Getting automatic placements via 201008 API

[DaveOz]

Hi,
I'm having problems trying to download a report via the API which
corresponds to the Automatic Placements data which can be seen via the
web interface.

If I click on All Online Campaigns, then the Networds tabs, and then
"show details" for Automatic Placements only, I see a list of all the
stats for automatic placements on the display network.

I'm trying to get this same data via the 201008 API.
When I create a report definition which has reportType
AUTOMATIC_PLACEMENTS_PERFORMANCE_REPORT with a dateRange which matches
that of the web interface report above, I can successfully download
some stats, but they differ wildly from what is reported on the web
interface.

The web interface has a total of ~30,000 clicks for the period, and
the Automatic Placements report has only ~8,000 total clicks.

Why the difference? Is AUTOMATIC_PLACEMENTS_PERFORMANCE_REPORT not the
correct report type to see this data?

The figures match up perfectly for Managed Placements via the web
interface and my 201008 API generated
MANAGED_PLACEMENTS_PERFORMANCE_REPORT.. so I would have thought the
same would be the case for Automatic placements?

[DaveOz]

OK I'll ask a different way.

Re the following request:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-
instance" xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
<SOAP-ENV:Header>
<RequestHeader xmlns="https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/cm/
v201008">
<authToken xmlns="https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/cm/
v201008">***</authToken>
<clientEmail xmlns="https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/cm/
v201008">***</clientEmail>
<developerToken xmlns="https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/cm/
v201008">***</developerToken>
<userAgent xmlns="https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/cm/
v201008">***</userAgent>
<validateOnly xmlns="https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/cm/
v201008">false</validateOnly>
<partialFailure xmlns="https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/cm/
v201008">false</partialFailure>
</RequestHeader>
</SOAP-ENV:Header>
<SOAP-ENV:Body>
<mutate xmlns="https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/cm/v201008">
<operations>
<operator>ADD</operator>
<operand>
<selector>
<fields>CampaignName</fields>
<fields>CampaignId</fields>
<fields>AdGroupName</fields>
<fields>AdGroupId</fields>
<fields>Domain</fields>
<fields>AdGroupStatus</fields>
<fields>CampaignStatus</fields>
<fields>Impressions</fields>
<fields>Clicks</fields>
<fields>Ctr</fields>
<fields>AverageCpc</fields>
<fields>Cost</fields>
<fields>ConversionsManyPerClick</fields>
<fields>TotalConvValue</fields>
<fields>CostPerConversionManyPerClick</fields>
<dateRange>
<min>20101026</min>
<max>20101026</max>
</dateRange>
</selector>
<reportName>Automatic placements performance report
2010-10-26 to 2010-10-26</reportName>
<reportType>AUTOMATIC_PLACEMENTS_PERFORMANCE_REPORT</
reportType>
<dateRangeType>CUSTOM_DATE</dateRangeType>
<downloadFormat>XML</downloadFormat>
</operand>
</operations>
</mutate>
</SOAP-ENV:Body>
</SOAP-ENV:Envelope>

Should this produce the same data as is visible by browsing to the
adwords web interface, clicking All Online Campaigns, then selecting
26/10/2010-26/10/2010 date range, clicking Networks, and clicking
"show details" beside Automatic placements?

For me it doesn't.. it looks more like the managed placement
performance I get back. Same thing seems to happen if I click Download
Report on the web interface, I get only the managed placement
performance report.

How do I get the automatic placements performance report via the API?

[DaveOz]

(PS. ignore the comment about not being able to download automatic
placements report from the web interface - just realised there are 2
download buttons, one for managed, one for automatic.. just need to
work out how to do it via the API now!)

[AdWords API Advisor]

Hi Dave,

Your request looks to be correct. Can you give a specific example of
a CampaignId and Domain that has different stats in the UI vs the API?

Best,
- Eric Koleda, AdWords API Team

[DaveOz]

Hi Eric,
A good example is if I download the automatic placements report for
the period 27-10-2010 to 27-10-2010 (eg. just one 1 day), then look at
the data for ad group id 1103884907. The automatic placements API
report lists only 2 urls for that adgroup, where-as the automatic
placements report on the UI lists 12 (8 of which have non-zero cost
for the period).
Neither of the 2 domains in the API report appear in the Automatic
placements UI report, however, they look identical to the UI managed
placements report.


