Tag Archives: google_ads_scripts

Changes to phrase match and broad match modifier

On February 4, 2021, we announced upcoming changes to phrase match and broad match modifier. To simplify the keyword portfolio and help advertisers reach more relevant user searches, we are bringing behaviors of broad match modifier (BMM) into phrase match, and phasing out support for BMM. This will be a gradual rollout that will change the back end processing for keyword match types (AdWords API, Google Ads API, Google Ads scripts) in order to simplify keywords and make it easier to reach relevant customers.

The updated phrase match will contain the best of both match types: the control of phrase match, and the expanded reach of broad match modifier. Both phrase and BMM keywords will continue to work and beginning February 18, 2021 for our first wave of languages (English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian), keywords using the phrase or BMM notations will begin to use the updated phrase match behavior. In Q2 we will begin the same process for all other Google Ads languages, and expect to complete in July 2021.

In July 2021, once all languages have the updated phrase match behavior, advertisers will be prevented from creating new BMM keywords (but any legacy BMM keywords will still work).

The changes to phrase match and BMM will not impact negative keyword match types.

How does this change affect the AdWords API, Google Ads API and Google Ads scripts?
Starting in July 2021, you will no longer be able to create new BMM keywords (i.e. matchType of BROAD and keyword text in which tokens begin with +). We will do a separate reminder announcement as we get closer to this milestone.

What impact should advertisers expect?
Impact will depend on each advertiser's usage of phrase and/or BMM and how comprehensive their query coverage is.
  • Advertisers predominantly using phrase match are expected to see an incremental increase in clicks and conversions
    • This is due to the additional queries to which these keywords will now be eligible to match. For example, “holidays in zambia” as a phrase keyword will now begin to match to “holiday spots in zambia”, which was previously only eligible for BMM.
  • Advertisers predominantly using BMM are expected to see a slight decrease in clicks and conversions
    • The majority of this loss is from BMMs where the modifier was only applied to part of the keyword, e.g. tennis +shoes.
    • In addition we are now considering word order when it’s important to the meaning of the keyword, so some matches that previously matched to BMM will be filtered out.
What should I do?
Advertisers may experience traffic shifts. User queries that previously matched to keywords in one match type may become eligible to match to a phrase or legacy BMM keyword causing the volume to move across keywords. For this reason it is important for advertisers to monitor their accounts and adjust budgets if needed to accommodate additional volume. Additional best practices are outlined in the announcement.

If you have any questions or need additional help, contact us via the forum.
, Google Ads API Team

Changes to conversion columns in AdWords API and Scripts

What's changing?
We are introducing restrictions on certain combinations of conversion columns in AdWords API and Google Ads scripts reports. If your reporting queries include these column combinations, you need to fix your queries before Feb 15, 2021.

Technical details
Starting the week of Feb 15, 2021, you will receive a ReportDefinitionError.INVALID_FIELD_NAME_FOR_REPORT error if your AdWords API report request contains columns from both of the restricted column sets listed below. Similarly, calls to the AdsApp.report method in Google Ads scripts will fail for queries with these restricted column combinations.

Restricted conversion columns:
  • ConversionAdjustment
  • ConversionAdjustmentLagBucket
  • ConversionAttributionEventType
  • ConversionCategoryName
  • ConversionLagBucket
  • ConversionTrackerId
  • ConversionTypeName
Metrics columns:
  • AllConversionRate
  • ConversionRate
  • CostPerAllConversion
  • CostPerConversion
  • CostPerCurrentModelAttributedConversion
The ReportDefinitionService.getReportFields method will reflect these restrictions in the exclusiveFields list of each impacted column.

What should you do?
Before Feb 15, 2021, review and modify the reporting queries in your AdWords API and Google Ads scripts applications to stop using the prohibited column combinations.

Why is this changing?
These column combinations are currently disallowed by the Google Ads UI, Google Ads Editor and the Google Ads API. This change makes the AdWords API and Google Ads scripts behaviour consistent with the rest of the Google Ads platform.

