"Because it offers nearly all of the campaign management functionality you’re used to from the AdWords API, along with a new rate sheet representing lower costs, now is a great time to start developing for v2009," says John Fitzpatrick of Google’s AdWords API Team.

Documentation for the new version of the API can be found here. There is also a sandbox available where developers can experiment and test. The sandbox does not charge for API units. Users just need access to a Google Account username and password. Best practices for the sandbox can be found here.

Google has extended the length of time that they’ll support both this version and the previous version, v13. The company has done so because the changes between the two versions are so significant. Google intends to retire v13 early next year, but will announce exact dates in the coming months.

"In anticipation of retiring v13, we strongly encourage you to begin development for v2009 as soon as possible," Fitzpatrick tells developers. "We’re still working on making v2009 better, so this is also a great opportunity to provide us your early feedback."

Over the next several months, Google will be releasing more functionality for v2009, such as asynchronous calls, partial failure acceptance, keyword optimization tools, and reporting.

The AdWords API lets developers build apps that interact with the AdWords platform. With the API, users can:

- Automatically generate keywords, ad text, and destination URLs

-  Integrate AdWords data with their inventory system to manage campaigns based on stock

-  Develop additional tools and applications to help them manage accounts

With AdWordsAPI v2009 comes a revised set of terms and conditions. "This change includes a more comprehensive explanation of our policy regarding the commingling of data, and also redefines the required minimum AdWords functionality for third party developers," explains AdWords API Product Manager Doug Raymond. A list of the required and optional features can be found here.

The new version also comes with a new rate sheet. "We’ve lowered the cost of v2009 for the average developer by approximately 20% through reducing the unit cost of our most commonly called operations — add criteria, add, and set adgroup," says Raymond.

The new version of the API is still in beta, and Google is asking developers to sign up for access. Documentation can be found here.

Raymond says that over the next few months, Google will introduce new features and additional AdWords functionality to the API. Look for things like partial failure acceptance, asynchronous calls, keyword tools, and MCC & reporting functionality.

Rohit Dhawan of Google reminded users of the AdWords API that September 15th is the deadline for registering Developer Tokens and information. Those who did not complete the registration by today may find that token unavailable when October begins.

“All quota consumption will continue to be linked to your Developer Token. However, beginning October 1, per our earlier announcement, all consumption will now be billed at a rate of $0.25/1000 quota units (or local currency equivalent),” said Dhawan.

“Periodically, these fees will be charged to your credit card on a threshold-basis, which means that billing will occur when your accrued fees reach specific credit limits.”

Clients who have completed the registration process will see something new in the AdWords API Center page. The new Application Token appearing there. Dhawan described that in the post:

There will be some work involved for developers that has to be finished before October 1st. Dhawan noted that the new Application Token will require developers to change a pair of elements in their request headers. Changes to developerToken and applicationToken should be made as soon as possible, because only approved Application Tokens will be able to make requests as of October 1st.

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Jon Diorio, Sr. placed a pair of posts about bugs that have cropped up with the AdWords API.

One bug affects the API registration process, as described by Diorio:

The other bug Diorio discussed affects the API Sandbox:

Google makes the API available to assist developers in their construction of applications that can interact directly with the AdWords platform. Developers can build applications to generate custom reports, integrate AdWords data with other databases, and otherwise manage accounts, according to Google’s API homepage.

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The version 0.4 release of the AdWords API Java Client Library has been made available. The SourceForge pages that host the Library provide information and a link to the release.

Google’s Patrick Chanezon posted news of the release at the AdWords API blog:

Google distributes the AdWords API client under BSD licensing terms. The license offers commercial developers permission to use the technology in proprietary commercial products; Wikipedia notes examples of both Microsoft and Apple using code licensed with BSD.

The Java Client Library offers all the data classes needed to build an application around AdWords. It provides the AdWordsService interface as Chanezon observed in his post. The interface lets a developer include quota management functionality on an AdWords service by casting it to the AdWordsService interface, as noted in the Javadocs.

An AdWordsUser class in the Library should help developers trim down the code used in their applications for authentication. “The AdWordsUser class has methods for setting username, password, useragent and token so that you don’t have to write the code to set the request headers,” according to the Javadoc.

More ideas for development may be found at the AdWords API wiki pages. Open source projects for Java, PHP, and others appear there, but the wiki itself looks like it needs some supervision. Virtually of the wiki’s “members” have the word ‘ringtones’ in their names.

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This change takes place July 1st, Google announced in its AdWords API blog.

“We are changing the quota allocation system and pricing model to create a more flexible and level playing field that encourages efficient coding and application design,” Rohit Dhawan, AdWords API Product Manager, wrote in the blog entry. “As a result, current developer quota caps will be removed in order to provide a more flexible and scalable system for quota allocation and consumption.”

Google has also modified the terms and conditions of the AdWords API “in order to simplify developers’ abilities to commercialize their applications while at the same time ensuring that advertiser returns are maximized through the promotion of certain functional standards.”

More information should be available in June, when Google launches a micro-site that provides more details on API registration, and details the billing processes and procedures Google will use in association with the changes.

Some developers may encounter an issue with the terms and conditions Google revised. Usage of the API must not co-mingle data to or from third-party advertising networks, presumably those from Yahoo or MSN.

Despite the new charges, the AdWords API will remain in beta status. Google is not guaranteeing access via the API, and could change the API standards at anytime. Also, there are no service level agreements with the changes in API terms either.

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