How to Update Responsive Search Ad Headlines & Descriptions with the Google Ads API

[Tadhg Deeney]

Hi team,

I'm learning the basics of how to use the Google Ads API for campaign management.
I'd like to update some of our RSAs to remove Promotional Headlines & Descriptions from the copy in the current ad and ideally replace it with the latest copy for the next promotion.

I'm struggling on 2 fronts:

1. How can I get the target ads from a GAQL query? I've looked at the Query Builder but I don't see how I can filter the ads for specific ones that contain "20% off" in the headlines. I've also seen the example in the documentation but it doesn't show how to filter for specific ads.
2. How can I update the copy of one or two headlines in the RSA? I've looked at the Update Expanded Text Ads documentation but I don't see how it translates to Responsive Search Ads.

Any assistance on this is welcomed.

Kindest Regards,

Tadhg Deeney

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Tadhg,

Thank you for reaching out to Google Ads/AdWords API support. You can get the headlines by using an ad_group_ad report.

There's no GAQL filter for what is in the headlines in RSA's as ad_group_ad.ad.responsive_search_ad.headlines isn't capable of being in a 'where' clause. You can do a post-report-pull filter to get only the ads you want to mutate.

This sounds like a nice feature request from product support for a report that you can filter on what is in the headlines, if they grant this feature in their reports, you can send us a screenshot.

Regarding mutating the ad headlines, in Java I was able to modify just these lines in UpdateExpandedTextAd.java and it created new headlines for an RSA:

adBuilder
        .getResponsiveSearchAdBuilder()
        .clearHeadlines()
        .addHeadlines(AdTextAsset.newBuilder().setText("new headline").setPinnedField(ServedAssetFieldTypeEnum.ServedAssetFieldType.HEADLINE_1).build())
        .addHeadlines(AdTextAsset.newBuilder().setText("newer headline").build())
        .addHeadlines(AdTextAsset.newBuilder().setText("even newer headline").build())
   ;

The log result is this:

operations {
  update {
    responsive_search_ad {
      headlines {
        pinned_field: HEADLINE_1
        text: "new headline"
      }
      headlines {
        text: "newer headline"
      }
      headlines {
        text: "even newer headline"
      }
    }
    resource_name: "customers/{CID}/ads/{ADID}"
    final_urls: "http://www.example.com/"
    final_mobile_urls: "http://www.example.com/mobile"
  }
  update_mask {
    paths: "resource_name"
    paths: "final_urls"
    paths: "final_mobile_urls"
    paths: "responsive_search_ad.headlines"
  }
}

You can extrapolate to the client library you prefer.

Reminder: Share your feedback about the Google Ads (AdWords) API! Take the 2021 Google Ads API and AdWords API Annual Survey

Regards,
 

Aryeh Baker Google Ads API Team

ref:_00D1U1174p._5004Q2R9Sn8:ref

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Tadhg,

Please sends us privately a screenshot of the UI filtering a report based on what is in the headlines of an RSA ad.