Creating SharedSet on Campaign Level

[jonathan....@auto1.com]

With the AdWords API, using Python, in an Account A, I want to create one SharedSet S_i per Campaign C_i (I want to build a de facto 1-1-relation), where i is element of I :=  {0,1,2,..., |Campaigns(A)| }

I was doing this by adding the SharedSets S_i to A and and attaching it to "its" Campaign C_i. (I was basically following https://developers.google.com/adwords/api/docs/samples/python/advanced-operations#create-and-attach-a-shared-keyword-set) But since I have more than 20 Campaigns in A, I am reaching the Account Limit, getting the following when I attempt to add the S_21:

suds.WebFault: Server raised fault: '[EntityCountLimitExceeded.ACCOUNT_LIMIT @ operations[0].operand; trigger:'... sharedSetType: NEGATIVE_PLACEMENTS' (enclosingId=..., limit=20, accountLimitType=SHARED_SETS_PER_ACCOUNT, existingCount=20)]'

So, I want to add the SharedSet S_i "directly" to the C_i, i.e. without adding it to A. I did not find documentation how I can do this with the AdWords API. Is it possible? How?

[Sreelakshmi Sasidharan (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Jonathan,

The shared sets are typically recommended if you have a set of keywords/placements that gives you unwanted impressions or clicks across multiple campaigns. In this case you would create a shared set with these keywords and apply them across multiple campaigns. Since you are not reusing the same set of keywords across multiple campaigns, you could just add them as a NegativeCampaignCriterion on the campaign directly using the CampaignCriterionService. Please check this example for code sample. 

As you observed, there is an account limit of 20 shared negative keyword lists per account and there is no alternative to adding the shared set to the Account. Please let me know if you have additional questions. 

Thanks,
Sreelakshmi, AdWords API Team

[jonathan....@auto1.com]

Hi Sreelakshmi,

thank you very much for your quick answer, especially for linking to the code sample!

My problem is, that there is also a limit on NegativeCampaignCriterion of only 10k. https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/6372658?hl=en is stating "10,000 negative keywords per campaign", I assume that this limit holds also for negative placements. Am I right with this assumption, or should the number of excluded placements per campaign be unlimited?

If I am right, is there any way to exclude more than 10k entities per campaign while having more than 20 campaigns in the account?

Thank you ever so much for your help!

Jonathan 

[Sreelakshmi Sasidharan (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Jonathan, 

The limit of 10,000 that you pointed out applies to negative keywords per campaign. In addition to that you should also note that there is a limit of 1 million campaign targeting items per account (such as location targets and campaign-level negative keywords etc). This limit will consider the positive and negative targeting criterion at the campaign level. That said, the number of excluded placements per campaign will be counted in this limit and is not unlimited. Since this is a system level limitation, there might not be a means to bypass this. 

My suggestion is to post your question on the advertisers community forum so see how you can structure your negative targeting criterion (keywords and placements) at the campaign level. The product experts there might be able to provide you some tips on optimization. 

[js]

Hi again, Sreelakshmi,

thanks for your answer! I see some inconsistency of your answer with the information I found at https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2454012?hl=en There it is pretty clear:

> You can exclude up to 10,000 placements per campaign.

I am confused now. Is there a limit of 10k Placements added as NegativeCriterion to a Campaign or not?

Would appreciate very much if you could clarify this for me!

Thank you ever so much,

Jonathan

[Sreelakshmi Sasidharan (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Jonathan, 

As you pointed out, it looks like in additional to the limit of 1 million total targeting items per campaign, there is also a limit for the number of placement exclusions at the campaign level. You may have to make sure that the placement exclusions are below both of these limits. Hope this clarifies your question.