Figuring Out When Your Ad, AdGroup, Keyword, or Campaign Was Created

Knowing when an Ad (or entity) was created is impossible using scripts. That information is simply not tracked in AdWords. The next best thing is to find out when your Ad first started receiving impressions and assume that is when it was created (If an Ad is created but no one sees it, does it really exist?).

So in order to help me keep track of when my Ads entities were created, I put together the following script to apply labels to my Ads entities with the date of the first impression. That way, I can find out what ads entities I created and make sure I don't take action on anything that is too young. I can also make changes to all the ads entities built on a given day relatively easily in the AdWords UI by just selecting the right label.

Thanks,
Russ

/**************************************
* Track Entity Creation Date
* Version 1.4
* Changelog v1.4
*  - Removed apiVersion from reporting call
* Changelog v1.3
*  - Updated script to handle all entities
* Changelog v1.2
*  - Fixed an issue with comparing dates
* ChangeLog v1.1
*  - Updated logic to work with larger accounts
* Created By: Russ Savage
* http://www.FreeAdWordsScripts.com
**************************************/
//All my labels will start with this. For example: Created:2013-05-01
var LABEL_PREFIX = 'Created:';
var DAYS_IN_REPORT = 30;
var ENTITY = 'ad'; //or adgroup or keyword or campaign
 
function main() {
  //First we get the impression history of our entity
  var ret_map = getImpressionHistory();
  //Then we apply our labels
  applyLabels(ret_map);
}
 
//Function to apply labels to the ads in an account
function applyLabels(ret_map) {
  var iter;
  if(ENTITY === 'campaign') { iter = AdWordsApp.campaigns().get(); }
  if(ENTITY === 'adgroup') { iter = AdWordsApp.adGroups().get(); }
  if(ENTITY === 'ad') { iter = AdWordsApp.ads().get(); }
  if(ENTITY === 'keyword') { iter = AdWordsApp.keywords().get(); }
  
  while(iter.hasNext()) {
    var entity = iter.next();
    var id = entity.getId();
    if(ret_map[id]) {
      var label_name = LABEL_PREFIX+Utilities.formatDate(ret_map[id], AdWordsApp.currentAccount().getTimeZone(), "yyyy-MM-dd");
      createLabelIfNeeded(label_name);
      entity.applyLabel(label_name);
    }
  }
}
 
//This is a helper function to create the label if it does not already exist
function createLabelIfNeeded(name) {
  if(!AdWordsApp.labels().withCondition("Name = '"+name+"'").get().hasNext()) {
    AdWordsApp.createLabel(name);
  }
}
 
//A helper function to find the date days ago
function getDateDaysAgo(days) {
  var the_past = new Date();
  the_past.setDate(the_past.getDate() - days);
  return Utilities.formatDate(the_past,AdWordsApp.currentAccount().getTimeZone(),"yyyyMMdd");
}
 
//A helper function to compare dates.
//Copied from: http://goo.gl/uW48a
function diffDays(firstDate,secondDate) {
  var oneDay = 24*60*60*1000; // hours*minutes*seconds*milliseconds
  return Math.round(Math.abs((firstDate.getTime() - secondDate.getTime())/(oneDay))); 
}
 
function getImpressionHistory() {
  var API_VERSION = { includeZeroImpressions : false };
  var first_date = new Date('10/23/2000');
  var max_days_ago = diffDays(first_date,new Date());
  var cols = ['Date','Id','Impressions'];
  var report = { 
    'campaign' : 'CAMPAIGN_PERFORMANCE_REPORT',
    'adgroup' : 'ADGROUP_PERFORMANCE_REPORT',
    'ad' : 'AD_PERFORMANCE_REPORT',
    'keyword' : 'KEYWORDS_PERFORMANCE_REPORT'}[ENTITY];
  var ret_map = {};
  var prev_days_ago = 0;
  for(var i = DAYS_IN_REPORT; i < max_days_ago; i+=DAYS_IN_REPORT) {
    var start_date = getDateDaysAgo(i);
    var end_date = getDateDaysAgo(prev_days_ago);
    var date_range = start_date+','+end_date;
    Logger.log('Getting data for ' + date_range);
    var query = ['select',cols.join(','),'from',report,'during',date_range].join(' ');
    var report_iter = AdWordsApp.report(query, API_VERSION).rows();
    if(!report_iter.hasNext()) { Logger.log('No more impressions found. Breaking.'); break; } // no more entries
    while(report_iter.hasNext()) { 
      var row = report_iter.next();
      if(ret_map[row['Id']]) {
        var [year,month,day] = (row['Date']).split('-');
        var from_row = new Date(year, parseFloat(month)-1, day);
        var from_map = ret_map[row['Id']];
         
