How do I use the TrafficEstimatorService in the PHP library with Verticals?

[Scott Luther]

I don't see any examples in the documentation on how to use the TrafficEstimatorService with Verticals.

[Ray Tsang (AdWords API Team)]

Scott,

Are you refering to vert.x?

Thanks,

Ray

[Scott Luther]

Hi Ray,

I'm not sure what "vert.x" refers to. I'm trying to figure out how to select Verticals when querying the TrafficEstimatorService to obtain an estimate for Vertical traffic, similar to your EstimateKeywordTraffic.php example, but with Verticals instead of Keywords. I can't seem to find any documentation/examples for working with Verticals.

[Ray Tsang (AdWords API Team)]

Scott,

My apologies!  I was thinking of something else completely different.

You can use the ConstantDataService to get get a list Verticals.

Cheers,

Ray

[Scott Luther]

Hi Ray,

I don't need a list of available Verticals. I have those already. I need to know how to estimate the traffic for a given Vertical (or several Verticals).

[Ray Tsang (AdWords API Team)]

Scott,

I feel this example PHP file could be a good starting point.  You can add a Vertical criteria, e.g.,

$vertical = ... // vertical retrieved from the ConstantDataService

$campaignEstimateRequest->criteria[] = $vertical; // append the array w/ the vertical criterion.

Cheers,

Ray

[Scott Luther]

Hi Ray,

Unfortunately, that doesn't work. The docs say that only Location and Language are supported, and when I try to add a Vertical, this error is thrown:

SoapFault: [NotEmptyError.EMPTY_LIST @ selector.campaignEstimateRequests[0].adGroupEstimateRequests[0].keywordEstimateR, RequestError.UNSUPPORTED_TYPE_IS_USED @ selector.campaignEstimateRequests[0].criteria.criteria[2]; trigger:'com.google.ads.api.services.campaignmgmt.common.criterion.Vertical']

On Wednesday, May 14, 2014 3:00:40 AM UTC-7, Ray Tsang (AdWords API Team) wrote:

Scott,

[Ray Tsang (AdWords API Team)]

Scott,

My apologies - vertical cannot be used in the TES service.  The accepted criteria are: Location and Language.

Thanks,

Ray

[Scott Luther]

Hi Ray,

So there is no way to determine the reach for a Vertical?

On Friday, May 16, 2014 5:21:51 AM UTC-7, Ray Tsang (AdWords API Team) wrote:

Scott,

[Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Scott,

Would using the CategoryProductsAndServicesSearchParameter meet your needs? This is analogous to the Your product category option in the Keyword Planner.

Cheers,

Josh, AdWords API Team

[Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Scott,

Sorry -- I just realized that you were asking about the TrafficEstimatorService, not the TargetingIdeaService. TrafficEstimatorService does not allow you to get estimates based on verticals. However, you could use the approach I mentioned below to get historical volumes for verticals from TargetingIdeaService (vs. predicted future volumes from TrafficEstimatorService).

Thanks,

Josh, AdWords API Team

[Scott Luther]

Hi Josh,

Will that allow us to get historical values for a combination of Verticals, Keywords, Age, Gender, and Location?

On Friday, May 16, 2014 12:36:08 PM UTC-7, Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team) wrote:

Hi Scott,

[Scott Luther]

Hi Josh,

One more question - is there a way to OR the keywords instead of AND them? Currently, when I submit more than one keyword, it seems that the max impressionsPerDay drops. We are currently doing a "broad" keyword search.

Thanks so much for your help!

- Scott

On Friday, May 16, 2014 12:36:08 PM UTC-7, Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team) wrote:

Hi Scott,

[Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team)]

Hi,

To answer your first question, you can get historical volumes using the following SearchParameter subtypes:

• Verticals - CategoryProductsAndServicesSearchParameter
• Keywords - RelatedToQuerySearchParameter
• Age - not available
• Gender - not available
• Location - LocationSearchParameter
  

Regarding your second question on OR vs. AND, since each entries element in the response contains a specific value for KEYWORD_TEXT and corresponding values for each other attribute type requested, I would not expect the attribute values to change for a single value of KEYWORD_TEXT unless there were other differences in search parameters in addition to the differences in RelatedToQuerySearchParameter values. If you have examples of requests, responses, and specific keywords where you are seeing differences on a per-KEYWORD_TEXT basis, please send them along with your customer ID only to me by clicking Reply to Author.

