The click associated with the given identifier or iOS URL parameter occurred less than 6 hours ago, please retry after 6 hours have passed

[Hustle OU]

We have implemented the Google Ads API V9, but we are getting the following error:

The click associated with the given identifier or iOS URL parameter occurred less than 6 hours ago, please retry after 6 hours have passed

We are sending the following events per each GCLID: PAGE_VIEW, LEAD, PURCHASE

I checked this documentation in regards to the 6 hours timespan: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7014069?hl=en

Section: Guidelines for importing conversions

Which says: Google Ads needs 4-6 hours after the ad click before a conversion can be successfully uploaded. (If you upload a conversion too soon after the click, you'll see an error message that says "We're still processing this click's information, please try again after 4-6 hours.")

Do we really need to wait 6 hours until we can upload conversions? This is definitely not ideal for high volume campaigns, as we can't see the conversions in real time and it will show skewed data in our dashboard. For example, in Facebook, conversions can be uploaded right away.

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi,

Thank you for reaching out to our API support team.

I'm afraid that the wait period specified is required for any conversion uploads, whether via the UI or API. As this is more of a Product (Google Ads) level concern, you may reach out instead to the Google Ads Product support team, via this link, for further insight on this requirement.

Best regards,

Peter Laurence Google Ads API Team

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[Hustle OU]

Ok, I have contacted the Google Ads Product support team and they were not really helpful.

They told me that this is what it is, and that's it.

Now, this is a HUGE disadvantage, having to wait 6 hours to upload conversions. As mentioned, other marketing platforms such as Facebook or TikTok allow developers to upload conversions in real time.

Why this is a HUGE disadvantage? Because there will be always a 6 hours delay in the data we are seeing in our Google Ads dashboard, and that will make decision taking harder / unreliable for us (when to increase budgets, when to add a keyword to the negative list, when to change an ad etc.).

By using the Google Ads API we thought that the way to handle conversions was going to be similar than using the Google Ads Conversion Pixel, but apparently, it is not.

By having to wait 6 hours to upload conversions, it makes developers not want to use the API, because the data collected via the Pixel is real time = more reliable.

And this is a pure technical thing I guess, because if Facebook or TikTok are able to process their click IDs in real time, why Google can't?

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hello,

 

Thank you for your response. I understand that this feature is very important to you. Let me raise your concern with the rest of our team to see if we can provide additional insights regarding the limitation. Rest assured that one of my colleagues will update this thread as soon as possible.

 

Regards,

Kevin Gil Google Ads API Team

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[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Hustle,

It is recommended that you keep a 6 hour window before uploading conversions. If you try uploading earlier, the some of the conversions may fail to import and you need to retry them once 6 hours have passed.

Cheers
Anash

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[Hustle OU]

Hi Anash,

Yes, I know how it works, but ideally, it should work in real time, without having to wait 6 hours to post the data.

I have already explained the reasons why this is not ideal (current scenario).

Would you be able to send a feedback request to the engineering team so they implement real time uploading in the near future?

Thanks

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi,

I've already passed along the feedback to the relevant teams. But this is a change that has to happen first at the product level and the API should start behaving the same way.

[Mike M]

Alex, I know that I'm responding to this thread very late. (I don't work for Google, btw.) We encountered the same delay issue in our campaigns. To rectify the problem, we added a tracking system called Matomo (which has a free community edition adn was formerly called Piwik) so that we could create event pixels in our customer flow and then track those to see where issues were and fix those, as well as do split tests, etc. This gives you an instant dashboard to see events live. Eventually, I coded a custom replacement to Matomo for our company using PHP and MySQL which suited our needs even better than Matomo. However, we use the google offline conversions API because we found that using Javascript tracking pixels back to Google was not as accurate as using the API, and because then we could upload upsells that occur in our call center separate from a customer's ad click flow (just as long as we stored their gclid in our database for later use in that upsell flow). Yes, there's a 6 hour delay for what Google sees and optimizes on, but our campaigns operate fine and we can use the Matomo (and now our custom code) for looking at the data differently and live.

[Robert De Vivo]

Another person here suffering with this, no idea why Google drops the ball here.. Simple fix ?? Can you guys escalate this to your team this is leaving revenue on the table

[Alex Garcia]

Any updates to improve this delay of 6 hours? With Facebook & TikTok Ads API, you can upload the conversions right away, without having to wait 6 hours.

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi,

We believe this limit has been removed a while back, I'll try to confirm it with the team and update any documentation if applicable.

Regards

[Alex Garcia]

At least here: https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/docs/conversions/upload-clicks it still shows:

"If you encounter a TOO_RECENT_CONVERSION_ACTION or TOO_RECENT_EVENT response message to an upload conversion request, wait at least 6 hours after the action creation or event before retrying the failed rows."

[Alex Garcia]

Any updates on this thread?

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi,

I'll update the documentation shortly. 

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi,

I just submitted the documentation changes, and it should go live shortly. The summary is that you will no longer see the TOO_RECENT_CLICKS, but the recommendation of waiting 6 hours for TOO_RECENT_CONVERSION_ACTION is left in place for a newly created conversion action.

[Alex Garcia]

Hi there, thanks for the update in the documentation & system! So now it's clear that we can send click data the moment it is generated and we no longer have to wait 6 hours for that.

Can you please check this thread as well? https://groups.google.com/u/1/g/adwords-api/c/dbMP1K_yb6w/m/0q7RhSQFBQAJ

If we want to upload Enhanced Conversions, do we still need to wait 24 hours after we send the initial Conversion data?

This waiting time should be reduced as well, for convenience, or even better, being able to send the Enhanced data in the same call as the Conversion data.

[Alex Garcia]

Any updates in regards to my last question?

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Alex,

I believe this limitation hasn't changed yet. Sorry about that.
 

Regards
Anash

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