Tag Archives: google_ads

Prepare to test Privacy Sandbox APIs with Google’s ads platforms

Last week, Chrome announced the upcoming general availability of Privacy Sandbox APIs for the ads ecosystem. We welcome this opportunity to test these APIs in Google’s ads platforms, and we invite ad technology partners to get involved and be ready for Chrome’s third-party cookie deprecation in 2024.

We’ve seen encouraging results from our recent interest-based advertising experiments, and we plan to integrate Topics, Protected Audience and Attribution Reporting APIs into our ads products. We’ll use Privacy Sandbox APIs alongside other privacy-preserving innovations to help deliver relevant ads and accurate measurement insights without the need to track people across the web.

We encourage advertisers and publishers to continue to adopt the full range of Google’s privacy-first ads solutions, and encourage their ad technology platform partners to adopt and test Privacy Sandbox APIs.

Through the rest of 2023, we will work with our ad technology partners to test the Privacy Sandbox APIs alongside first-party data and AI-powered solutions, and prepare for Q1 2024 when Chrome plans to deprecate third-party cookies for one percent of its users. The Q1 2024 tests will help us to evaluate the effectiveness of these solutions, and share our findings with Chrome, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, and the industry.

We encourage technology partners to review the below guidance to prepare for testing with Google’s Ads solutions:
  • If you’re a Google Authorized Buyer or participant in Open Bidding, see integration guidance for Topics and Protected Audience.
  • If you’re a publisher platform working with Google Ads or Google Marketing Platform (Display & Video 360 or Campaign Manager 360), see integration guidance for Topics, Protected Audience and Multiple seller testing.
  • If you’re a measurement provider working with Google Marketing Platform (Display & Video 360 or Campaign Manager 360), see integration guidance for the Protected Audience API.
  • If you’re a publisher or ad tech provider working with Google Marketing Platform (Display & Video 360, Campaign Manager 360 or Search Ads 360), see integration guidance for the Attribution Reporting API.
We’re excited to continue building privacy-first innovations that help partners drive performance, earn revenue and get accurate measurement insights without third-party cookies.
Dan Taylor, Vice President, Global Ads

New Validations for Google Ads Account Names

Starting in June 2023, it will no longer be possible for new Google Ads accounts to contain a URL in the account name.

Specifically, when creating a new Google Ads account in the Google Ads API, or updating an existing account, if a URL is present in the descriptive_name field, an ACTION_NOT_PERMITTED error will be returned and the operation will fail.

The descriptive_name field of existing accounts will not be affected by this change.

If you have any questions about this change, please feel free to contact us through the forum or at [email protected] for additional help.
- Ben Karl, on behalf of the Google Ads API Team

First click, linear, time decay, and position-based attribution models are going away in Google Ads API

What’s changing?
Google Ads attribution models are used to assign conversion credit to each touchpoint in a conversion path. We currently offer several rules-based attribution models which assign value based on predefined rules. These models don’t provide the flexibility needed to adapt to evolving consumer journeys. Due to a declining usage of these rules-based models and adoption of data-driven attribution, we are simplifying attribution model options. Starting in June 2023, developers will no longer be able to choose the following attribution models for new conversion actions or existing conversion actions that do not use these models: Instead, developers will need to use either data-driven attribution (GOOGLE_SEARCH_ATTRIBUTION_DATA_DRIVEN), last click attribution (GOOGLE_ADS_LAST_CLICK) or external attribution.

What do I need to do?
If you are creating new or updating existing conversion actions using ConversionActionService and you are setting the AttributionModelSettings to one of the deprecated attribution models, you will need to modify your code to use either: data-driven attribution (GOOGLE_SEARCH_ATTRIBUTION_DATA_DRIVEN) or last click attribution (GOOGLE_ADS_LAST_CLICK).

Starting in June 2023, you will begin receiving an error if you attempt to set a deprecated attribution model. Conversion actions that still have these attribution models after this time will be automatically migrated later in the year.

Starting in September 2023, we'll switch any conversion actions still using these models to data-driven attribution. If you don’t want your conversion actions to use data-driven attribution, update your conversion actions to the last click attribution model before September 2023.