If you have any questions or need help, please contact us via the forum.
- Anash P. Oommen, Google Ads API Team

Google Ads Scripts updating default search version to v5

Starting September 29, 2020, the default version for all search queries and report queries that use Google Ads Query Language (GAQL) will be updated from v4 to v5. If you're manually specifying a version for your queries, nothing will change. If you haven't already migrated to the new beta search feature, then this doesn't affect you.

Support for v5 is available if you want to opt in sooner. You can modify your code to set an explicit version using: 

var report = AdsApp.search(query, {
  apiVersion: 'v5'
});
See the Google Ads API release notes for a complete list of changes in v5. Some highlights for reporting include:
  • Fetching stats for entity types not explicitly supported by the API, such as Discovery campaigns
  • Improved policy summary fields for ads with more selectable options
If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback, please contact us via our forum.
- Mike Cloonan, Google Ads Scripts Team

Conversion Category Changes in AdWords API, Google Ads API, and Google Ads scripts

Since May 2020, when you sign in to your Google Ads account you may be prompted to upgrade each of your conversion actions to the new conversion categories. The updated conversion categories provide more granularity to describe the conversion actions that are the most meaningful for your business. More details can be found in this Google Ads Help Center article.

Starting October 15th 2020, these suggestions will be automatically applied if you haven’t already accepted them. Google Ads API, AdWords API and Google Ads Scripts users will see the following changes:

If you are using the Google Ads API, the new conversion categories are already available in ConversionActionCategoryEnum. No further action is needed.

If you are using the AdWords API, since we are not releasing a new version for the AdWords API, the new conversion category types will be translated to the existing ConversionTracker.Category enum values, based on the mapping below:
New Conversion Category ConversionTracker.Category
Add to cart LEAD
Begin checkout LEAD
Purchase PURCHASE
Subscribe (paid) PURCHASE
Subscribe (free) SIGNUP
Phone call leads LEAD
Offline lead LEAD
Submit lead form LEAD
Book appointment LEAD
Request quote LEAD
Get directions LEAD
Outbound click LEAD
Contact LEAD
Download DOWNLOAD
View key page PAGE_VIEW
Engagement DEFAULT
Store visit DEFAULT
Store sale PURCHASE
Other DEFAULT
Therefore, if you are using the AdWords API to retrieve conversion category types (via reports or services), you will still see existing conversion category types being returned based on the mapping above, which will be different from the migrated new types in Google Ads UI.

AdWords API users can still create conversion actions using the existing category types. The AdWords API will automatically translate the created conversions to new category types, based on machine learning models. You can find code examples on how to set category type for conversion actions on the AdWords API developer site.

If you are using Google Ads scripts, when you select or filter on the report field ConversionCategoryName, you will see the same existing category types as the ones used in AdWords API, based on the mapping in the above table.

If you have any questions or need additional help, contact us via the forum.
- Fei Xiang, Google Ads API Team

Beta Support for search in Google Ads scripts

Today, we are announcing beta support for a new search method in Google Ads scripts. This method is backed by the Google Ads API and supports most queries supported by that API. Please see the documentation page for the AdsApp.search method for more information.

Additionally, we are adding beta support for the Google Ads Query Language to our existing AdsApp.report method. When using the report method, Google Ads scripts will automatically determine the correct reporting engine (either AdWords API or Google Ads API) to use based on the FROM clause in your query.

The key difference between the report and search methods is in how the results are returned.
  • The report method will return a Report object, as it always has. Each row will be a map of column names to values.
  • The search method will return an iterator of rows, and each row will be analogous to a GoogleAdsRow in the Google Ads API.
For example, the campaign.name column would be accessed using row['campaign.name'] if you use report, and row.campaign.name if you use search. The flat format from report can be useful for exporting to a spreadsheet or CSV. The object format from search is useful for programmatically processing results. Additionally, handling repeated fields is more intuitive since they will be returned as true arrays in the object format rather than concatenated together into a single string.

To help you build queries for your search, check out our query builder tool. If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback on the new beta features, please contact us via our forum.
- Mike Cloonan, Google Ads scripts 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

Responsive Display Ads in Google Ads Scripts

Today we are adding support for new responsive display ads in Google Ads scripts. Starting last year, you could no longer create legacy responsive display ads, but you could still fetch your existing ads.

