CampaignTargetService returning incorrect value for NetworkTargets?

[j.e.frank]

I am experimenting the the v2009 API, and I ran into something that I
did not expect. I have a campaign in AdWords that is set for Search
only, no Contextual or Placements. However, when I call the
CampaignTargetService.get method for this campaign, it returns three
entries in the NetworkTargetList:

GOOGLE_SEARCH
SEARCH_NETWORK
CONTENT_CONTEXTUAL

The first two are expected, but the third one is not. I have double-
checked the campaign ID and the settings. I don't know if anyone from
Google on this forum can tell if this is a bug, or if I am just
misunderstanding something. I can provide the Client ID and Campaign
ID if that would help.

[AdWords API Advisor]

Hi,

It looks like this is caused by with the AdWords web interface. When
you uncheck the option "Content network" it removes the network
"CONTENT_NETWORK". However, if the radio button for "Relevant pages
across the entire network" was selected, it will not remove
"CONTENT_CONTEXTUAL" when the "Content network" is unchecked.
Although confusing, I don't believe that this will effect ad serving,
as CONTENT_CONTEXTUAL requires CONTENT_NETWORK.

Best,
- Eric Koleda, AdWords API Team

[j.e.frank]

Ah, I see. Thanks for the clarification, it is confusing. The radio
choice looks like it should be irrelevant if the checkbox is
unchecked, since it is grayed out, and logically it does not apply
since you are not doing any content targeting. What you are saying is
that it has no effect on the actual ad serving, but it does affect the
networks that are returned in the API.

To investigate further, I did a little experiment to see what networks
were returned under the possible states of the checkbox and radio
buttons. I was only looking at the Content portion of the settings
(both Search boxes were always checked, and so the targeted networks
always included GOOGLE_SEARCH and SEARCH_NETWORK). Here are the
results. The top radio button is the one labeled "Relevant pages
across the entire network" and the bottom radio button is the one
labeled "Relevant pages only on the placements I manage". I'm just
posting these results in case anyone else is confused by this issue
like I was.

State 1
---------
Checkbox: Checked
Radio: Top
Networks: CONTENT_NETWORK, CONTENT_CONTEXTUAL

State 2 -- the one that got me confused initially
---------
Checkbox: Unchecked
Radio: Top (grayed out)
Networks: CONTENT_CONTEXTUAL

State 3
---------
Checkbox: Checked
Radio: Bottom
Networks: CONTENT_NETWORK

State 4
---------
Checkbox: Unchecked
Radio: Bottom (grayed out)
Networks: none

So in effect, the radio button is a toggle for the CONTENT_CONTEXTUAL
network, with top being "on" and bottom being "off". However, its
value doesn't matter if CONTENT_NETWORK is off.

On Sep 30, 8:01 pm, AdWords API Advisor <adwordsapiadvi...@google.com>
wrote:

[Sreenu Daram]

Is there any sub accounts feature (Master Account -> Multipe sub
accounts) in google adwords like Yahoo Search Marketing sub accounts
feature ..

Thanks & Regards,
Sreenu Daram , Sr. Software Engineer
Cybage Software Pvt. Ltd. (An SEI-CMMI Level 5 assessed & ISO 27001
Company ),
Hyderabad, India
Phone(O) : 91-40-66294100 Ext:4047
Mobile:91-9949918983

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[AdWords API Advisor]

Hi,

Your test results are consistent with that I was seeing. Thanks for
taking the time to investigate this and share your findings!

Best,
- Eric

[AdWords API Advisor]

Hi Sreenu,

I'm not familiar with how Yahoo handles accounts, but a multi-level
account structure is possible in AdWords. You can read more about MCC
accounts here: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=7725.

Best,
- Eric Koleda, AdWords API Team