Category Archives: Ads Developer Blog

The official blog for information about the AdWords, AdSense, DoubleClick and AdMob APIs and SDKs

Announcing v3.4 of the DCM/DFA Reporting and Trafficking API

Today we're releasing v3.4 of the DCM/DFA Reporting and Trafficking API. Highlights of this release include:

Details of these and other changes are covered in our release notes.

Deprecation and sunset reminder

In accordance with our deprecation schedule, this release marks the beginning of the deprecation period for v3.3, which will sunset on February 28, 2021. After this date, any requests made against v3.3 will begin returning errors.

Learn More

As with every new version of the DCM/DFA Reporting and Trafficking API, we encourage you to carefully review all changes in the release notes. For those of you looking to get going right away, updated client libraries are now available. If you're just starting out, the Get Started guide is a great reference to help you get up and running quickly.


Give it a try and let us know if you have any questions!

- Nikita Agarwal, DCM API Team

Sunset of v2 for the Content API for Shopping

The Content API for Shopping v2 will sunset on March 29, 2021. On this date, all requests made against v2 of the Content API for Shopping will fail. Please migrate to v2.1 as soon as possible to ensure your applications are unaffected.

To help with the migration to v2.1, we have prepared the following resources:
  • Migration guide -- Explains how to update your applications for v2.1
  • Supplemental feeds guide — In v2.1, supplemental feeds replace the v2 inventory service for partial updates to online products.
  • Local inventory service guide — In v2.1, the local inventory service replaces the v2 inventory service for updates to local inventory.
  • Release notes -- Lists all changes and new features added in v2.1, organized by release date.
If you have questions about migration, please reach out to us on the forum.
Benji Rothman, Content API for Shopping Team

Changes to campaign_bid_modifier reporting in the Google Ads API

Starting on September 1, 2020, we will be making a change to how the Google Ads API reports campaign-level bid modifiers to make the API’s results more consistent with the Google Ads UI.

Currently, Google Ads Query Language queries for campaign_bid_modifier resources only return rows if either of the following conditions are met:
  1. A non-zero bid modifier is set, or
  2. The row’s associated criterion_id has accrued metrics for the CALLS interaction type.
After this change goes into effect, queries for campaign_bid_modifier resources will return rows for all campaigns, more closely matching what a user sees in the Google Ads UI’s Advanced bid adj. > Interactions screen.

Users who wish to keep using a restricted view of their campaign_bid_modifier reports can add a predicate such as “WHERE campaign_bid_modifier.bid_modifier != 1.0" (where a 1.0 value is equivalent to a bid adjustment of ±0%) to their queries to limit reporting to non-zero bid modifier rows.

This change will not affect the behavior of the AdWords API.

If you have any questions about this change, please reach out to us on the forum.
- Adam Ohren, The Google Ads API team

Stricter Validation For DCM/DFA Reporting and Trafficking API

On July 14th, 2020, we will begin enforcing stricter validation for requests to the DCM/DFA Reporting and Trafficking API. This change will initially be introduced for 5% of API traffic during the week of July 14, 10% the week of July 21, 30% the week of July 28, and all requests by August 7th, 2020. 
As a result, your requests might begin returning additional errors. Please update your requests, as needed. 

The following list includes the error codes that you might see, as well as the recommended solutions:
  • "Invalid value - Enum" - Ensure you are using valid enum values. For more information, see the API Reference.
  • "Invalid value - Bool" - Ensure boolean fields in the request are set to true/false, rather than empty string.
  • "Invalid value - Integer ####.0" - Ensure integer fields in the request are set to valid integers.
  • "Invalid JSON Payload - NaN" - Ensure NaN does not appear in the request payload.
  • "Invalid JSON payload received. - not repeating" - Do not use arrays for non-array fields.
Method specific errors:
  • dfareporting.reports.run: "Invalid JSON payload received. Unexpected end of string. Expected a value" - Ensure the request body is completely empty.
  • dfareporting.reports.list: "Request contains an invalid argument." - Ensure that empty fields in the response contain a valid value. For example, empty array fields must be specified by an empty array, rather than an empty string or object.
  • dfareporting.files.get and dfareporting.reports.files.get: "OAuth token was passed in the query parameter. Please send it in Authorization header instead." - Requests must use the HTTP header Authorization: Bearer [ACCESS_TOKEN] to pass OAuth credentials.

Why is this changing?
Stricter validation helps ensure that problematic requests are not silently ignored, and aligns the behavior of the DCM API with that of other Google APIs.
- Evan Chou, DCM API Team

Stricter Validation For DCM/DFA Reporting and Trafficking API

On July 14th, 2020, we will begin enforcing stricter validation for requests to the DCM/DFA Reporting and Trafficking API. This change will initially be introduced for 5% of API traffic during the week of July 14, 10% the week of July 21, 30% the week of July 28, and all requests by August 7th, 2020. 
As a result, your requests might begin returning additional errors. Please update your requests, as needed. 

