The Google Ads API lets developers build tools that help advertisers manage their Google Ads accounts and campaigns more efficiently and creatively. Google Ads policies aim to ensure that the API is used in ways that support and enhance Google Ads while providing a transparent and consistent experience to advertisers.
Google Ads may request to review your use of the API at any time and for any reason to ensure that it complies with the Google Ads API Terms and Conditions and the following policies.
On this page
General API policies
Use of the Google Ads API
You can only use the Google Ads API for Google Ads campaign creation, management, or reporting.
You may only use the API functionality in the way described in your token application. If your needs change and you'd like to modify your API usage, complete the Google Ads API Tool Change Form . Examples of changes include adding creation or management functionality to your reporting tool.
Unused tokens
Google may revoke your API token if it's not used consecutively for 90 days. If your token is revoked for zero usage, you may reapply at any time.
Required Minimum Functionality
Required Minimum Functionality (RMF) refers to the features and other functionality that certain tool developers must offer when using the Google Ads API. RMF features are grouped into 3 categories: Creation Functionality, Management Functionality, and Reporting Functionality. Learn more about the rules for Required Minimum Functionality .
Your compliance with these rules depends on how you use the Google Ads API:
- Full-Service tool:Advertisers, agencies, and other third parties use your tool to fully manage their Google Ads accounts.
- Reporting only:Agencies or end-advertisers may only access a reporting dashboard using your tool.
- Internal use only:Your tool is only used by individual advertisers or agencies and isn’t accessed by third-parties.
Each Google Ads API developer token is assigned an access level that determines whether you can affect production accounts and the number of operations and requests that you can execute daily. RMF applies only to tokens with Standard Access. Learn more about Access Levels and Permissible Use .
| Creation Functionality Requirements |
Management Functionality Requirements |
Reporting Functionality Requirements |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Full-Service tool
|
RMF applies | RMF applies | RMF applies |
|
Reporting only
|
RMF doesn't apply | RMF doesn't apply | RMF applies |
|
Internal use only
|
RMF doesn't apply | RMF doesn't apply | RMF doesn't apply |
If your tool offers very limited and specialized functionality and isn’t used for creating and managing campaigns, ad groups, and ads, it may not qualify as a full-service tool. In this case, the creation and management RMF wouldn’t apply. If you’re not sure whether the RMF policy applies to your tool, contact the Google Ads API Compliance team . The Google Ads API Compliance team will decide whether your tool is full-service or not. Your tool may be reevaluated if the functionality changes significantly.
The RMF policy ensures that advertisers have access to features and to the detailed performance data that can be found in Google Ads, no matter what combination of tools they choose to use. The RMF list contains policies as well as documentation resources for developers regarding each feature. If you have additional questions about the specific requirements for a given feature, contact the API compliance team .
If you violate this policy, you may be subject to non-compliance fees and your token may be downgraded as described in the API rate sheet .
Required disclosures and other responsibilities for third-parties
This section on required disclosures and other responsibilities applies to the following groups:
- Agencies and other third parties that manage campaigns on behalf of end-advertisers and provide software tools to those advertisers
- Software developers that provide tools to agencies and third parties
If you're an end advertiser or otherwise use the Google Ads API for internal purposes only, the policies in this section don’t apply to you.
Required disclosures
Accountability is a core principle of Google Ads. Google Ads wants advertisers to understand how Google Ads is performing for them, no matter what tool they’re using. The requirements below explain how you should be transparent to advertisers in reporting and managing Google Ads data.
- Delayed data: If your reporting of Google Ads performance data is delayed to end-advertisers or other clients by more than 24 hours, you must prominently disclose this delay to your clients.
- Google third-party policy: Agencies or other third parties that purchase or manage Google advertising on behalf of end-advertiser clients must comply with Google's third-party policy .
- Sharing and reporting Google Ads data and data from other advertising platforms: As an agency or other entity that purchases or manages Google advertising on behalf of end-advertiser clients, you must obtain written consent from your clients before selling, redistributing, sub-licensing, or otherwise disclosing or transferring data specific to their Google Ads accounts including keywords, bids, campaign settings, or performance data.
