Negative listing_group UNIT criterion with clicks, impressions etc., how is that possible?

[Konstantin Tarassow]

Hello,

we have a client for whom we get some strange data from the API

which we cannot  explain.

We fetch metrics from the product_group_view and there (among other things that seem OK to us) we get for at least 1 criterion some clicks and impressions

but that criterion in question (UNIT listing group criterion) is a negative one.

How can a negative criterion have statistics assigned to it?

Method Name: /google.ads.googleads.v14.services.GoogleAdsService/SearchStream
Host: googleads.googleapis.com
Headers: {
    "x-goog-api-client": "gl-php\/8.0.30 gccl\/19.2.0 gapic\/19.2.0 gax\/1.18.2 grpc\/1.50.2 rest\/1.18.2 pb\/+n",
    "x-goog-request-params": "customer_id=1984372714",
    "developer-token": "REDACTED",
    "login-customer-id": "4554523147"
}
Request:
{"customerId":"1984372714","query":"\n            SELECT campaign.id,\nad_group.id,\nad_group_criterion.criterion_id,\nad_group_criterion.negative,\ncampaign.name,\nmetrics.clicks,\nmetrics.impressions,\nmetrics.cost_micros\n            FROM product_group_view\n            WHERE segments.date BETWEEN '2023-05-05' AND '2023-05-05'\n            AND ad_group_criterion.listing_group.type = 'UNIT'\n            AND campaign.id = 16447958812\n            AND ad_group.id = 146619223413\n            AND ad_group_criterion.criterion_id = 2021993033247\n        "}

Response
-------
Headers: {
    "content-disposition": "attachment",
    "date": "Fri, 24 Nov 2023 18:56:35 GMT",
    "alt-svc": "h3=\":443\"; ma=2592000,h3-29=\":443\"; ma=2592000"
}
Response:
{"results":[{"adGroup":{"resourceName":"customers\/1984372714\/adGroups\/146619223413","id":"146619223413"},"adGroupCriterion":{"resourceName":"customers\/1984372714\/adGroupCriteria\/146619223413~2021993033247","criterionId":"2021993033247","negative":true},"campaign":{"resourceName":"customers\/1984372714\/campaigns\/16447958812","id":"16447958812","name":"DE-DE\/PLA-MAR_Aktion_[SHOP]"},"productGroupView":{"resourceName":"customers\/1984372714\/productGroupViews\/146619223413~2021993033247"},"metrics":{"clicks":"7","costMicros":"4780000","impressions":"2114"}}],"fieldMask":"campaign.id,adGroup.id,adGroupCriterion.criterionId,adGroupCriterion.negative,campaign.name,metrics.clicks,metrics.impressions,metrics.costMicros","requestId":"7D8kUCj6l3CZtnXqIMtx3Q"}

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi,

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

We really do understand your concern. For us to further investigate the issue, could you please provide us the request id that is generated when you execute the query and also the un-cropped screenshot of the UI where we can see the results that you got from the UI.

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

This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!5004Q02qUo4Y:ref"

Thanks,
 

Google Ads API Team

[Konstantin Tarassow]

Hello, I replied private to the author with the requested UI screenshot which also shows statistics and costs on negative criteria.

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi,

Thank you for getting back to us. 

Kindly note that you have missed to attach the UI screenshots in this email thread. Could you please resend the complete UI screenshots of the Google Ads account without any cropping, and could you also mark or highlight the specific fields necessary to retrieve the data through the Google Ads API?

[Konstantin Tarassow]

Hello, I copied the image directly into the mail text, seems to not have worked.

Now I attached the imaged as an attachment, pls take a look.

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi,

Thank you for getting back to us.

Upon checking your UI screenshot, I can see that exact metrics are present for the ad group (146619223413) and this is the reason you are able to retrieve the metrics from the API response. Please note that API is just a reflection of UI, which means we can retrieve only the data from API that can be retrieved via UI. Also note that ad_group_criterion.negative doesn't mean the negative metrics and this doesn’t have anything to do with the metrics. 

[Konstantin Tarassow]

Thanks for you answer!

"Also note that ad_group_criterion.negative doesn't mean the negative metrics"

This is what I don't understand. How can a negative criterion (which is meant to exclude targeting) have traffic and costs?

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi,

Thank you for getting back to us.

The ad_group_criterion.negative indicates whether a criterion is negative or positive. A negative criterion is one that tells Google Ads not to show your ad for a particular search term or other targeting option.

However, negative criteria can still have traffic and costs. This is because negative criteria can be used to exclude search terms that are irrelevant to your business, even if they are still likely to generate traffic. For example, if you sell shoes, you might want to add the negative keyword "free" to your campaigns to avoid showing your ads for searches like "free shoes."

Another reason why negative criteria can have traffic and costs is that Google Ads may not be able to perfectly match your negative keywords to search queries. For example, if you have the negative keyword "free," Google Ads may still show your ad for the search query "cheap shoes."

Also, kindly note that ad_group_criterion.negative it was set as 'false', this means that you are creating positive / standard keywords, while negative keywords when you set 'true' to this field. Also, according to this document (KeywordInfos section), you can either target or exclude keywords at the ad group level.