The following list includes the error codes that you might see, as well as the recommended solutions:
  • "Invalid value - Enum" - Ensure you are using valid enum values. For more information, see the API Reference.
  • "Invalid value - Bool" - Ensure boolean fields in the request are set to true/false, rather than empty string.
  • "Invalid value - Integer ####.0" - Ensure integer fields in the request are set to valid integers.
  • "Invalid JSON Payload - NaN" - Ensure NaN does not appear in the request payload.
  • "Invalid JSON payload received. - not repeating" - Do not use arrays for non-array fields.
Method specific errors:
  • dfareporting.reports.run: "Invalid JSON payload received. Unexpected end of string. Expected a value" - Ensure the request body is completely empty.
  • dfareporting.reports.list: "Request contains an invalid argument." - Ensure that empty fields in the response contain a valid value. For example, empty array fields must be specified by an empty array, rather than an empty string or object.
  • dfareporting.files.get and dfareporting.reports.files.get: "OAuth token was passed in the query parameter. Please send it in Authorization header instead." - Requests must use the HTTP header Authorization: Bearer [ACCESS_TOKEN] to pass OAuth credentials.

Why is this changing?
Stricter validation helps ensure that problematic requests are not silently ignored, and aligns the behavior of the DCM API with that of other Google APIs.
- Evan Chou, DCM API Team

Announcing v4 of the Google Ads API beta

Today, we’re announcing the v4 release of the Google Ads API beta. To use the v4 features, update your client library. If you are upgrading from v1, v2, or v3, some of your code may require changes when you switch to the new v4 endpoint. For more information on breaking changes, see the migration guide. If you are using v1, upgrade by July 29, 2020.

Here are the highlights:
  • Local campaigns. Local campaigns streamline the process for you, making it easy to promote your stores across Google’s largest properties including the Google Search Network, Maps, YouTube, and the Google Display Network.
  • Support for retrieving and reporting on Smart campaigns.
  • Support for account-level optimization score.
  • Keyword Planning. See the Planning section in the release notes for details.
  • Linking third party app analytics accounts to Google Ads accounts. See the Account Management section in the release notes for details.
Where can I learn more?
The following resources can help you get going with the Google Ads API: The updated client libraries and code examples will be published next week. If you have any questions or need additional help, contact us via the forum.
Nadine Wang, on behalf of the Google Ads API Team

Announcing v4 of the Google Ads API beta

Today, we’re announcing the v4 release of the Google Ads API beta. To use the v4 features, update your client library. If you are upgrading from v1, v2, or v3, some of your code may require changes when you switch to the new v4 endpoint. For more information on breaking changes, see the migration guide. If you are using v1, upgrade by July 29, 2020.

Here are the highlights:
  • Local campaigns. Local campaigns streamline the process for you, making it easy to promote your stores across Google’s largest properties including the Google Search Network, Maps, YouTube, and the Google Display Network.
  • Support for retrieving and reporting on Smart campaigns.
  • Support for account-level optimization score.
  • Keyword Planning. See the Planning section in the release notes for details.
  • Linking third party app analytics accounts to Google Ads accounts. See the Account Management section in the release notes for details.
Where can I learn more?
The following resources can help you get going with the Google Ads API: The updated client libraries and code examples will be published next week. If you have any questions or need additional help, contact us via the forum.
Nadine Wang, on behalf of the Google Ads API Team

Incremental update to Display & Video 360 API v1

We’re launching an incremental update to the Display & Video 360 API v1 today. The update includes:


A more detailed summary of this update can be found on the Display & Video 360 API release notes page. You can take advantage of these additional features by updating your client library to the most recent version.

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

Announcing Authorized Buyers’ new Real-Time Bidding API

Today we are pleased to announce the release of Authorized Buyers’ Real-Time Bidding API. In addition, we are also announcing that all versions of the Ad Exchange Buyer API are now deprecated, and will sunset by the end of Q1, 2021. With the exception of the Budgets resource that is not being carried over to the new API, we recommend migrating to the Real-Time Bidding API’s equivalent resources well before the sunset to avoid interruptions to your integration. Note that this deprecation does not include the Ad Exchange Buyer II API, which will continue to be supported.

The Real-Time Bidding API currently includes resources for managing creatives and user lists, and will be expanded in Q3 to include resources for managing pretargeting. Additional updates through Q3 and Q4 will add features for managing accounts and billing information, and retrieving performance reports. We recommend reading through the migration guide—which will be updated as new features are added to the Real-Time Bidding API—to learn more about getting started with the new API.

Feel free to reach out to us via the Authorized Buyers API forums if you have questions or feedback concerning the Real-Time Bidding API.

Mark Saniscalchi, Authorized Buyers Developer Relations

Share your feedback about the Ad Manager API

To learn more about what's working well and what could be improved, we're running a developer survey on the Ad Manager API. All questions are optional and your answers will be anonymous. We hope you'll take the opportunity to leave feedback on how we can make managing your network better.

Take the survey



The survey should take about 10 minutes to complete and will close on July 31, 2020. Thanks for helping us continue to improve developer experience for everyone.
 - Chris Seeley, Ad Manager API Team