The request I used was:

<SOAP-ENV:Body>
<mutate xmlns="https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/cm/v201008">
<operations>
<operator>ADD</operator>
<operand>
<selector>
<fields>CampaignName</fields>
<fields>CampaignId</fields>
<fields>AdGroupName</fields>
<fields>AdGroupId</fields>
<fields>Domain</fields>
<fields>AdGroupStatus</fields>
<fields>CampaignStatus</fields>
<fields>Impressions</fields>
<fields>Clicks</fields>
<fields>Ctr</fields>
<fields>AverageCpc</fields>
<fields>Cost</fields>
<fields>ConversionsManyPerClick</fields>
<fields>TotalConvValue</fields>
<fields>CostPerConversionManyPerClick</fields>
<dateRange>

<min>20101027</min>
<max>20101027</max>
</dateRange>
</selector>
<reportName>Automatic placements performance report 2010-10-27 to
2010-10-27</reportName>
<reportType>AUTOMATIC_PLACEMENTS_PERFORMANCE_REPORT</reportType>

[AdWords API Advisor]

Hi Dave,

I've dug into this a bit, and it looks like this report isn't behaving
correctly at the moment. It seems to only be returning the domains
that were once automatic placements but have since been converted into
manual placements. It is showing the correct stats for these
placements, but it's certainly not the expected set of results. I'll
work with the core engineering team to isolate the issue and I'll
update this thread when I have more information.

Best,
- Eric

[DaveOz]

Thanks for the reply Eric.
The automatic placements report would be really useful to
programmatically search for badly performing automatic placements so
action can be taken to resolve. Currently I cannot see how this can be
don't via the API without this report functioning is a manner more
similar to the UI.
Cheers,
Dave.

On Oct 29, 7:17 pm, AdWords API Advisor <adwordsapiadvi...@google.com>
wrote:

[DaveOz]

Hi Eric,
Is there any estimate on how long this might take to resolve?

On Oct 29, 7:17 pm, AdWords API Advisor <adwordsapiadvi...@google.com>
wrote:

> Hi Dave,
>
> I've dug into this a bit, and it looks like this report isn't behaving
> correctly at the moment.  It seems to only be returning the domains

> that were onceautomaticplacementsbut have since been converted into
> manualplacements.  It is showing the correct stats for theseplacements, but it's certainly not the expected set of results.  I'll

[AdWords API Advisor]

Hi Dave,

The core engineering team is looking into the problem, but
unfortunately I don't have an estimate as to when the behavior will be
fixed.

Best,
- Eric

[Thiago Medeiros]

Hello Dave!!

Maybe your problem occur because you are getting recent data and this 

report isn't 100% processed.. try to get a range date like 7 days and the 

last day ending 15 days ago.. e.g: 11/01 to 11/15

i hope it helps.

Thiago.

[DaveOz]

Thanks Thiago,
Unfortunately the report is incorrect even for older data.
Regards,
Dave.

[FUNKY BOY]

Hi, is it too hard for google team to prevent us that automatic
reports don't work!?

[FUNKY BOY]

[tsmthiago]

Hello Dave, today I was trying to get this report too, and got the
same
error. My result on AUTOMATIC_PLACEMENTS_PERFORMANCE_REPORT were the
same
at MANAGED_PLACEMENTS_PERFORMANCE_REPORT (cost, click, cpc, ...).

There is any news about this issue??

How can I get this data through API while Google don't fix this issue?

thanks,
Thiago.

[AdWords API Advisor]

Hi All,

I've reached out again to the core engineering team regarding this
issue, but unfortunately I don't have any other information. From my
previous tests I believe a workaround was to create the Automatic
placements performance report via the AdWords web interface, get it's
ID by using ReportDefinitionService.get(), and then request that via
the API. If you use a sliding date range (such as YESTERDAY) then you
can reuse the report definition for multiple requests.

Best,
- Eric

[Reed]

I've been reading this thread with interest because in another thread
where I was asking about which performance reports (keyword, managed
placement, automatic placement, ad performance) needed to be combined
to come up with the same account-level totals that are reported in the
account performance report. One of the postings there indicated that
I needed to include automatic placements, which of course is
problematic at the moment via the API.

So here is my question, which I realize is more of an adWords question
than an API question, but trust me that I've been through all the
adWords help screens that I can consume, and cannot find a definitive
answer to this question:

In the "old days" there was just the search network and the content
network, and performance information for the content network came back
in the keyword reports for a given adgroup with the keyword "content"
inserted. One row of data for each day. Life was simple.

