Change product group bid to "Excluded" for others case via Ads API

[mha...@simplepart.com]

I'm trying to determine how to use the Google Ads API to change a product group bid to "Excluded" for "Everything else in 'All products'". In the Google Ads UI, I would do this in the "Product Groups" screen by either (a) selecting the green dot for that row and switching that setting from "Include" to "Exclude" or (b) clicking "Edit" in the Max. CPC column for that row and selecting the "Exclude" radio button. 

I know that it is the ad_group_criterion.negative setting either being "True" or "False" that reflects whether or not the ad group criterion is included or excluded. Per the documentation, that value is immutable and cannot simply be updated to "True" via the API. However, I can't remove and add back the ad group criterion associated with this "others" case, because if I try to remove the criterion, I receive a "LISTING_GROUP_SUBDIVISION_REQUIRES_OTHERS_CASE" error from the API. It makes sense that the "others" case needs to exist, but it's not clear to me whether there's any way to change that case's bid to "Excluded".

Is there a way to do this operation via the API? Thanks in advance for your help.

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Michael,

Thank you for reaching out to our API support team.

It is correct that when using the API, you will need to remove and then recreate a criterion if you wish to change it from being targeted to excluded and vice versa. For listing groups, removing a unit would require you to remove the entire subdivision, and re-add it with the updated details (targeted to excluded).

This is because each subdivision must always be completely partitioned, as mentioned in this guide. Let me know how this goes on your end.

Best regards,

Peter Laurence Napa Oliquino Google Ads API Team

ref:_00D1U1174p._5004Q2OTHfX:ref