        if(from_row < from_map) {
          ret_map[row['Id']] = from_row;
        }
      } else {
        var [year,month,day] = (row['Date']).split('-');
        ret_map[row['Id']] = new Date(year, parseFloat(month)-1, day);
      }
    }
    prev_days_ago = i;
  }
  return ret_map;
}

Merge Multiple Campaigns Together For Enhanced Campaigns Migration

UPDATE 2013-04-14: Check Merge Labels from Multiple Campaigns for some help on merging labels.

Everyone is getting ready for Enhanced Campaigns and for a lot of people, that means finding an easy way to merge multiple campaigns into a single campaign. You may have a campaign for desktop traffic and one for tablet, or maybe one for each major mobile platform.

Well the beauty and the pain of Enhanced Campaigns is that you can do more with less. I haven't found a great way to easily merge multiple campaigns into one, so I made my own. All you need to do is specify a destination campaign where you want all the keywords, adgroups, and ads to end up and the set of campaigns you want to copy from. This script will pause any keyword and ad it manages to move over so you can see results and make sure everything is set up properly before deleting the old campaigns.

Thanks,
Russ

//-----------------------------------
// Merge Multiple Campaigns Together
// Created By: Russ Savage
// FreeAdWordsScripts.com
//-----------------------------------
function main() {
  var DESTINATION_CAMPAIGN_NAME = "dest_camp_name";
  var ORIGIN_CAMPAIGN_NAMES = ["to_merge_camp_name_1","to_merge_camp_name_2"/*,...*/];
  var DEFAULT_KW_BID = 0.01; //used in case we can't get the origin kw bid
  
  //build a list of adgroups in the original 
  var dest_adgroups = [];
  var ag_iter = AdWordsApp.adGroups()
    .withCondition("CampaignName = '"+DESTINATION_CAMPAIGN_NAME+"'")
    .get();
  
  while(ag_iter.hasNext()) {
    dest_adgroups.push(ag_iter.next());
  }
  
  var dest_camp;
  if(dest_adgroups.length > 0) {
     dest_camp = dest_adgroups[0].getCampaign();
  }
  
  for(var i in ORIGIN_CAMPAIGN_NAMES) {
    var camp_name = ORIGIN_CAMPAIGN_NAMES[i];
    var kw_iter = AdWordsApp.keywords()
      .withCondition("CampaignName = '"+camp_name+"'")
      .get();
    while(kw_iter.hasNext()) {
      var kw = kw_iter.next();
      var dest_adgroup = _find_adgroup(dest_adgroups,kw.getAdGroup());
      if(!dest_adgroup) {
        dest_adgroup = dest_camp.newAdGroupBuilder()
          .withName(kw.getAdGroup().getName())
          .withStatus((kw.getAdGroup().isPaused()) ? "PAUSED" : "ENABLED")
          .withKeywordMaxCpc(kw.getAdGroup().getKeywordMaxCpc())
          .create();
        dest_adgroups.push(dest_adgroup);
        //now we move all the ads over
        var ad_iter = kw.getAdGroup().ads().get();
        while(ad_iter.hasNext()) {
          var ad = ad_iter.next();
          dest_adgroup.createTextAd(
            ad.getHeadline(),
            ad.getDescription1(),
            ad.getDescription2(),
            ad.getDisplayUrl(),
            ad.getDestinationUrl(),
            { isMobilePreferred : ad.isMobilePreferred() }
          );
          ad.pause();
        }
      }
      var max_cpc = kw.getMaxCpc() || DEFAULT_KW_BID;
      var dest_url = kw.getDestinationUrl() || "";
      var kw_text = kw.getText();
      dest_adgroup.createKeyword(kw_text,max_cpc,dest_url);

      kw.pause();
    }
  }

  function _find_adgroup(ag_list,ag) {
    for(var i in ag_list) {
      if(ag_list[i].getName() == ag.getName()) {
        return ag_list[i];
      }
    }
    return null;
  }
}

