Is there is a delay between real data and API data?

[Dymytry]

Greetings, Gentlemen!

I am using the adwords API to calculate the total costs of the
campaigns for some client. I use a CampaignService -> get which
results in CampaignPage, and the run through all entries in
CampaignPage and get the costs from CampaignStats.

A problem is that the data I get this way is provided with some lag.
In the morning it was wrong, and now its ok.

I thought about the reasons of this. Actually the data I get from API
ALWAYS coincides with data I see in front-end Client Center. But a
problem is that data in Client Center has some delay compared to real
client data found in Client Account. So now if I get data via API I
have a delay.

Can I fix it somehow?

I have found a topic about this in this forum:

http://groups.google.com/group/adwords-api/browse_thread/thread/c7ccef1b0ce0ad8d/8061dfb97bcd2fb2

... but failed to do any conclusions from it, the link to google faq
from there works no more.

It was in 2005, may be now one can suggest something to fix this?

[Pete Lavetsky (AdWords API Guru)]

I think you'll always have delays of some sort when you're looking for
real time data. If you're concerned about your campaign spending too
much in a day, you can take a look at setting a daily Budget for your
campaign: http://code.google.com/apis/adwords/docs/reference/latest/CampaignService.Budget.html

Pete

On Apr 13, 8:04 am, Dymytry <koktebelnig...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Greetings, Gentlemen!
>
> I am using the adwords API to calculate the total costs of the
> campaigns for some client. I use a CampaignService -> get which
> results in CampaignPage, and the run through all entries in
> CampaignPage and get the costs from CampaignStats.
>
> A problem is that the data I get this way is provided with some lag.
> In the morning it was wrong, and now its ok.
>
> I thought about the reasons of this. Actually the data I get from API
> ALWAYS coincides with data I see in front-end Client Center. But a
> problem is that data in Client Center has some delay compared to real
> client data found in Client Account. So now if I get data via API I
> have a delay.
>
> Can I fix it somehow?
>
> I have found a topic about this in this forum:
>

> http://groups.google.com/group/adwords-api/browse_thread/thread/c7cce...

[Dymytry]

Pete, thanks for the reply!

But actually I am concerned about the correctness of the reports I
provide to the managers. The reports shoulb be created every morning
and if the data related to yesterday is wrong - we have a problem.

Probably, another reason for this can be time zones. All our accounts
are set to Moscow time zone, our days ends 11 hours earlier than PST
day. May be adwords supposes the day to be over only when PST end day
comes?

[Dymytry]

[Pete Lavetsky (AdWords API Guru)]

Dymytry,

Yes, I think I recall reading some documentation at one point stating
that no matter what TimeZone your account is set to, all metrics are
bound to PST. Here on the East Coast of the USA, we wait until about
6am local time to start asking for yesterday's numbers.

Also, take note that Google may alter your metrics up to ~5 days
later. This is because sometimes they'll detect click fraud or other
issues. Usually the altering is a very small %, but it can happen.

Pete

[Eric Koleda]

Hi All,

Pete's answer is right on, except that the report statistics are bound to the timezone of the account, not PST.  Across the system there is a 3-6 hour lag time between when an impression is made and when it is available in reports.

Best,

- Eric Koleda, AdWords API Team

[Dymytry]

Eric, thanks for the reply!

As far as I understand you, API delivers data with maximum time lag of
6 hours. Am I right? Actually as far as I see from our results, the
yesterday still varies for about 10-11 hours after the day is over in
out time zone, and it becomes settled down about 11 o'clock Moscow
time, which is equal to 00:00 PST time.

Is there any difference if I use not reports but
CampaignServiceInterface methods? Can this affect the lag?

Another issue is that there is a time lag between MCC client
statistics and the statistics of each of the clients. It looks like
CampaignServiceInterface methods deals with the MCC data and do suffer
from that lag also.

Any comments on this?

[Eric Koleda]

Hi Dymytry,

The lag in statistics should be the same across all services and reports.  Please keep in mind that yesterday is relevant to the timezone of the account, not the timezone of the application.

Best,

- Eric

[Reed]

Eric: I don't believe that those timeframes hold for data from the
content network. I've not had problems pulling search performance
data (keyword performance, etc) reports in the timeframes you suggest,
but pulling managed or automatic placement data that early has usually
been a problem. It seems to vary from one account to another - we
have one whose managed placement data usually seems to be correct at
8am, and others that are not. Automatic placement data always seems
to be available much later in the day. That same account whose
managed placement data is ok at 8am doesn't have their automatic
placement data available until late afternoon/early evening. I'm
pretty sure that one of the AdWords pages that explains placement
reports gives a rule of thumb to not pull placement data before 3:00pm
of the following day.

comments?
thanks,
-reed

[Eric Koleda]

Hi Reed,

Thanks for the tip, the placement's report page does mention a 3PM PST timeframe:

  http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=52762

Best,

- Eric

[Eric Koleda]

Hi All,

We've published a new blog post that covers this topic in greater detail:

http://adwordsapi.blogspot.com/2011/06/statistics-in-reports.html

Let us know if you have any feedback.

Best,

- Eric