Sorry to hijack this thread.
To Kevin and API team, It would really be a very good idea if you guys documented all these discrepancies between the API and the interface. I started using the API recently and have to say it's one of the most poorly documented APIs I've ever worked with. Please take this as constructive criticisms. The adwords API is the livelihood of a lot of people out there and is the main driver behind increasing innovation in the adwords market. More innovation = more adwords success stories = more money for Google. It's really in every body's interest that such a fast changing and evolving API is documented well for its users. Currently, it is just very hard to figure out how it works without having to keep coming back here to ask you guys a lot of questions. By the way, thanks for all your help so far :-) Oliver On Tuesday, June 19, 2012 3:18:06 PM UTC+1, Kevin Winter wrote: > > Hi, > In an ideal world, running any report and a campaign report with no > predicates should have totals that match. However, due to various objects, > criteria, etc that are currently not exposed via the API, when you run a > lower level report, any criteria (such as zip codes) which are not > available in the API will be filtered out of the response (so there is no > row entry and the totals don't include this value). The higher level > reports (Account, Campaign, etc) can't see which parts of the campaign are > for these un-exposed objects and will include metrics for them. > > This means that you won't be able to duplicate the UI screen you are > currently looking at (which is effectively the Campaign report) by using > the lower level reports. > > I'd be happy to try to reproduce this and figure out what exactly is > causing the discrepancy (since my example doesn't match your report types). > Can you please send me the ReportDefinition XML you are sending via AdHoc > reports and the CID you are querying against? Sending them offlist would > be fine. > > - Kevin Winter > AdWords API Team > > On Monday, June 18, 2012 2:47:42 PM UTC-4, Jonathan Shaltz wrote: >> >> The Campaign Performance Report does total up to the same number of >> impressions shown in the web GUI. So another way of expressing this >> question is, what combination of reports add up to the Campaign Performance >> Report? >> >> Arthur: Have you got an answer? >> Ford: No. But I've got a different name for the problem! >> >> On Wednesday, June 13, 2012 10:42:21 AM UTC-5, Kevin Winter wrote: >>> >>> Hi, >>> Could you please try to run a Campaign Performance Report with a >>> ReportDefinition like that below against this account? When I ran it >>> against this account, the totals matched the UI, but due to the way i'm >>> running the report, I believe my results may include values normally >>> filtered out in the API. If the results don't match the UI, could you >>> please email me the results off-list so I can compare? >>> >>> <reportDefinition> >>> <selector> >>> <fields>Name</fields> >>> <fields>Status</fields> >>> <fields>Clicks</fields> >>> <fields>Impressions</fields> >>> <fields>Ctr</fields> >>> <fields>AverageCpc</fields> >>> <fields>Cost</fields> >>> <dateRange> >>> <min>20120401</min> >>> <max>20120430</max> >>> </dateRange> >>> </selector> >>> <reportName>Campaign</reportName> >>> <reportType>CAMPAIGN_PERFORMANCE_REPORT</reportType> >>> <dateRangeType>CUSTOM_DATE</dateRangeType> >>> <downloadFormat>CSV</downloadFormat> >>> <includeZeroImpressions>false</includeZeroImpressions> >>> </reportDefinition> >>> >>> - Kevin Winter >>> AdWords API Team >>> >>> On Monday, June 11, 2012 5:33:09 PM UTC-4, Jonathan Shaltz wrote: >>>> >>>> Thanks for the reply. Marketing tells me that we *are* using dynamic >>>> search ads, but they make up only about 0.4% of our impressions. You're >>>> saying there's no way to get this info via the API? That's probably >>>> acceptable, as long as the volume remains so small. >>>> >>>> Video being excluded would certainly explain why our TV account is not >>>> showing up, but I believe that's the only account with such ads, so it >>>> does >>>> not explain any of the other gaps. I'll confirm this point. >>>> >>>> I'm not interesting in duplicating functionality, I just want to see >>>> approximately the same numbers from each source. The main account, >>>> #9420663870, had 14.22 M impressions in April, per the GUI MCC account >>>> overview page. The sum of the three ad hoc report types I listed earlier >>>> comes to 5.57 M. >>>> >>>> >>>> On Monday, June 11, 2012 2:18:56 PM UTC-5, Kevin Winter wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Hi, >>>>> The UI is