Unique Bidding Rules For Each Campaign

All right folks, today we are going to get a little more complicated.  Let's say you have a set of campaigns that you happen to be managing.  Now, to save time, you want to set up a script to automatically adjust the bids for each campaign based on a set of rules.

The script below will help you do just that.  I am assuming that many of your optimizations are based on cost per conversion as well as the current position on the page. Now we can start to put together a generic script for these optimizations.

The script starts with a CAMP_LIST variable that holds all the campaign names and their rules.  You can add as many campaigns and rules per client as you like.

Take a look and let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Russ

//-----------------------------------
// Unique Bid Updates By Campaign
// Created By: Russ Savage
// FreeAdWordsScripts.com
//-----------------------------------
function main() {
  // this is the structure that holds all the bid information about your accounts.
  var CAMP_LIST = [
    {
      'camp_name' : 'camp name 1',
      'rules' : [
        { 
          'cpv_min' : 0, 'cpv_max' : 10,
          'avg_pos_min' : 2, 'avg_pos_max' : 6,
          'bid_change_amt' : 1.1, 'bid_limit' : 10
        },
        { 
          'cpv_min' : 10, 'cpv_max' : 20,
          'avg_pos_min' : 6, 'avg_pos_max' : 10,
          'bid_change_amt' : 1.2, 'bid_limit' : 10
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      'camp_name' : 'camp name 2',
      'rules' : [
        { 
          'cpv_min' : 0, 'cpv_max' : 5,
          'avg_pos_min' : 3, 'avg_pos_max' : 5,
          'bid_change_amt' : .9, 'bid_limit' : .01
        },
        { 
          'cpv_min' : 5, 'cpv_max' : 20,
          'avg_pos_min' : 5, 'avg_pos_max' : 8,
          'bid_change_amt' : 1.2, 'bid_limit' : 10
        }
      ]
    }
  ];
  var date_range = 'LAST_7_DAYS';
  
  for (index in CAMP_LIST) {
    var camp = CAMP_LIST[index];
    var camp_name = camp.camp_name;
    var rules = camp.rules;
    
    var kw_iter = AdWordsApp.keywords()
      .withCondition("CampaignName CONTAINS_IGNORE_CASE '" + camp_name + "'")
      .get();
    
    while(kw_iter.hasNext()) {
      var kw = kw_iter.next();
      var kw_stats = kw.getStatsFor(date_range);
      var conv = kw_stats.getConversions();
      
      if (conv == 0) { continue; } //skip anything with no conversions
      
      var cost = kw_stats.getCost();
      var cpv = cost/conv;
      var avg_pos = kw_stats.getAveragePosition();
      var max_cpc = kw.getMaxCpc();
      
      for(i in rules) {
        var r = rules[i];
        
        if(cpv >= r.cpv_min && 
           cpv < r.cpv_max && 
           avg_pos >= r.avg_pos_min && 
           avg_pos < r.avg_pos_max) 
        {  
          kw.setMaxCpc(calculate_bid(max_cpc,r.bid_change_amt,r.bid_limit));
          break;
        }
      }
    }
  }
    
  function calculate_bid(current_bid,perc_to_change,max_min_amt) {
    if(perc_to_change >= 1) {
      return (current_bid * perc_to_change > max_min_amt) ? max_min_amt : (current_bid * perc_to_change);
    } else {
      return (current_bid * perc_to_change < max_min_amt) ? max_min_amt : (current_bid * perc_to_change);
    }
  }
}