Querying change events doesn't return all results

[Nadav Kremer]

Hi

I have an issue with getting all change_events from the API.

I am using python 3.10.4 with the following version numbers:

google-ads               18.0.0
google-api-core          2.8.2
google-auth              2.9.1
google-auth-oauthlib     0.5.2
googleapis-common-protos 1.56.4

I am running using GoogleAdsService with the following query:

            SELECT change_event.ad_group,change_event.asset,change_event.campaign,change_event.change_date_time,change_event.change_resource_name,change_event.change_resource_type,change_event.changed_fields,change_event.client_type,change_event.feed,change_event.feed_item,change_event.new_resource,change_event.old_resource,change_event.resource_change_operation,change_event.resource_name,change_event.user_email
            FROM change_event
            WHERE change_event.change_date_time >= '2022-09-14 00:00:00.000000' AND change_event.change_date_time <= '2022-09-15 00:00:00.000000'
            ORDER BY change_event.change_date_time ASC
            LIMIT 10000

This is the result I am getting:

[{'resourceName': 'customers/XXX/changeEvents/1663163241246627~0~0', 'changeDateTime': '2022-09-14 16:47:21.246627', 'changeResourceType': 'AD_GROUP', 'changeResourceName': 'customers/XXX/adGroups/146661861064', 'clientType': 'GOOGLE_ADS_WEB_CLIENT', 'userEmail': 'A...@XXX.com', 'oldResource': {'adGroup': {'targetCpaMicros': '21000000'}}, 'newResource': {'adGroup': {'targetCpaMicros': '20000000'}}, 'resourceChangeOperation': 'UPDATE', 'changedFields': 'targetCpaMicros', 'campaign': 'customers/XXX/campaigns/17980422366', 'adGroup': 'customers/XXX/adGroups/146661861064'}, {'resourceName': 'customers/XXX/changeEvents/1663163455636771~0~0', 'changeDateTime': '2022-09-14 16:50:55.636771', 'changeResourceType': 'AD_GROUP', 'changeResourceName': 'customers/XXX/adGroups/146661861064', 'clientType': 'GOOGLE_ADS_WEB_CLIENT', 'userEmail': 'B...@XXX.net', 'oldResource': {'adGroup': {'targetCpaMicros': '20000000'}}, 'newResource': {'adGroup': {'targetCpaMicros': '21000000'}}, 'resourceChangeOperation': 'UPDATE', 'changedFields': 'targetCpaMicros', 'campaign': 'customers/AAA/campaigns/17980422366', 'adGroup': 'customers/AAA/adGroups/146661861064'}]

As you can see in the following picture there are a lot more changes made today 

It seems like we are not getting changes made through the google ads editor

According to this: https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/fields/v11/change_event we should be getting the changes since we are using the latest version of the editor.

Any idea why this is happening and what can be done?

Thank you in advance 

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Nadav,

I reproduced this issue of only 'GOOGLE_ADS_WEB_CLIENT' client type changes are recorded in change_event, and this is working as intended. Our Limitations guide states a change event may not include every row from the Change History in the web client. For a similar view to Change History, use the change status resource instead. Also, some key client types that do record their changes for use with change events include:

• Google Ads API
• Google Ads web client

Could you state in business terms the value of expanding the types of clients doing a change that change_event should report on? Could you also tell us how would you use such a feature?

Regards,

Aryeh Google Ads API Team

 

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[Nadav Kremer]

1. You mentioned change_status can have a similar view to the UI Change History, however, in the Change_Status there are no details about the change but in the UI we do have those details.  How can we get the details from Change_Status like the UI?
2. Is there a different service/report/way to export the full changes as we see in the UI, per resource? any API we are missing?
3. For the business case question - 99% of our changes are done through the Google Ads Editor as we are doing quite a bit of bulk updates and the accounts are big.  We have internal data science algorithms that we developed to optimize our campaigns and ad groups, however, we need those details of changes throughout history to apply to some of them.

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Nadav,

Thank you for the reply. I am also a member of the Google Ads API team and let me provide support to your concern.

Allow me to answer your questions and concern in general, I would like to tell first that there is no other report aside from the change_event and change_status that can get the change history logs of entities. The change_status report is not like the change_event that can return the detailed information of the changes, however, provides a means to keep track of which resources have changed within an account over a given time period. If a resource had multiple changes during your given time period, then only the latest change is returned. Use this service to determine if you need to sync your local values in your database with the values that changed during that given time period.

However, since it appears that most of the changes on your account have been made using Google Ads Editor, then allow me to focus my response here. Allow me to discuss this to the rest of the team to clarify why the changes using the Google Ads Editor are not being returned in the API response. Rest assured that we will provide updates when become available.

Best regards,

Jinky Google Ads API Team

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[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Nadav,

Thank you for your patience.

After team checking, I’m afraid that changes from Google Ads Editor are not currently available in the change_status or change_event resources. That being said, I would suggest you keep an eye on our blog post and documentation for updates.

Best regards,

Heidi Google Ads API Team

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[Nadav Kremer]

Do you have any suggestions for us besides getting all objects every day and comparing them?

Is there a way to get specific historical data? For example what was the target CPA or an ad group at a specific date range? 

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Nadav,

To have a clearer view on your concern, could you illustrate to us what you want to achieve via API? With the help of this information, we can identify whether what you are looking for is possible in the Google Ads API, specifically the change_event report.

Regards,

Ernie John Google Ads API Team

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[Nadav Kremer]

Basically what we want is to know when changes happen and what was that change so we can then use our internal algorithms to offer optimizations for things like target CPA

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Nadav,

At the moment, Change Event service currently tracks changes mentioned in here. For more information on change event service in API, you may refer to this guide. If you would be looking to get a fine grained view similar to Change History, then you may use the change status resource instead. For more information on change status service, you may refer to this guide.

Additionally, you can filter the changes made by “GOOGLE_ADS_API” client type if the changes made by Google Ads API. However, some limitations are still applicable as mentioned in the above guide, while using Change Event service and Change Status service via Google Ads API.

Besides, note that our team is not aware of getting all objects every day and comparing them to get specific historical data other than Google Ads API.

Regards,

Yasar Google Ads API Team

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