What’s changing?

On July 6, 2023 we announced the auto-migration of image and location extensions to assets. Once the auto-migration starts on August 2, 2023, new accounts will only be able to create image and location assets and not extensions. New accounts will be treated as accounts that have been migrated.

How do I verify my account?

Use the following fields from v13 or greater in the Customer resource to track the status of your account:

• bool image_asset_auto_migration_done
• string image_asset_auto_migration_done_date_time
• bool location_asset_auto_migration_done
• string location_asset_auto_migration_done_date_time

What if I try to create an extension on a new or migrated account?

If your account has been migrated or is new and you attempt to create an extension the mutate request will be rejected and you will receive the error:

     LEGACY_EXTENSION_TYPE_READ_ONLY

If you have any questions, please reach out to us on the forum.

Bob Hancock, Google Ads API Team

Overview

Historically, ad-tech providers have used third-party cookies (3PC) as a mechanism for conversion measurement, and for attributing conversions to ad interactions. Conversion measurement provides critical ad performance data to advertisers, and helps optimize auction-based bidding strategies.

Currently, the online advertising ecosystem is pivoting towards improved ways to protect user privacy. Chrome’s Attribution Reporting API (ARA), a part of the larger Privacy Sandbox initiative, offers an alternative for measurement after the third-party cookie deprecation in 2024. Ad-tech providers, including Google’s ads platforms, should consider adopting the ARA to maintain high-quality conversion measurement and support the pivot toward user privacy protection.

Google Ads has made significant investments to use the ARA more effectively and to help advertisers achieve more accurate measurement. We encourage other ad-tech providers to integrate with the ARA, configure the integration to retrieve the data they need, and process the ARA's output to help maintain accurate measurement after the planned third-party cookie deprecation in 2024.

Goals of the ARA

The ARA has two goals:

• Protect users’ cross-site and cross-app identities from ad-tech providers, advertisers, publishers and other entities by using differential privacy techniques, such as aggregation, or adding an element of noise to the data.
• Provide useful measurement information to ad-tech providers, advertisers, and publishers.

The ARA represents a change to both the format and granularity of conversion data available to ad-tech providers. As a result, ad-tech providers must change their current measurement protocols in order to start leveraging the ARA.

A glimpse into our approach

Ad-tech providers who participate in the Privacy Sandbox initiative receive data from the ARA in two forms: event-level reports and aggregate summary reports. This way, two independent views of the same underlying data are available. We encourage ad-tech providers to configure the reporting settings in the API to optimize for better measurement accuracy without 3PC, as well as improve how these two types of reports can be post-processed and used together.

There are many possible ways to utilize the ARA reports. The methodology that works for an ad-tech provider will ultimately depend on its conversion data and measurement requirements. Google Ads has found that leveraging both report types can help the industry benefit from the strengths of each report.

Google Ads leverages both event types to produce a more complete, ad event-level log. We are committed to sharing our process and engaging with the ecosystem to help our partners and the broader industry transition into a future without third-party cookies.

For more details on how we’re implementing the Attribution Reporting API, please refer to our detailed technical guide.

Harikesh Nair, Director, Data Science, Ads Measurement

Today, we’re announcing the publishing of a new pre-written Script for reporting on Performance Max campaign performance in Google Ads scripts. This script will report on your conversions and other performance related metrics for your campaigns. The only thing needed to get it running is to copy the source code into your account and schedule the script to run daily.

How can I get started?
Find the script here.

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

As announced in March 2023, Display & Video 360 (DV360) API v1 will sunset on September 14, 2023. Please migrate to DV360 API v2 before the sunset date to avoid an interruption of service.

You can read our release notes for more information about v2. Follow the steps in our v2 migration guide to help you migrate from v1 to v2.

If you run into issues or need help with your migration, please contact us using our support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

We are announcing support for new generic mutate functionality in Google Ads scripts, available today. Most mutate operations that are supported by the Google Ads API can now be performed directly in scripts.


For example, to create a simple budget:

const budgetResult = AdsApp.mutate({
    campaignBudgetOperation: {
        create: {
            amountMicros: 10000000,
            explicitlyShared: false
        }
    }
});

The new functionality enables you to create full campaign hierarchies, new conversion actions, and more that previously was not possible in scripts. For a full list of available operations, check out the MutateOperation reference documentation for the Google Ads API. Note that a few operation types are still restricted in scripts.

Check out the new guide for a complete overview of how to use the feature, including update and remove operations and performing multiple operations in a single call.

