Clarification on Browse Placements – App Category Selection Not Reflected in AdGroupCriterion

[Amit Tomar]

Hi Team,

I’m working on implementing placement targeting using the Google Ads API. While testing via the UI, I used the “Browse” tab under the Placements section to select the following:

• Websites: www.google.com, www.youtube.com

• App Category: App categories > Apple App Store > Education

However, when I retrieve the AdGroupCriterion data via the API, I only see criteria entries for the selected URLs (google.com and youtube.com), but nothing appears for the Education app category.

Here are my questions:

1. Is the “Education” app category stored under a different criterion type such as MOBILE_APP_CATEGORY, and not as a PLACEMENT?

2. If so, what’s the best way to retrieve this along with placement targeting to ensure a full picture of all selected placements?

3. Is there an API method or field that corresponds directly to what’s selected via the “Browse” UI tab?

I’ve attached a screenshot for reference showing the selected placements from the UI.

Looking forward to your clarification.

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi,

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

Please find the following answers to your questions:

1. Is the “Education” app category stored under a different criterion type such as MOBILE_APP_CATEGORY, and not as a PLACEMENT?

Yes, education comes under ad group criteria type MOBILE_APP_CATEGORY.  

2. If so, what’s the best way to retrieve this along with placement targeting to ensure a full picture of all selected placements?

The Google Ads API does not support retrieving the full picture of all selected placements like education. However, I will raise a request to add this feature to be available in the Google Ads API. We cannot provide a scheduled timeline for the availability of this feature in the Google Ads API. With that being said, I would recommend you to follow our blog post and release notes for announcements about new API releases and features.

3. Is there an API method or field that corresponds directly to what’s selected via the “Browse” UI tab?

There is no method or field that corresponds directly to what's selected via the browse UI tab. 

Thanks,
 

Google Ads API Team

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[2025-05-05 12:46:42Z GMT] This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!500Ht01qVpJy:ref" (ADR-00303825)