Junk returned upon getting keyword ideas

[mar...@pulsecomms.com]

Hello, I managed to get my API up and running and was looking to use it to generate keyword ideas using the following script:

https://developers.google.com/adwords/api/docs/samples/php/optimization#get-keyword-ideas

It seems to be working fine once I leave the AD_GROUP_ID blank. However, when it returns the results, I get something like this (they seed keywords are birthday cake, bakery and pastries):

Keyword with text 'birthday cake c7ea94a8', average monthly search volume 3960895, average CPC 4864816, and competition 0.66 was found with categories: 41, 10628, 21, 47
Keyword with text 'bakery 6b76bfff', average monthly search volume 5728336, average CPC 15754491, and competition 0.24 was found with categories: 48, 83, 68, 10628
Keyword with text 'bakery b8bf8bf9', average monthly search volume 5169192, average CPC 19104287, and competition 0.88 was found with categories: 16, 24, 9, 10628
Keyword with text 'bakery dee9a487', average monthly search volume 4985818, average CPC 1924203, and competition 0.05 was found with categories: 19, 10628, 30, 23
Keyword with text 'birthday cake bc36e2b', average monthly search volume 6602809, average CPC 6061040, and competition 0.95 was found with categories: 73, 10628, 47, 63
Keyword with text 'bakery caee408e', average monthly search volume 5315051, average CPC 9996539, and competition 0.60 was found with categories: 10628, 30, 15, 47
Keyword with text 'red herring 2d30b6a6', average monthly search volume 4407478, average CPC 14518197, and competition 0.46 was found with categories: 24, 41, 27, 10628
Keyword with text 'bakery 50bca43', average monthly search volume 5026980, average CPC 18575835, and competition 0.89 was found with categories: 34, 10628, 46, 23
Keyword with text 'bakery 46a29ba6', average monthly search volume 4695373, average CPC 9773779, and competition 0.90 was found with categories: 33, 2, 10628, 15
Keyword with text 'bakery d5b8cea', average monthly search volume 4511768, average CPC 14198964, and competition 0.40 was found with categories: 24, 41, 4, 10628
Keyword with text 'bakery 7d0f283b', average monthly search volume 5257204, average CPC 7229398, and competition 0.27 was found with categories: 4, 20, 10628, 38
Keyword with text 'bakery bd2b0b0', average monthly search volume 4838719, average CPC 18720460, and competition 0.76 was found with categories: 65, 10628, 46, 31
Keyword with text 'red herring 1f4fe5bf', average monthly search volume 6168275, average CPC 12618170, and competition 0.03 was found with categories: 64, 44, 10628, 69
Keyword with text 'bakery 3a46a64f', average monthly search volume 4410049, average CPC 16648459, and competition 0.02 was found with categories: 27, 51, 10628, 39
Keyword with text 'birthday cake 6b542080', average monthly search volume 4580951, average CPC 7704280, and competition 0.04 was found with categories: 18, 4, 10628, 21
Keyword with text 'pastries cf52b671', average monthly search volume 5497297, average CPC 14062686, and competition 0.30 was found with categories: 41, 50, 36, 10628
Keyword with text 'pastries 8b3423d6', average monthly search volume 5077028, average CPC 19727977, and competition 0.75 was found with categories: 43, 10628, 7, 23
Keyword with text 'pastries c272e195', average monthly search volume 4267164, average CPC 18388167, and competition 0.56 was found with categories: 32, 51, 36, 10628
Keyword with text 'pastries f340e083', average monthly search volume 5259375, average CPC 17064379, and competition 0.78 was found with categories: 40, 56, 52, 10628
Keyword with text 'pastries d619ef7b', average monthly search volume 3397004, average CPC 6110974, and competition 0.57 was found with categories: 49, 59, 10628, 79

As you can see, the keywords returned are just the seed keywords plus what looks like a hex number, the search volume and CPC are just large integers. The competition and categories look fine. How can I get the API to return the real values, or how do I decypher them?

Also, there seems to be a few entries called 'red herring' mixed in. Are they meant to be a distraction or some sort of copyright protection?

[Bharani Cherukuri (AdWords API Team)]

Hello, 

That's right. When using test accounts with no Ad group ID, the TargetingIdeaService will return dummy data. The response of a TargetingIdeaService will return a list of TargetingIdea objects. Each TargetingIdea object contains a map of AttributeType associated with an Attribute. If you're experiencing a discrepancy against a Production account, please share us the SOAP logs, so I can take a look. 

As for your second concern, SEARCH_VOLUME is of type LongAttribute which returns the approximate number of searches for a give keyword idea on google.com or its partners. The Average CPC returns the average cost per click historically paid for the keyword. Since, CPC is a MoneyAttribute, it returns the amount in micros where one million is equivalent to one unit. To get the original cost, you will need to divide by 1,000,000. Let me know if you have any other questions. 

Regards,

Bharani, AdWords API Team

[mar...@pulsecomms.com]

Thanks for the reply!

Ok, so I had a look through your answer and ran a few changes and here is what still isn't clear...

I created an ad group and used that as the Ad Group ID, but that makes the query return nothing. Is it because I'm using a test account? Is it because my developer token hasn't been approved yet? Or something else entirely? All I need is for the API to return the keyword ideas, not really make any changes to the account itself.

Regarding the average montly search volume, os that also a dummy value? Because several million seems a bit strange.

[Bharani Cherukuri (AdWords API Team)]

Hello, 

That's right. When using test accounts, the TargetingIdeaService will return dummy data. You may refer to this guide for more information. When retrieving targeting ideas against a Production account, you will be able to compare the results to those from the Keyword planner as mentioned here. The search volume returned from the code samples also returns dummy data, since you're using the test accounts. Let me know if you have any other questions. 

Regards,

Bharani, AdWords API Team

On Thursday, December 28, 2017 at 7:57:35 AM UTC-5, mar...@pulsecomms.com wrote:

[antorio dsds]

Entao sempre que for usado uma conta de teste o retorno vai ser esse red herring ???

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi Antorio,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

As for your question: yes, the TargetingIdeaService usually returns the "red herring" entries for test accounts, which are dummy data. You may also visit this guide for more information about the Targeting Ideas feature of the AdWords API.

Regards,
Ziv Yves Sanchez
AdWords API Team

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