Offline Conversions Uploaded via SOAP API not appearing in Adwords Account

[James]

I haven't seen conversions uploaded to my Adwords account all day using the OfflineConversionFeedService.  As far as I can tell, there aren't any errors being thrown, and I'm getting a valid response back from the Adwords API, yet the conversions haven't shown up all day.  Can someone have a look at the following request and response to see if there's anything glaringly wrong?

Request:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:ns1="https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/cm/v201509"><SOAP-ENV:Header>

<ns1:RequestHeader>

<ns1:clientCustomerId>xxx</ns1:clientCustomerId>

<ns1:developerToken>xxx</ns1:developerToken>

<ns1:userAgent>xxx</ns1:userAgent>

<ns1:validateOnly>false</ns1:validateOnly>

</ns1:RequestHeader>

</SOAP-ENV:Header>

<SOAP-ENV:Body>

<ns1:mutate>

<ns1:operations>

<ns1:operator>ADD</ns1:operator>

<ns1:operand><ns1:googleClickId>CJGWlpWJkswCFZGIaQodc2cGTg</ns1:googleClickId>

<ns1:conversionName>Qualifications (Imported)</ns1:conversionName>

<ns1:conversionTime>20160416 020811 America/Chicago</ns1:conversionTime>

<ns1:conversionValue>22</ns1:conversionValue>

</ns1:operand>

</ns1:operations>

</ns1:mutate>

</SOAP-ENV:Body>

</SOAP-ENV:Envelope> 

Response:

<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">

<soap:Header>

<ResponseHeader xmlns="https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/cm/v201509">

<requestId>00053119b1b0f1210abf08d0d00b79af</requestId>

<serviceName>OfflineConversionFeedService</serviceName>

<methodName>mutate</methodName>

<operations>1</operations>

<responseTime>260</responseTime>

</ResponseHeader>

</soap:Header>

<soap:Body>

<mutateResponse xmlns="https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/cm/v201509"><rval><ListReturnValue.Type>OfflineConversionFeedReturnValue</ListReturnValue.Type><value><googleClickId>CJGWlpWJkswCFZGIaQodc2cGTg</googleClickId><conversionName>Qualifications (Imported)</conversionName><conversionTime>20160416 020811 America/Chicago</conversionTime><conversionValue>22.0</conversionValue></value></rval></mutateResponse></soap:Body></soap:Envelope>

[Anthony Madrigal]

Hi James,

It takes up to 3 hours for offline conversions to appear in your AdWords account. This may be the reason you are not seeing them yet. Here is a list of more reasons why your conversions may not appear. 

Regards,

Anthony

AdWords API Team

[James]

I thought it might have something to do with that, but I tried uploading a conversion on Friday, and today it's still not showing up in our Adwords account, despite it appearing that I'm getting a valid response back from the Adwords API.  Is there any way you can look into the request ID I've gotten back and let me know if there's something wrong?

[Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team)]

Hi James,

The dates in reports are based on the account's time zone. In this case, the account's time zone is Central Time, so given your click date/time of 2016-04-16 02:00 UTC, that click's data will actually show up on reports and in the user interface on 2016-04-15, since conversions appear under the date of the click, not the date of the conversion.

Thanks,

Josh, AdWords API Team

[James]

Thank you very much for your response.  Forgive my ignorance, but I'm not sure that I follow.  If the conversion is passed in with a time of conversion set to America/Chicago for the 16th, what exactly is happening that makes it appear on the 15th?  Does the GCLID have an associated time stamp with it that indicates the time of the click and the date I provided in conversion upload is just to make sure that the conversion happened after the click?

Again, sorry for the confusion.  I really appreciate your help in understanding.

[Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team)]

Hi,

Regardless of the date of the conversion, all conversions for a given click (GCLID) will appear in reports under the date of the click.

The date and time on the conversion upload serves a few purposes:

1. Used to validate that the conversion is after the click (as you mentioned).
2. Also used in other validation rules, such as confirming that the conversion is within the click-through conversion lookback window.
3. Allows AdWords to ignore duplicates (since only one conversion value is allowed per GCLID/conversiontype/date+time).

Hope that helps.

Cheers,

Josh, AdWords API Team