Why Google Ads API doesn't support CSV downloads?

[Oliver]

We find it very strange and frustrating that the new API does not provide a standard way of downloading the data in CSV format. We're told to write our own code to do this as mentioned here: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/adwords-api/L94G_cJax2g

The Adwords API documentation clearly encouraged users to try and get data via reports as opposed to the Service API.  It's now a massive blow to users who followed your previous advice and built their apps around the usage of reports.

Judging by the many complaints on this forum about the various limitations and bugs in the new Ads API, and by the fact that a huge part of downloading data via reports is no longer supported, having to migrate to the new API in less than one year is a very significant challenge to us and, as we can see here, to many users of the API.

1) Can we please ask you to consider supporting data download via reports as this alone is a massive showstopper in the migration process?

2) Can we also please ask you to consider extending the period when the Adwords API will stop working?  One year is not enough to migrate large apps especially when the new Ads API seems to have many serious issues currently with performance and fundamental data structures as frequently raised on this forum recently.

We've always found the Adwords API planning carefully took developers and businesses needs into consideration more than any other similar API.  We're hoping you'll continue to listen to the many requests of other users on this forum regarding the serious challenges we're currently facing with the new API.

Regards

[googleadsapi...@google.com]

Hi Oliver,

Thank you for the message and for bringing this up! I'd like to make sure I understand your issue so I can bring it up with the rest of the team. Is the problem that the API doesn't allow data to be downloaded in a .csv format? Or is the issue that the structure of the data is different, for example instead of retrieving a Campaign Performance report and seeing AverageCpc in a column of a .csv file, now you need to select metrics.average_cpc from the campaign resource using a GAQL query and access average_cpc by iterating over the response?

If the latter, take a look at this guide, which outlines in great detail how to translate your AdWords Report requests into Google Ads search requests. There's also this interactive query builder that helps you construct GAQL queries before writing them into your application. Both should be extremely useful when migrating your reports.

From a more general standpoint, we definitely recognize that migrating is not a negligible amount of work, particularly migrating reporting functionality. Because of this we're constantly trying to make improvements to the API and client libraries to help make it easier. We currently have a number of new guides and tools specifically intended to help with migration that should be available soon. 

At this point the exact EOL date for AdWords hasn't been determined, but our planning does include consideration of where everyone is at with their migration, as well as the current performance of the API and its level of parity with the AdWords API. The main objective is to maintain a long migration window so that everyone has time for a smooth migration.  

Hope that helps! Please let me know if you have additional questions, or further clarification on the problems you're having migrating report requests. 

Thanks,

Ben Karl, Google Ads API Team

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Also find us on our blog and discussion group:
    https://ads-developers.googleblog.com/search/label/google_ads_api
    https://developers.google.com/adwords/api/community/
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Also find us on our blog:
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[Stepanian]

As the author of the original post referenced here, I echo all the concerns raised in this post. I am confused as to why report downloads are eliminated. (In fact, I am confused as to why the AdWords API is being deprecated. It is awesome and, at least to me, appears to be superior to the new Ads API in every way).

As very large users of the report download functionality, we request that Google reconsider its decision to eliminate this functionality from the Ads API. 

Thanks!

[Oliver]

Thanks Ben for your response.  I’ll list below the reporting concerns we have and, since you’ll be discussing this with your team, we’ll include also a couple of other concerns we have regarding the new API.

Our main problem with the new API is that it doesn’t allow downloading in a .csv format.  We’re not sure what the reason behind this could be but the csv download functionality was a significant component in the old API that was heavily promoted by the documentation and used by us (and am sure many others).  Our Java app is close to 1 million lines of code built primarily around downloading those csv reports.  We download tens of thousands of reports daily serving customers that have hundreds of thousands of ads and keywords.   Re-engineering our codebase using the new API will require a huge investment in time and resources (and no benefit) and will potentially slow down the download speed (we share Stepanian's concerns raised on 7th May).  We personally find the csv reporting functionality of the old API a very robust feature that makes the API easy to understand and use.  We’re really not sure why it was decided to not port all these benefits across to the new API.  

Other concerns we have:

• The performance degradation reported by this user is of particular concern to u.  We’re sure you’ll resolve it in the future but we raise this issue here to highlight the fact the new API might not be production ready yet with such performance.
• There are few minor but important features that are no longer supported in new API. As an example, retrieving account hierarchies is straightforward in the old API but not with the new API.  This is a very common scenario needed by apps that support agencies and large users.  We, and everybody else, now need to put in additional work re-engineering our codebase for no apparent benefit.

It was good hearing fron you that the one year deadline to shut down the old API is not set in stone.  

Out of interest, what was the reason to phase out the old API? IMHO it is a very robust and elegant API that does the job very well.  It’d be a shame to migrate to something that is not as user friendly and fast as the old API.

Best regards

Oliver

[Robert Heise]

Hello Ben,

as communicated in person in the Ads API Workshop in Munich 2 months ago, we also rely heavily on the CSV report download feature. In the workshop many other participants raised the problem as well. So Oliver, Stephanian and we are not alone. Changing the report fetch mechanism to the Ads API resource handling requires huge amount of time and resources (with no benefit) - as Oliver mentioned. The issue has been raised 2 months ago already by many people, I wonder why this breaking change is still not recognized as an important feature that needs support in the Ads API.

A note on the Adwords API deprecation: while it's good to hear the EOL has still not been set in stone, the Adwords API won't see a new release any more - so it basically forces the move to the Ads API as new features will be available only there. So even if there is no EOL, users of the API are forced to move.

Best,

Robert

[googleadsapi...@google.com]

Hi Everyone,

First - thank you all so much for taking the time to outline your feedback and concerns in such detail. This information is extremely useful to us so that we can prioritize our work. While I will discuss this feedback with my team, I'd like to emphasize that it's also really important that you submit your feedback via the Feedback Form on our developer site.

To elaborate a bit on each specific point:

• Reporting and .csv downloads - You can retrieve the same AdWords Report data via the Google Ads API using GAQL search requests, however the structure of responses is different. For systems that rely heavily on data to be in .csv format we recommend translating GAQL search responses into a .csv format by mapping the fields to .csv columns. Those field mappings are outlined in this Reporting Guide.
• Report Performance - Addressing overall performance issues around paginated requests is a very big priority and is being actively worked on. More details on that solution will be announced on the developer blog when they're ready.
• Accessing Account Hierarchies - Similarly we're also looking at possible solutions that will make this easier. Any updates around this would be announced on the developer blog.

Unfortunately I can't satisfactorily address the questions around why reports can no longer be downloaded as .csv files or why the API was redesigned, but I can emphasize that the overall motivation is based on broad, long-term design decisions that require functional parity with other products, namely the Google Ads UI, as well as coherence with a company-wide strategy for API design. I know it's a shock right now because the AdWords API performed extremely well over the past ten years, but our goal is that the new API will, over time, be as great, if not more so.

Again, thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. Please take advantage of the Feedback Form I linked to above so that we can make sure all of your thoughts are captured.

Best,

Ben Karl, Google Ads API Team

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Also find us on our blog and discussion group:
    https://ads-developers.googleblog.com/search/label/google_ads_api
    https://developers.google.com/adwords/api/community/
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Also find us on our blog:
https://googleadsdeveloper.blogspot.com/
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