You will be able to query the attribution model associated with a conversion action using GoogleAdsService.Search or GoogleAdsService.SearchStream until these rules-based attribution models are no longer available in Google Ads: 
SELECT conversion_action.attribution_model_settings.attribution_model FROM conversion_action
If you have any questions, please reach out to us on the forum.
Ian Ballantyne, Google Ads API Team

Changes to handling duplicate assets in Google Ads API

What’s changing?
Starting the week of March 28, 2022, the Google Ads API will no longer throw an AssetError.CANNOT_MODIFY_ASSET_NAME in versions v7, v8 and v9 when uploading an asset with duplicate content but a different Asset.name. Instead, the Google Ads API will ignore the new name and return the resource name of the existing asset.

This change affects the following asset types. Background
When creating a new asset using AssetService.MutateAssets, the Google Ads API detects if the uploaded asset has the same content as an existing asset but a different name and raises an AssetError.CANNOT_MODIFY_ASSET_NAME in versions v7, v8 and v9. We observed that it was not easy for users to troubleshoot this error, so starting with version v10, the Google Ads API ignores the new name and returns the resource name of the existing asset if an asset with duplicate content is detected. To keep the API experience consistent, we are making the same changes to versions v7, v8 and v9 of Google Ads API.

What should you do?
Once this change goes live, the AssetError.CANNOT_MODIFY_ASSET_NAME error won’t be thrown when uploading an asset with duplicate content and a different name. If your application handles this error, please review and make changes to match the new API behavior.

If you have any questions or need additional help, contact us using any of the following support options: - Anash P. Oommen, Google Ads API Team

Changes in Network Settings for the Google Ads Standard Shopping Campaigns

On February 14, 2022, Google Ads stopped serving standard Shopping campaigns on the Google Display Network, including on Gmail, Discover, and some YouTube placements. As a result, the AdWords API, Google Ads API and Google Ads scripts will make similar changes to their behavior starting the week of February 28, 2022.

AdWords API
The AdWords API will sunset on April 27th, so you must migrate to the Google Ads API by then.

In the AdWords API, the Campaign.NetworkSetting.targetContentNetwork field will always return false for standard Shopping campaigns, which are defined as campaigns where the advertisingChannelType is set to SHOPPING, and the advertisingChannelSubType is unset. If you try to set Campaign.NetworkSetting.targetContentNetwork to true, it will be ignored.

When running reports, the API will stop returning metrics for AdNetworkType1 and AdNetworkType2 of type: CONTENT, YOUTUBE_SEARCH, or YOUTUBE_WATCH for standard Shopping campaigns for date ranges after February 14, 2022. You can still download historic metrics for these fields and values.

Google Ads API
Versions v8 and v9 of the Google Ads API will behave the same way as the AdWords API – the network_settings.target_content_network field will return false, and if you try to set this field to true, it will be ignored. In version v10 and beyond, if you try to set this field to true a CANNOT_TARGET_CONTENT_NETWORK error will be returned.

When running reports, the API will stop returning metrics for these campaigns for segments.ad_network_type of type: CONTENT, YOUTUBE_SEARCH, or YOUTUBE_WATCH for date ranges after February 14, 2022. You can still download historic metrics for this field and values.

Google Ads scripts
If you use bulk uploads to target a standard Shopping campaign for Google Display Network, the server will ignore the setting.

When generating reports, the behavior will be the same for standard Shopping campaigns, independent of the method that you use:
  • With the AdsApp.report() method, reports will stop returning metrics for AdNetworkType1 and AdNetworkType2 of type: CONTENT, YOUTUBE_SEARCH, or YOUTUBE_WATCH for date ranges after Feb 14, 2022.
  • With the AdsApp.search() method, the API will stop returning metrics for segments.ad_network_type of type: CONTENT, YOUTUBE_SEARCH, or YOUTUBE_WATCH for date ranges after Feb 14, 2022.
Historical metrics will still be available.

If you would like to retrieve any existing standard Shopping campaigns before their network settings are changed, be sure to do so before Feb. 28, 2022.

If you have any questions about this change, please feel free to contact us through the forum or at [email protected] for additional help.
- Ben Karl, on behalf of the Google Ads API Team

Making Google Ads API Client Libraries More Inclusive

As part of Google’s effort to foster inclusivity in our products and communities, we will be changing the name of the default branch to main in the Google Ads API client libraries. This change is a small but important step towards making diversity, equity, and inclusion central to our work on the Google Ads API.

