Food for thought

You’ve heard us mention the AdWords API a couple of times on this blog, but today you’ll hear about it straight from the horse’s mouth. Here are a few words from Rohit D., our guest blogger and Product Manager for the AdWords API:

The AdWords API is our way of opening up AdWords to the world. Using the API, developers and advertisers can write creative applications to manage their accounts. I like to think of it this way: if the AdWords online interface were a finely prepared meal, then the AdWords API would be all the raw ingredients. Instead of serving the meal to you directly, we’re letting you go in the kitchen to prepare it your own way.

Since late January, developers around the world have been programming amazing applications with the API. Googlers are also using the API to create tools to automate some of their work. We’ve seen large customers improve their productivity when handling hefty keyword lists, and smaller advertisers who have increased their ROI through more efficient bid management. We heard about one customer who sells tiramisu in the UK and how she used the API to change her bids as her product got closer to its expiration date and her inventory levels dropped. Other customers have hired third party developers to use the SOAP-based API for reporting purposes; one example is automating the process of importing AdWords campaign reports into financial management systems. You’ll find more of these success stories and active discussions on our developer forum.

The API certainly isn’t for everyone, but if you have the technical resources to write even a simple program to automate some of your campaign management tasks, be sure to check it out. You can also read more about the API at our blog.

Posted by Vivian, Inside AdWords crew