Tag Archives: google_ads

Upcoming Performance Max campaign migration to enable brand guidelines

Starting on May 1, 2025, we will begin to automatically enable brand guidelines for Performance Max campaigns that use the same brand assets (BUSINESS_NAME, LOGO, and LANDSCAPE_LOGO) across all asset groups.

Please note the rollout timelines:
  • For Google Ads UI users: The process will begin on May 1, 2025 for customer IDs that exclusively manage their campaigns using the UI.
  • For API users: This process will begin on June 1, 2025.
The overall process across all campaigns is expected to be complete by July 31, 2025.

Important Notes:
  • Only campaigns using consistent business names and logo assets across all asset groups will be automatically migrated. Campaigns with variations in these assets will not be migrated.
  • All eligible Performance Max campaigns under a customer ID will be migrated simultaneously.
  • After migration, each migrated campaign will have its own set of brand assets stored at the campaign level using CampaignAsset.
  • You can tell if a campaign has been migrated by checking its Campaign.brand_guidelines_enabled field.
Actions Required
If your application creates asset groups, update your code to check the campaign’s Campaign.brand_guidelines_enabled field. This will tell you whether to include brand assets in the new asset group.

If your application modifies brand assets, update your code to check the campaign’s Campaign.brand_guidelines_enabled field. This will tell you where to save the brand asset; either on a campaign using a CampaignAsset or on an asset group using an AssetGroupAsset.

To avoid extra steps later, we strongly recommend migrating all of your campaigns now using CampaignService.EnablePMaxBrandGuidelines. If you migrate your campaigns manually, each CampaignService.EnablePMaxBrandGuidelines request can only include 10 EnableOperations.

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

Upcoming change to LowerTargetRoas recommendations in the Google Ads API and Google Ads scripts

As of v17 of the Google Ads API, recommendations of type LOWER_TARGET_ROAS have included a current_average_target_micros as a whole currency value instead of a micros value (where one million is equivalent to one currency unit) as indicated by the field name. On April 23, 2025, we are rolling out a fix to populate current_average_target_micros with the micros value.

Note that as a result of the incorrect unit, the currently returned current_average_target_micros value is truncated and is therefore less precise than the micros equivalent. If you were converting the existing value to micros by multiplying by 1,000,000, the resulting value wouldn't necessarily be correct because any digits past the first position are dropped. For example, a current_average_target_micros value of 5 might have been converted to 5,000,000 in micros before the change, but could be returned as 5,750,000 (more precise) after the change.

What do I need to do?

If you use the Google Ads API or Google Ads scripts to query the recommendation resource for recommendations of type LOWER_TARGET_ROAS, and your application logic uses the current_average_target_micros field, you must update your application to treat the value as micros instead of a whole budget value for when the change takes effect on April 23, 2025.

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

 - Laura Chevalier, Google Ads API Team

Update to Customer Match membership expiration starting April 7, 2025

Starting on April 7, 2025, a new maximum membership duration of 540 days will gradually roll out for Customer Match lists in Google Ads and Display & Video 360 platforms. This change is being made to better align with Customer Match best practices.

From this date, existing lists configured to have no membership expiration set or membership expiration greater than 540 days will be updated to use the maximum membership duration of 540 days, and a membership duration of 540 days will be retroactively applied to all those existing members that have a longer duration. The reflected list size decreases as memberships expire. Campaigns targeting too small a segment of users can’t serve ads and may automatically pause. Refresh your Customer Match list before April 7, 2025 to renew memberships or replace the expired Customer Match lists with up-to-date lists to ensure that your ad campaigns are not interrupted.

With a set membership duration, you will need to start refreshing your list regularly by re-uploading customer data to your lists. If you do not, the list size will get smaller over time. Refer to this article to learn more about Customer Match.

Required actions for Google Ads API users

Starting on April 7, 2025, requests to set the UserList.membership_life_span field in the Google Ads API to greater than 540 will return a RangeError.TOO_HIGH error. We recommend you check your current implementation to make sure you no longer set the field value to greater than 540.

For existing user lists with membership_life_span field in the Google Ads API greater than 540, starting from April 7, 2025 customer data user lists will be automatically migrated to have a membership life span of the maximum 540 days. If you need to update your code to regularly refresh your customer lists, check out our guide for examples.

No action is required if you do not set the membership_life_span field in the Google Ads API and you regularly refresh your customer lists. Leaving the field unset has the same effect as setting it to the maximum 540 days value.

If you run into issues or have questions about these changes, please contact us using our Google Ads API forum.

