What is the difference between ad_group_ad.ad.final_urls and ad_group_criterion.final_urls?

[Nelson Brochado]

Hello.

My understanding is that an ad group criterion can be applied to an ad group and, in the Google Ads API, we can have criteria of type "keyword".The concept of "ad group criteria" doesn't seem to exist in Google Ads but just in the API. So, my conclusion is that we can say that we have "keyword criteria". 

The documentation describes ad_group_ad.ad.final_urls as follows

The list of possible final URLs after all cross-domain redirects for the ad.

while it describes ad_group_criterion.final_urls as

The list of possible final URLs after all cross-domain redirects for the ad.

So, according to the documentation, there's no difference, but how is this possible and in which sense they are not different? In general, how are these 2 related? 

What does ad_group_criterion.final_urls actually represent? 

The ad_group resource doesn't actually provide the field final_urls, but it's provided by the ad_group_criterion. For some unknown (to me) reason, ad_group only provides final_url_suffix. 

So, it seems that it makes sense to have "final URLs" at the "ad group criterion" and "ad" level. To me, it makes sense that we have a URL at the ad level, but it's unclear what ad_group_criterion.final_urls actually represents and how it relates to ad_group_ad.ad.final_urls. Can you clarify this?

Thanks.

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Nelson,

This guide discusses what final URLs are for and here, on which entities these can be applied to.

For discussing Google Ads concepts such as the relevance of these URLs in either ads or ad group criteria, I would once more recommend reaching out to the Google Ads Product Support team for guidance.

This is because our API support team specializes in the implementation / troubleshooting of Google Ads API features, and the Product Support team should be more equipped in discussing the design on the how and why these upgraded URLs are associated to Google Ads entities.

Best regards,

Peter Laurence Google Ads API Team

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[Nelson Brochado]

Hi Peter.

Thanks for pointing me to that article.

I understand why URLs are associated with ads. 

However, I don't understand why they are associated with ad group criteria, which is a concept that exists only in the Google Ads API. Or do criteria also exist in Google Ads?

So, could you please tell me what do the final URLs of ad group criteria represent and how they are related to ads? 

The Google Ads team will tell me that the concept of an ad group criterion does not exist in Google Ads and they will redirect me to you.

[Nelson Brochado]

To be more specific about my doubts, the documentation describes the final URL as follows

The final URL represents the actual landing page for your ad, keyword, or sitelink

So, this confirms that a final URL can be associated with a keyword (which is an ad group criterion), which I had already understood from the fact that this property exists in ad_group_criterion.

The documentation also says

Final URLs follow the same override rules as destination URLs. For example, a final URL at the keyword level overrides a final URL at the ad level

This is fine. 

Now, my question is: in which sense the final URLs of a keyword override the final URLs of an ad? A keyword is associated with an ad group. Does this mean that, if an ad is served because of some keyword, then the keyword's final URLs will override the final URLs of the served ad, so the user will be redirected to the final URLs of the keyword (that made the ad to be served)? Is this the relationship between ad_group_criterion.final_urls and ad_group_ad.ad.final_urls, or is there something more?

[Nelson Brochado]

I've also read the Google Ads articles Customize landing page URLs for keywords and About the different types of URLs but they don't clarify my doubts. For example, the first article says

You can use keyword landing page URLs to take people to pages on your website related to particular keywords. For example, if you have the keyword "paris tee shirt," you could define a keyword landing page URL that sends people to the part of your website that sells Paris tee shirts.

However, this does state or confirm that, if an ad X is served because of some keyword Y, Y's final URLs will replace X's final URLs. I don't actually understand why we would define the final URLs at the keyword-level, but, like you suggested, I think I should ask this question to the Google Ads team.

I've also read this and this articles.

Thanks a lot.

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Nelson,

This is Carmela from the Google Ads API support team as well. Thank you for getting back to us.

Moving forward, kindly note that Google Ads API does have criteria. You may check this API documentation as it contains the criteria available in the Google Ads API. As per this document, it states here that the Google Ads API currently supports several targeting options at the campaign and ad group level. Depending on the criteria type, you can use the Google Ads API to: "Target or exclude criteria at the campaign or ad group level", "Set absolute bids for specific criteria at the ad group level" and "Modify bids for criteria at the campaign or ad group level.". In addition, you may also check this guide which is specifically about Ad Group Level Target Overrides. I also suggest referring to this document for more information about URLs.

Furthermore, as for this "However, this does state or confirm that, if an ad X is served because of some keyword Y, Y's final URLs will replace X's final URLs. I don't actually understand why we would define the final URLs at the keyword-level, but, like you suggested, I think I should ask this question to the Google Ads team.", yes. I would also suggest reaching out to the Product team via this link as they are better equipped to provide insights to this.

Let us know if you have further concerns.

Regards,

Carmela Google Ads API Team

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