API Change Without Notice

Thanks for leaving us vulnerable over Easter Google

[SuperF]

Because of the chronic False URL problem, 6 months ago we went to great expense to hire progammers to develop a system that alerts us when our ads come under attack - someone bidding beneath us with a false URL to cause us to pay much more per click. Our system prevents us from suffering attacks costing us thousands of dollars.

Our system stopped working today, just as everyone is about to go on vacation for Easter. Just when our programmers are hard to contact. Just when we are most likely to be attacked (our competitors guess we won't be monitoring as closely over Easter).

Seems to only way Google communicated this change from V10 to V11 of the API was a blog post last October.

I feel it is just plain rude of Google to not even bother to email users of the API, to let them know that anything they have developed would stop working today, unless they had rewritten their software.

Other web companies, for example Amazon, repeatedly email me to let me know of these types of changes.

[SuperF]

BTW, they have emailed us twice regarding the API - once to welcome us, and once with an API user satisfaction survey. So it's not as if they are unable to email us with critical information...

[chinara]

google:"our chief competitive advantages is surprise"

Very unprofessional indeed.

[rustybrick]

Um, they announced it at [adwordsapi.blogspot.com...]

They extended the deadline at least once.

Plus I know they posted threads in the groups. I would highly doubt it that they didn't send you an email - maybe it got caught by spam.

[Sujan]

Google never mailed me or anybody about any change of the
API - so it surely isn't a surprise that they didn't to
tell you about this change.

There's the blog, the forum/group and if your programmer
also should know about this if he was any good - so I
absolutely don't understand what you'Re whining about.

- Jan

[phranque]

i got an email on Thursday, January 31, 2008 that the sunset was being extended from 2/18 to 3/18, but that was because we are signed up for the Google AdWords API Announcements Google Group...

if that API is critical to your business i would suggest the same for you.

[AdWordsAdvisor]

I have passed your feedback along to the right folks SuperF.

i got an email on Thursday, January 31, 2008 that the sunset was being extended from 2/18 to 3/18, but that was because we are signed up for the Google AdWords API Announcements Google Group...

if that API is critical to your business i would suggest the same for you.

I agree with phranque, and would certainly recommend that you sign up for the AdWords API mailing list, which is easily done. Instructions will be found on the page linked-to below.

What is the AdWords API mailing list?
[google.com...]

AWA

[SuperF]

I appreciate that our developer should have the responsibility of keeping track of these things, and presumably it isn't too hard for them to find the appropriate blog or mailing list to subscribe to...

In an ideal world that would be just fine. However clients and developers don't always remain in business together, and developers can't always be relied on to continually monitor for API upgrades.

My point is that, given that the API upgrade can render useless any software that has been developed, and given that Google has the email address for each registered API user, it would have been nice to be informed.

Or at least the suggestion about joining the mailing list could have been mentioned in the welcome email - given the critical nature of the info this mailing lists provides.