Category Archives: Ads Developer Blog

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

Sunset of the Ad Manager API v202008

On Tuesday, August 31, 2021, in accordance with the deprecation schedule, v202008 of the Ad Manager API will sunset. At that time, any requests made to this version will return errors.

If you’re still using v202008, now is the time to upgrade to a newer release and take advantage of additional functionality. For example, in v202105 we added support for pushing creative previews to linked devices.

When you’re ready to upgrade, check the full release notes to identify any breaking changes. Here are a few examples of changes that may impact your applications:
  • v202102
    • We renamed an AuthenticationError enum value from NOT_WHITELISTED_FOR_API_ACCESS to NETWORK_API_ACCESS_DISABLED.
    • We removed deprecated LineItem fields isPrioritizedPreferredDealsEnabled and adExchangeAuctionOpeningPriority.
  • v202105
As always, don't hesitate to reach out to us on the developer forum with any questions.
 - Donovan McMurray, Ad Manager API Team

Google Apps Script & Google Ads scripts now support Content API v2.1 by default

Going forward, if you use Content API for Shopping through Google Apps Script or Google Ads scripts, new scripts will use Content API v2.1 by default. This change is part of the deprecation of Content API for Shopping v2, scheduled for sunset on September 30th, 2021, after which scripts that depend on v2 features won’t work.

If you currently have a Google Apps script or Google Ads script that uses Content API for Shopping v2, then we strongly recommend you migrate to v2.1. Please note that some methods and fields in v2 are no longer supported in v2.1 (for example Inventory.set), so check the availability of methods and fields you use when you migrate. See the migration guide for more detail.

If you need help implementing this change, please visit the Content API for Shopping forum.
Ian Ballantyne, Content API for Shopping Team

Google Ads API v6 sunset reminder

Google Ads API v6 will sunset on September 8, 2021. After this date, all v6 API requests will begin to fail. Please migrate to a newer version prior to September 8, 2021 to ensure your API access is unaffected.

We've prepared various resources to help you with the migration: If you have questions while you’re upgrading, please reach out to us on the forum or at [email protected].
 - , Google Ads API Team

Try the new Google Ads scripts experience

Today we’re launching the beta version of the new Google Ads scripts experience. Existing scripts won’t be affected, but if you're interested in trying some new features and performance improvements, you can opt in on an individual script basis. To do so, open your script and switch on the new scripts experience (Beta) toggle above the code:

The code works on the same interface you've been using all along, so your existing scripts will be compatible with minimal changes.

Some highlight features include:
  • Support for ES6, including let, classes, for..of loops, and more.
  • Improved throughput, meaning you can process more entities in the same amount of time. We've also removed the entity limits on processing, although time limits remain in place.
  • More control over setting up and maintaining bidding strategies.
The beta doesn’t currently support manager account scripts or bulk uploads, but watch out for those features in a future update.

See our developers site for full information on the new experience, including migration information, performance improvements, and updated best practices.

If you have any questions or feedback regarding the new experience, please leave a post on our forum so that we can help.
- Mike Cloonan, Google Ads Scripts Team

Phone Verification in Content API for Shopping

We are pleased to announce a new Content API interface developers can use to verify phone numbers for Merchant Center accounts. Phone verification is an important step in providing contact information for an account and can also help address account status issues such as PENDING_PHONE_VERIFICATION, which in some cases can enable the option for an account re-review. Prior to this release, this was only possible in the Merchant Center user interface.

Two new methods are provided in the 2-step verification process: Once verified, the phone number will appear in the Accounts.AccountBusinessInformation. The new methods replace the prior approach of setting a phone number directly. We strongly recommend you use these new methods to verify the phone numbers for all Merchant Center accounts to avoid future issues. See the Phone Verification guide for examples and more detail.

If you require further support implementing this change, please visit the Content API for Shopping forum.
Ian Ballantyne, Content API for Shopping Team

Updates to how Google Ads API Smart Bidding strategies are organized

We previously announced changes to how Smart Bidding strategies are organized to help advertisers choose the right one. Google Ads API developers can now create new or update existing Search campaigns using the following bidding strategies: What’s changing
Starting on September 30, 2021, Google Ads API developers won’t be able to create new TargetCpa or TargetRoas standard bidding strategies in Search campaigns. This change will prevent creating new Search campaigns that use these strategies, as well as prevent updating existing Search campaigns to use these strategies. Instead, use the new optional target CPA field with MaximizeConversions, and the new target ROAS field with MaximizeConversionValue. This change will not affect portfolio (shared) bidding strategies.

AdWords API
AdWords API users can continue to use the old style TargetRoasBiddingScheme and TargetCpaBiddingScheme bidding strategies, since v201809 of that API does not contain the MaximizeConversions.target_cpa field required to migrate to the new style bidding strategies. Their usage will sunset when the AdWords API itself sunsets in April, 2022. Switch to using the new bidding strategies when you migrate your code to the Google Ads API.

What to do
Update any code that creates or updates standard (non-portfolio) TargetCpa or TargetRoas Search campaigns. Use MaximizeConversions or MaximizeConversionValue strategies with their target_cpa (mutable starting in v8) or target_roas fields instead.