Thanks,

Josh, AdWords API Team

[Scott Luther]

Hi Josh,

We aren't seeing the number fluctuate for individual keywords - we are expecting that adding keywords will increase the impressions.

We are submitting the following keywords (with a type of BROAD): cruise, cat, dog.

If it were an "OR" wouldn't it add the amount for each of those individual keywords into one total? Or am I not understanding how this API is meant to work? Shouldn't adding more keywords increase the number of people who see the ad?

[Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team)]

Hi,

The API does not quite work the way you described. The service returns various phrases related to the keywords (and other parameters) you provide, but a given keyword's volume won't be affected by the number of terms that are associated with that keyword in your request. For example, if I include "flowers" as a search term parameter or I include both "flowers" and "bouquet" as search term parameters, the volume for a related term such as "flower shop" will be the same in both responses.

Another way to look at it is that the service has a big dictionary keyed by keyword where the value is that keyword's volume. The search terms you provide simply determine which keys the API pulls from that dictionary, but the value for a given key (keyword) will not change.

Best regards,

Josh, AdWords API Team

[Scott Luther]

Hi Josh,

We want to tell give our users an idea of how many people will see the ad based on the targeting parameters they have entered, including the keywords they have chosen. What's the best way to do that? How do we query the TrafficEstimatorService with age and gender parameters? How about zip code?

[Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Scott,

If you are interested in past performance for a specific set of criteria, please see my earlier message today where I covered this information and let me know if you still have questions.

For predicted future performance you can use TrafficEstimatorService, and even specify the ID of a campaign and the IDs of ad groups that you want AdWords to use to improve the estimates. If you do not provide these IDs, however, you can only get estimates based on keyword + Location and/or Language.

Thanks,

Josh, AdWords API Team

[Scott Luther]

Hi Josh,

Thanks. I'm still not quite sure how to pull the data for multiple keywords. I don't expect the value for a single keyword to change, but I'm still not understanding why the API doesn't combine the volume from two keywords (when two are specified). Is there something I'm missing here?

[Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Scott,

The API uses the provided search terms to get a list of all keywords related to those search terms. Whether a given keyword is related to one search term in your request or twenty, the anticipated volume for that keyword will be the same.

Cheers,

Josh, AdWords API Team

[Scott Luther]

Hi Josh,

Now I see. For each Keyword we send to the TrafficEstimatorService API, we get a "keywordEstimate" back. That's where the confusion was for me, because when I first looked I must have missed the additional values in the response.

In any case, I'm still not quite sure how to determine how many people it's estimated the ad will reach when three Keywords are targeted together. Right now we're calculating an average based on the minimum and maximum on a per-Keyword basis. Can I just calculate the average of each individual keyword and add it all together to get an average for all keywords combined?

On Tuesday, May 20, 2014 7:57:57 AM UTC-7, Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team) wrote:

Hi Scott,

[Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team)]

Hi,

It sounds like you are looking for historical or predicted statistics at an ad group level, but neither TargetingIdeaService nor TrafficEstimatorService will provide stats at the ad group level. TargetingIdeaService returns keyword or placement-level historical stats (depending on the ideaType of the request), and TrafficEstimatorService returns keyword level stats (neither CampaignEstimateRequest nor AdGroupEstimateRequest contains statistics).

Best regards,

Josh, AdWords API Team

[Scott Luther]

Hi Josh,

So there is no way for us to determine an estimation of how many impressions a set of keywords will provide?

[Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team)]

Hi,

That's correct -- the API cannot provide an estimate of distinct impressions for a set of keywords. It can only give you an estimate for each keyword.

Cheers,

Josh, AdWords API Team