Tag Archives: google_ads_api

Join the Google Ads API Research Group

We are pleased to announce the launch of the Google Ads API Research Group. As a Developer Relations team, we want to ensure your voice is not only heard, but that your suggestions are incorporated into product decisions. Our goal is to turn your feedback into real improvements to the Google Ads API developer experience.

As a member of the research group, we'll invite you to participate in user research opportunities, such as surveys and usability studies. These opportunities let you voice your opinions and ideas about the Google Ads API, inform product design and prioritization, and ultimately shape the Google Ads API developer experience.

To sign up for the Google Ads API Research Group, fill out the opt-in form. This form takes about 5 minutes to complete. We are deeply committed to improving developer experience and appreciate your feedback.

 - Laura Chevalier, Google Ads API Team

Join the Google Ads API Research Group

We are pleased to announce the launch of the Google Ads API Research Group. As a Developer Relations team, we want to ensure your voice is not only heard, but that your suggestions are incorporated into product decisions. Our goal is to turn your feedback into real improvements to the Google Ads API developer experience.

As a member of the research group, we'll invite you to participate in user research opportunities, such as surveys and usability studies. These opportunities let you voice your opinions and ideas about the Google Ads API, inform product design and prioritization, and ultimately shape the Google Ads API developer experience.

To sign up for the Google Ads API Research Group, fill out the opt-in form. This form takes about 5 minutes to complete. We are deeply committed to improving developer experience and appreciate your feedback.

 - Laura Chevalier, Google Ads API Team

Google Ads API and Google Ads scripts search term insight report update starting March 3, 2025

Starting on March 3, 2025, the Google Ads API and Google Ads scripts search term insight reports will return all search subcategories as empty. The Google Ads UI already removed this field, and the API is also rolling out this change to be consistent across Google Ads.

What do I need to do?

Starting March 3, 2025, it is expected that all values for segments.search_subcategory will be empty.

If you query segments.search_subcategory in the campaign_search_term_insight or customer_search_term_insight reports, then:

  1. Check that your code can handle an empty value in segments.search_subcategory. An empty string already is a catch-all, so your code should be already handling this.
  2. We recommend removing segments.search_subcategory from your query.

If you have any questions or concerns, you can reach out to us through our support form.

Nadine Wang, Google Ads API Team

Google Ads API v16 sunset reminder

Google Ads API v16 will sunset on February 5, 2025. After this date, all v16 API requests will begin to fail. Migrate to a newer version prior to February 5, 2025 to ensure your API access is unaffected.

Here are some resources to help you with the migration: You can view a list of methods and services your project has recently called using the Google Cloud Console:
  1. Open the APIs & Services in the Google Cloud Console.
  2. Click Google Ads API in the table.
  3. On the METRICS subtab, you should see your recent requests plotted on each graph. You can see which methods you've sent requests to in the Methods table. The method name includes a Google Ads API version, a service, and a method name, such as google.ads.googleads.v18.services.GoogleAdsService.Mutate.
  4. (Optional) Choose the timeframe you want to view for your requests.
If you have questions while you’re upgrading, reach out to us on the forum or at [email protected].
 - Thanet Knack Praneenararat, Google Ads API Team

Upcoming changes to enable brand guidelines in Performance Max

Starting on January 20, 2025, new Performance Max (PMax) campaigns created with the UI will have brand guidelines enabled and require business name and logo brand assets to be linked at the campaign level rather than the asset group level. Brand guidelines is a new feature that allows you to control how your brand is represented in your Performance Max campaign automated assets or formats.

What this means for API users

New PMax campaigns created in the UI with brand guidelines enabled will automatically link BUSINESS_NAME, LOGO, and LANDSCAPE_LOGO via the CampaignAsset resource rather than by using the AssetGroupAsset resource, which may impact integrations that attempt to report on or update these assets. You can check if brand guidelines are enabled for a PMax campaign by referencing the Campaign.brand_guidelines_enabled field.

As of v18 of the Google Ads API, it is not possible to create brand guidelines-enabled PMax campaigns via the API, which means new campaigns must link BUSINESS_NAME, LOGO, and LANDSCAPE_LOGO assets using the AssetGroupAsset resource. In a future release, you will be able to create and fully manage PMax campaigns with brand guidelines enabled.