obviously updated more frequently than the API - we lean >>>>> towards more stable and less frequent updates for API changes. >>>>> >>>>> The API therefore lags behind the UI in some features. In particular, >>>>> there are a few objects that are filtered from the API, which could >>>>> explain >>>>> these discrepancies. >>>>> >>>>> Dynamic Search Ads will not come back in the API: >>>>> http://adwords.blogspot.com/2011/10/introducing-dynamic-search-ads-beta.html >>>>> >>>>> Video Campaigns for AdWords for video will not have any of their stats >>>>> visible via the API: http://www.google.com/ads/video/ >>>>> >>>>> The UI is a dashboard intended to give an overview of account data. >>>>> The reporting API is intended to provide access to various types of >>>>> statistics related to your account. It is not a stated goal of the API >>>>> to >>>>> duplicate UI functionality (for example, the keyword tool in the UI >>>>> requires use of both TES and TIS to correctly mimic the UI). >>>>> >>>>> If the objects I mentioned above fail to explain your missing data, it >>>>> would be useful if we could get more specifics - what account, what type >>>>> of >>>>> information are you looking at in the UI, what reports and fields are you >>>>> using, etc. >>>>> >>>>> - Kevin Winter >>>>> AdWords API Team >>>>> >>>>> On Wednesday, June 6, 2012 4:32:48 PM UTC-4, Jonathan Shaltz wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> Good afternoon. I'd like to use the API to pull exactly the same >>>>>> data that users are used to seeing in the AdWords web GUI (e.g., >>>>>> https://adwords.google.com/mcm/Mcm?__u=123&__c=456#c). By pulling a >>>>>> SEARCH_QUERY_PERFORMANCE_REPORT, an >>>>>> AUTOMATIC_PLACEMENTS_PERFORMANCE_REPORT, and a >>>>>> MANAGED_PLACEMENTS_PERFORMANCE_REPORT for each account, summing the >>>>>> results, I get *close* for clicks, conversions, and spend. >>>>>> Typically the numbers reported by the API are higher by about 1%. I can >>>>>> write this off as being due to time zone differences or other edge cases. >>>>>> >>>>>> However, the API is returning much lower impressions, around one >>>>>> third what the GUI gives. Is there another report I need which is >>>>>> likely >>>>>> to fill in the impressions? >>>>>> >>>>>> I'm comparing numbers for April, so any small retroactive changes >>>>>> should long since has settled out. >>>>>> >>>>>> While the breadth of the gap varies, it's fairly consistent across >>>>>> accounts; the web GUI may be twice as high for one account, and five >>>>>> times >>>>>> as high for another. There's one exception; we have a TV account with >>>>>> tens >>>>>> of millions of impressions per the web GUI, but for which I get no >>>>>> records >>>>>> at all when using the API. The reports complete without errors, they >>>>>> just >>>>>> contain no rows after the header. That's probably a separate issue, I >>>>>> just >>>>>> mention it in case it sparks any light bulbs. I'm not familiar with web >>>>>> advertising, I'm a data guy not a marketing guy, so I'm not sure what's >>>>>> relevant. >>>>>> >>>>>> When I've drilled into specific accounts, the gap is fairly >>>>>> consistent across all campaigns. >>>>>> >>>>>> My API queries have not included any filtering, other than dates. I >>>>>> typically query three or four days' data at a time, to avoid sampling >>>>>> (this >>>>>> was an issue with the Google Analytics API, I don't know if it also >>>>>> applies >>>>>> to AdWords). >>>>>> >>>>>> It would be much more convenient and intuitive if there was a single >>>>>> report which gave the same dimensions and metrics as the web view. >>>>>> Perhaps >>>>>> one exists, which I've missed? I've not found a web page which >>>>>> describes >>>>>> what data can be found in each report. This >>>>>> page<https://developers.google.com/adwords/api/docs/reference/latest/ReportDefinitionService.ReportDefinition.ReportType>has >>>>>> a uselessly brief summary; this >>>>>> page<https://developers.google.com/adwords/api/docs/appendix/reports>lists >>>>>> the fields available for each report, but gives no information on >>>>>> which *records* are included - unfortunately the answer is not "all". >>>>>> >>>>> -- =~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~ Also find us on our blog and discussion group: http://adwordsapi.blogspot.com http://groups.google.com/group/adwords-api =~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "AdWords API Forum" group. To post to this group, send email to adwords-api@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to adwords-api+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/adwords-api?hl=en
