Category Archives: Ads Developer Blog

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

February 2021 update to Display & Video 360 API v1

Today we’re releasing an update to the Display & Video 360 API which includes the following features:

More detailed information about this update can be found in the Display & Video 360 API release notes.

Before using these new features, make sure to update your client library to the latest version.
If you 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

Sunset date for deprecated DBM API services postponed to April 15, 2021

The sunset of deprecated services in the DoubleClick Bid Manager (DBM) API, originally scheduled for February 26, 2021, has been postponed to April 15, 2021. The deprecated services scheduled for sunset include the entirety of DBM API v1, the DBM API v1.1 SDF Download service, and the DBM API v1.1 Line Item service.

Prior blog posts regarding this sunset give instructions on how to migrate from these deprecated services to either the DBM API v1.1 Reporting service or the Display & Video 360 (DV360) API. Consult these previous announcements for more information.

If you encounter issues with your migration or want to report a separate issue, please contact us using our support contact form.


- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

Combining Similar Bid Strategies

The v6 release of the Google Ads API added support for Maximize conversions and Maximize conversion value bid strategies in Search campaigns. This includes a new read-only MaximizeConversions.target_cpa field. Bid strategies having either this new target_cpa field or the read-only MaximizeConversionValue.target_roas field act identically to TargetCpa and TargetRoas bid strategies, respectively. In the future, bid strategies for Search campaigns will be reorganized for simplification.

What’s Changing

For Search campaigns, TargetCpa and TargetRoas will no longer be separate from the MaximizeConversions and MaximizeConversionValue bid strategies. Instead, they will be represented as MaximizeConversions and MaximizeConversionValue bid strategies with their respective target_cpa and target_roas fields set. Use of TargetCpa and TargetRoas as separate strategies will be deprecated.

There will be no impact to bidding behavior due to these changes. The MaximizeConversions bid strategy using the new optional target_cpa setting will still behave like the TargetCpa strategy does today, and likewise, MaximizeConversionValue using the new optional target_roas setting will behave like TargetRoas.

Before After
TargetRoas MaximizeConversionValue.target_roas
TargetCpa MaximizeConversions.target_cpa


Starting in April 2021, the Google Ads UI will start allowing some users to create MaximizeConversions and MaximizeConversionValue bid strategies with their target_cpa and target_roas fields set, in lieu of the old-style TargetCpa and TargetRoas bid strategies. This change will gradually ramp-up to more accounts over time.

The target_roas and target_cpa will remain read-only to API users until a future version of the API enables mutate functionality.

What to Do
Developers should ensure their code treats Search campaigns that have MaximizeConversions with a set target_cpa field and MaximizeConversionValue with a set target_cpa field the same way it treats TargetCpa and TargetRoas bid strategies, respectively.

We will publish an update on the blog when the above fields are mutable, along with several months' notice before TargetCpa and TargetRoas strategies are deprecated in Search campaigns.

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

Combining Similar Bid Strategies

The v6 release of the Google Ads API added support for Maximize conversions and Maximize conversion value bid strategies in Search campaigns. This includes a new read-only MaximizeConversions.target_cpa field. Bid strategies having either this new target_cpa field or the read-only MaximizeConversionValue.target_roas field act identically to TargetCpa and TargetRoas bid strategies, respectively. In the future, bid strategies for Search campaigns will be reorganized for simplification.

What’s Changing

For Search campaigns, TargetCpa and TargetRoas will no longer be separate from the MaximizeConversions and MaximizeConversionValue bid strategies. Instead, they will be represented as MaximizeConversions and MaximizeConversionValue bid strategies with their respective target_cpa and target_roas fields set. Use of TargetCpa and TargetRoas as separate strategies will be deprecated.

There will be no impact to bidding behavior due to these changes. The MaximizeConversions bid strategy using the new optional target_cpa setting will still behave like the TargetCpa strategy does today, and likewise, MaximizeConversionValue using the new optional target_roas setting will behave like TargetRoas.

Before After
TargetRoas MaximizeConversionValue.target_roas
TargetCpa MaximizeConversions.target_cpa


Starting in April 2021, the Google Ads UI will start allowing some users to create MaximizeConversions and MaximizeConversionValue bid strategies with their target_cpa and target_roas fields set, in lieu of the old-style TargetCpa and TargetRoas bid strategies. This change will gradually ramp-up to more accounts over time.

The target_roas and target_cpa will remain read-only to API users until a future version of the API enables mutate functionality.

What to Do
Developers should ensure their code treats Search campaigns that have MaximizeConversions with a set target_cpa field and MaximizeConversionValue with a set target_cpa field the same way it treats TargetCpa and TargetRoas bid strategies, respectively.

We will publish an update on the blog when the above fields are mutable, along with several months' notice before TargetCpa and TargetRoas strategies are deprecated in Search campaigns.

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

Changes to Showcase Shopping ads

On April 5, 2021, support for Showcase Shopping ads will be removed from the AdWords API. Users will no longer be able to create or update the following Showcase Shopping objects, and attempts to do so will result in the following errors.

Object Error
AdGroups

with adGroupType SHOPPING_SHOWCASE_ADS		 OPERATION_NOT_PERMITTED_FOR_CAMPAIGN_TYPE
AdGroupAds containing ShowcaseAds OPERATION_NOT_PERMITTED_FOR_AD_GROUP_TYPE


Any remaining Showcase ad groups will be set to REMOVED status, and remaining AdGroupAds containing ShowcaseAds will be set to DISABLED status and stop serving. Developers can still retrieve historical metrics for these ads and ad groups by fetching reports that explicitly filter to include REMOVED or DISABLED objects.

This change only affects AdWords API users. Management of Showcase Shopping ads is not supported by Google Ads API or Google Ads scripts.