Please contact us on our forum or at googleadsscripts-support@google.com if you have any questions.
- Mike Cloonan, Google Ads API Team

Today, we’re proud to share Kueez’s success story of using the Google Ads API with Performance Max to grow ROAS for partners by 20%!

Here are the highlights:

• Kueez leverages Google Ads to drive platform ad views from high-quality and engaged traffic across their portfolio of publisher partners, and owned and operated websites.
• Using the power of Google Ads API, Kueez implemented Performance Max campaigns to broaden their reach, and attract additional audiences that exhibit similar or better conversion rates than they had before using Performance Max.
• Within 45 days of activating Performance Max campaigns, Kueez achieved an increase of over 50% engaged visits at a similar CPA, and drove +20% ROAS.

Where can I learn more?

• Check out the full case study here

We're constantly looking to improve the Google Ads API developer experience. If you have feedback on using Performance Max in the Google Ads API, submit it through this form.

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

On August 1, 2023, outcome-based buying will be deprecated in Display & Video 360. After this date, all resources using outcome-based buying will be archived, line items using outcome-based buying will stop serving, and you will no longer be able to create resources that use outcome-based buying.

Outcome-based buying is set at the insertion order level, and is used by their child line items. Outcome-based buying is set in the following ways:

• In Display & Video 360 API, outcome-based buying is used if the billableOutcome field of the InsertionOrder resource is set to BILLABLE_OUTCOME_PAY_PER_CLICK or BILLABLE_OUTCOME_PAY_PER_VIEWABLE_IMPRESSION.
• In Structured Data Files, outcome-based buying is used if the “Billable Outcome” column of the Insertion Order file row is set to “Click” or “Active View.”

Effective August 1, 2023, all relevant insertion orders and line items will be archived. Display & Video 360 API requests creating new insertion orders and line items using outcome-based buying will return 400 errors. Structured Data File uploads will fail for rows attempting to do the same.

Read more about this change on our Announced Deprecations page.

If you have questions regarding these changes, please contact us using our support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

What’s changing?

Beginning on August 2, 2023, we will start auto-migrating image and location extensions to assets. The auto-migration will end on September 30, 2023.

Once the image and location extensions have been migrated to assets, you won’t be able to mutate the image and location extensions. The image and location assets will be the entities that are served. Metrics for the extensions will be available until sometime in 2024.

Why is this changing?

Extensions are migrating to assets.

What do I need to do?

Upgrade to version v13 or greater of the Google Ads API since v12 will sunset at the end of September 2023. We recommend that you upgrade to v14.

The auto-migration will not keep a mapping of feed IDs to asset IDs. If you would like to keep a record of feed ID to asset ID mappings, create a new asset image or location based on your feed, and save that ID mapping locally.

Can I opt-out of the auto-migration?

No. We offered an opt-out for the first batch of auto-migration, but you can’t opt out of this auto-migration.

How will the migrations occur?

The migrations occur at an account level. During the migration of an account, which will take several minutes, you won’t be able to execute any image or location mutations of either extensions or assets. When the migration is complete, you will have access to the assets.

The image and location migrations are not synchronized. It is likely they will occur at different times for each account.

How do I know when an account has been migrated?

Use the following fields from v13 or greater in the Customer resource to track the status of the migration:

• bool image_asset_auto_migration_done
• string image_asset_auto_migration_done_date_time
• bool location_asset_auto_migration_done
• string location_asset_auto_migration_done_date_time

If you are using v12, you can instead consult the UI and you will see an alert once your account has been migrated.

What happens after the auto-migration?

Accounts that have been migrated will reject mutate calls for feed-based entities.

If you have any questions, please reach out to us on the forum.

Bob Hancock, Google Ads API Team

Starting on July 5, 2023 we will gradually release a backend improvement on Google Ads keyword policy validation.

You might see an increase in keyword policy violation failures when you send Google Ads API requests that create keyword criteria. The Google Ads API will catch more keywords that don’t adhere to our keyword policy as soon as you send the API request, rather than validating them offline after the keywords have been submitted.

Note that not all keywords created through successful API calls will be accepted. Keywords still undergo offline review.

Due to the new realtime check, you might need to account for new policy violation terms in the PolicyViolationDetails field of the responses you receive from the Google Ads API. Use this field to apply for keyword policy exemption; for further details on how to do so, please refer to the guide on keyword policy exemptions.

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

 - Mattia Tommasone, Google Ads API Team