AdWords API v201509 introduces some changes to reporting columns, particularly
Clicks. Recently, AdWords introduced new columns called
Engagements and
Interactions. It also added reporting columns related to video campaigns such as
VideoViews, which have previously been unavailable via API reporting.
AdWords API version v201509 has updated its reporting to match these changes.
The new
Interactions field, available in API performance reports, can be thought of as the main action a user takes with the ad format: clicks for text ads, engagements for Lightbox ads, and views for video ads. Previously, views for video ads were not returned in API reporting, so having access to this data is new.
Prior to v201509, the
Clicks field always included both clicks and engagements. Starting in v201509, the
Clicks field includes only click actions, like clickthroughs to a landing page or clicks to call. This means that clicks on video ads, which are unpaid, will be included in this field. However, engagements for Lightbox ads
will not be counted.
If measuring performance across multiple ad formats, you might consider using
Interactions to view the total number of primary user actions on ads, all in the same column.
Clicks,
Engagements, and
VideoViews are available as well for more fine-grained reporting by ad format.
The table below summarizes the changes in each field for various ad formats.
Field |
v201506 |
v201509 |
Clicks
|
Text ads: clickthrough to a landing page
Lightbox ads: hover to expanded ad format
|
Text ads: clickthrough to a landing page or clicks to call
Lightbox ads: clickthrough to a landing page
Video ads: clickthrough to a landing page
|
Engagements
|
N/A
|
Lightbox ads: hover to expanded ad format
|
VideoViews
|
N/A
|
Video ads: view
|
Interactions
|
N/A
|
Text ads: clickthrough to a landing page or clicks to call
Lightbox ads: hover to expanded ad format
Video ads: views
|
Please note that
reporting in v201506 and previous versions is unaffected; they return the same data that they always have, represented the same way. This means that when comparing the data you receive from older versions of the API to user interface reports, or to v201509 reports, the numbers will not directly match up. Video-related stats will still be excluded from v201506. The
Clicks column in v201506 will match the
Interactions column from v201509 if you subtract out video interactions.
For ease of reporting, it’s recommended to migrate to v201509 as soon as possible.
Keep in mind these aren’t the only reporting changes in v201509 — for more details on conversion-related reporting changes, please see the
release notes.
If you have any questions about this or other aspects of the AdWords API, please contact us via the
forum or the
Ads Developers Plus Page.
- Michael Cloonan, AdWords API Team