It is important to note that the same asset requirements will continue to apply to all PMax campaigns regardless of whether or not brand guidelines are enabled. However, BUSINESS_NAME, LOGO, and LANDSCAPE_LOGO asset requirements will be evaluated at the campaign level for campaigns with brand guidelines enabled and the asset group level for campaigns without brand guidelines enabled. You can reference the relevant section of our Performance Max optimization and troubleshooting guide for more information, and as always, contact our team if you need support.

- Devin Chasanoff, on behalf of the Google Ads API Team

Improved support for service accounts in the Google Ads API

Google Ads has rolled out a new feature that allows Google Ads account administrators to grant access to a service account. Once the access has been granted, you can use the service account credentials to make API calls to that Google Ads account and other accounts in that hierarchy, if applicable. Refer to the service account guide to learn more about this option.

This new approach simplifies the Google Ads API authentication process in two important ways:

  1. If your application works entirely offline without any user interaction, then you no longer need to generate a refresh token. This means you can also avoid other steps such as configuring an OAuth consent screen and performing OAuth App verification.
  2. The new service account flow doesn’t require you to be a Google Workspace user or configure the service account for domain-wide impersonation.

We hope this simplifies your experience when working with the Google Ads API.

How to get help

If you have any questions or need help, check out the Google Ads API support page for options.

 - , Google Ads API Team

Google Ads API 2025 release and sunset schedule

We’re announcing our tentative 2025 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 versions.
Version Planned Release
Type* 		Projected launch* Projected sunset*
V19 Major February/March 2025 February 2026
V19_1 Minor April/May 2025 February 2026
V20 Major June/July 2025 June 2026
V20_1 Minor August/September 2025 June 2026
V21 Major October/November 2025 October 2026

*Estimated and subject to change

Where can I learn more?
Check back for any updates as the blog is the best place to stay informed about developments in this space.

If you have any questions or need additional help, contact us via the forum.
- David Stevens, Google Ads API Product Manager

Announcing Budget Prefills with the Google Ads API

With v18 of the Google Ads API, you can now use the Recommendations.GenerateRecommendations method during campaign construction to retrieve optimized budget suggestions for Performance Max and Search campaigns.

When using the GenerateRecommendations method with a recommendation type of CAMPAIGN_BUDGET, you can supply inputs, such as final URL and bidding strategy, which Google machine learning models will use to generate budget recommendations. Google Ads API users that provide a campaign creation interface can provide budget prefills that fit into the campaign creation workflow. As with many recommendation types, campaign budget recommendations provide projected impact metrics to help understand the effect that implementing the recommendation will have on account performance.

Explore additional Recommendations API features

Recommendations in the Google Ads API offer several ways to increase your campaigns' performance through customized suggestions like adding new keywords or updating your bidding strategy. With RecommendationSubscriptionService, you can subscribe to automatically apply specific recommendation types of your choosing for your account. To retrieve and process recommendations directly, you can leverage the recommendation reporting resource.

To explore the full recommendations offering, check out our implementation guide.

 - Laura Chevalier, Google Ads API Team

Announcing v18 of the Google Ads API

Today, we’re announcing the v18 release of the Google Ads API. To use the v18 features, you will need to upgrade your client libraries and client code. The updated client libraries and code examples will be published next week.

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.
 - Thanet Knack Praneenararat, on behalf of the Google Ads API Team

New data retention policy for Google Ads

Starting November 13th, Google Ads will be implementing a new data retention policy. All account data, including performance metrics, billing information, and historical reports, will now be retained for a period of 11 years.

This means that when querying the Google Ads API using either GoogleAds.Search or GoogleAds.SearchStream you will only be able to retrieve data up to 11 years before the date of your API request and data before that will not be returned.

Required actions

If you need historical data for more than 11 years ago, we recommend you retrieve it and store it before November 13th, 2024.

Otherwise, no action is required on your end. This update will be applied automatically to your account and GoogleAds.Search and GoogleAds.SearchStream continue to work as usual.

However, be aware that you may notice differences in your reporting due to different values being returned.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us via the forum.

 - Mattia Tommasone, Google Ads API Team