These new responsive display ads have added support for multiple text, image, and video assets in the same ad. The ResponsiveDisplayAd object gained new methods to support the new associated fields, and you can begin adding new responsive display ads in your scripts.

The new and legacy responsive display ads are both represented via the same ResponsiveDisplayAd object. Make sure to read the full object documentation to check which methods are relevant for legacy ads or new ads. We also have a short guide demonstrating some of the key changes.

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

Complete sunset of accelerated budget delivery

Last October, we announced the sunset of accelerated budget delivery for use with Search campaigns, Shopping campaigns, and shared budgets. These campaigns have since been made unavailable for use with accelerated budget delivery.

Later this year, accelerated budget delivery will also be sunset for all other remaining campaign types for both shared and non-shared budgets. This includes Display, App, video campaigns, and others, and this sunset will affect budgets in all versions of the AdWords API, Google Ads API, and Google Ads scripts.

Starting at the end of April, 2020, scripts and both APIs will prevent campaigns from using new and existing budgets with the ACCELERATED delivery method.
  • Creating a new budget with its delivery method field set to ACCELERATED will no longer be allowed.
  • Changing an existing budget from STANDARD to ACCELERATED delivery method will no longer be allowed.
  • Setting a campaign to use a pre-existing budget with an ACCELERATED delivery method will no longer be allowed.
Any of the above operations will result in errors from the APIs and scripts, according to the following:
AdWords API
Service Field Value Error
BudgetService deliveryMethod: ACCELERATED OperationAccessDenied.ACTION_NOT_PERMITTED
CampaignService budget*
[*]only if set to accelerated delivery		 OperationAccessDenied.ACTION_NOT_PERMITTED

Google Ads API
Service Field Value Error
CampaignBudgetService delivery_method: ACCELERATED OperationAccessDenied.ACTION_NOT_PERMITTED
CampaignService campaign_budget*
[*] only if set to accelerated delivery		 OperationAccessDenied.ACTION_NOT_PERMITTED

Google Ads scripts
Method Error
AdsApp.​Budget.setDeliveryMethod(“ACCELERATED”) “Action not permitted”

Making changes to existing ACCELERATED budgets (e.g., updating amount or status fields in the API, or using their corresponding AdsApp.​Budget methods in scripts) will still be allowed until May 2020, after which any modification to these budgets will also result in analogous errors.

Future versions of the Google Ads API and Google Ads scripts may remove support for the accelerated budget delivery option altogether.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on the AdWords API / Google Ads API forum or the Google Ads scripts forum if you have any questions about this change.
Adam Ohren, Google Ads API Team

Upcoming sunset of message extensions in in AdWords and Google Ads APIs and Google Ads scripts

On January 27, 2020, message extensions will be sunset in AdWords and Google Ads APIs and Google Ads scripts. After the sunset date:
  • All existing message extensions will no longer serve.
  • You will not be able to create new message extensions or update existing extensions.
  • You will still be able to retrieve data for existing message extensions until the end of 2020.
  • You will also be able to remove the existing message extensions until the end of 2020.
What will happen when you try to create or update message extensions after the sunset date?
If you try to create or update a message extension, you will see the following errors:

Google Ads API
  • Trying to create or update a TextMessageFeedItem will result in the ExtensionSettingError.INVALID_FEED_TYPE error.
  • Trying to create or update a message extension via FeedMapping with placeholder_type set to MESSAGE will result in the FeedMappingError.INVALID_PLACEHOLDER_TYPE error.

AdWords API
  • Trying to create or update a MessageFeedItem will result in the ExtensionSettingError.INVALID_FEED_TYPE error.
  • Trying to create or update a message extension via FeedMapping using placeholder type ID 31 will result in the FeedMappingError.INVALID_PLACEHOLDER_TYPE error.

Google Ads scripts
Trying to execute the following operations will result in the error, “Cannot operate on deprecated placeholder type” (translated to the language based on your locale):
What do you need to do?
  • Retrieve all the data from your existing message extensions that you need. All message extension data will be deleted at the end of 2020.
  • Ensure that your programs don’t contain any code trying to create or update message extensions after the sunset date.
As always, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us on the Google Ads API forum.
 - , Google Ads API Team