Google Ads API support for importing and editing conversions from Google Analytics

What's changing
Starting October 9, 2023, the Google Ads API will allow the following types of mutate operations for a ConversionAction imported from a Google Analytics 4 (GA4) property:

1. An update that modifies status, primary_for_goal, category, name, or value_settings.
2. A remove that removes the conversion action.

Why this is important
For many Google Ads users, the conversions they import from Google Analytics are a critical component of bidding and reporting. Until now, you could use the Google Analytics Admin API to create a link between your Google Analytics and Ads accounts, but you could not use the Google Ads API to complete the following remaining steps in the linking process:

• Importing each conversion from your GA4 property into your Google Ads account by modifying its status field from HIDDEN to ENABLED.
• Configuring the primary_for_goal and category fields of each imported conversion to indicate how it should impact Google Ads bidding and reports.

With this change, the Google Ads API supports both of these steps and provides a complete API-based solution for linking your Google Analytics 4 property to your Google Ads account.

In addition to the attributes needed for proper configuration of conversion goals, you can now modify the following attributes of an imported GA4 ConversionAction:

• name
• value_settings

Requests that attempt to modify any other attributes of an imported GA4 ConversionAction will continue to fail, as will requests that attempt to remove or update a ConversionAction imported from a Universal Analytics (UA) property.

What you should do
Modify any code in your integration that depends on the Google Ads API rejecting a ConversionActionOperation with a MUTATE_NOT_ALLOWED error if it attempts to update or remove an imported GA4 conversion. For example, if your integration relies on this behavior to detect if a conversion action is an imported GA4 conversion, modify it to instead check if the type of the ConversionAction is either GOOGLE_ANALYTICS_4_CUSTOM or GOOGLE_ANALYTICS_4_PURCHASE.

In addition, if you currently complete the process of linking Google Analytics to Google Ads accounts using the UI, consider whether switching to an API-based solution is appropriate for your use case.

How to get help
If you have any questions or need help, check out the Google Ads API support page for options.
- Josh Radcliff, Google Analytics and Google Ads API Team