Changing keyword-specific bid to ad group default bid via Ads API (Python)

[Michael Harkin]

How do I go about removing one or more keyword-specific bids via the Google Ads API Python library? What I want to be able to do is perform the equivalent of changing the "Max. CPC" field to blank for a keyword in the Ads UI, thus allowing the ad group default bid to kick in for that keyword.

The first approach I took was retrieving the ad group criterion instance that I wanted to update via GoogleAdsService, then creating a new ad group criterion operation, copying the retrieved campaign onto the new ad group criterion operation's update field, mutating the new ad group criterion (by setting ad_group_criterion.cpc_bid_micros.value = 0), then creating a field mask and copying the field mask onto the operation's update_mask field.

from google.api_core import protobuf_helpers
from google.ads.google_ads.client import GoogleAdsClient

client = GoogleAdsClient.load_from_storage()
google_ads_service = client.get_service('GoogleAdsService', version='v3')
agc_operation = client.get_type('AdGroupCriterionOperation',
                                               version='v3')

query = ("SELECT customer.id, ad_group.id, "
         "ad_group_criterion.criterion_id, "
         "ad_group_criterion.cpc_bid_micros, "
         "ad_group_criterion.keyword.text, "
         "FROM ad_group_criterion "
         "WHERE campaign.status = 'ENABLED' "
         "AND ad_group.status = 'ENABLED' "
         "AND ad_group_criterion.type = 'KEYWORD' "
         "AND ad_group_criterion.status = 'ENABLED' "
         "AND ad_group_criterion.cpc_bid_micros > 0")

results = google_ads_service.search(customer_id, query=query)

for row in results:    
    initial_ad_group_criterion = row.ad_group_criterion
    agc_operation.update.CopyFrom(initial_ad_group_criterion)
    updated_ad_group_criterion = agc_operation.update
    updated_ad_group_criterion.cpc_bid_micros.value = 0
    field_mask = protobuf_helpers.field_mask(initial_ad_group_criterion,
                                             updated_ad_group_criterion)
    agc_operation.update_mask.CopyFrom(field_mask)

However, attempting to update/remove the keyword-specific bid in this way results in an INVALID_VALUE partial failure error, with the error message "The field's value is invalid." Digging in a bit further, it appears that 0 is not considered a valid Int64 value and thus cannot be accepted as an updated value for ad_group_criterion.cpc_bid_micros.


For my other approach, I created an empty AdGroupOperation object, retrieving an empty AdGroupCriterion object and updating that object to have ad_group_criterion.cpc_bid_micros.value = 0. I then created a new field mask that compares it to None, finally copying the field mask onto the operation's update_mask field.

from google.api_core import protobuf_helpers
from google.ads.google_ads.client import GoogleAdsClient

client = GoogleAdsClient.load_from_storage()
google_ads_service = client.get_service('GoogleAdsService',
                                        version='v3')
ad_group_criterion_operation = client.get_type('AdGroupCriterionOperation',
                                               version='v3')

query = ("SELECT customer.id, ad_group.id, "
         "ad_group_criterion.criterion_id, "
         "ad_group_criterion.cpc_bid_micros, "
         "ad_group_criterion.keyword.text, "
         "FROM ad_group_criterion "
         "WHERE campaign.status = 'ENABLED' "
         "AND ad_group.status = 'ENABLED' "
         "AND ad_group_criterion.type = 'KEYWORD' "
         "AND ad_group_criterion.status = 'ENABLED' "
         "AND ad_group_criterion.cpc_bid_micros > 0 ")

results = google_ads_service.search(customer_id, query=query)

for row in results:    
    initial_ad_group_criterion = row.ad_group_criterion
    ad_group_criterion_operation.update.CopyFrom(initial_ad_group_criterion)
    updated_ad_group_criterion = ad_group_criterion_operation.update
    updated_ad_group_criterion.cpc_bid_micros.value = 0
    field_mask = protobuf_helpers.field_mask(initial_ad_group_criterion,
                                             updated_ad_group_criterion)
    ad_group_criterion_operation.update_mask.CopyFrom(field_mask)

This resulted in a response containing the correct resourceName (customers/{customer_id}/adGroupCriteria/{ad_group_id}~{ad_group_criterion_id}), but the keyword-specific bid wasn't removed or updated -- it remained as it was.

