Better Understand Relationships Between Status Types (Campaign, AdGroup, AdGroupAd levels)

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Chad Wood

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Jun 7, 2023, 4:01:36 PM6/7/23
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Hello,

Referencing:



Each of these are categorical properties of the object (campaign, adgroup, ad). By my understanding, an ad will only serve to ad-viewers if each status is aligned such as:
APPROVED: ad_group_ad.policy_summary.approval_status
REVIEWED: ad_group_ad.policy_summary.review_status
ENABLED: ad_group_ad.status

I noticed some other relationships between these statuses though, and I'd like to better understand.

1. Whats the difference between the following two scenarios:
..a: APPROVED: ad_group_ad.policy_summary.approval_status
......REVIEWED: ad_group_ad.policy_summary.review_status

..b: APPROVED: ad_group_ad.policy_summary.approval_status
......ELIGIBLE_MAY_SERVE: ad_group_ad.policy_summary.review_status

2. How is it possible for a Campaign to be serving in these circumstances?
..a: REMOVED: campaign.status
......REMOVED: campaign.primary_status
......SERVING: campaign.serving_status

..b: PAUSED: campaign.status
......PAUSED: campaign.primary_status
......SERVING: campaign.serving_status

..c: ENABLED: campaign.status
......NOT_ELIGIBLE: campaign.primary_status
......SERVING: campaign.serving_status

3. Each of those status types contain the possible values "UNKNOWN" and "UNSPECIFIED". Under what circumstances are those used for each status type?

4. Are there any web documents I can source for more information on the meanings of different combinations within the status types, and how they impact the fact of whether ad-viewers are being served the ad or not?

Chad Wood

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Jun 7, 2023, 4:33:03 PM6/7/23
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Also, is there any documentation that defines each of these categories? I could not find any.

campaign.primary_status:
 'ELIGIBLE',
 'ENDED',
 'LEARNING',
 'LIMITED',
 'MISCONFIGURED',
 'NOT_ELIGIBLE',
 'PAUSED',
 'PENDING',
 'REMOVED',
 'UNKNOWN',
 'UNSPECIFIED',
   
campaign.serving_status:
 'ENDED',
 'NONE',
 'PENDING',
 'SERVING',
 'SUSPENDED',
 'UNKNOWN',
 'UNSPECIFIED',

*.status:
 'ENABLED',
 'PAUSED',
 'REMOVED',
 'UNKNOWN',
 'UNSPECIFIED',
   
ad_group_ad.approval_status:
 'APPROVED',
 'APPROVED_LIMITED',
 'AREA_OF_INTEREST_ONLY',
 'DISAPPROVED',
 'UNKNOWN',
 'UNSPECIFIED',

ad_group_ad.review_status:
 'ELIGIBLE_MAY_SERVE',
 'REVIEWED',
 'REVIEW_IN_PROGRESS',
 'UNDER_APPEAL',
 'UNKNOWN',
 'UNSPECIFIED'

Google Ads API Forum Advisor

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Jun 13, 2023, 7:30:54 PM6/13/23
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Hi Chad,

Thank you for reaching out to the Google Ads API support team. Kindly note that, the API only mirrors what the UI can do, so if your use case is possible to retrieve in the UI, then it is also possible in the API.

With regard to your following concerns, let us provide the API perspective of each below. 

1. Whats the difference between the following two scenarios:

..a: APPROVED: ad_group_ad.policy_summary.approval_status

......REVIEWED: ad_group_ad.policy_summary.review_status

..b: APPROVED: ad_group_ad.policy_summary.approval_status

......ELIGIBLE_MAY_SERVE: ad_group_ad.policy_summary.review_status

  • The difference between the two scenarios:
    • A. The approval status is approved then it served without restrictions, and the review status is already tagged as Primary review complete. Other reviews may be continuing.
    • B. The approval status is approved then it served without restrictions, but, the resource is eligible and may be serving but could still undergo further review.