This change won’t affect most client library users who access the libraries through a distribution platform like PyPi for Python or Maven for Java. Users who access the libraries directly from the default branch on GitHub should start using the new main branch once it’s available. We encourage contributors who own forks of these client libraries to update them accordingly.

If you have any questions about this change, please file an issue on the issues tracker for your client library of choice (like Python). As always, please feel free to contact us through the forum or at [email protected] for additional help.
- Ben Karl, on behalf of the Google Ads API Team

Entity IDs as 64-bit in AdWords API, Google Ads API beta, Google Ads scripts, and Content API for Shopping

In the AdWords API, the Google Ads API beta, Google Ads scripts, and the Content API for Shopping, all entity IDs are 64-bit signed integers. They are of type:
  • xsd:long in the AdWords API
  • INT64 in the Google Ads API
  • number or string in Google Ads scripts
  • string in REST and as INT64 for client libraries in Content API for Shopping
Applications that integrate with the API should handle ID values in that range.

Historically, the following IDs were within the maximum value of 32-bit signed integer, but will soon be exceeding this range. Over the years, all of you have been so productive that we need to make sure 64-bit signed integers are available to allow the creation of more entities with unique IDs. This was announced starting in July 2019. To avoid any issues, please make sure your applications handle these IDs within a range of 64-bit signed integer values. Also make sure that your application is ready to support a 64-bit signed integer for any other entity IDs not listed below.

Which IDs are affected in the AdWords API and the Google Ads API beta?
AdWords API Google Ads API beta
Bidding Strategy BiddingStrategyConfiguration.bidding_strategy_id

BiddingStrategyId (multiple reports)		 BiddingStrategy.id
Budget BudgetOrder.id AccountBudget.id

BillingSetup.id
User List UserList.id

CriterionUserList.userListId

CLICK_PERFORMANCE_REPORT.UserListId

AUDIENCE_PERFORMANCE_REPORT.Id		 UserList.id
Shopping Campaigns ServiceLink.serviceLinkId

ShoppingSetting.merchantId

SHOPPING_PERFORMANCE_REPORT.MerchantId

SHOPPING_PERFORMANCE_REPORT.AggregatorId		 MerchantCenterLink.id

ShoppingSetting.merchant_id

segments.product_merchant_id

segments.product_aggregator_id
Conversion Action ConversionTracker.id

ConversionTrackerId (multiple reports)

ConversionTracker.originalConversionTypeId		 ConversionAction.id
Account Conversion Tracking Configuration ConversionTrackingSettings.effectiveConversionTrackingId ConversionTrackingSetting.conversion_tracking_id

ConversionTrackingSetting. cross_account_conversion_tracking_id




Which IDs are affected in Google Ads scripts?
JavaScript can only accurately represent integers up to 53 bits, so it's strongly advised that you begin treating all IDs in Google Ads scripts as string to avoid any possible future errors with high ID numbers.
Google Ads scripts
Bidding Strategy AdsApp.BiddingStrategy.getId()
Budget AdsApp.BillingAccount.getId()

AdsApp.BudgetOrder.getId()
User List AdsApp.Audience.getId()

AdsApp.ExcludedAudience.getId()

AdsApp.UserList.getId()

AdsApp.​ShoppingCampaignAudience.getAudienceId()

AdsApp.ShoppingCampaignAudienceBuilder.withAudienceId()

AdsApp.ShoppingCampaignAudienceSelector.withIds()

getAudienceId() and withAudienceId() for all Targeting -> Audience Search methods.



Which IDs are affected in the Content API for Shopping?
All IDs are returned as string in REST and as INT64 in the client libraries. If you convert IDs to a number in your application, please make sure the application can handle 64-bit signed integers. An example of this is merchant ID that is set in the client library’s configuration or in the REST URL.
Content API for Shopping
Merchant Center AccountIdentifier.merchantId

Order.merchantId

OrdersCustomBatchRequestEntry.merchantId

RegionalinventoryCustomBatchRequestEntry.merchantId

ProductsCustomBatchRequestEntry.merchantId

ProductstatusesCustomBatchRequestEntry.merchantId

AccountsCustomBatchRequestEntry.merchantId

OrderReportDisbursement.merchantId

OrderReportTransaction.merchantId

LocalinventoryCustomBatchRequestEntry.merchantId

ReturnpolicyCustomBatchRequestEntry.merchantId
Shopping Campaign AccountIdentifier.aggregatorId



Where can I get support?
If you have any API questions or need help, you can reach us at:
Nadine Wang, on behalf of the entire Google Ads Team

Google Ads conversion reporting issues starting April 9

Update (April 10, 2020 19:35 PST): Conversion data in all reports has been fixed.