There will be no impact to bidding behavior due to this update. Using MaximizeConversions with target_cpa will have the same bidding behavior as TargetCpa. Likewise, using MaximizeConversionValue with target_roas will have the same bidding behavior as TargetRoas.

Refer to our product level announcement for more details on this change.

All existing campaigns using TargetCpa or TargetRoas will continue to run as usual, and you will still be able to manage their bidding strategies and budgets as before. We’ll give advance notice before automatically migrating these old bidding strategies to the new format in 2022.

If you have any questions or need additional help, contact us via the forum or at [email protected].
Adam Ohren, Google Ads API Team

Google Ads API 2022 release and sunset schedule

We’re announcing our tentative 2022 release and sunset schedule for upcoming versions of the Google Ads API to bring greater clarity to your planning cycle. Please keep in mind that these dates are only estimates and may be adjusted going forward. Additionally, releases may be added, removed or switched between major and minor. Check back with our release notes and deprecation schedule for updates.

Note: The AdWords API will sunset in April 2022. Migrate all requests to the Google Ads API by then to continue managing your Google Ads accounts.
Version Planned Release
Type* 		Projected launch* Projected sunset*
v7 Major April 28, 2021 (launched) January/February 2022
v8 Major June 9, 2021 (launched) March/April 2022
v8_1 Minor August 2021 March/April 2022
v9 Major October 2021 June/July 2022
v10 Major February/March 2022 October/November 2022
v10_1 Minor April/May 2022 October/November 2022
v11 Major June/July 2022 March/April 2023
v11_1 Minor August/September 2022 March/April 2023
v12 Major October/November 2022 June/July 2023
*Estimated and subject to change
 Where can I learn more?
The following resources can help you with your development planning: If you have any questions or need additional help, contact us via the forum.
- David Stevens, Google Ads API Product Manager

Performance reporting now available in the Content API for Shopping

We're excited to announce that performance reporting is now available in v2.1 of the Content API for Shopping. With the search method of the Reports service, you can programmatically retrieve all of the performance data that's available in the Merchant Center.

Requests to the Reports service use the new Merchant Center Query Language, which gives you control over which metrics to download, how to segment/group your data, and which criteria to apply for selecting the result set. If you also use the reporting features of the Google Ads API, you’ll find that many of these concepts are familiar.

For example, the following query will result in a report of impressions, clicks, and clickthrough rate (CTR) over the last 30 days, summarized by date, brand, and offer ID. 

SELECT
  segments.date,
  segments.brand,
  segments.offer_id,
  metrics.impressions,
  metrics.clicks,
  metrics.ctr
FROM MerchantPerformanceView
WHERE segments.date DURING LAST_30_DAYS
  AND segments.category_l2 IN ('Clothing', 'Shoes')

For more details, check out the Reporting guides, which include an overview, a quick example to get you started, and an explanation of key concepts, including how to compose queries in the Merchant Center Query Language.

If you have any questions or need help with the new reporting service, please contact us through the Content API for Shopping forum.

Josh Radcliff, Content API for Shopping Team

Introducing Publisher Ads Audits for Lighthouse v1.5.0

Today, we're announcing the general release of Publisher Ads Audits for Lighthouse v1.5.0. The major highlights of this release are:
A number of smaller enhancements and fixes are also included. For complete details, see the release notes and the changelog on GitHub.

Try it out and let us know what you think


Publisher Ads Audits v1.5.0 is already available to use. You can try generating an updated report from the web app, or grab the latest CLI release from GitHub or npm to run locally. Updates to the Chrome DevTools version will land in Chrome Stable with the Chrome 94 release (est. Sept 2021).

Have questions about this or anything else Ad Speed related? Interested in contributing? Visit our GitHub repo.

 - Jonathon Imperiosi, Publisher Ads Audits Team

Updating Bulk Upload in Google Ads Scripts

We have just launched a new backend for bulk uploads in Google Ads Scripts. Starting today, you can opt into the new experience by specifying the useLegacyUploads flag when creating a new bulk upload:

var upload = AdsApp.bulkUploads().newCsvUpload(columns,
    {useLegacyUploads: false});
For now, if you don't specify a value, the default will be true, which will result in no change of behavior from before this feature. Starting on July 12, 2021 we will change the default to false, but you can still opt out for a time by explicitly passing useLegacyUploads as true. On February 1, 2022, we will disable the use of legacy uploads altogether.

We have tried to make the changes here as backwards-compatible as possible, so in most cases your existing uploads should continue to work fine even on the new backend. However, creating video ads which specify a media ID will cease working on the legacy uploads on or after July 12, when we change the default, so if those are important fields to you, make sure you do not manually override to use legacy uploads.

The new backend is exactly compatible with UI-based bulk uploads, which is an improvement over the existing bulk upload system where many columns have different names. This should make it significantly easier to set up bulk uploads by basing the format from the UI. Additionally, a few new features are available, including label manipulation and updating manager accounts.

If you have any questions, please leave a post on our forum so that we can help.
- Mike Cloonan, Google Ads Scripts Team