We're planning to refresh the Sandbox tomorrow, Wednesday October 31, at 3 p.m. PDT. As a result, it will be unavailable for several hours and all the data will be cleared. You can regenerate your client accounts afterwards by sending any valid request to the Sandbox without a clientEmail.
- Aaron Karp
AdWords API Team
Sandbox Maintenance
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Bug: V11 reports missing some ID columns
Monday, October 22, 2007
Some of you have pointed out a bug in v11 reports causing the omission of certain ID columns.
We apologize for the inconvenience. Our engineers are working to resolve this problem within the next few days. We will let you know as soon as the bug is fixed.
UPDATE
We would like to let you know that this bug has now been fixed.
-- Borana Toska, Product Marketing
New Reports Functionality
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Aaron Karp, AdWords API Team
Version 11 of the AdWords API includes a significant overhaul to the way you schedule reports and the data you are able to retrieve. In the reconfigured Report Service, you now have access to most of the report types and columns that are available through the AdWords Report Center, which means more advanced stats and breakdowns than ever before. Going forward, the API should be much more synchronized with the AdWords front end, while offering increased flexibility at the same time.
In v10 and its predecessors, you scheduled a report by creating a job of a certain type (perhaps by specifying the xsi:type attribute) and then adding some basic fields like campaigns and aggregationType. You had little control over the output, and this made scheduling reports through the API less powerful than doing so through the front end.
In v11, there is only one type of report job (the DefinedReportJob) but it is much more flexible. For example, a DefinedReportJob supports multiple aggregation types, allowing you to tally your metrics more effectively. You can also filter based on campaign, adgroup, and keyword statuses, or by keyword text, keeping your reports slim and precise.
When you schedule a report in v11, you always start with DefinedReportJob as the job type, and then specify one of seven report types (Account, Ad, Ad Group, Campaign, Keyword, Reach and Frequency, or Url) in the selectedReportType child element. Next, mix in v11's biggest strength: custom columns for any report type using the selectedColumns element. For a complete list of columns matching the different report types, see Report Rules.
Why is this better than custom reports in v10? Primarily, it gives you access to report columns that weren't available before. Also, we've hooked you directly into the AdWords reports system, which means that as new columns and report types are rolled out, they'll be available in the API much more quickly.
Here's an example of scheduling a keyword report in v11. Much of it is similar to v10, so I've highlighted the differences.
<header>
<email>test+mcc@google.com</email>
<password>myPassword</password>
<developerToken>abcdefg1234567890</developerToken>
<applicationToken>1234567890abcdefg</applicationToken>
<useragent>Testing new report service</useragent>
</header>
<body>
<scheduleReportJob xmlns='https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/v11'>
<job xsi:type='DefinedReportJob'>
<name>Test Report1</name>
<startDay>2007-09-01</startDay>
<endDay>2007-09-30</endDay>
<campaignStatuses>Active</campaignStatuses>
<campaignStatuses>Paused</campaignStatuses>
<aggregationTypes>Summary</aggregationTypes>
<includeZeroImpression>true</includeZeroImpression>
<selectedReportType>Keyword</selectedReportType>
<selectedColumns>Campaign</selectedColumns>
<selectedColumns>AdGroup</selectedColumns>
<selectedColumns>Keyword</selectedColumns>
<selectedColumns>KeywordStatus</selectedColumns>
<selectedColumns>Impressions</selectedColumns>
<selectedColumns>Clicks</selectedColumns>
<selectedColumns>AveragePosition</selectedColumns>
</job>
</scheduleReportJob>
</body>
<email>test+mcc@google.com</email>
<password>myPassword</password>
<developerToken>abcdefg1234567890</developerToken>
<applicationToken>1234567890abcdefg</applicationToken>
<useragent>Testing new report service</useragent>
</header>
<body>
<scheduleReportJob xmlns='https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/v11'>
<job xsi:type='DefinedReportJob'>
<name>Test Report1</name>
<startDay>2007-09-01</startDay>
<endDay>2007-09-30</endDay>
<campaignStatuses>Active</campaignStatuses>
<campaignStatuses>Paused</campaignStatuses>
<aggregationTypes>Summary</aggregationTypes>
<includeZeroImpression>true</includeZeroImpression>
<selectedReportType>Keyword</selectedReportType>
<selectedColumns>Campaign</selectedColumns>
<selectedColumns>AdGroup</selectedColumns>
<selectedColumns>Keyword</selectedColumns>
<selectedColumns>KeywordStatus</selectedColumns>
<selectedColumns>Impressions</selectedColumns>
<selectedColumns>Clicks</selectedColumns>
<selectedColumns>AveragePosition</selectedColumns>
</job>
</scheduleReportJob>
</body>
Objects omitted above, like language and geotargeting, haven't changed.
It's also important to know that not all column types (selectedColumns) are compatible with all report types (selectedReportType) and with one another. Prior to scheduling a job, make sure to test it with the validateReportJob method: scheduling an invalid report will cost 1000 API units, but validating only costs 1.
We know that reports are a vital part of your business, and hope you find the modifications we've made useful. We're eager to hear your feedback, so if you have any questions or requests, please post them on the AdWords API Forum where we'll be happy to address them.
AdWords Downtime, October 20th
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
We've rescheduled this month's system maintenance for Saturday from approximately 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. PDT. You won't be able to access AdWords or the API specifically during this period, but your ads will continue to run as normal.
— Brian Kennish, Developer Programs Engineer
API Version 11 Now Available
Thursday, October 11, 2007
We are happy to announce the release of the AdWords API Version 11 (V11).
V11 introduces several changes to the AdWords API. Below, you'll find the main highlights from this release. For a complete list of V11 changes, please see our release notes.
V11 HIGHLIGHTS
- New, flexible report interface: The report interface has changed in v11 to add flexibility to the reports you can schedule. By no longer providing a specific ReportJob object for each report type, the new interface can now expose report updates without requiring a new version release of the API. The new, generalized DefinedReportJob object lets you create a custom report by choosing a report type, aggregation types, and a set of columns.
- New report type: Version 11 exposes the reach and frequency performance reports.
PLEASE NOTE…
CustomReportJob has been removed from v11 and replaced by the new, generalized DefinedReportJob, which is more powerful and flexible as it lets you create a custom report by choosing a report type, aggregation types, and a set of columns.
V10 SUNSET IN FEBRUARY 2008
Per our versioning policy, V10 will be supported for four months from today, after which time it will be turned off. Therefore, please make sure that you upgrade to V11 before February 18, 2008.
As with every new version of the AdWords API, we strongly encourage you to review the Release Notes section of the Developer’s Guide to learn more about this version.
UPDATE as of Oct 18, 2007
We apologize for the delay in making v11 available. We just implemented a patch that corrected the issue. You should now be able to access the API. Thank you for your patience.
-- Borana Toska, Product Marketing
AdWords Downtime, October 13th
Thursday, October 11, 2007
We'll be performing routine system maintenance on Saturday from approximately 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. PDT. You won't be able to access AdWords or the API specifically during this period, but your ads will continue to run as normal.
Update: tomorrow's AdWords maintenance has been canceled and will likely happen next Saturday instead.
— Brian Kennish, Developer Programs Engineer
