for each Store Sales event at UserData.consent. See the guide for details.

What should I change for the Display & Video 360 API?

The Display & Video 360 API will be releasing similar changes in the following months announced via this blog. Check back in the release notes for updates to existing versions and the Customer Match feature guide for updated implementation instructions.

Where can I get support?

If you have questions, reach out to us [email protected] for the Google Ads API or the support form for the Display & Video 360 API.

Nadine Wang, on behalf of the Google Ads API and Display & Video 360 API Teams

Announcing v15 of the Google Ads API

Today, we’re announcing the v15 release of the Google Ads API. To use some of the v15 features, you will need to upgrade your client libraries and client code. The updated client libraries and code examples will be published next week.

Here are the highlights: Where can I learn more?
The following resources can help you get started: If you have any questions or need additional help, contact us through the forum.
 - Thanet Knack Praneenararat, on behalf of the Google Ads API Team

Announcing beta launch of Display & Video 360 API v3

We’re pleased to announce that Display & Video 360 API v3 is available in public beta starting today.

v3 includes a number of new features and breaking changes. Here are some of the changes introduced in v3: More detailed information about this release can be found in our release notes. Follow the steps in our migration guide to migrate from v2 to v3. Be aware that breaking changes may be made to v3 while in beta and will be listed in the Display & Video 360 API release notes.

If you run into issues or need help with these new features or samples, please contact us using our support contact form.
- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

Changes in dynamic ad targets reporting

Starting on September 20, 2023, we’ve started rolling out a backend improvement on Google Ads dynamic ad targets reporting to include criteria that were removed and then added back as negative.

Before this change, report queries for web page criteria (that is, queries against the webpage_view resource) requesting historical data did not include criteria that were removed and then added back as negative.

This resulted in unexpected values in reports for the time frame when these criteria were accruing metrics (that is, when they were targeted and had negative = false), because the metrics they accrued in this time period were not returned in report query results.

The change only affects cases where a positive criterion was removed and added back as negative: all other criteria will return the same values they did before this change.

After this change is released, criteria metrics will take into account removed criteria and criteria that were re-added as negative.

Required actions

You don’t need to change anything in your GAQL queries; however, be aware that you may notice differences in criteria reporting after this change due to the correct values being reported.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us via the forum.

 - Mattia Tommasone, Google Ads API Team

Google Ads Shopping Campaign Enhanced CPC Deprecation

Starting in early October 2023, any Shopping campaigns using Enhanced cost-per-click (eCPC) will behave as if they are using Manual cost-per-click (CPC) bidding.

Enhanced CPC was the first Smart Bidding strategy launched by Google over 10 years ago. It has been replaced by more advanced bidding strategies such as Target ROAS and Maximize conversion value, as well as fully automated campaigns like Performance Max.

What happens if I change nothing?

If you choose to not make changes to your campaign by October 2023, it will operate as if it's using Manual CPC bidding. All your existing campaigns using eCPC will continue serving using the manual bids that you set. If you set ManualCpc.enhanced_cpc_enabled to true in a Shopping campaign, the API ignores the setting and the campaign will only use Manual CPC bidding.

What should I change?

If you want to continue to use Manual CPC, remove any code that sets ManualCpc.enhanced_cpc_enabled to true for Shopping campaigns. We recommend these alternatives to Manual CPC:

Where can I get support?

If you have questions, please reach out to us on the forum or at [email protected].

Nadine Wang, Google Ads API Team

Google Ads API support for importing and editing conversions from Google Analytics

What's changing
Starting October 9, 2023, the Google Ads API will allow the following types of mutate operations for a ConversionAction imported from a Google Analytics 4 (GA4) property:
  1. An update that modifies status, primary_for_goal, category, name, or value_settings.
  2. A remove that removes the conversion action.
Why this is important
For many Google Ads users, the conversions they import from Google Analytics are a critical component of bidding and reporting. Until now, you could use the Google Analytics Admin API to create a link between your Google Analytics and Ads accounts, but you could not use the Google Ads API to complete the following remaining steps in the linking process: With this change, the Google Ads API supports both of these steps and provides a complete API-based solution for linking your Google Analytics 4 property to your Google Ads account.

In addition to the attributes needed for proper configuration of conversion goals, you can now modify the following attributes of an imported GA4 ConversionAction:
  • name
  • value_settings
Requests that attempt to modify any other attributes of an imported GA4 ConversionAction will continue to fail, as will requests that attempt to remove or update a ConversionAction imported from a Universal Analytics (UA) property.

What you should do
Modify any code in your integration that depends on the Google Ads API rejecting a ConversionActionOperation with a MUTATE_NOT_ALLOWED error if it attempts to update or remove an imported GA4 conversion. For example, if your integration relies on this behavior to detect if a conversion action is an imported GA4 conversion, modify it to instead check if the type of the ConversionAction is either GOOGLE_ANALYTICS_4_CUSTOM or GOOGLE_ANALYTICS_4_PURCHASE.

In addition, if you currently complete the process of linking Google Analytics to Google Ads accounts using the UI, consider whether switching to an API-based solution is appropriate for your use case.

How to get help
If you have any questions or need help, check out the Google Ads API support page for options.
- Josh Radcliff, Google Analytics and Google Ads API Team

Buy on Google For Search and Shopping Deprecation

Buy on Google for Search and Shopping will no longer be available starting September 26, 2023. All Merchant and Consumer support will end for Buy on Google on Search on November 25, 2023. The only exception is that the orders.get and orders.list methods will remain available for Search and Shopping until October 30, 2024, so that merchants can download their historical order data.

See below for the specific timeline of when Buy on Google methods will no longer be available for the Search and Shopping program.

June 28, 2023 onwards:

September 30, 2023:

October 31, 2023:

All the orders related resources (orders, orderinvoices, orderreports, orderreturns, ordertrackingsignals) and all their underlying methods. The only exception is that the orders.get and orders.list methods will remain available for Search and Shopping until October 30, 2024, so that merchants can download their historical order data.

If you are currently using the Buy on Google endpoints for Search and Shopping via the Content API, you will need to stop using these services for Search and Shopping before the dates listed above, as your requests will start to fail after that date.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us via the forum.

Benji Rothman, Content API for Shopping Team