Google Ads API: conversions count changes over time for past days

[Mike]

Hi,

I am running the following query for a particular day

        SELECT

        campaign.name,

          campaign.app_campaign_setting.app_id,

          ad_group.id,

          ad_group.name,

          geographic_view.country_criterion_id,

          segments.device,

          segments.date,

          segments.conversion_action,

          metrics.conversions

        FROM

        geographic_view

        WHERE

        segments.date = '2020-04-06'

        AND campaign.app_campaign_setting.app_id IS NOT NULL

and metrics.conversions value changes every day although the day 2020-04-06 has passed in Singapore (Account has Singapore timezone).

Execution Time (Singapore timezone): '2020 Apr 06 23:50' 19 total conversions 

Execution Time (Singapore timezone): '2020 Apr 07 03:50' 21 total conversions !! (for segments.date = '2020-04-06') 

Execution Time (Singapore timezone): '2020 Apr 07 16:50' 36 total conversions !! (for segments.date = '2020-04-06')

I am seeing the same behavior also in Google Ads UI. Is this normal?

I run the above query every 10 minutes with 'DURING TODAY' and I am seeing that Google is moving conversions from current day to previous days. Is this normal?

When I expect to have final data about conversions count? 

This is critical to be addressed. We cannot report different data every day to our customers.

Mike

[Mike Nikitas]

Also,

another interesting finding is that running the following query every 10 minutes I found that conversion count for same campaign, country, device, adgroup, date and conversion_action might decrease many times.

e.g.

2020-04-08 03:49:09.556Z: metrics.conversions:1

2020-04-08 03:59:10.079Z : metrics.conversions:2

2020-04-08 05:29:10.265Z:   metrics.conversions:1

Can you explain this?

Mike

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[Mike]

Another interesting thing is that Google changes the daily clicks count and cost for 2 days ago!

I am thinking how this thing is working for so many people. Lets suppose I chose to pay google 2 hours ago, I would pay more and if I pay now I would pay less. And if we are talking about huge numbers, there is serious difference in the amounts.

These observations are for Google Ads API and Google Ads UI.

Please explain.

RUN 2hours ago

{

"campaign": {

"resource_name": "customers/####/campaigns/####",

"name": "###########",

"app_campaign_setting": {

"app_id": "####"

}

},

"segments": {

"date": "2020-04-06"

},

"metrics": {

"impressions": 80798,

"clicks": 653,

"conversions": 38,

"cost_micros": 55534325

}

},

RERUN NOW

  {

    "campaign": {

      "resource_name": "customers/####/campaigns/####",

      "name": "####",

      "app_campaign_setting": {

        "app_id": "####"

      }

    },

    "segments": {

      "date": "2020-04-06"

    },

    "metrics": {

      "impressions": 80798,

      "clicks": 647,

      "conversions": 38,

      "cost_micros": 54974325

    }

  },

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[Google Ads API Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi Mike,

Thank you for reaching out.  There are specific considerations when reading conversion data; please see this resource page for information, particularly the Time of Conversion section.

Please let me know if I can provide any further clarity.

Thanks,

Andrew, Google Ads API Team

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[Mike]

Hello Andrew,

Thank you for the information. It explains only the increase of conversions count for past days.

It does not explain the decrease of reported conversions count, the decrease of reported clicks count and the decrease of reported cost. 

Also the metric conversions by conv.time is not available through the API.

Mike

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi Mike,

I appreciate your concern.  It is not unusual for the reported number of conversions and clicks to decrease in the short term.  This is due to the internal filtering processes for spam and invalid data, which take time to complete their analyses.

This effect will be certainly be noticeable if you repeatedly query recent dates.  Your reported conversion and click numbers should stabilize within a few days; we recommend waiting seven days to receive the most accurate totals.

Thank you,

Andrew, Google Ads API Team

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[Mike]

Hi Andrew, 

thank you for the detailed explanation. This creates the problem that we cannot get afterwards (when data are "finalized") the following:

• conversions count per campaign, ad group, country, device, conversion_action, day and hour
• impressions count, clicks count and cost_micros per campaign, ad group, country, device, day and hour

by the Google Ads API available reports.

Regards,

Mike

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi Mike,

Could you provide a bit more detail about this issue?  The fields you've described are available in several reports, such as Campaign or Geographic View; are you receiving errors when accessing reports?

Thanks,

Andrew, Google Ads API Team

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[Mike]

Hi Andrew,

using the geographic_view you cannot have group by hour.

using the campaign_view you cannot have group by country.

So I cannot achieve what I described.

Any solution?

Mike

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi Mike,

Thank you, I understand better now.  You are correct that certain fields are not available from particular reports; you can accomplish some limited joins if the resource in your FROM clause has the joining resource as one of its segments.  An alternative is to run two queries and combine the returned data in your application.

Since we don't currently support the exact functionality you're looking for, I will file a feature request to address your use case.  Please keep an eye on Google Ads API announcements for updates.

Thanks,

Andrew, Google Ads API Team

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[Mike]

Hi Andrew,

I understand that you cannot implement new features every time someone asks for it but based on the fact that anyone cannot retrieve reliable data from Google Ads either by API or UI this is a serious issue.

You should escalate it.

Based on what can be proved anytime, the findings are:

1. No conversions count by conv.time metric in API, so you can count conversions from metrics.conversions as they appear in API
2. metrics.conversions first store the day conversions in current day and then after some hour Google moves (probably) these conversions to the date they happen. This can lead to serious billing issues when a user would like to take it one step further. 
3. There is no way to have stable pricing. What you pay for the Google Ads services changes over time which a fundamental issue. Even if a user calculates conversion cost based on click cost at the time the conversion appears in the API, this changes over time because API changes click cost and conversion count.

My main concern is for App Campaigns and all above can be replayed anytime.

Mike

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi Mike,

The data you receive are reliable, but with some considerations that I have previously provided.  As stated, there are legitimate reasons why you may see corrections in certain metrics in the very short term.

These fluctuations do not affect your Google Ads billing charges; our service bills monthly, and you receive credits for any clicks that are later removed as spam.  Do keep in mind that you always have the option for setting Account- and Campaign-level budgets to control your advertising spend.

Andrew, Google Ads API Team

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