Does anyone use Google API?

Good idea? Can this be done?

[Receptional]

Let's say my client sells umbrellas in a London shop. He knows that when it is raining he'll sell lots of umbrellas, so wants to bid high on Google then, and low when the sun shines.

If he had a datafeed on weather forecasts for London, he knows when to bid high. Can the API tool allow him to then change his bid price (and ad text) live based on his weather data?

This seems to me to be a very interesting possibility and if it is feesible, it could have a considerable number of uses.

Is it feesible? Is it a big task?

Any thought about it's uses?

Dixon.

[Lord Majestic]

Did your client establish direct link between advertising on Google and selling more stuff in his real-life shop? I am not questioning I just find it amazing people would search for umbrellas on Google and then actually try to find his shop! :O

[trillianjedi]

This seems to me to be a very interesting possibility and if it is feesible, it could have a considerable number of uses.

Absolutely, very interesting.

Is it feesible? Is it a big task?

I can answer one part, not having had any experience with the AdWords API. As long as the API allows you to change bid price and text, then yes it's both very feasible and very easy to do.

I just find it amazing people would search for umbrellas on Google and then actually try to find his shop!

I think the example was somewhat hypothetical ;-)

TJ

[MovingOnUp]

That could easily be done with the API. You would probably want to build a program to scrape the weather information from a site, then change the bids appropriately through the API. You could minimize the API calls by keeping track of what you've set the bids to locally and to change the bids on an Ad Group basis instead of a keyword basis. Automate it through a cron or other scheduling method depending on your operating system.

How difficult depends on how familiar your developer is with SOAP and using APIs. It's not that hard.

Also, I wouldn't recommend changing the ads. When you change them, they have to be reviewed. Until they're reviewed, they don't go out to the content or search networks, just Google. Instead, maybe have a few different Ad Groups for different conditions, activate just one of them and Pause the others.

[Receptional]

We wouldn't change ads - we'd have them both running in different ad-groups and pause one and start the other.

Yes - umbrellas was just hypothetical! We have a real use for the idea, but if I told you I'd have to shoot you... but I don't know you so best not to get specific :)

Anyone actually used the API to change a bid remotely? I don't want to go off saying that this can be done and then find the API is only for reporting functions...

[shorebreak]

We use the API and yes, you can use it to change max CPC's.

[inasisi]

Changing CPCs, Adding/Pausing/Deleting of Campaigns,AdGroups, Ads, Keywords are all possible through the API. Almost all the functionality of the Web User Interface is possible through the API too. The few exceptions are the newer features like Ad Diagnostic tool and the Campaign Negative Sites.

[Langers]

[webmasterworld.com...] :)

[tolachi]

As of yesterday I managed to combine all my backend tracking with adwords stats and update an ad to a new cpc value based on a target profit margin. It was not very hard to do and will save us a huge amount of time once I finish the program. I think that you would easily be able to do what you propose. It sounds like a great idea.