Considering switching from AdWords Scripts to AdWords API

[Vy Nguyen]

I work for an eCommerce reseller that has 130+ AdWords campaigns under a single account. Currently, I'm using AdWords Scripts to manage daily campaign refreshes. The problem is AdWords Scripts has certain limitations. For one, I frequently run into errors when trying to run a script for all campaigns. For example, I tried to use the Expanded Ad Transition Helper to convert my STAs to ETAs. It ran into a processing error (the script couldn't process all the ads in 130+ campaigns) and I had to run the script twice, separately - the first one converting half of the STAs - the second one converting the rest. 

I was wondering if it makes sense to invest in the AdWords API? We have 3 young software developers on our team (myself included) all working full time. The reason we're considering the API is because our company has been managing AdWords manually for years. It's very time-consuming, labor-intensive, and not the smartest approach. Plus, we only have 2 people on AdWords. We want a tool that automates our campaign management so our marketing team can spend the majority of their time analyzing data versus doing manual tasks. 

So, to sum it up, my questions are:

1) Is the API worth investing in?

2) What is the best feature of the API to use for an eCommerce reseller with over 130+ campaigns?

[Peter Oliquino]

Hi Vy,

While I may not be able to comment on a business perspective, what I can share with you, however, can benefit your case. The feature I would recommend in case you opted to switch to the AdWords API would be the BatchJobService. This service will allow you to process in bulk a number of operations which it supports. Please note however, that for transitiong STAs to ETAs via the AdWords API would require your intervention as seen here. Additionally, the available feature to do this in bulk is via the ETA Transition Helper from AdWords Scripts as seen here.

Should you choose to switch to the AdWords API, you may follow the steps in this guide on how to create an MCC account and secure a developer token, in case you still don't have any. You can then proceed to generate your OAuth credentials, download a client library, and use test accounts to test out the AdWords API until your basic access has been approved. I hope this has been helpful.

Best regards,

Peter

AdWords API Team

[Zweitze]

AdWords Scripting was discussed many times at AdWords API workshops. In general Googles representatives agreed on using AdWords scripting for two scenarios, 1) prototyping and 2) one-time actions (eg. conversions, restructuring etc.). For all other scenarios they recommended using AdWords API.

Advantages of AdWords API are:

• Source Control. This depends on the development environment of your choice and your budget. Highly recommended.
• Grace periods for API version migration. In scripting the API version migrates in an instance: one day you are using one version, the following day the next. You can't test your scripts for the next version until that version gets live. In the API, multiple versions coexist. You can rewrite your software for the new version, test it, got all issues resolved etc. while the production still uses old software communicating with the old API.
• Better error handling. When a script breaks due to an API version migration, you can't catch that event because it's a syntax error. With API, this depends on the features of your programming language - but better nevertheless.
  

 Downsides are:

• API version migration is mandatory. With scripts this goes silently, and most times nothing breaks - but this depends on your scripts. With API you have to recompile your software and put it live again.
• You have to maintain your own infrastructure. Of course you can hire that at Amazon, Google etc. but you still have to figure out what you need.
  
• Learning curve for programming is steeper - especially if you never developed software before.
  

Hope this helps to reach a decision.