Assign targeting

Demand Gen Ad serving is controlled using targeting assigned to the parent partner, advertiser, line item, and ad groups.

Use targeting assigned to a Demand Gen line item and ad group in order to reach your ideal customers and improve campaign performance.

Decide where to assign your targeting

Targeting can be assigned to both Demand Gen line items and ad groups.

Assign targeting to a Demand Gen line item if you want the targeting to apply to all ads served under that line item. Otherwise, assign targeting to individual ad groups.

Targeting support by Demand Gen resource type

Each resource type supports certain types of targeting.

The following is a list of targeting types supported by Demand Gen line items:

  • TARGETING_TYPE_CARRIER_AND_ISP
  • TARGETING_TYPE_DAY_AND_TIME
  • TARGETING_TYPE_DEVICE_MAKE_MODEL
  • TARGETING_TYPE_DEVICE_TYPE
  • TARGETING_TYPE_GEO_REGION
  • TARGETING_TYPE_KEYWORD
  • TARGETING_TYPE_LANGUAGE
  • TARGETING_TYPE_NEGATIVE_KEYWORD_LIST
  • TARGETING_TYPE_OPERATING_SYSTEM
  • TARGETING_TYPE_POI

The following is a list of targeting types supported by Demand Gen ad groups:

  • TARGETING_TYPE_AGE_RANGE
  • TARGETING_TYPE_APP
  • TARGETING_TYPE_APP_CATEGORY
  • TARGETING_TYPE_AUDIENCE_GROUP
  • TARGETING_TYPE_CATEGORY
  • TARGETING_TYPE_GENDER
  • TARGETING_TYPE_GEO_REGION
  • TARGETING_TYPE_HOUSEHOLD_INCOME
  • TARGETING_TYPE_KEYWORD
  • TARGETING_TYPE_LANGUAGE
  • TARGETING_TYPE_PARENTAL_STATUS
  • TARGETING_TYPE_URL
  • TARGETING_TYPE_YOUTUBE_CHANNEL
  • TARGETING_TYPE_YOUTUBE_VIDEO

The support of TARGETING_TYPE_GEO_REGION, TARGETING_TYPE_POI, and TARGETING_TYPE_LANGUAGE are dependent on the setting of the demandGenSettings.geoLanguageTargetingEnabled field in the parent LineItem resource. If the field is true, location and language targeting can only be assigned to the parent line item. If the field is false, this targeting can only be assigned to individual ad groups.

Find available targeting options

Targeting is identified based on its type. Identify targeting options using one of the following ways:

Retrieve existing targeting

Existing targeting restricts what targeting can be added to a line item or ad group.

Demand Gen line items and ad groups only surface inherited TARGETING_TYPE_KEYWORD targeting. This means that you must retrieve targeting for the advertiser, line item, and ad group in order to have a full accounting of all targeting impacting ad serving.

Retrieve the existing targeting across targeting types using bulk list requests.

Retrieve existing partner and advertiser targeting

Here's how to get the existing targeting for an advertiser, including inherited partner targeting:

Python

# Provide the ID of the advertiser.
advertiser_id = advertiser-id

# Create the page token variable.
next_page_token = ""

while True:
  # Execute the list request.
  response = (
      service.advertisers()
      .listAssignedTargetingOptions(
          advertiserId=advertiser_id,
          pageToken=next_page_token,
      )
      .execute()
  )

  # If response is not empty, display the retrieved assigned targeting
  # options.
  if response:
    for assigned_targeting_option in response.get(
        "assignedTargetingOptions", []
    ):
      ato_name = assigned_targeting_option.get(
          "name", None
      )
      if ato_name:
        print(f"Assigned Targeting Option {ato_name}.")
  else:
    print(f"No targeting is currently assigned to {advertiser_id}.")
    sys.exit(1)
  # Update the next page token.
  # Break out of loop if there is no next page.
  if "nextPageToken" in response:
    next_page_token = response["nextPageToken"]
  else:
    break

Retrieve existing line item targeting

Here's how to get the existing targeting assigned directly to a line item:

Python

# Provide the ID of the parent advertiser.
advertiser_id = advertiser-id

# Provide the ID of the Demand Gen line item.
line_item_id = line-item-id

# Create the page token variable.
next_page_token = ""

while True:
  # Execute the list request.
  response = (
      service.advertisers()
      .lineItems()
      .bulkListAssignedTargetingOptions(
          advertiserId=advertiser_id,
          lineItemIds=[line_item_id],
          pageToken=next_page_token,
      )
      .execute()
  )

  # If response is not empty, display the retrieved assigned targeting
  # options line items.
  if response:
    for assigned_option in response.get(
        "lineItemAssignedTargetingOptions", []
    ):
      ato_name = assigned_option.get("assignedTargetingOption", {}).get(
          "name", None
      )
      if ato_name:
        print(f"Assigned Targeting Option {ato_name} found.")
  else:
    print(f"No targeting is currently assigned to {line_item_id}.")
    sys.exit(1)
  # Update the next page token.
  # Break out of loop if there is no next page.
  if "nextPageToken" in response:
    next_page_token = response["nextPageToken"]
  else:
    break

Retrieve existing ad group targeting

Here's how to get the existing targeting assigned directly to an ad group:

