API Equivalent for Placement Search by Keyword (as Shown in UI)

[Amit Tomar]

Hi Team,

I'm working with the Google Ads API and exploring how to replicate the "Search by word, phrase, URL, or video ID" functionality available in the Google Ads UI under Placements > Browse (screenshot attached).

As seen in the screenshot, when I search a term like “sports”, the UI returns categorized results across:

• Websites

• YouTube channels

• YouTube videos

• Apps

• App categories

I’m trying to achieve similar functionality via the API. Could you please help clarify the following:

1. Is there any API method in Google Ads API that allows searching placements by keyword or phrase across these categories (websites, YouTube, apps)?

2. If not directly supported, is there a recommended way to implement similar behavior, perhaps using:

   • YouTube Data API for video/channel suggestions

   • App Store/Play Store APIs or datasets for apps and categories

   • Any public or internal placement suggestion tools?

3. Are there plans to expose the same placement discovery experience via the API in the near future?

This functionality is crucial for our platform as we aim to provide placement suggestions dynamically to our users. Please find the screenshot attached for reference.

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi,

Thank you for reaching out to the Google Ads API support team

Based on the provided information, I understand that you are looking for an API method in Google Ads API that allows searching placements by keyword or phrase across these categories (websites, YouTube, apps). Kindly note that, currently, it is not possible to fetch the list of placements by keyword through the Google Ads API. I will raise a request for this feature to become available in the Google Ads API. However, I cannot provide a scheduled timeline for its availability of this feature in the Google Ads API. I would recommend you to follow our Blog Post and Release Notes for future updates.

Also, please note that we can only provide support for Google Ads API related concerns. So, YouTube Data API and App Store/Play Store APIs are out of scope for Google Ads API support team.

Thanks,
 

Google Ads API Team

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[2025-05-05 11:16:06Z GMT] This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!500Ht01qVpMJ:ref" (ADR-00303830)

[Amit Tomar]

Hi Team,

I understand there’s no API to search placements like in the UI.
However, I’d like to confirm — is there any API available to fetch Audience Segments (Affinity, In-market, Custom, etc.) and Topics (like Jobs, Sports, Finance, etc.) as shown in the targeting UI (screenshot attached)?

I need to display these options to users for selection in a similar way.
Please let me know if any such API or reference dataset is available.

Thanks

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi,

You may fetch ad_group_criterion.user_interest.user_interest_category and ad_group_criterion.topic.topic_constant using ad_group_criterion resource.

For the fetched user_interest_category, you may refer to the user_interest.taxonomy_type using the user_interest resoruce to fetch the Audience Segments (Affinity, In-market, Custom, etc.) details. 

Also, for the fetched topic_constant, you may refer to the topic_constant.path using the topic_constant resource to fetch the topics via API.

Hope this helps. If you have any more queries, please feel free to get back to us.

Thanks,
 

Google Ads API Team

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[2025-05-05 21:17:57Z GMT] This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!500Ht01qVpMJ:ref" (ADR-00303830)

[Amit Tomar]

Hello Team,

Thank you for your previous response.

I wanted to clarify a few points regarding the Audience Segments section shown in the attached screenshot. Specifically:

1. In the "Edit segments observations" UI, there is a Search tab for finding segments by keyword.
   → Could you please confirm if there is an API available to perform this kind of audience segment search programmatically? If yes, please share the details.

2. In the Browse tab, I can see several audience segment categories like:

   • Detailed Demographics

   • Affinity

   • In-Market and Life Events

   • Your Data Segments

   • Combined Segments

   • Custom Segments

   Each of these categories contains further nested segment options.

   → Is there a way to retrieve all this structured data (categories and nested segments) through the API?
   If there isn’t a single endpoint for all, could you please list the specific APIs or services I can use to retrieve each of these types?

Looking forward to your clarification.
Thanks again for your continued support.

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi,

Please be informed that you can perform a search for audience segments using the Google Ads API, and you can query various resources related to audience segments, such as user_list, this resource represents audience segments, and you can filter and search across various attributes of user lists. You can use custom_audience report for custom audiences.

I would like to inform you that you can refer to the following reports for several audience segment categories that you can see in the Browse tab:

• Detailed Demographics segments - detailed_demographic report. 
• Affinity or in-market segments - user_interest report.
• Life Events segments - life_event report.
• Your Data Segments - user_list report.
• Combined Segments - combined_audience report.
• Custom Segments - custom_audience report.

I hope this helps! Feel free to get back to us in case of any further queries.
 

Thanks,
 

Google Ads API Team

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[2025-05-07 21:34:49Z GMT] This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!500Ht01qVpMJ:ref" (ADR-00303830)

[Amit Tomar]

Hi Team,

Thank you for your continued support—really appreciate your help throughout.

I’ve been doing some R&D related to the Audience Segments and have a couple of questions that I’d appreciate your clarification on. Please see the screenshots attached for reference:

1. In the Life Events category, I noticed that some segments like Home Renovation, New Pet, and Taking a Trip appear in the API results ("SELECT life_event.availabilities, life_event.id, life_event.launched_to_all, life_event.name, life_event.parent, life_event.resource_name FROM life_event") and documentation, but they are not visible in the Sales > Display > Ad Group > Audience Segments setup UI.

2. In Detailed Demographics, the Employment category is available at the Campaign level in Sales > Search campaigns, but not visible at the Ad Group level in Sales > Display campaigns.

Could you please clarify if this is expected behavior or if there are any limitations at the UI or campaign-type level?

Thanks again for your help!

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi,

Since you are specifically trying to match segments like Home Renovation, New Pet, and Taking a Trip as they appear in the API, determining whether these differences are due to a UI limitation falls outside our scope. Note that our team can only help you with technical queries or concerns related to the Google Ads API. However, I would request you to share the customer ID of your Google Ads account (CID), so that we can route you to the correct support team for further assistance.​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

You can send the details via Reply privately to the author option, or direct private reply to this email.
 

Thanks,
 

Google Ads API Team

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[2025-05-09 13:33:37Z GMT] This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!500Ht01qVpMJ:ref" (ADR-00303830)