New AdWords API features coming soon

Soon, we'll be changing the Google AdWords keyword evaluation system to help give advertisers more control over keywords they find important.

From an API perspective, there is a new minCpc field in the Keyword object that you can use to determine how much to bid in order to keep a keyword active. Keyword statuses changed a bit in the AdWords online interface, but not in the API.

In addition, with the release of the rate sheet scheduled for Aug. 1, 2005, you should have more keyword stats operations available to adjust to these keyword evaluation changes. For more information on how the new keyword evaluation system impacts the AdWords API, please visit our help page.

--Patrick Chanezon, AdWords API evangelist

New quota structure starting August 1st

Starting August 1, we’re introducing a significant change to the AdWords API quota system. The new quota structure will value operation types differently. While some operations will still consume just one quota unit, other operations will consume more - up to 1,000 quota units per operation. For example, generating a report for your whole account will now consume more quota units than downloading stats for a single keyword. As part of this overhaul, we will increase API users’ quota by 10 times. For the majority of API users, we believe this improved quota structure will result in more free API usage. Specifically, we hope this will satisfy the requests we've heard through the Developer Forum for more stats operations. For details, please see the Quota & Usage page.

-- Patrick Chanezon, Adwords API evangelist

Minor change to WSDL files

We made a small change to the AdWords API WSDL files today, changing the declared type of KeywordId from int (32 bit) to long (64 bit). The server has treated keyword IDs as longs since our launch, and the online docs declared them as such. Only the WSDL was in error.

Existing client code should see no effect of this. If you regenerate proxy code from the WSDL the type will change, and you may get some minor compile time errors about type conversions. We also are updating the new Java client library and this update will be available shortly.

Many thanks to our user Sabina for pointing out the discrepancy.

-- Nelson Minar, Software Engineer

New features: Creative IDs and Java Client library

Hi AdWords API Developers,

We’re happy to announce that we released two new items today: Creative IDs in reports and a Java Client library.

Over the last few months, many of you posted to the Developer Forum stressing the usefulness of Keyword IDs in reports, but wondered why we don’t provide Creative IDs. Based largely on this feedback, you can now schedule a CustomReport with Creative IDs. With Creative IDs, developers can get a full snapshot of their account activity by scheduling a single report. This should improve syncing your local systems with AdWords - enabling more efficient management of your quota.

The Java client library makes it easier to write Java clients. We know that getting started with your AdWords applications can be challenging, so we hope this client library will simplify your Java development process. The client library is provided in a single jar file that contains all the necessary Axis jars and pre-compiled stub classes. More details can be found at the Java Client Library page. As always, please post your thoughts on the Developer Forum . If many of you find client libraries useful, we will work with the community to provide access to more such resources.

Look forward to hearing from you on the Developer Forum.

Regards,

Nelson Minar, Software Engineer
Rohit Dhawan, Product Manager

June 24 System Maintenance

Hi AdWords API developers,

We are performing routine AdWords system maintenance from 9pm to 11pm PDT on June 24, 2005 (Friday). While all ads will continue to run as normal, you will not be able to perform any API operations during this time.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Regards,
Rohit Dhawan, Product Manager

Scheduled maintenance tonight

Hi AdWords API developers,

The API will be unavailable from 9pm to 9:45pm PDT tonight (5/20/05) for routine AdWords system maintenance. All ads will continue to run as normal, but you will not be able to perform any API operations during this time. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Best,
Rohit Dhawan, Product Manager

New release: Automated Policy Checking

Hi AdWords API Developers,

Today, we are integrating the automated AdWords editorial policy checking system into the API. This mechanism will identify AdWords editorial policy violations and return error messages immediately. This will allow you to correct basic policy violations before submitting creatives to AdWords for final approval.

What this means is that you may now see more errors (rejections) when submitting your items for approval. However, these are simply policy violations that you would have eventually encountered one to three days after submission. With the integration of the automated editorial policy checking system, the AdWords API will now flag basic violations immediately – saving you valuable time in getting your creatives approved.

In addition, you may now also submit policy exceptions via the API. Your exemption request and ad text will then be submitted to AdWords for approval.

Please note that operations containing rejected submissions do count against your quota.

We have updated the documentation to reflect the new error codes. As usual, if you have questions, please post to the Developer Forum and the community (which includes us) will hopefully be able to help.

Best,
Nelson Minar, Software Engineer
Rohit Dhawan, Product Manager