Disclosing inconsistencies
If you provide a full-service tool to end-advertiser clients who also use your tool to manage ad systems other than Google Ads, your clients need to understand the differences in each system before they make changes to their accounts.
If your API tool offers bulk editing, copying, importing, or exporting of Google Ads campaign data to or from another ad platform, you must disclose to your clients incompatibilities between the platforms to avoid inconsistent or erroneous data transfers. You also must offer clients the ability to make adjustments and/or cancel data transfers to resolve or avoid such incompatibilities.
Examples:
- Say your API tool allows clients to import non-Google Ads data into Google Ads, but the non-Google Ads data isn't available at the same level of granularity as Google Ads data (such as Google Ads allows targeting at the ZIP code level but the other ad platform only allows targeting at the city level). You must disclose this inconsistency before the data import is completed and offer your client the ability to cancel the import or modify the campaign data before proceeding.
- Say your API tool allows clients to export Google Ads data to another ad platform, but the other platform defines a particular data variable differently than Google Ads (or doesn't make the data variable available at all). You must disclose this incompatibility before the data export is completed and offer your client the ability to cancel the export or modify the campaign data before proceeding.
Advertisers using your tool also must be given accurate information about Google Ads, including the ability to distinguish between Google Ads data and data from other ad platforms. If your tool provides reporting data from other advertising platforms, you must report the Google Ads data separately from the non-Google Ads data. If Google Ads data is available at a more granular level than aggregated data or data from other ad platforms (for example, if Google Ads provides geographic reporting at the ZIP code level but other sources provide geographic reporting only at the city or state level), you must report the Google Ads data at the more granular level. You can report aggregated performance data (combining Google Ads data with non-Google Ads data) provided that the Google Ads-specific data is also provided in an easily accessible location.
Example: If your tool provides geographic advertising performance data aggregated across multiple advertising platforms such as AdCenter, Yahoo, or Yandex, it must also separately provide the Google Ads geographic performance report and its required fields.
Other responsibilities
Cross platform functionality
If you allow users of your software to copy, import, export, or optimize campaign settings between Google Ads and a different ad platform, you must allow users to copy, import, export, or optimize in whatever direction they choose (such as copying from Google Ads to Yahoo, or vice versa).
Example: If your tool allows users to copy campaign settings and other data from Google Ads and export or optimize those settings to Yahoo, Bing Ads, and Yandex, your tool also must allow users to copy campaign settings and other data from those platforms and export or optimize back to Google Ads.
Client opt-out
Your end-advertiser clients must be given a quick and easy way to stop using your tool to manage their Google Ads campaigns. Within 3 business days of receiving notice from an end-advertiser client, you must provide that client the ability to disassociate their Google Ads campaigns from your services and developer token and regain exclusive control of their Google Ads accounts.
Data security
You must use all reasonable efforts to keep advertisers’ Google Ads API data in a secure environment at all times according to commonly acceptable security standards for enterprise data. All data transferred using the Google Ads API must be secured using at least 128 Bit SSL encryption, or for transmissions directly with Google, at least as secure as the protocol being accepted by the Google Ads API servers.
Prohibited practices
Scraping TargetingIdeaService or TrafficEstimatorService
The TargetingIdeaService (TIS) and TrafficEstimatorService (TES) help advertisers and agencies generate keywords programmatically and optimize their Google Ads keyword and bidding strategies. You may not collect data from the TIS or TES for any purposes other than creating or managing Google Ads campaigns. If you're an advertising agency or an Independent Google Ads Developer and would like to give your clients access to TIS or TES data through your external API tool, you need to meet all of the Required Minimum Functionality requirements .
Scraping Google Search or purchasing scraped data
You may not scrape Google search result pages or any other Google property, and you may not indirectly obtain scraped Google data from any third party. If you intend to publish a report that includes search data obtained from legitimate non-Google sources, your report must disclose the source of the data and your specific data collection methodologies.
