Google Ads Developer Blog: July 2019

Sunset of the Average Position Metric in AdWords and Google Ads APIs

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Update (Jul 30, 2019): clarified the sunset schedule.

Starting the week of September 30, 2019, the average position metric will be sunset. This change was announced this past February in the Google Ads Help Center. The new alternatives were described in this November 2018 blog post. Once the sunset occurs, requests for the average position (AdWords API, Google Ads API) will return NULL values.

In the AdWords API v201809, NULL values are returned as two dashes. In the Google Ads API, NULL values are returned as NullValues.

If you use ValueTrack parameters, we encourage you to remove the ValueTrack parameter {adposition} from your tracking templates. When average position is sunset, the ValueTrack parameter {adposition} will begin returning the empty string.

Note that average position has already been removed from the current beta version of the Google Ads API, but is accessible in the earlier V1_x versions.

In lieu of average position, we recommend you use the new metrics of Impression (Absolute Top) %" and "Impression (Top) %. These are the new metrics:

Absolute Top Metrics
AdWords API	Google Ads API
AbsoluteTopImpressionPercentage	absolute_top_impression_percentage
SearchAbsoluteTopImpressionShare	search_absolute_top_impression_share
SearchBudgetLostAbsoluteTopImpressionShare	search_budget_lost_absolute_top_impression_share
SearchRankLostAbsoluteTopImpressionShare	search_rank_lost_absolute_top_impression_share

Top Metrics
AdWords API	Google Ads API
TopImpressionPercentage	top_impression_percentage
SearchTopImpressionShare	search_top_impression_share
SearchBudgetLostTopImpressionShare	search_budget_lost_top_impression_share
SearchRankLostTopImpressionShare	search_rank_lost_top_impression_share

As always, don't hesitate to reach out to us on the developer forum with any questions.
David Wihl, Google Ads API Team

Ad Manager Content Ingest Migration

Thursday, July 25, 2019

In case you missed it, Google Ad Manager's video content ingestion is getting an upgrade, and the API has been updated to support the new Content Metadata features.

If you create video line items through the API, you'll need to update your application to target metadata for video line items using CmsMetadataCriteria instead of CustomCriteria keys and values. The values for CmsMetadataCriteria can be retrieved from the CmsMetadataService, available in v201902 and later.

Migration Steps

A significant part of this migration will be coordinating your changes - especially if you work with multiple Ad Manager networks. You'll need to wait until Google migrates each network, then change your application's behavior when creating line items.

The order of operations will be:

Google backfills and verifies existing content metadata in new Ad Manager infrastructure.
Google enables the new content ingestion features on a network.
You update your application to use CMS Metadata targeting for all new line items.

If you need help with this migration, or coordinating changes with your partners, don't hesitate to reach out to us on the Ad Manager API forums.

- Chris Seeley, Ad Manager API Team

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

Monday, July 22, 2019

Update (Aug 5, 2019): Please also include SharedSet ID in your verification for 64-bit compliance.
Update (Jul 26, 2019): Please also include Asset ID in your verification for 64-bit compliance.

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

Sunset of the Ad Manager API v201808

Thursday, July 11, 2019

On Friday, August 30, 2019, in accordance with the deprecation schedule, v201808 of the Ad Manager API will be sunset. At that time, any requests made to this version will return errors.

If you’re still using this version, now is the time to upgrade to the latest release and take advantage of new functionality like DateTimeRangeTargeting, the TargetingPresetService, and reporting on CustomTargetingKeys.

When you’re ready to upgrade, check the release notes to identify any breaking changes. Significant changes include:

A change to the capitalization of DateTime.timeZoneId, which was previously DateTime.timeZoneID.
Removal of the ContentMetadataKeyHierarchyService. You can continue to target video content with key‑values mapped from content metadata or content bundles.

Then, grab the latest version of your client library and update your code. As always, don't hesitate to reach out to us on the developer forum with any questions.

- Donovan McMurray, Ad Manager API Team

Google Ads API Returning to Beta

Tuesday, July 2, 2019

Your feedback about the performance of our products is very important to us. After launching the Google Ads API in March, we’ve heard feedback about slow response times compared to the AdWords API. After in-depth analysis, we’ve determined that the overall performance of the Google Ads API is not ready for production usage.

We take performance very seriously, and this is our highest priority to address. In the meantime, we’re reverting Google Ads API back to beta status and recommend production systems to use AdWords API for the best experience.

If you’re currently using the Google Ads API in production, please contact googleadsapi-support@google.com to discuss recommendations specific to your use cases.

We appreciate all the work you’ve put into learning and developing on the new Google Ads API. We thank you for your feedback and are committed to delivering a better performing API to meet you and your customers’ needs. As more updates become available, we'll share them on this blog.
--Google Ads API Team

Upcoming changes to environment and position targeting in DV360

Monday, July 1, 2019

Update (Aug 8, 2019): Replacement field mappings have been updated to align with changes to the SDF v5 release notes.

On August 26, 2019, we'll be introducing a number of changes to environment and position targeting in Display & Video 360. These changes are being made to allow you to target your ads with increased accuracy and granularity. To learn more about these changes and how they will affect various parts of the Display & Video 360 product, visit the help center.

How will this affect API users?

A new version of Structured Data Files (SDF) will launch alongside these changes, containing new fields that allow you to retrieve and set all of the new targeting options. At the same time, existing SDF versions will be updated to disallow retrieving and setting legacy environment and position targeting options.

The following legacy fields will no longer be populated on download and will return errors on upload for SDF v3.1, v4, v4.1, and v4.2. Suggested SDF v5 replacement fields are provided where applicable.

SDF Entity	Legacy Field	New SDF v5 Field(s)
Campaign	Environment Targeting	Environment Targeting
	Viewability Targeting Ad Position - Exclude	No longer supported
	Viewability Targeting Ad Position - Include	Position Targeting - Display On Screen
Insertion Order	Environment Targeting	Environment Targeting
	Video Ad Position Targeting	Position Targeting - Video Position In Content
	Viewability Targeting Ad Position - Exclude	No longer supported
	Viewability Targeting Ad Position - Include	Position Targeting - Display On Screen
Line Item	Environment Targeting	Environment Targeting
	Video Ad Position Targeting	Position Targeting - Video Position In Content
	Viewability Targeting Ad Position - Exclude	No longer supported
	Viewability Targeting Ad Position - Include	Position Targeting - On Screen

If you are a current user of SDF and rely on any of the legacy fields listed above, you will need to migrate to SDF v5 in order to make use of the new targeting fields. While this SDF version will not be available until August 26, we are providing a preview of the documentation that you can use to prepare.

Questions about this or anything else DV360 related? Contact our support team.

- Jonathon Imperiosi, DBM API Team

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