Placements came along around 2 or so years ago and brought increased
control over the serving done by the content network, via Placement
Targeting. The keyword reports were renamed Keyword/Placement
reports, and continued to show the activity, but now for placement
targeted serving activity the name of the placement was used as the
keyword. Life was still good.

Now (today) we have a few terms being used that seem to be overlapping
or identical. "Targeted Placements" are now "Managed Placements" as
far as I can tell. Are "Automatic Placements" the same as what were
once just called "content" ads and also sometimes in the current
adWords documents called "contextual" ads? Or are there three buckets
of network activity: Contextutual, Managed Placement, Automatic
Placement, and if so are they distinct or overlapping?

Thanks for helping to clear this up in mind!
Reed

[AdWords API Advisor]

Hi Reed,

I'm not sure I can help with the historical naming conventions, but
here's some information that may help:

KEYWORDS report = keyword targeting on the GOOGLE_SEARCH or
SEARCH_NETWORK networks
MANAGED_PLACEMENTS report = placement targeting on the CONTENT_NETWORK
network
AUTOMATIC_PLACEMENTS report = keyword targeting on the
CONTENT_CONTEXTUAL network

These criteria-level reports cover most of the common criteria, but if
your account uses CriterionUserList or Product criteria to target ads
then there may be additional impressions, clicks, etc that are not
included in these reports, but will be included in an ADGROUP,
CAMPAIGN, or ACCOUNT report.

Best,
- Eric

[Thiago Medeiros]

Hello Eric!

Thanks for reply! But it doesn't work because if I create the report on 

UI, this report don't return the adGroupID and CampaignID, only the name 

of adGroup and Campagn.

some questions:

1.) To return the ID's trough the name isn't the best way.. or you think it is the best one while this bug isn't fixed?

2.) The previous version from API have this same bug?

3.) Is there another way to resolve this?

Regards,

Thiago.

[AdWords API Advisor]

Hi Thiago,

The core engineering team is working on a solution, but for the moment
there are no workarounds. This problem does not affect v13 reports.

Best,
- Eric

[Thiago Medeiros]

Hello Eric!

Thank you for your answer!

While google team don't fix this issue, I decide to create the report through UI configured with a sliding date and consume it from API using ReportDefinitionService.get() acording your tip. Isn't the best way, but I don't have other choice. I found two incovenient from this way: how cross client doesn't work yet, so I need to create manualy report for each client and another bad think is that ID's doesn't available when you create reports through UI (so I need to use another procedure to get back this information using adgroup's name and keyword's name)

Now, I have two more questions for you:

1.) I would like to know if you will post here when CROSS CLIENT and AUTOMATIC_PLACEMENTS_PERFORMANCE_REPORT start to work.

2.) Maybe I found other issue: I need to get the STATS from AUTOMATIC PLACEMENT in general, and not from each PLACEMENT, how can I do this? When I run the KEYWORDS_PERFORMANCE_REPORT google return a keywodID 3000000 that is exact what I need, but I need to get this information without report. 

I tried to run AdGroupService to return this information, but AdGroupService return the AUTOMATIC PLACEMENT + MANAGED PLACEMENT.

I tried to run AdGroupCriterionService, but when I configure the keywordID with 3000000 I get a null response.

EG:

AdGroupCriterionSelector selector = new AdGroupCriterionSelector();

AdGroupCriterionIdFilter ids = new AdGroupCriterionIdFilter();

ids.adGroupIdSpecified = true;

ids.criterionIdSpecified = true;

ids.adGroupId = XXXX;

ids.criterionId = 3000000;

selector.idFilters = new AdGroupCriterionIdFilter[] { ids };

return service.get(selector);

Regards,

Thiago.

[AdWords API Advisor]

Hi Thiago,

Regarding your questions:

1) I don't have any information as to when cross-client reporting will
be available in the API.

2) This information is currently only available through reports.

Best,
- Eric

[Thiago Medeiros]

Hello again!

 

I just test this issue (get automatic placements through API) and now works fine for me.

 

Is there any official news about this issue? It has been fixed?

 

thanks,

Thiago.

[AdWords API Advisor]

Hi Thiago,

This issue has been resolved, and I apologize for not updating the
thread sooner.

Best,
- Eric

[Thiago Medeiros]

Thank you!

 

And about cross client on 201008 api, it already been released too?

 

regards,

Thiago.

[AdWords API Advisor]

Hi Thiago,

Cross-client reporting has not been released yet, but stay tuned to
the AdWords API blog for updates.

Best,
- Eric