Supplemental tokens
If you provide tools to end-advertisers or other third-party clients, you can't require them to apply for their own Google Ads API token in order to use your tool. End-advertiser applications for such tokens also will be denied.
Google Ads will generally only assign one API token per corporate entity. Contact Google Ads support if you need additional tokens.
Allowing automated use of your API token
You can't allow agencies, end-advertisers, or other third parties to use your Google Ads API token or your own API in a way that would allow those third parties to avoid applying for their own Google Ads API token or circumvent Google’s RMF . Any automatic or programmatic use of Google Ads by agencies or end-advertiser clients requires them to use their own Google Ads API token. You cannot provide indirect access to your API token via APIs that you provide. End users of your tool will need to manually sign in to use your tool, rather than having automatic access, to make manual or programmatic changes to their accounts.
Example: Developer X applies for and is granted access to Google Ads API, builds their own app “A” on top of Google Ads API and then launches their own secondary API “B” which interacts with A and is used by end user “Y” potentially resulting in requests being sent to the Google Ads API by Y. Developer X risks their app A being subject to enforcement action if end user Y abuses the API.
This policy doesn’t restrict your own use of the Google Ads API in a programmatic or automated way. It prevents you from allowing third-parties to access the Google Ads API in a programmatic or automated way using your API token instead of applying for their own API token.
Violation of Google Ads policies
As a user of the Google Ads API, you and anyone that uses your tool must comply with the Google Ads policies and Google Ads terms and conditions .
Example: If the manager account associated with your Google Ads API developer token is suspended for policy violations, you need to fix the suspended account immediately to continue using the Google Ads API.
Unauthorized use of Google branding and trademarks
As a user of the Google Ads API, you must comply with Google's brand-usage guidelines .
Example: Your Google Ads API tool may not replicate the look and feel of the Google Ads user interface or otherwise confuse others into believing that your tool is a Google product.
Interfering with Google activities
Google may monitor and audit any Google Ads API activity to ensure compliance with the Terms and Conditions and these policies.
Any attempts by you or your Google Ads API Client to conceal your Google Ads API activity from Google or interfere with Google’s monitoring or auditing of API activity will be considered a violation of this policy.
Each Google Ads API Client must pass its assigned developer token to Google as outlined in the Google Ads API Specification .
Policy enforcement
Contact information
You need to keep up-to-date contact information in the API center of your MCC account at all times. Google Ads recommends that you enter an alias with all relevant API contacts as the contact email address. The email address listed in the API center will be the primary means of contact for compliance-related issues. Failure to respond to requests or notices from the API team will constitute a violation of these policies and may result in downgrading your status from Standard Access to Basic Access or termination of your API token. You’re also required to provide additional contact information upon request.
Abuse by indirect users of your token
If you provide indirect access to your API token via APIs that you provide, be aware you risk having your token revoked if Google Ads detects abuse by your end users that are in violation of these policies. End-users of your tool should sign in to use your tool, rather than having automatic access, to make manual or programmatic changes to their accounts.
Demo account
Upon request from Google, you must provide a demo account to your API tool within 7 days of the request. The demo must be a live version of your tool or a demo with the same functionality as the live version so it can be reviewed for compliance with Google Ads policies. Failure to provide the demo or any attempt to provide a false account of your live tool will constitute a violation of these policies.
Notice of violations and non-compliance fees
If you violate these policies, Google will send a notice to the email address on file with your Google Ads API account, and you might have a period of time to correct these violations with no penalty. Google may send you a warning before charging non-compliance fees in accordance with the rates detailed on the Google Ads API rate sheet .
Violation of these policies may also lead to additional consequences, including downgrading your status from Standard Access to Basic Access, imposing other quota limits on your Google Ads API usage, or termination of your Google Ads API token.
Get help with the Google Ads API
- If you have a question regarding any of these policies or the Terms and Conditions, contact the Google Ads API Compliance team .
- For instructions on how to apply for an API token, refer to the Google Ads API developer site .
- For technical questions about the API, refer to the developer documentation or post a question on the Google Ads API Forum (English only).
