Google Ads API - reports: locations and top impressions rate

[David García]

Hi,

I have successfully set up Google Ads API and I'm using it for analyzing the data of my campaigns.

The AdWords Query Language and the GoogleAdsService.search(customer_id, query, page_size) function seem very powerful and can provide tons of data.

However, I have not managed to get via Google Ads API some data that I can get easily from the UI. For example:

In the context of a campaign, if I go to Reports > Predefined reports (dimensions) > Locations > User location I get a table showing this data:

Country, Region, City, Impressions, CTR, Top Impressions Rate, and some other interesting metrics per region.

I think that with the proper SELECT [something] FROM [something] on the query string I should be able to get that data from Google Ads API, but unfortunately I wasn't able to figure out what to put on the something brackets. I'm interested in getting Country, Region, CTR and Top Impressions Rate.

Please would you be so kind to share some ideas about how to populate the query order for accessing the "Reports > Predefined reports (dimensions) > Locations > User location" metrics?

Thanks in advance,

David

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi David,

Thank you for reaching out. Currently, it is not possible to pull the data under User locations view on the Dimensions tab in UI via Google Ads API. However, you could get this data using Geo Performance Report via Adwords API by modifying the predicates as mentioned in the shared guide. Let us know if you need any additional information.

Regards,
Nikisha Patel, Google Ads API Team

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[David García]

Hi Nikisha,

Thanks for the feedback.

However, there are still some critical problems:

In a few days (30th September) you will remove the average position in the geo reports (and others). It is supposed that it will be replaced with new metrics, like absolute top impression percentage and search absolute top impression share. However, in the link you provide for geo reports via AdWords API, it seems that those new metrics (absolute top impression percentage and search absolute top impression share) are not accesible. I can see them on the web UI but they are not visible via API. Can you confirm that please?

I thought they could be implemented in the newest Google Ads API but unfortunately you are confirming that that data can not be pulled.

The point is that in several places you are removing in a few days the average position metric (geo performance, keywords performance) but you are not providing accesors to the new substitutive performance metrics (top impression percentage and search absolute top impression share). Is that true? If so, I think this is a terrible downgrade in your application. During years I have accessed average position in geo and keywords performance reports via Google Ads Scripts. But now, you are removing average position, and the new metrics on geo and keywords performance reports are not accesible neither via Google Ads Scripts (getStatsFor) nor Google Ads API nor AdWords API. What a disaster! Was that on purpose (I can't imagine the reason why) or has it been unintentional?

Please check this because if average position is removed without access to the new metrics via getStatsFor in Google Ads Scripts (or equivalents in Google Ads API or AdWords API), it could be justified to delay that removal until the new metrics are implemented. Otherwise, you are causing a big big big downgrade on your application.

Hope you can reconsider this.

Thanks,

David

[Zweitze]

I'm sort of in the same boat.

We have similar problems, in our case (using AdWords API v201809) we cannot access top impression stats in reports AUDIENCE_PERFORMANCE_REPORT and CAMPAIGN_LOCATION_TARGET_REPORT, although they do exist in the web interface of Google Ads.

On one thing you were wrong, in KEYWORD_PERFORMANCE_REPORT those stats do exist - they are called "AbsoluteTopImpressionPercentage" and "TopImpressionPercentage".

Note I only checked AdWords API, not Ads API nor Ads Scripts.

In our case, we prepare our users to live without those stats for a while.

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor Prod]

Hello,

I understand your concern but as per the blog post, the sunset of average_position metric will begin with the starting week of September 30, 2019. The alternative metrics in lieu of average position are mentioned the blog post. Currently, these new alternative metrics (AbsoluteTopImpressionPercentage and SearchAbsoluteTopImpressionShare) will support Keyword Performance Report and all the other reports listed in this guide against each metrics. Let us know if you have any additional concerns.

Regards,
Nikisha Patel, Google Ads API Team

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[David García]

Hi Nikisha,

Thanks for the feedback.

Glad to know that AbsoluteTopImpressionPercentage and SearchAbsoluteTopImpressionShare are implemented in Keyword Performance Report. That's good news.

However, they are not implemented in Geo Performance Report, although they are implemented in the web UI. That's very unfortunate because average position was implemented but alternative metrics are not. That's a really downgrade of your data analysis possibilities via API or scripts. I'm sorry to know that.

Hope in the near future you can solve that and even implement it in Google Ads API.

Regards,

David

[David García]

Hi Zweitze,

Thanks for letting me know that the new metrics were implemented in the Keyword Performance Report, I hadn't noticed that. But it seems that the Geo Performance Report has the same problems than the Audience Performance and Campaign Location Target Report: they show the new metrics on the web UI but are not available via API.

By the way, how do you get access to the Campaign Location Target Report in the web UI? Which menu option?

Thanks and regards,

David

[Zweitze]

David,

To find the UI-equivalent of CAMPAIGN_LOCATION_TARGET_REPORT:

In Google Ads, the vertical bar starting with Overview, Recommendations etc. Item "Locations" is the one.

BTW I just checked, but in the UI nowadays I cannot find column "Impr. (Top) %" anymore. I am so sure it was there about a month ago...

[David García]

Thanks Zweitze, found it.

But unfortunately that report warns that the average position metric will disappear next week and the "Impr. (Top) %" metric, as you say, is not available. How does Google think that we can track the performance of the targeted locations that we have configured in our campaigns?

That metric (Impr. (Top) %) is available in the Geo Performance Report (via UI only, not APIs, any of them!!!) but you can segment only by this criteria: country, region, area, city and most specific target location. Any of this criteria matches directly the target locations that you might have configured in your campaigns, so it is not obvious how to track the performance of your campaign target locations.

I can't imagine why Google did this. In my opinion it is a big downgrade in geographic performance reporting, which I think is a very important topic. The ability to split campaigns in targeted locations becomes useless if you can't check the performance of those targeted locations via average position or Impr. (Top) % in the Campaigns Location Target Report (whether web UI or programatically). 

Regards,

David

[Zweitze]

David,

This is turning into a product question. When campaign managers (I work for an agency) here ask the same question, I explain the information is just not there. Many ask how they should maintain their fine-grained structure for locations or audience, I tell them to ask their Google representative(s) to learn about Google's priorities.

I don't think anyone on this forum can answer such questions.