Required actions for Display & Video 360 API users

Starting on April 7, 2025, firstAndThirdPartyAudiences.create and firstAndThirdPartyAudiences.patch requests to the Display & Video 360 API that set the membershipDurationDays field to greater than 540 will return a 400 error. Setting the membershipDurationDays field is required when you create a Customer Match list, so we recommend that you check your current implementation to make sure you no longer set the field to a value greater than 540.

From April 7, 2025, existing Customer Match list with a membershipDurationDays field set to a value greater than 540 days will be automatically migrated to a membership duration of the new maximum 540 days. After this date, you will need to regularly refresh your Customer Match list. See our guide for examples on how to update your Customer Match list.

If you run into issues or have questions about these changes, please contact us using our Display & Video 360 API Technical support contact form.

- Da Yang, Google Ads API Team
- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 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

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

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

Improvements to conversion adjustment uploads

Starting on September 9, 2024, Google Ads API users will no longer need to wait 24 hours before uploading conversion adjustments - they can be uploaded immediately after the original conversion has been uploaded or recorded by Google tags.

This means that you will no longer need to keep track of the 24-hour window before uploading conversion adjustments, and can stop checking for certain error codes and retrying those upload requests.

Specifically, the following changes will take effect:

  1. The following error codes will no longer be returned in responses from the UploadConversionAdjustments method, and will no longer be visible in diagnostic reports:
  2. Conversion adjustments that would previously be rejected with these error codes will count towards the pending_count in diagnostics until they’re processed, at which point they’ll be counted towards either the successful_count or failed_count fields. This might take up to 24 hours.

Here is how these changes will affect older Google Ads API versions v15 and v16:

  1. The following error codes will no longer be returned in responses from the UploadConversionAdjustments method, and will no longer be visible in diagnostic reports:
  2. Any conversion that would have triggered these codes will, in diagnostic reports, count towards the total_event_count metric while being processed. Once processing is completed they will be counted towards either the successful_count or failed_count. This might take up to 24 hours.

What do I need to do?

  1. Remove any logic from your application that waits before uploading adjustments, and begin uploading conversion adjustments at any time after the original conversion has been uploaded.
  2. Modify your application logic and business processes so that you are not tracking the two conversion adjustment errors that are being removed.
  3. If you rely on the successful or failed event count metrics, revisit your application logic with the understanding that some uploaded events may, at times, when using v17, be represented as pending.

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

- Ben Karl, on behalf of the Google Ads API Team

Upcoming Changes in Python Version Support for the Google Ads API Client Library for Python

In October, 2024, Python 3.8 will reach end-of-life and will no longer be supported by the Python Software Foundation. Once Python 3.8 officially reaches end-of-life status, it will also no longer be supported by the Google Ads client library for Python. That means we will not make updates to the library, or address any issues related to compatibility with Python 3.8, outside of critical security updates.

In Q1 2025 we will release a new major version of the library that is incompatible with Python 3.8. This new version will include support for Python 3.13. Users of deprecated, or soon-to-be deprecated versions of Python, are at risk of losing access to the Google Ads API. Please note the below timelines:

  • Python 3.7 users will lose access to the API when v15 is sunset on September 25, 2024
  • Python 3.8 users will lose access to the API when v18 is sunset in Q3 or Q4 2025.

Any library users currently relying on Python 3.7 or 3.8 should upgrade their systems to Python 3.9 or higher as soon as possible.

If you have any questions about this change, please file an issue on the client library repository.

- Ben Karl, on behalf of the Google Ads API Team

Watch Performance Max and the Google Ads API On Demand

As previously announced, Ads Developer Relations hosted a workshop on July 17: Performance Max and the Google Ads API. We are grateful to all the Google Ads API and Performance Max enthusiasts who tuned in for the live workshop.

If you didn't get a chance to watch the workshop live, or you want to review content you previously watched, you can still view sessions on demand at the event site.

We hope you will take advantage of this awesome resource to learn more about the power of Performance Max campaigns, and hear from Google Ads API experts on how to build, manage, and report on Performance Max campaigns using the API.

 - Laura Chevalier, Google Ads API Team

Register for the Performance Max Workshop

As previously announced, the Performance Max and the Google Ads API workshop is only one week away, on July 17, 2024. Register today to reserve your spot.

As a reminder, this developer-focused, virtual workshop will provide you with knowledge, resources, and support to build, manage, and report on Performance Max campaigns in the Google Ads API. We’re offering this live workshop in three regions. Follow the links below to view the full agenda in your region.

Regional Workshop Times & Agendas

We look forward to seeing you!

 - Laura Chevalier, Google Ads API Team