Python

# Provide the ID of the parent advertiser.
advertiser_id = advertiser-id

# Provide the ID of the ad group.
ad_group_id = ad-group-id

# Create the page token variable.
next_page_token = ""

while True:
  # Execute the list request.
  response = (
      service.advertisers()
      .adGroups()
      .bulkListAssignedTargetingOptions(
          advertiserId=advertiser_id,
          adGroupIds=[ad_group_id],
          pageToken=next_page_token,
      )
      .execute()
  )

  # If response is not empty, display the retrieved assigned targeting
  # options line items.
  if response:
    for assigned_option in response.get(
        "adGroupAssignedTargetingOptions", []
    ):
      ato_name = assigned_option.get("assignedTargetingOption", {}).get(
          "name", None
      )
      if ato_name:
        print(f"Assigned Targeting Option {ato_name} found.")
  else:
    print(f"No targeting is currently assigned to {ad_group_id}.")
    sys.exit(1)
  # Update the next page token.
  # Break out of loop if there is no next page.
  if "nextPageToken" in response:
    next_page_token = response["nextPageToken"]
  else:
    break

Assign targeting to resources

You must make separate requests to update line item and ad group targeting.

Assign line item targeting

Here's how to add the following targeting logic to a line item:

  • Only served ads on computers.

  • Don't bid on inventory served alongside content matching the keyword "ice cream".

Python

# Provide the ID of the parent advertiser.
advertiser_id = advertiser-id

# Provide the ID of the line item.
line_item_id = line-item-id

# Build the "ice cream" negative keyword assigned targeting option.
keyword_assigned_targeting_option = {
    "keywordDetails": {"keyword": "ice cream", "negative": True}
}

# Build the delete request for device type targeting to remove all device
# types to only target computers.
device_type_delete_request = {
    "targetingType": "TARGETING_TYPE_DEVICE_TYPE",
    "assignedTargetingOptionIds": [
        "DEVICE_TYPE_SMART_PHONE",
        "DEVICE_TYPE_CONNECTED_TV",
        "DEVICE_TYPE_TABLET"
    ],
}

# Create a bulk edit request.
bulk_edit_targeting_request = {
    "lineItemIds": [line_item_id],
    "createRequests": [
        {
            "targetingType": "TARGETING_TYPE_KEYWORD",
            "assignedTargetingOptions": [
                keyword_assigned_targeting_option
            ],
        }
    ],
    "deleteRequests": [
        device_type_delete_request
    ]
}

# Build and execute request.
response = (
    service.advertisers()
    .lineItems()
    .bulkEditAssignedTargetingOptions(
        advertiserId=advertiser_id, body=bulk_edit_targeting_request
    )
    .execute()
)

# Print the request results.
if (
    "updatedLineItemIds" in response
    and len(response["updatedLineItemIds"]) != 0
):
  print(
      f'Targeting configurations for {response["updatedLineItemIds"][0]} '
      "were successfully updated."
  )
elif (
    "failedLineItemIds" in response
    and len(response["failedLineItemIds"]) != 0
):
  print(
      f'Targeting configurations for {response["failedLineItemIds"][0]} '
      "failed to update."
  )
  if "errors" in response and len(response["errors"]) != 0:
    print("The failed updates were caused by the following errors:")
    for error in response["errors"]:
      print(f'Code {error["code"]}: {error["message"]}')
else:
  print("No successful or failed updates were reported.")

Assign ad group targeting

Here's how to add the following targeting logic to an ad group:

  • Only serve to parents.

  • Don't serve against the provided YouTube channel.

Python

# Provide the ID of the parent advertiser.
advertiser_id = advertiser-id

# Provide the ID of the ad group.
ad_group_id = ad-group-id

# Provide the YouTube channel ID to negatively target.
yt_channel_id = youtube-channel-id

# Build the assigned targeting option to negatively target the given YouTube
# channel.
youtube_channel_assigned_targeting_options = [
    {
        "youtubeChannelDetails": {
            "channelId": yt_channel_id,
            "negative": True
        }
    },
]

# Build the assigned targeting options to target only parents.
parental_status_assigned_targeting_options = [
    {
        "parentalStatusDetails": {
            "parentalStatus": "PARENTAL_STATUS_PARENT"
        }
    },
]

# Create a bulk edit request.
bulk_edit_targeting_request = {
    "adGroupIds": [ad_group_id],
    "createRequests": [
        {
            "targetingType": "TARGETING_TYPE_YOUTUBE_CHANNEL",
            "assignedTargetingOptions": (
                youtube_channel_assigned_targeting_options
            )
        },
        {
            "targetingType": "TARGETING_TYPE_PARENTAL_STATUS",
            "assignedTargetingOptions": (
                parental_status_assigned_targeting_options
            ),
        }
    ]
}

# Build and execute request.
response = (
    service.advertisers()
    .adGroups()
    .bulkEditAssignedTargetingOptions(
        advertiserId=advertiser_id, body=bulk_edit_targeting_request
    )
    .execute()
)

# Print the request results.
if (
    "updatedAdGroupIds" in response
    and len(response["updatedAdGroupIds"]) != 0
):
  print(
      f'Targeting configurations for {response["updatedAdGroupIds"][0]} '
      "were successfully updated."
  )
elif (
    "failedAdGroupIds" in response
    and len(response["failedAdGroupIds"]) != 0
):
  print(
      f'Targeting configurations for {response["failedAdGroupIds"][0]} '
      "failed to update."
  )
  if "errors" in response and len(response["errors"]) != 0:
    print("The failed updates were caused by the following errors:")
    for error in response["errors"]:
      print(f'Code {error["code"]}: {error["message"]}')
else:
  print("No successful or failed updates were reported.")
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