2. How is it possible for a Campaign to be serving in these circumstances?

..a: REMOVED: campaign.status

......REMOVED: campaign.primary_status

......SERVING: campaign.serving_status

..b: PAUSED: campaign.status

......PAUSED: campaign.primary_status

......SERVING: campaign.serving_status

..c: ENABLED: campaign.status

......NOT_ELIGIBLE: campaign.primary_status

......SERVING: campaign.serving_status

  • The following scenarios that you’ve provided, is not possible to serve ads as some of it has been paused which is not possible to set “SERVING” in the serving_status, and in becoming “NOT_ELIGIBLE”. Can you confirm if you’ve tried the following status and were able to serve ads in your end? Have you tried to further debug this kind of scenario? If yes, and not returning the expected behavior, can you provide us the complete request and response logs with request ID so we can further investigate?

3. Each of those status types contain the possible values "UNKNOWN" and "UNSPECIFIED". Under what circumstances are those used for each status type?

  • Those status types are being used if the values "UNKNOWN" are not known in this version which is a response-only value, and "UNSPECIFIED" if there is no value has been specified.

4. Are there any web documents I can source for more information on the meanings of different combinations within the status types, and how they impact the fact of whether ad-viewers are being served the ad or not?

  • There is no document that has more information about the combinations of the status types, aside from our documentation (https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/docs/start). What we can recommend is to run through the whole documentation for the following scenarios that you would encounter. 

In addition to that, if you’re looking for the definition of what you’re going to use in the Ads API, you can check it in the reference section under the version you’re using and click enums (for example: https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/reference/rpc/v14/AdGroupAd). However, kindly check the definition of each status you’re looking for in the reference links below.

You can provide it via Reply privately to author option. If this option is not available, then send it instead on this email address googleadsa...@google.com.

Reference links:

This message is in relation to case "ref:_00D1U1174p._5004Q2mATg5:ref"

Thanks,
 
Google Logo Google Ads API Team


Chad Wood

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Jun 15, 2023, 4:17:49 PM6/15/23
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Hello, thanks for getting back! I have a few follow up questions.

Regarding question 1, your response: "The approval status is approved then it served without restrictions, and the review status is already tagged as Primary review complete. Other reviews may be continuing."
--a: The use of the word may is a little confusing for me here. Does this mean the combination of (APPROVED: approval_status, REVIEWED: review_status) is definitely NOT serving? Likewise, the combination of (APPROVED: approval_status,  ELIGIBLE_MAY_SERVE: review_status) definitely IS serving if enabled?
--b: If we have an ad with this combination (APPROVED: approval_status, REVIEWED: review_status), what "other reviews" could be taking place?
--c: Alternatively, what beside "other reviews" could be causing the "REVIEWED" status instead of the ELIGIBLE_MAY_SERVE status?

Regarding question 2, your response: "Can you confirm if you’ve tried the following status and were able to serve ads in your end"
--Not exactly. I noticed many campaigns that were not serving still had the SERVING status. I decided not to use this status in my analysis because I'm not sure if that's the expected behavior. I don't believe the ads were actually serving. I think the serving status may be wrong for some reason.

Chad Wood

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Jun 15, 2023, 5:05:43 PM6/15/23
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One more follow up question; when the review status of an ad is UNDER_APPEAL, what will the APPROVAL_STATUS be? Will it remain DISAPPROVED throughout the appeal process, or will it revert to UNKNOWN as it is throughout the primary review process?

Google Ads API Forum Advisor

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Jun 20, 2023, 5:05:48 PM6/20/23
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Hi,

Thanks for getting back to us.

It seems like your inquiries are more on the behavior and meaning of each status of Google Ads as a product. That said, I recommend reaching out to the Google Ads product support team(https://support.google.com/google-ads/gethelp) for further assistance. They can assist you more appropriately on inquiries regarding Google Ads as a product.

Reference links included in this email:

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