Should I be going about this in a different way entirely? For instance, rather than trying to update the cpc_bid_micros value to "0" should I be using a "remove" mutate of some kind? Thanks for reading and for any help you can provide.

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi Michael,

Thank you for reaching out. You need to use a FieldMask to update this value to default. You should use this example and create a new FieldMask with the path "cpc_bid_micros" and add that to the AdGroupCriterionOperation.

The logs should look like this:
operations {
  update {
    resource_name: "customers/xxxxxxxxxx/adGroupCriteria/xxxxxxxxxx~xxxxxxxx"
    status: ENABLED
  }
  update_mask {
    paths: "cpc_bid_micros"
  }
}

Regards,
Mitchell
Google Ads API Team

ref:_00D1U1174p._5001UXWHab:ref

[Michael Harkin]

Thanks for your response Mitchell. I've tried what you suggested but it still fails to update. Here's the code I'm now trying out, based on the example you sent me:

import argparse
import sys

from google.api_core import protobuf_helpers
from google.ads.google_ads.client import GoogleAdsClient

from google.ads.google_ads.util import ResourceName

def main(client, customer_id, ad_group_id, criterion_id):
    agc_service = client.get_service('AdGroupCriterionService', version='v3')

    ad_group_criterion_operation = client.get_type('AdGroupCriterionOperation',
                                                   version='v3')

    ad_group_criterion = ad_group_criterion_operation.update
    ad_group_criterion.resource_name = agc_service.ad_group_criteria_path(
        customer_id, ResourceName.format_composite(ad_group_id, criterion_id))

    ad_group_criterion.cpc_bid_micros.value = 0
    fm = protobuf_helpers.field_mask(None, ad_group_criterion)
    ad_group_criterion_operation.update_mask.CopyFrom(fm)

     try:
         agc_response = agc_service.mutate_ad_group_criteria(
             customer_id, [ad_group_criterion_operation])
     except google.ads.google_ads.errors.GoogleAdsException as ex:
         print('Request with ID "%s" failed with status "%s" and includes the '
               'following errors:' % (ex.request_id, ex.error.code().name))
         for error in ex.failure.errors:
             print('\tError with message "%s".' % error.message)
             if error.location:
                 for field_path_element in error.location.field_path_elements:
                     print('\t\tOn field: %s' % field_path_element.field_name)
         sys.exit(1)


if __name__ == '__main__':
    google_ads_client = GoogleAdsClient.load_from_storage()
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
        description=('Pauses an ad in the specified customer\'s ad group.'))
    parser.add_argument('-c', '--customer_id', type=str,
                        required=True, help='The Google Ads customer ID.')
    parser.add_argument('-a', '--ad_group_id', type=str,
                        required=True, help='The ad group ID.')
    parser.add_argument('-k', '--criterion_id', type=str,
                        required=True, help='The criterion ID, or keyword ID.')
    args = parser.parse_args()

    main(google_ads_client, args.customer_id, args.ad_group_id,
        args.criterion_id)

Here's what the log says after I run this for an update for a single keyword:

results{
  resource_name: "customers/{customer_id}/adGroupCriteria/{ad_group_id}~{criterion_id}"

}

Looking at the keyword in the Ads UI after running this Python file, the keyword-specific bid is still there and unchanged. Is setting cpc_bid_micros to 0 in the field mask an incorrect way of going about removing these bids? Do I need to set it to a "default" or "None"-type value? Thanks.

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor Prod]

Hey Michael,

Please check out this forum post about adding the path to your fieldMask. It looks like you need to add the code: "operation.update_mask.paths.append('cpc_bid_micros')". You don't need to set any new value to the ad_group_criterion.cpc_bid_micros.value.