Google Ads API v19: generateKeywordIdeas only returning seed keyword, no related ideas

[Jiří Gattnar]

Hi everyone,

I'm encountering an issue with the generateKeywordIdeas endpoint in the Google Ads API (v19). When I make a request using keywordSeed, the response only includes the keyword I provided in the seed, but it doesn't generate any new related keyword ideas.

This is different from the behavior in the Google Ads UI's Keyword Planner, which provides many relevant suggestions for the same seed keyword, language, and location settings.

Here are the details of my API call:

• Endpoint: https://googleads.googleapis.com/v19/customers/YOUR_CUSTOMER_ID:generateKeywordIdeas (Using my actual Customer ID)
• Seed Keyword: rekonstrukce bytu (which means "apartment renovation" in Czech)
• Request Body:
  {
    "language": "languageConstants/1015", // Czech
    "geoTargetConstants": [
      "geoTargetConstants/2203" // Czechia
    ],
    "includeAdultKeywords": false,
    "keywordPlanNetwork": "GOOGLE_SEARCH",
    "keywordSeed": {
      "keywords": ["rekonstrukce bytu"]
    }
  }

Problem: The API response successfully returns data/metrics for the exact keyword "rekonstrukce bytu", but the list of generated keyword ideas (generateKeywordIdeasResult.keywordIdeaMetrics) is either missing or only contains the seed keyword itself, instead of suggesting related terms like "oprava bytu", "rekonstrukce koupelny", etc., which I see in the UI (320 related keywords).

Question: Is there something missing in my request? Why might the API not be generating related keyword ideas based on the keywordSeed?

Any help or insights would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,