An issue that impacted Google Ads reporting for Search and Shopping conversions occurring between April 9 and April 10 (Pacific Time) for advertisers using non-last click attribution models has been fixed and the data is now correct in all reports.
If you downloaded any of the fields in the table below or any derivative custom columns using the AdWords API, Google Ads API and Google Ads scriptsbetween April 9th 8:00 PM PST and April 10th 7:20 PM PST, you may have incorrect data in your systems. Please re-download the affected fields to ensure accurate conversions reporting.
We appreciate your patience as we worked to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.

AdWords API Google Ads API beta
Conversions
ConversionValue
ConversionRate
ValuePerConversion
CostPerConversion
AllConversions
AllConversionValue
AllConversionRate
ValuePerAllConversion
CostPerAllConversion
CurrentModelAttributedConversions
CurrentModelAttributedConversionValue
ValuePerCurrentModelAttributedConversion
CostPerCurrentModelAttributedConversion		 metrics.all_conversions
metrics.all_conversions_from_click_to_call
metrics.all_conversions_from_interactions_rate
metrics.all_conversions_from_interactions_value_per_interaction
metrics.all_conversions_value
metrics.all_conversions_value_per_cost
metrics.conversions
metrics.conversions_from_interactions_rate
metrics.conversions_from_interactions_value_per_interaction
metrics.conversions_value
metrics.conversions_value_per_cost
metrics.cost_per_all_conversions
metrics.cost_per_conversion
metrics.cost_per_current_model_attributed_conversion
metrics.cross_device_conversions
metrics.current_model_attributed_conversions
metrics.current_model_attributed_conversions_from_interactions_rate
metrics.current_model_attributed_conversions_from_interactions_value_per_interaction
metrics.current_model_attributed_conversions_value
metrics.current_model_attributed_conversions_value_per_cost
metrics.value_per_all_conversions
metrics.value_per_conversion
metrics.value_per_current_model_attributed_conversion


On April 9, 2020 at approximately 8pm PST, a bug caused Google Ads Search and Shopping conversions occurring between April 9 12:01 AM PST onwards to be underreported for advertisers using non-last click attribution models. This bug impacts reports in all Google Ads interfaces, including any report data downloaded via the AdWords API, Google Ads API and Google Ads scripts. Google Ads bid strategies are not impacted by this issue.
We are actively working on fixing the bug and correcting the conversion data.

- Josh Radcliff, Google Ads API Team

Campaign IDs and Budget IDs as 64-bit in Google Ads

In the AdWords API and Google Ads API, Campaign IDs and Budget IDs are 64-bit signed integers and are of type xsd:long in the AdWords API and INT64 in the Google Ads API. Applications that integrate with the API should handle ID values in that range.

Historically, Campaign and Budget IDs in Google Ads were within the maximum value of 32-bit signed integer, but will soon be exceeding this range. In order to avoid any issues, please make sure your applications are fully compliant with IDs within a range of 64-bit signed integer values.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us via the forum.
--Stan Grinberg, Google Ads API Team

Register now for the upcoming Google Ads API Workshops!

We're excited to announce that a new series of Google Ads API Workshops are coming this March and April! The technical sessions focus on migration from the current AdWords API so you can migrate quickly and efficiently. New users are welcome and will benefit as well.

The workshops will be presented in English, except for those in Taipei, Tokyo, and Shanghai. Details are listed below. Note that location names link to the registration websites: Workshops in all locations will cover the same topics, so choose a location that works best for you. Once you register, we'll send you an email confirmation.

Stay tuned for more detailed agenda on the workshop websites!

If you have any questions about the workshops, you can post them on our forum.
 - Thanet Knack Praneenararat, Google Ads API Team