The Google Adwords API is being sunset by Google on April 27th. Ahead of this, NinjaCat released the updated version of the Google Ads API and migrated all Google Ads users to this by late March 2022.

The below is an updated version of the Google Ads article which includes a comprehensive overview of the known changes that could impact your NinjaCat reports and dashboards.

Section Links

List of known data that will be new from the Google Ads API

Dimensions with Differing Result Formats

Template Builder Report Data Source Dropdown Menu

Known Behavior of  Deprecated Metrics & Dimensions Beginning March 10th

Deprecated Dimensions & Metrics

New Data to expect from Google Ads API Upgrade

• • Additional Campaign Types: Local Campaigns, Smart Campaigns, Performance Max Campaigns
    • • These will begin to populate through the Campaign Name and Advertising Channel dimensions, alongside the other campaign types. 
  • Additional Ad Types: **Local Service Ads, Shopping Comparison Listing Ads, Hotel Ads, App engagement Ads
    • • These will begin to populate through the Campaign Name and Advertising Channel dimensions, alongside the other campaign types. 
  • Additional Dimensions specific to Local Campaigns: 

• • • • ‘Local Ads - Ad Path 1’
      • ‘Local Ads - Ad Path 2’
      • ‘Local Ads - Call To Actions’ - All call to actions
      • ‘Local Ads - Descriptions’ - All descriptions 
      • ‘Local Ads - First Call To Action’ - First of the call to actions
      • ‘Local Ads - First Description’ - First of the descriptions
      • ‘Local Ads - First Headline’ - First of the headlines
      • ‘Local Ads - First Logo Image’ -  First of the logo images; bring in as a custom dimension with Display As dropdown set to Image
      • ‘Local Ads - First Marketing Image’ - First of the marketing images; bring in as a custom dimension with Display As dropdown set to Image
      • ‘Local Ads - First Video’ - First of the videos; produces the link of the video
      • ‘Local Ads - Headlines’ - All headlines
      • ‘Local Ads - Logo Images’ - All logo images
      • ‘Local Ads - Marketing Images’ - All logo images
      • ‘Local Ads - Videos’ - All videos; produces the links of the videos

Local Service Ads 

Google Ads API adds limited support for Google Local Services campaigns in this updated version of Google Ads (v10), but could change in upcoming future versions. As stated by Google: Google Ads API lets you retrieve campaign, budget and customer reports, but these stats are not currently guaranteed to match the Local Services stats in the Google Ads UI. It is recommended to review any differences in the results between Google Ads and NinjaCat, and if the results significantly differ, it may be best to not include this data in dashboards and reports.

Dimensions with Differing Result Formats

Through the new Google Ads API, there is different formatting of results being returned by most dimensions where the most noticeable differences are values in ALL_CAPS with an underscore filling in the spaces. In some cases, the entire value may differ from what was previously returned from the old Google Adwords API. A good example of this being: 'Display' result from the Network dimension is now returned as 'Content'

These are changes made by Google. These adjusted results could impact existing filters or find & replace values on custom dimensions. It is recommended to review the following article and review any templates that could be impacted by these changes. 

'Ad Name' Dimension

This dimension is constructed by NinjaCat. In Google Adwords, we had access to pull the file name of images and videos through this dimension. In the new API, we no longer have access to this field so you may experience a blank result for these types of ads. Otherwise, the combination of your Headlines for text ads will populate through this dimension. 

'Ad Display' Dimension
There is no longer a way for an image representation to populate through this dimension for ads containing a video (ex. Video_Trueview_In_Stream). Instead, the destination URL populates here. It’s a consideration for this result to provide a link to the video instead, but this is not yet available to users today.

Template Builder Report Data Source Dropdown Menu

A new dropdown menu titled “Report Data Source” is displayed in the Widget Settings of a widget that contains Google Ads as a data source. This contains a list of available reports from the API that dimensions and metrics are pulled from (and in many cases, can be pulled from multiple reports). 

NinjaNote: It is highly advised to leave this dropdown set to DEFAULT in most cases. The system will automatically pull the set of data from the most appropriate report and there is no action needed from you in regards to this dropdown. 

