Google Ads Developer Blog: July 2018

Changes to YouTube placements in AdWords scripts

Thursday, July 26, 2018

We are rolling out a change to the way placements work when specifying YouTube URLs. Starting on August 14, 2018, using generic placements to specify YouTube channels or videos is going to be disallowed and will result in an error.

For more accurate video targeting, even when videos are played across platforms, use the new specific YouTubeChannel and YouTubeVideo placement criteria when you want to target specific channels or videos in AdWords scripts.

If you have any questions about these changes or AdWords scripts in general, you can post them on our developer forum.

- Mike Cloonan, AdWords Scripts Team

Campaign drafts and experiments now available in AdWords scripts

Thursday, July 26, 2018

Today we’re announcing the release of campaign drafts and experiments in AdWords scripts. Drafts and experiments (also known as Trials) will allow you to prepare, test, and apply improvements to your Search and Display Network campaigns using AdWords scripts.

An experiment runs simultaneously with the original campaign, showing its ads to the percentage of traffic that you have configured. Using the experiment to understand the impact of your changes, you can apply the changes directly to the original campaign, or even establish the experiment as an independent, fully operating campaign while retaining the original.

For more information, please refer to our guide to drafts and experiments in AdWords scripts and code samples.

If you have any questions about these changes or AdWords scripts in general, you can post them on our developer forum.
- Niousha Jafari and Rohan Dhoopar on behalf of AdWords Scripts team

New features in AdWords scripts

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Today we're announcing the launch of a few new features in AdWords scripts:

Support for reporting version v201806
Multi-file script support
Support for final URL suffix for parallel tracking

Reporting
Support for v201806 of reports has been added. The main features in this reporting version are:

New fields for Responsive Search Ads and Multi-Asset Responsive Display Ads.
The ClickType and CampaignSubType columns will return new values to reflect changes in product names. The underlying data is unaffected; the rendered value is the only change. For example, the CampaignSubType of "Product Listing Ads" will now be "Shopping ads", and there are similar changes for ClickType.

Read the AdWords API release notes for complete details, including additional features not listed here.

If you use API versioning in your reports, you need to modify your code to use v201806:

var report = AdWordsApp.report(query, {
  apiVersion: 'v201806'
});

We will also be updating the default reporting version from v201710 to v201802 on July 23, 2018. This will affect you if you do not use API versioning as outlined above.

Multi-File Support
Over the next few weeks, we will be rolling out support for scripts with multiple files. This lets you separate your utility logic from your business logic, organize your code however you see fit, and generally produce more maintainable scripts. Please try it out and let us know what you think on the forum!

Parallel Tracking Support
We have added methods to support the final URL suffix for parallel tracking. You can use the new getFinalUrlSuffix, setFinalUrlSuffix, and clearFinalUrlSuffix methods on objects that have final URLs.

As announced earlier this year, starting October 30, 2018, parallel tracking will be required for all AdWords accounts. You can consult the AdWords API documentation on click tracking for more details on how to migrate, as the same concepts apply to scripts. Please make sure to update your scripts before the deadline.

If you have any questions about these changes or AdWords scripts in general, you can post them on our developer forum.

- Mike Cloonan, AdWords Scripts Team

Upgrade to Gmail ads from Gmail template ads

Monday, July 16, 2018

On August 15, 2018, creating TemplateAds with IDs 464 (Gmail single promotion template), 466 (Gmail multi-product template), and 497 (Gmail multi-call-to-action template) will result in the error: AdError.Reason.USER_DOES_NOT_HAVE_ACCESS_TO_TEMPLATE. These template ads are now considered deprecated, but existing template ads with these IDs will continue to serve after this date.

If you would like to create a Gmail ad, use the new GmailAd introduced in v201802. Use this new entity instead of the deprecated Gmail template ads going forward.

Here are some tips to ease the transition:

Create new GmailAds in a paused campaign with the AdvertisingChannelType as DISPLAY and the AdvertisingChannelSubType as DISPLAY_GMAIL_AD.
Use MediaService to upload images or retrieve existing media IDs.
Enable the new campaign when the ads are ready, letting it run in parallel with the Gmail template ad campaign.
Pause and remove the Gmail template ad campaign when you’re comfortable with the new Gmail campaign.

For an implementation example, see the Add a Gmail ad to an ad group sample in any of our supported client libraries: Java, PHP, Python, Ruby, Perl, C#, and VB.NET.

If you have questions while you’re upgrading, please reach out to us on the AdWords API forum.

Nadine Sundquist, AdWords API Team

AdWords click measurement improvements and migration

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Earlier this month, the following improvements were made available to all users:

Setting finalUrlSuffix at the customer, campaign, ad group, ad, and extension level in all AdWords accounts. Previously, this feature was only available in test accounts.
Specifying up to eight custom parameters. Previously, the maximum number of custom parameters was three.

As announced earlier this year, starting October 30, 2018, parallel tracking will be required for all AdWords accounts. With the above features in place, the AdWords API now supports all the features needed to migrate your accounts to parallel tracking, so we encourage you to get started on the migration as soon as possible. The detailed AdWords API guide and accompanying implementation checklist will walk you through the required changes.

If you have questions or need help with the migration, please email us at ads-clicktracking-support@google.com.

- Josh Radcliff, AdWords API Team

DFP API is becoming Google Ad Manager API

Thursday, July 12, 2018

With DoubleClick for Publishers becoming Google Ad Manager, the API will be undergoing changes to follow suit. Over the next month, there will be changes to our documentation and client libraries, but no API entities are changing yet.

Documentation

In late July, references to “DFP” will become “Google Ad Manager” or just “Ad Manager”. Also, the documentation URL will change from https://developers.google.com/doubleclick-publishers/ to https://developers.google.com/ad-manager/.

We will support redirects to all documentation pages. For example, if you have a bookmark for the ReportService, you don’t need to do anything for this bookmark to continue working.

Client Libraries

Each of our client libraries will be updated to remove references to DFP in the v201808 release, which is currently scheduled for August 14, 2018. For example, in the Java client library, the DfpServices class will be renamed to AdManagerServices.

Each client library will have its own guidelines for what needs to be updated. In the announcement blog post for v201808 we will link to these guides. Keep in mind that you’ll only need to refactor your code once upgrading to v201808 and beyond, so using the DFP names will still be supported by some versions of the client library until August, 2019.

As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to reach out to us on our forum.

- Donovan McMurray, DFP API Team

Sunset of DFP API v201708

Monday, July 9, 2018

On Friday, August 31, 2018, in accordance with the deprecation schedule, v201708 of the DFP API will be sunset. At that time, any requests made to this version will return errors.

If you’re still using this version, now’s the time to upgrade to the latest release and take advantage of fluid AdUnit sizes, Dynamic Ad Insertion options for video ads, and new reporting functionality.

In order to upgrade, check the release notes to identify any breaking changes, grab the latest version of your client library, and update your code.

Significant changes include:

The replacement of the header and footer fields on CreativeWrapper with htmlHeader and htmlFooter strings.
The removal of creativePersistenceType from LineItems, impacting LineItemService and ForecastService.
The replacement of old partner metrics with new PARTNER_MANAGEMENT fields.
Changes to how time zones are handled in Sales Manager and Ad Exchange Historical reports.

This is not an exhaustive list, so be sure to check the release notes for a list of all changes. As always, don't hesitate to reach out to us with any questions. To be notified of future deprecations and sunsets, join the DFP API Sunset Announcements group and adjust your notification settings.