Different results (count) UI vs. shopping_performance_view via Google Ads API

[Walter Kulisch]

Dear community members,

I have a custom defined report on shopping_performance_view that shows me all Item ID's having zero impressions. The configuration in the UI looks as following:

As you can see, there is a total count of 2,711,304 reported. However, when I try to get same results via API, I get only a fraction of the data returned. I use the following GAQL:

SELECT

    segments.product_item_id,

    metrics.impressions,

    metrics.clicks

FROM shopping_performance_view

WHERE

    segments.date BETWEEN '2020-10-02' AND '2020-11-02'

In my investigations I found out, that when I add the "Network" (from Targeting list) to the list of "Rows", I get same results in the UI as via API. Following image illustrates how API behaves mapped to UI configuration:

Note the reported count: 95,812. To me it seems like the shopping_performance_view resource is applying the segments.ad_network_type implicitly.

Hence, my question: is there a way how I can run the report via API to get same results like in the first image above? I'm only interested in those Item ID's that have no impressions in a certain period of time, regardless of the ad network type.

Technical details:

- I'm using the Google Ads API with latest version at the moment: v5.

- The report on screenshots is based on a MCC that has 150 sub-accounts.

- Programmatically, I retrieve all sub-accounts from this MCC and run the report of each sub-account.

- Finally, I aggregate the results, e.g. counting total result count, writing results into database, etc.

[Walter Kulisch]

Needed to re-upload the images:

First image:

Second image:

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi Walter,

When running reports using the API, you will need to run them from the child account level. Reports made from the MCC level will result in no results. Let me know if you have any other concerns.

Regards,
Anthony
Google Ads API Team

Anthony Google Ads API Team

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[Walter Kulisch]

Hi Anthony,

I'm doing all the requests to actual accounts of the MCC already. However, I'm just having issues like described in the first post.

Maybe there is some filter implicitly set I'm not aware of. To me it seems like not the intended behaviour.

Best,

Walter

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi Walter,

Can you please share the client customer Id that you are running this report on?

Thanks,

Anthony
Google Ads API Team

[Walter Kulisch]

Hi Anthony,

is there a way how I can send you details privately? Currently, the "reply to author" button is grayed out.

Best,

Walter

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi Walter,

You can email us at googleadsa...@google.com if you are unable to reply privately.

Regards,

[Mark]

Please post what the problem/solution turned out to be, interested parties would love to know!

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi Mark,

Thank you for your interest in this discussion.

Our team will update this thread once more information is available.

Best regards,

Peter Laurence Napa Oliquino Google Ads API Team

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[Google Ads API Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi All,

Walter, thank you for providing the requested details privately.

I can see that in the screenshot of the UI, there are item IDs with zero impressions, could you verify on your end if these item IDs are not included in the API response? I asked this as it is expected that some time, you will encounter impression metrics for entities that have not been viewed because of the following reason as discussed on this document:

• The entities are ineligible for display.
• They could have been paused within the report's date range.

Mark, please verify on your end to check if this is also your scenario.

Regards,

Ernie John Blanca Tacata Google Ads API Team

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[Mark]

I have seen zero-impression results in the past (like, at least 2 years ago) when using the old non-GAQL XML-post method (passing includeZeroImpressions: true).

I have not yet upgraded my environment to use the new reporting API with GAQL requests but when the time comes I wanted to be aware of any differences in behavior.

Sorry I can't be of any more help!

[Walter Kulisch]

Hi Ernie,

I've checked the linked document.

I can confirm that when I set the predicate in the GAQL as described in the linked document and also in the UI (impressions > 0), I get same results count.

Moreover, when I run reports for all sub accounts in the MCC by querying reports for each sub account I get same results count.

I conclude that the API works as expected, although in my case I actually was interested also in those items that didn't get any impressions, regardless of what reason.

To workaround this I compute the set of items without impressions by subtracting items with impressions > 0 from all items that I have.

Thank you for clarifying.

Best,

Walter

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi Walter,

Thank you for reaching out. You would be able to set the includeZeroImpressions to true or false to manage the returned impressions and this way you could also get the metrics for zero impressions by subtracting them. Let us know if you have any further concerns.

Thanks and regards,
Xiaoming, Google Ads API Team

 

Xiaoming Google Ads API Team

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