Category Archives: Ads Developer Blog

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

Ad group and keyword forecasts being removed in the Google Ads API

We are announcing that KeywordPlanAdGroupForecast and KeywordPlanKeywordForecast will be deprecated in the Google Ads API. This change will be effective on June 1, 2023.

Starting June 1, the GenerateForecastMetricsRequest will still be used to fetch forecasts, but the KeywordPlanAdGroupForecast and KeywordPlanKeywordForecast will be empty. The KeywordPlanCampaignForecast will be returned as usual.


If you are using KeywordPlanAdGroupForecast or KeywordPlanKeywordForecast in your applications, update your applications to ensure that they can handle blank responses.

We recommend that you start updating your applications as soon as possible. You can find more information about how to use KeywordPlanCampaignForecast in the Google Ads API documentation.

Please contact us on our forum or at [email protected] if you have any questions.
- Mike Cloonan, Google Ads API Team

Android Google Mobile Ads SDK Version 22.0.0 activates SDK sunset timelines

We are excited to announce the release of our newest version of the Google Mobile Ads SDK. We recommend upgrading as soon as possible to stay up-to-date with our latest features.

Version 22.0.0 Changes

Google Mobile Ads SDK version 22.0.0 introduces a few major changes:

  • MobileAds.getVersionString() is removed in version 22.0.0 in favor of MobileAds.getVersion(). The new method returns the expected external version number (for example, 22.0.0), helping you more clearly identify your SDK version. For more information about this change, see the Use the new Google Mobile Ads SDK getVersion() method blog post.
  • In version 21, the Google Mobile Ads SDK provided you the NativeCustomFormatAd.getVideoMediaView() method to get the media asset for an Ad Manager native custom ad format. In version 22, NativeCustomFormatAd provides direct access to getMediaContent() enabling you to define your MediaView in layout files along with the rest of your other views, and simply populate that view with its content once the ad loads.

See release notes for the full changelog. See our migration guide to help you migrate your apps.

SDK deprecation/sunset activated

Per the deprecated schedule announced last year, the release of iOS version 10.0.0 in February and this Android version 22.0.0 release activate the sunset period of earlier Android/iOS releases. Specifically:

  • Android Google Mobile Ads SDK version 20.x.x is officially deprecated, meaning that you will be asked to update to at least version 21.0.0 to receive full support from the Google Mobile Ads SDK developer forum.
  • Android versions 19.x.x and below, as well as iOS versions 7.x.x will sunset on June 30th, 2023, meaning that ad serving could be disrupted. See details below.

Updated definition of sunset

We remain committed to regularly disabling old SDK versions balanced with minimizing disruption to ad serving. Aligned with this goal, we are making some changes to the previously announced sunset definition for 2023:

  1. We previously communicated that the sunset notice period would be 2 months. For this 2023 sunset, the sunset date is June 30th, approximately 3 months notice.
  2. We will leverage the “Outdated” feature on the Google Play SDK Index, requiring you to move off a sunset SDK version for future releases of your Android apps. See Understanding issues with your app’s third-party SDK for more information.
  3. Starting June 30th, you may notice some disruptions in your ad serving. While we do not plan to stop ad serving for iOS version 7.x.x and Android versions 19.x.x and earlier at this time, we will regularly review usage of all sunset versions going forward to consider disabling ad serving. The oldest versions with lower usage and higher maintenance costs will be targeted first. Therefore, ad traffic from sunset SDKs versions will be at risk of receiving automatic no fill due to stopped ad serving going forward.

To avoid disruptions in ad serving, we highly recommend upgrading to a supported version as soon as possible so your users have a chance to update before June 30th, 2023.

Check if your apps are affected

To help you prepare for these changes, there are several ways you can check if your apps are affected:

  • Use the Ads Activity report and enable the “GMA SDK” dimension to see iOS app traffic running on iOS 7.x.x or earlier. Currently, only the Google Mobile Ads SDK for iOS is supported.
  • In Android Studio, check your build.gradle file for build warnings, which are thrown when compiling with Android SDK version 19.x.x or earlier.
  • Check your console logs for warning logs when making ad requests.

As always, if you have any questions or need additional help, contact us through the developer forum.

 - Jill Song, Mobile Ads Developer Relations

Image and Location Auto-migration in Google Ads API Postponed

What’s changing?
We previously announced that the Image and Location Auto-migrations in Google Ads API would start on 3 April 2023. We are postponing the auto-migration and will publish a blog post with a new date soon.

Image and Location assets will continue to be available in test accounts until the auto-migration starts.

What do I need to do?
No immediate action is required.

To be prepared for the auto-migration we recommend that you upgrade to v13 of the Google Ads API.

If you have any questions, please reach out to us on the forum.
Bob Hancock, Google Ads API Team

Take the 2023 Google Mobile Ads SDK developer survey

Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of our 2023 Google Mobile Ads SDK Developer Survey. As part of our efforts to continue updating the AdMob and Ad Manager products, we’d like to hear from you about where we should focus our efforts. This includes product feedback as well as feedback on our guides, code samples and other resources. Your feedback will help shape our future product and resource roadmap.

Take the survey

This anonymous survey should only take about 15 minutes to complete and will provide our team with your valuable feedback as we plan for the months ahead. Whether you’re an engineer, Ad Ops personnel, or a PM, your feedback on AdMob, Ad Manager, and the Google Mobile Ads SDK is valuable to us. We appreciate you taking the time to help improve our developer experience!

