Google Ads Developer Blog: April 2023

Deprecating Audience Composition Reports in Bid Manager API on June 8, 2023

Thursday, April 27, 2023

On June 8, 2023, Audience Composition Reports will be deprecated in Display & Video 360. This means that you will no longer be able to retrieve, create or run Audience Composition Reports using the Bid Manager API. In the Bid Manager API, an Audience Composition Report is a Query resource with a ReportType of AUDIENCE_COMPOSITION assigned to params.type. After deprecation:

Any request to the queries or queries.reports services identifying an Audience Composition Report will return an error.

All queries.create requests creating a new Audience Composition Report will return an error.

All queries.list responses will no longer include Audience Composition Report queries.

To avoid an interruption of service, we recommend that you stop creating or retrieving any existing reports of this type. If you have questions regarding this change, please contact us using our support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Bid Manager API Team

Announcing v13_1 of the Google Ads API

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Google Ads APIclient libraries

You can now retrieve bid simulations at a campaign level for Performance Max through campaign_simulation.

We added several recommendation types related to Shopping campaigns, such as recommendations to migrate to Performance Max and recommendations to fix a Merchant Center account’s suspension.

Google Ads now accepts SKAdNetwork conversion value schemas for iOS App campaigns. Learn more about setting up your schema and best practices for your iOS campaigns.

We added LeadFormField.has_location_answer to support specifying whether locations of the location assets at the campaign or customer level should be displayed with a lead form.

(Allowlisted feature) Performance Max campaigns now have a VEHICLES listing type in the newly Campaign.listing_type field. This replaces ShoppingSetting.use_vehicles_inventory, which will be reserved for Smart Shopping campaigns.

Where can I learn more?

Release Notes

Guides

Reference

forum

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

Removing support for PHP 7 in the Google Ad Manager SOAP API Client Library for PHP

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

In August 2023, the Google Ad Manager SOAP API Client Library for PHP will start requiring PHP version 8.0 or higher. The version of the client library that adds support for Google Ad Manager API v202305 will be the last version that supports PHP 7. We’ll still fix security issues for this client library version until Google Ad Manager API v202305 is sunset, but no new features will be added. All PHP 7 versions reached their end of life in 2022. The PHP development team no longer provides security fixes for these versions, so we highly recommend migrating to newer versions as soon as possible. Here are useful resources to help with the PHP migration:

The PHP support version calendar

How to migrate from PHP 7.4.x to PHP 8.0.x

If you have any questions regarding this change, feel free to comment directly on the GitHub issue.

Pierrick Voulet, Google Ads API Team

Ad Manager API v202205 sunset and v202202 extension

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

On Wednesday, May 31, 2023, in accordance with the deprecation schedule, v202205 of the Ad Manager API will sunset. At that time, any requests made to this version will return errors. Additionally, support for Ad Manager API v202202 is being extended until the same date, May 31, 2023. We've heard from a number of users that they need additional time to complete the Ad Exchange Historical report migration. Note that v202202 is the last version with support for Ad Exchange Historical reports. When you’re ready to upgrade, check the full release notes to identify any breaking changes. Here are a few examples of changes that may impact your applications:

v202211

Replaced the string field thirdPartyImpressionTrackingUrl with the list field thirdPartyImpressionTrackingUrls for multiple creative types including ImageCreative. Currently only a single URL may be provided in the list.
Removed support for OPTIMIZATION reporting columns.

As always, feel free to contact us on the developer forum with any questions.

- Chris Seeley, Ad Manager API Team

New Merchant IDs are now 64-bit in Content API for Shopping

Monday, April 24, 2023

Content API for Shoppinginformed you last JuneforumBenji Rothman, Content API for Shopping Team

New Validations for Google Ads Account Names

Monday, April 24, 2023

descriptive_nameACTION_NOT_PERMITTEDdescriptive_nameforumgoogleadsapi-support@google.com

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

Changes coming to Display & Video 360 API in May and June 2023

Thursday, April 20, 2023

Throughout May and June 2023, we will be making four changes in the Display & Video 360 API that may impact your integration. These changes and relevant dates are as follows, with links to further details:

On May 17, 2023, we will begin deprecating manual triggers in Display & Video 360.

On May 20, 2023, we will begin deprecating a subset of GoogleAudience and FirstAndThirdPartyAudience types in Display & Video 360.

On May 30, 2023, existing Display & Video 360 API quota limits will be replaced with new, per-advertiser quota limits.

On June 8, 2023, LIST request filter parameters will no longer allow OR operators between restrictions of different fields and two filterable fields will be deprecated for insertion order and line item LIST methods.

