Traffic Estimator Service - should it return the same output for the same input?

[Rachel Carvalho]

I've been working with the TrafficEstimatorService (v201603) I was wondering if it is supposed to always output the same value when run multiple times in a row.

It seems to me that when I started working with it (a month ago or maybe more) I was able to always get the same values as long as I was inputting the same keywords and the same Max CPC for my Ad Group.

But what I'm noticing now is that every time I run it, it outputs slightly different values. Is that to be expected? It makes debugging code around it very difficult.

Thank you!

Rachel Carvalho

[Charles Michael]

Are you seeing different volumes for the same keywords or are you seeing different MaxCPC's? The CPC's should be moving on a regular basis as competition comes and goes, but the volumes should be relatively stable with changes on a monthly basis. 

[Rachel Carvalho]

I'm seeing differences on every attribute for some keywords, and the variation is also not always the same.

Here's a diff between two subsequent requests for one keyword:

                     "average_cpc": {
-                        "min": "0.41051",
-                        "max": "0.501734",
-                        "average": "0.456122"
+                        "min": "0.408037",
+                        "max": "0.498711",
+                        "average": "0.453374"
                     },
                     "average_position": {
-                        "min": 2.6293606924841324,
-                        "max": 2.15129500841455,
-                        "average": 2.3903278504493413
+                        "min": 2.630092902450903,
+                        "max": 2.1518940892675986,
+                        "average": 2.390993495859251
                     },
                     "click_through_rate": {
-                        "min": 0.0728996361851788,
-                        "max": 0.08909955962895388,
-                        "average": 0.08099959790706635
+                        "min": 0.0730841520439478,
+                        "max": 0.089325079022756,
+                        "average": 0.0812046155333519
                     },
                     "clicks_per_day": {
-                        "min": 49.433853,
-                        "max": 60.41916,
-                        "average": 54.9265065
+                        "min": 49.57898,
+                        "max": 60.596535,
+                        "average": 55.0877575
                     },
                     "impressions_per_day": {
-                        "min": 610.29755,
-                        "max": 745.91925,
-                        "average": 678.1084000000001
+                        "min": 610.5439,
+                        "max": 746.2203,
+                        "average": 678.3821
                     },
                     "total_cost": {
-                        "min": "22.547894",
-                        "max": "27.558538",
-                        "average": "25.053216"
+                        "min": "22.477834",
+                        "max": "27.47291",
+                        "average": "24.975372"
                     }

[Charles Michael]

I think it makes sense for the metrics to vary, as bids change so should the estimates. I personally have Google scripts that run every few minutes so if you're targeting competitive keywords, it makes sense to have frequent variations. 

[Rachel Carvalho]

I don't think I should be seeing that much of a difference in such little time between requests (< 1 second).

I'm attaching the SOAP requests and responses for 10 subsequent requests that I did that yielded different values, if anyone from AdWords could take a look, that would be great!

Thanks again!

[Joyce Lava]

Hi Rachel,

Apologies for the delayed response. I'm afraid the SOAP logs attached does not show the requests and response that shows different values. Could you please send them to me again by clicking on reply privately to author option?

Also, as Charles said, the stats values may be different in different requests since the service allows to estimate future traffic and then decide whether the keyword is ideal. Could you please try that using our example code and let me know the results?

Thanks,

Joyce, AdWords API Team