This dropdown exists in order to provide the user with additional flexibility and the choice of where data should be pulled from. We do not expect this dropdown to be used much by users. In the case that there is a need to pull a set of data from a specific report (this is not a common need), you may adjust the dropdown to this report and the system will make a call to this report through the API. You will receive one of the following results in your widget:

• Receive the exact same results as the Default option. In which case, switch the dropdown back to Default as this would be sufficient for your selected set of dimensions and metrics (and likely was already the report that the system called to by default)

• A slightly different set of results. If this is what you’re expecting- great! Leave it here. If not, switch back to Default

• In most cases, an error will occur. This likely means that the dimensions and metrics you have selected are not available in the selected report. Adjust the dropdown back to Default. If the error persists on the Default setting, reach out to our Customer Advocacy Team

Below are a few of known examples of cases where this dropdown menu could be useful: 

• Dimension of ‘Countries’ can be pulled from both the Geographic Performance Report and the User Location Performance Report with different results expected

• Dimension of ‘Location Type’ can be pulled from the Geographic Performance Report and the User Location Performance Report with different results expected

• Dimension of ‘Labels’ can be pulled from the Ad Performance or the Campaign Performance, depending on where your Labels are set up.

Known Behavior of  Deprecated Metrics & Dimensions Beginning March 10th

Google has decided to remove dimensions, metrics or even entire reports so things that you used to report on through the Google Adwords API may no longer exist in the Google Ads API.  Most of the deprecation list includes newly deprecated metrics and dimensions, but you may notice a couple on this list that were deprecated in the past by Google, yet NinjaCat allowed them to remain in the system without error (example: Average Position). The following behavior can be expected for most of the list except for a few exceptions. The known exceptions are noted with asterisks (**) in the below list, and these exceptions will result in the second screenshot below with red flags

• They will no longer be available as options to include in a new widget
• In most cases, if included in an existing widget then the column will result in “N/A,” but shouldn’t cause harm to the entirety of the widget.  The selection on the right-hand side will also include “(Deprecated)”  in the name of that dimension or metric, showing an additional warning.  See the below screenshot as an example.
• Historical data of a deprecated column is no longer available through the API, as deprecated by Google
• Report Profiles may result in an error if a widget produces an error in the template builder (likely due to no longer being compatible with other selections in the widget)

Deprecated Dimensions & Metrics

NinjaNote: It is highly recommended to review the following list of deprecated dimensions and metrics and make any necessary adjustments to your template(s) ASAP in order to avoid disruption to your dashboards and reports. These changes can be made at any time ahead of March 10th (when your widgets would be disrupted if they include any of the following). You may have additional time to adjust depending on when your next reporting round is after March 10th (for weekly and/or monthly reports), but would have to take dashboard profiles into consideration should your customers have access to those at any time.

• Dimensions & Metrics Deprecated and No Longer Supported by Google

  • Ad Format
  • Ad Groups Count
  • Ad Group Creatives Count
  • App Final URL
  • Avg. Position
  • Bid Adjustment (Target Search Page Location)
  • Bid Automation (Target Outranking Share)
  • Bid Limit (Target Search Page Location)
  • Bidding Strategy Source
  • Campaign Group ID
  • Competitor Domain (Target Outranking Share)
  • Creative - Destination URL
  • Creative - App Final URL
  • Criteria Type
  • Criterion Type
  • Dynamic Ad Target**
  • Effective Tracking Template**
  • Has Quality Score
  • Keyword / Placement**
  • Keyword / Placement - Destination URL**
  • Keywords Count
  • Level
  • Limited Budgets (Target Search Page Location)
  • Location (Target search page location)
  • Low-Quality Keywords (Target Outranking Share)
  • Low-quality keywords (Target search page location)
  • Match type**
  • New Ad Groups 
  • New Campaigns
  • Non-Removed Ad Groups
  • Non-Removed Keywords
  • Organic Avg. Position
  • Product Group
  • Query Match Type
  • Target Keyword Text
  • Target Outranking Share
  • Unique Cookies
  • Upper Max CPC Bid Limit (Target Outranking Share)
  • URL - Keyword / Placement
  • User Lists Count
  
  

  Dimensions Supported by Google but not by NinjaCat at This Time

  • Criteria Type
  • Keyword Targeting Match Type
  • Keyword Targeting ID
  • Keyword Targeting Text
  • Scheduling

NinjaNote: For an example of a report you could build in NinjaCat, check out our Google Ads Report Template.

For an example of a report, you could build in NinjaCat, check out our SEO Report Template.