With the announcement of these deprecations, we are launching a new Announced Deprecations page listing all announced deprecations and sunsets. This includes version deprecations and API-wide feature deprecations. If you have questions regarding these changes, please contact us using our support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

First click, linear, time decay, and position-based attribution models are going away in Google Ads API

Thursday, April 20, 2023

UPDATE: The start of this change will now begin mid-July instead of June as mentioned in the original blog post. What’s changing?simplifying attribution model optionsmid-July 2023conversion actions

First click (GOOGLE_SEARCH_ATTRIBUTION_FIRST_CLICK)

Linear (GOOGLE_SEARCH_ATTRIBUTION_LINEAR)

Time decay (GOOGLE_SEARCH_ATTRIBUTION_TIME_DECAY)

Position-based (GOOGLE_SEARCH_ATTRIBUTION_POSITION_BASED)

data-driven attributionGOOGLE_SEARCH_ATTRIBUTION_DATA_DRIVENGOOGLE_ADS_LAST_CLICKexternal attributionWhat do I need to do?conversion actionsConversionActionServiceAttributionModelSettingsdata-driven attributionGOOGLE_SEARCH_ATTRIBUTION_DATA_DRIVENlast click attributionGOOGLE_ADS_LAST_CLICKmid-July 2023September 2023If you don’t want your conversion actions to use data-driven attribution, update your conversion actions to the last click attribution model before September 2023.GoogleAdsService.SearchGoogleAdsService.SearchStreamSELECT conversion_action.attribution_model_settings.attribution_model FROM conversion_action forum

Ian Ballantyne, Google Ads API Team

Issues from all destinations to be included in Productstatuses Service by default in the Content API for Shopping

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

April 24, 2023productstatuses.listproductstatuses.getproductstatuses.listproductstatuses.getNo action is needed from youContent API for Shoppingproductstatuses.listproductstatuses.getdestinations[]productstatuses methodsProduct statuses documentationforumBenji Rothman, Content API for Shopping Team

Unity Google Mobile Ads Version 8 Released

Thursday, April 13, 2023

We are excited to announce the release of Version 8 of the Google Mobile Ads for Unity plugin! This new version contains a number of new features and upgraded APIs. Minimum Unity version is now 2019.4 The Google Mobile Ads Unity plugin now has a minimum Unity Engine version requirement of 2019.4. This was done to align with Unity’s long term support. Compatibility with Android v22.0.0 This release supports the Android Google Mobile Ads SDK version 22.0.0 major version release. User Messaging Platform (UMP) support The Google Mobile Ads Unity plugin now includes support for the Google User Messaging Platform (UMP) to help you gather consent from app users. To enable UMP support, see the user privacy get started guide. Plugin now has C# reference documentation With the release of version 8, we now have launched C# reference documentation. Moreover, this version added xml-doc summaries to all public fields, properties, methods, and classes. This makes the plugin easier to use and provides full IntelliSense support when developing in Visual Studio. Migrate ad format events to the new interface Full-screen ad formats APIs now have a uniform interface and we are removing the old ad event APIs. These changes make the APIs for each ad format more consistent and easier to use. The new interface includes a static Load() method, use of generic delegates instead of EventArgs, and consistent ad events names across formats.

For a full list of changes and steps for upgrading your code, please see the version 8 migration guide. Use RaiseAdEventsOnUnityMainThread() to guarantee thread safety The Google Mobile Ads Unity plugin now includes an optional support feature for Unity thread safety. This feature means you no longer need to manage threading concerns when handling platform events or callbacks. If you use this feature, the SDK may pause events during full screen ad presentations. This means that you might not get some events, like OnAdFullScreenContentOpened or OnAdImpressionRecorded, until after the user comes back to the game. If you need to collect this data in real time, this might not be a good option. We recommend you test this feature to see if it works for you. Here's an example of how to use Google Mobile Ads new thread safety support: Deprecation of Ad Placements The Google Mobile Ads Unity plugin's Ad Placements feature is deprecated. There are no plans to move it into public release. If you have any questions or concerns about migrating your project, please reach out on our developer forum.

- Nicholas Ventimiglia, Mobile Ads Developer Relations

Upcoming changes to Google Analytics audiences and conversions in Google Ads

Thursday, April 13, 2023

What's changing Starting in April 2023, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) will automatically set up a basic GA4 property linked to your Google Ads account if the Google Ads account still uses Universal Analyticsconversions and/or audiences. During this process, GA4 will configure corresponding conversions and/or audiences in GA4 and apply them in your Google Ads account. This will happen even if you already have a GA4 property but still use Universal Analytics conversions and/or audiences in Google Ads. Options for handling these changes The configuration created by GA4 may not be set up to meet your specific business goals or capture all the historical data you need, so we recommend you start manually moving your conversions and/or audiences to GA4 now. If you don’t want the GA4 Setup Assistant to make these changes, you may opt out by the end of April. If you don’t want an automatically set up GA4 property at all, you can also opt out of the entire process. What you should know Universal Analytics standard properties will stop processing new data from July 1, 2023 onwards. GA4, our next-generation measurement solution, will become the sole Google Analytics standard property type. This impacts Universal Analytics conversions, audiences, and site stats currently used in your Google Ads campaigns. We recommend that you switch to GA4 now to ensure your campaigns and ad groups are effectively moved to GA4 conversions, site stats, and audiences. If you’re unsure whether a GA4 property has been created, please contact the admin user for your Universal Analytics property in Google Analytics to verify. Resources to help you migrate to Google Analytics 4 For an overview of functionality and features in UA and GA4, including APIs, check out the Universal Analytics to GA4 migration reference. For API integrations:

If you previously used the Google Analytics Management API v3 to manage your Universal Analytics properties, migrate to the Admin API v1.