 - Chris Giglio, Mobile Ads Developer Relations

Take the 2023 Google Mobile Ads SDK developer survey

Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of our 2023 Google Mobile Ads SDK Developer Survey. As part of our efforts to continue updating the AdMob and Ad Manager products, we’d like to hear from you about where we should focus our efforts. This includes product feedback as well as feedback on our guides, code samples and other resources. Your feedback will help shape our future product and resource roadmap.

Take the survey

This anonymous survey should only take about 15 minutes to complete and will provide our team with your valuable feedback as we plan for the months ahead. Whether you’re an engineer, Ad Ops personnel, or a PM, your feedback on AdMob, Ad Manager, and the Google Mobile Ads SDK is valuable to us. We appreciate you taking the time to help improve our developer experience!

 - Chris Giglio, Mobile Ads Developer Relations

Take the 2023 Google Mobile Ads SDK developer survey

Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of our 2023 Google Mobile Ads SDK Developer Survey. As part of our efforts to continue updating the AdMob and Ad Manager products, we’d like to hear from you about where we should focus our efforts. This includes product feedback as well as feedback on our guides, code samples and other resources. Your feedback will help shape our future product and resource roadmap.

Take the survey

This anonymous survey should only take about 15 minutes to complete and will provide our team with your valuable feedback as we plan for the months ahead. Whether you’re an engineer, Ad Ops personnel, or a PM, your feedback on AdMob, Ad Manager, and the Google Mobile Ads SDK is valuable to us. We appreciate you taking the time to help improve our developer experience!

 - Chris Giglio, Mobile Ads Developer Relations

Experiment changes in Google Ads scripts

Starting in April, we will be rolling out a change to the way you create experiments in Google Ads scripts to bring the process more in line with the Google Ads API. Previously, you would create a draft, modify the draft, and then create an experiment from the modified draft. Now, you will create the experiment directly, which will automatically create the underlying drafts and allow you to modify them before scheduling the experiment.

You can read more about this feature in our Drafts and Experiments guide.

To summarize the new changes in a simple example, if you had code such as: 

const draft = campaign.newDraftBuilder()
  .withName(newDraftName)
  .build()
  .getResult();
// Modify the draft campaign before beginning the experiment.
const draftCampaign = draft.getDraftCampaign();
const experiment = draft.newExperimentBuilder()
  .withName(newExperimentName)
  .withTrafficSplitPercent(50)
  .startBuilding();
The new equivalent code would be: 

const experiment = AdsApp.newExperimentBuilder()
  .withCampaign(campaign)
  .withTrafficSplitPercent(50)
  // Some new fields are required.
  .withStartDate("20230501")
  .withEndDate("20230601")
  .withType("SEARCH_CUSTOM")
  // The suffix will automatically be added to the end of the name for
  // each experiment campaign.
  .withSuffix("experiment")
  // Goals have no effect on the serving of the experiment, but instead
  // just help you keep track of your intentions.
  .withGoals([{metric: 'CLICKS', direction: 'INCREASE'}])
  .build();
// The experiment campaign is the new equivalent of the draft campaign
// in the example above.
const experimentCampaign = experiment.getExperimentCampaign();
This change will allow us to bring further improvements to this feature as they are added in the Google Ads API.

If you have any questions or feedback, please leave a post on our forum or send a message to our support alias [email protected].
- Mike Cloonan, Google Ads Scripts Team

Deprecation of Display & Video 360 API v1

Today we are deprecating Display & Video 360 API v1. While deprecated, v1 will no longer be updated. We will sunset v1 on September 14, 2023. Migrate to v2 before the sunset date to avoid an interruption of service.

You can read our release notes for more information about new features available in v2, such as the ability to retrieve YouTube & Partners line items, ad groups, and ads. Follow the steps in our v2 migration guide to help you migrate from v1 to v2.

After supporting and regularly updating Display & Video 360 API v1 for over three years, we are excited to introduce new Display & Video 360 API features using a more consistent version release and sunset schedule. A projected schedule will be announced on this blog at a later date.

If you run into issues or need help with your migration, please contact us using our support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

Announcing the deprecation of Ad Exchange Buyer II API

The Ad Exchange Buyer II API is now deprecated, and the following resources will be sunset on September 29th, 2023:

Accessing the sunset resources will return an error response following the sunset date. Note that RTB Troubleshooting resources aren’t included in this list, and will continue to be supported until further notice.

To continue programmatically accessing your Client Access and Marketplace configurations, you should migrate to the Authorized Buyers Marketplace API. For more information, we recommend that you review the Marketplace guide and samples. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to reach out to us via the Authorized Buyers API Forum.

- Mark Saniscalchi, Authorized Buyers Developer Relations

Removing support for PHP 7 in the Google Ads API client library for PHP

In July 2023, the Google Ads API client library for PHP will start requiring PHP version 8.0 or higher. The version of the client library that adds support for the Google Ads API v14 will be the last version that supports PHP 7. We’ll still fix security issues for this client library version until the Google Ads API v14 is sunset, but no new features will be added.

All PHP 7 versions reached their end of life in 2022. The PHP development team no longer provides security fixes for these versions, so we highly recommend migrating to newer versions as soon as possible.

Here are useful resources to help with the PHP migration: If you have any questions regarding this change, feel free to comment directly on the GitHub issue.
 - Thanet Knack Praneenararat, Google Ads API Team