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

Announcing v202102 of the Google Ad Manager API

We're happy to announce that v202102 of the Google Ad Manager API is available starting today. Upgrade to this version to take advantage of new functionality, including CreativeSizeType.IGNORED for click-tracking entities, where size doesn't matter, or for entities that allow all requested sizes, where the size represents all sizes.

Additionally, there are several highly-requested report dimensions added in v202102.

Dimension name Report data break down
BROWSER_NAME Name and version number of the user's browser
VIDEO_PLACEMENT_NAME Video placement (e.g., in-article, in-stream, and in-feed)
CLASSIFIED_YIELD_PARTNER_NAME Detected yield partner name, as classified by Google
DOMAIN Top private domain, such as "example.co.uk" (excludes subdomains)


Finally, if you use the Ad Manager API to create video LineItems, v202102 now requires that LineItem.videoMaxDuration is greater than 0. This new validation applies to newly created video LineItems as well as updates. If you think you might be affected, you should update any code that creates video LineItems to set videoMaxDuration to be greater than 0 and scan your network for existing video LineItems with videoMaxDuration set to 0.

For the full list of changes for v202102 and all other active API versions, check the release notes. Feel free to reach out to us on the Ad Manager API forum with any API-related questions.
 - , Ad Manager API Team

Announcing v202102 of the Google Ad Manager API

We're happy to announce that v202102 of the Google Ad Manager API is available starting today. Upgrade to this version to take advantage of new functionality, including CreativeSizeType.IGNORED for click-tracking entities, where size doesn't matter, or for entities that allow all requested sizes, where the size represents all sizes.

Additionally, there are several highly-requested report dimensions added in v202102.

Dimension name Report data break down
BROWSER_NAME Name and version number of the user's browser
VIDEO_PLACEMENT_NAME Video placement (e.g., in-article, in-stream, and in-feed)
CLASSIFIED_YIELD_PARTNER_NAME Detected yield partner name, as classified by Google
DOMAIN Top private domain, such as "example.co.uk" (excludes subdomains)


Finally, if you use the Ad Manager API to create video LineItems, v202102 now requires that LineItem.videoMaxDuration is greater than 0. This new validation applies to newly created video LineItems as well as updates. If you think you might be affected, you should update any code that creates video LineItems to set videoMaxDuration to be greater than 0 and scan your network for existing video LineItems with videoMaxDuration set to 0.

For the full list of changes for v202102 and all other active API versions, check the release notes. Feel free to reach out to us on the Ad Manager API forum with any API-related questions.
 - , Ad Manager API Team

New Personalized Advertising Policies Enforcement in Google Ads API and AdWords API

Starting March 25, 2021, we are rolling out a change in the Google Ads API and AdWords API, to require advertisers who apply to the latest Personalized advertising policies to acknowledge these changes in the Google Ads UI. Campaign creation requests via the API will be rejected for these advertisers until they click to accept the changes.

Who will be impacted?
Advertisers promoting housing, employment, or credit products or services to audiences in the U.S. and Canada will be impacted.

What's changing?
You will receive the following errors when trying to create new campaigns via the API if the new policies have not been acknowledge:

API Version Error Code Error Message
Google Ads API v6.1 CampaignError.HEC_AGREEMENT_REQUIRED Customers with Housing, Employment, or Credit ads must accept updated personalized ads policy to continue creating campaigns
Google Ads API (older versions) CampaignError.UNKNOWN Same as above.
AdWords API (v201809) CampaignService.OperationAccessDenied Same as above.


What should you do?
  • Before March 25, 2021, make sure to add support for the new policy errors in your application.
  • Ensure that the account administrators have accepted the policy changes in the Google Ads UI following this guide.
If you have any questions or need additional help, contact us through the Google Ads API and AdWords API forum or at [email protected].
Fan Wang, Google Ads API Team

Announcing v6.1 of the Google Ads API

Today, we’re announcing the v6.1 release of the Google Ads API. To use some of the v6.1 features, you will need to upgrade your client libraries and client code. The updated client libraries and code examples will be published next week. This version has no breaking changes.

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 via the forum.
Josh Radcliff, on behalf of the Google Ads API Team

Introducing Publisher Ads Audits for Lighthouse v1.4.1

Today, we're announcing the general release of Publisher Ads Audits for Lighthouse v1.4.1. The major highlights of this release are:
A number of smaller enhancements and fixes are also included. For complete details, see the changelog on GitHub. Additional Lighthouse changes included in this release can be found in the v6.5.0 release notes.

Helping ensure Google Publisher Tags are used correctly

The Google Publisher Tag (GPT) library is designed with flexibility in mind, to support displaying ads across the widest variety of sites. However, this flexibility means that sites sometimes end up using the library in unexpected ways or provide configurations that don't quite work the way they intend. Although the library throws various warnings and errors when these sorts of issues are encountered, they can be easy to miss if you're not looking for them. To help raise awareness, we're introducing two new audits:
  • deprecated-api-usage - this audit looks for usage of GPT API features that have been deprecated. These features may be removed in the future and are no longer actively maintained. Consult the GPT release notes for alternatives to use.
  • gpt-errors-overall - this audit surfaces all warnings and errors thrown by GPT during page load. The severity of these issues can vary depending on a number of factors, so you need to review the results and decide whether there's anything that needs to be addressed for your site.

These new audits are being presented as informational only in this release, so they won't affect scores right now. However, we plan to give these audits weights in a future release. Users are therefore encouraged to address any newly uncovered issues now, to avoid a negative impact on their scores later.

Try it out and let us know what you think

Publisher Ads Audits v1.4.1 is available to use right now. 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 91 release (est. May 2021).

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


 - Jonathon Imperiosi, Publisher Ads Audits Team