If you previously used the Google Analytics Reporting API v4 to run reports in your Universal Analytics properties, migrate to the Data API v1.

How to get help

If you have any questions about migrating to the Admin API v1 or Data API v1, reach out to us using one of the channels on the Admin API help or Data API help pages.

For non-API questions, please check out the resources in the Google Analytics Help Center and the Google Ads Help Center.

- Josh Radcliff, Google Analytics and Google Ads API Team

Display & Video 360 optimized targeting rollout extended through early May 2023

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

The period for the gradual rollout of optimized targeting in Display & Video 360 has been extended and will now complete in early May instead of mid-April as previously announced. The extension of this rollout does not alter any of the changes to the Display & Video 360 API and Structured Data Files (SDFs), so users should continue to apply the recommendations detailed in the previous blog post to prepare. If you have questions regarding these changes or need help with these new features, please contact us using our support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

Ad group and keyword forecasts being removed in the Google Ads API

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

KeywordPlanAdGroupForecastKeywordPlanKeywordForecastJune 1, 2023GenerateForecastMetricsRequestKeywordPlanAdGroupForecastKeywordPlanKeywordForecastKeywordPlanCampaignForecastKeywordPlanAdGroupForecastKeywordPlanKeywordForecastKeywordPlanCampaignForecastGoogle Ads API documentationforumgoogleadsapi-support@google.com - Mike Cloonan, Google Ads API Team

Android Google Mobile Ads SDK Version 22.0.0 activates SDK sunset timelines

Monday, April 3, 2023

We are excited to announce the release of our newest version of the Google Mobile Ads SDK. We recommend upgrading as soon as possible to stay up-to-date with our latest features. Version 22.0.0 Changes Google Mobile Ads SDK version 22.0.0 introduces a few major changes:

MobileAds.getVersionString() is removed in version 22.0.0 in favor of MobileAds.getVersion(). The new method returns the expected external version number (for example, 22.0.0), helping you more clearly identify your SDK version. For more information about this change, see the Use the new Google Mobile Ads SDK getVersion() method blog post.

In version 21, the Google Mobile Ads SDK provided you the NativeCustomFormatAd.getVideoMediaView() method to get the media asset for an Ad Manager native custom ad format. In version 22, NativeCustomFormatAd provides direct access to getMediaContent() enabling you to define your MediaView in layout files along with the rest of your other views, and simply populate that view with its content once the ad loads.

See release notes for the full changelog. See our migration guide to help you migrate your apps. SDK deprecation/sunset activated Per the deprecated schedule announced last year, the release of iOS version 10.0.0 in February and this Android version 22.0.0 release activate the sunset period of earlier Android/iOS releases. Specifically:

Android Google Mobile Ads SDK version 20.x.x is officially deprecated, meaning that you will be asked to update to at least version 21.0.0 to receive full support from the Google Mobile Ads SDK developer forum.

Android versions 19.x.x and below, as well as iOS versions 7.x.x will sunset on June 30th, 2023, meaning that ad serving could be disrupted. See details below.

Updated definition of sunset We remain committed to regularly disabling old SDK versions balanced with minimizing disruption to ad serving. Aligned with this goal, we are making some changes to the previously announced sunset definition for 2023:

We previously communicated that the sunset notice period would be 2 months. For this 2023 sunset, the sunset date is June 30th, approximately 3 months notice.

We will leverage the “Outdated” feature on the Google Play SDK Index, requiring you to move off a sunset SDK version for future releases of your Android apps. See Understanding issues with your app’s third-party SDK for more information.

Starting June 30th, you may notice some disruptions in your ad serving. While we do not plan to stop ad serving for iOS version 7.x.x and Android versions 19.x.x and earlier at this time, we will regularly review usage of all sunset versions going forward to consider disabling ad serving. The oldest versions with lower usage and higher maintenance costs will be targeted first. Therefore, ad traffic from sunset SDKs versions will be at risk of receiving automatic no fill due to stopped ad serving going forward.

To avoid disruptions in ad serving, we highly recommend upgrading to a supported version as soon as possible so your users have a chance to update before June 30th, 2023. Check if your apps are affected To help you prepare for these changes, there are several ways you can check if your apps are affected:

Use the Ads Activity report and enable the “GMA SDK” dimension to see iOS app traffic running on iOS 7.x.x or earlier. Currently, only the Google Mobile Ads SDK for iOS is supported.

In Android Studio, check your build.gradle file for build warnings, which are thrown when compiling with Android SDK version 19.x.x or earlier.

Check your console logs for warning logs when making ad requests.

As always, if you have any questions or need additional help, contact us through the developer forum.

- Jill Song, Mobile Ads Developer Relations

Ads Developer Blog