Update: All new location extensions created on or after October 16th, 2014 can only be created as new account-level feed-based location extensions.

On July 14th, 2014, AdWords announced upgraded location extensions, a more efficient way to manage and use business locations in ads by linking Google My Business and AdWords accounts.

The upgrade is taking place in phases for AdWords accounts throughout the coming months. The next phase of account upgrades is scheduled to start on August 25, 2014. All AdWords accounts will to be upgraded by November, 2014.

The upgrade has direct impact to AdWords API client applications. If you are using the CampaignAdExtensionService to manage LocationExtensions or LocationSyncExtensions, then you’re using the legacy location extensions that are being phased out. After an account is upgraded, you’ll need to use the new account-level feed-based location extensions.

How will existing location extensions be upgraded by Google?

Please review the AdWords Help Center article for all upgrade scenarios. For AdWords API developers, most accounts will fall into one of these scenarios:

• Accounts that don’t have any existing legacy location extensions.
• Accounts that have existing legacy location extensions not sourced from a Google My Business account (i.e., using LocationExtensions only).
• Accounts that have existing legacy location extensions sourced from a Google My Business account (i.e., using LocationSyncExtensions).

If you programmatically create AdWords accounts that are not associated with any user, please get in touch with your Google representative for migration support.

Accounts that don’t have any existing legacy location extensions

For accounts that aren’t using any LocationExtensions or LocationSyncExtensions but will begin using location extensions, you should use feed-based location extensions instead.

Accounts that have existing legacy location extensions not sourced from a Google My Business account

If you’re using LocationExtension entities to manage individual locations, the automatic upgrade process will perform the following:

1. A Google My Business account will be created and linked with the AdWords account. All administrators of that AdWords account will have access to locations in the linked Google My Business account.
2. A CustomerFeed with the Location placeholder type will be created.
3. Existing locations in LocationExtension entities will be copied into the Google My Business account. Existing LocationExtension entities will then be removed.
4. Ads in all campaigns will be served with locations from the linked Google My Business account (you can create a CampaignFeed to further filter or disable location extensions served for a given campaign).

Accounts that have existing legacy location extensions sourced from a Google My Business account

If you’re using LocationSyncExtension to link campaigns to a Google My Business account, then the automatic upgrade process will perform the following:

1. The campaign-level links to the Google My Business account will be switched to a single link at the account level.
   • A CustomerFeed with the Location placeholder type will be created for the account.
2. Any existing LocationExtension entities will be removed, so make sure they’re copied to the linked Google My Business account before the upgrade.
3. Ads in all campaigns will be served with locations from the linked Google My Business account (you can create a CampaignFeed to further filter or disable location extensions served for a given campaign).

If an AdWords account is already linked to Google My Business at the account level using CustomerFeed, any existing legacy location extensions will be removed during the upgrade process.

How do I know if an account has been upgraded?

An account is considered upgraded if either condition is true:

1. It has a CustomerFeed for the Location placeholder type. You can query CustomerFeedService to check:

   select FeedId, PlaceholderTypes where PlaceholderTypes = 7
   

2. It has neither a CustomerFeed nor legacy LocationExtension or LocationSyncExtension entities.

In an upgraded account, any attempts to create legacy location extensions using the CampaignAdExtensionsService will return the AdExtensionError.INVALID_ADEXTENSION_TYPE error.

How do I continue to manage locations?

There’s currently no API support for Google My Business. Locations are managed via the Google My Business Locations interface, which supports bulk management.

Can I start using upgraded location extensions before an account is upgraded?

Since the upgrade process is complicated for many accounts, the simplest approach is to allow accounts using legacy location extensions to be automatically upgraded (account owners will be notified 30 days before the upgrade).

What about reporting?

For upgraded accounts, you’ll need to use the Placeholder Feed Item Report rather than the Ad Extensions Performance Report to download statistics for each location.

We are here to help

If you have any questions about this upcoming change or anything else related to the AdWords API, please contact us on the AdWords API forum or via the Google Ads Developers Google+ page.

- Ray Tsang, AdWords API Team

As previously announced, AdWords API v201402 lets you manage your upgraded, feed-based location extensions in addition to your campaign location extensions. Upgraded location extensions are linked to your Google Places for Business account and offer significant benefits over manually entered location extensions. Most importantly, once you configure your upgraded location extensions you don't have to worry about keeping them up to date with changes in your Google Places for Business account -- AdWords does it for you!

As mentioned in our detailed guide to upgraded location extensions, you can use the AdWords API to set up your extensions in a few easy steps:

• Create a new Feed with its systemFeedGenerationData set to a PlacesLocationFeedData object, which tells AdWords to automatically create FeedItems from your Google Places for Business account.
• Create a new CustomerFeed with the LOCATION placeholder type value of 7. This tells AdWords to use the Feed from step 1 to create upgraded location extensions for your ads.

There are a few key differences between feeds with systemFeedGenerationData ("location feeds") and other feeds you may have created for sitelinks, app or call extensions.

Type or Attribute	Location Feeds	Other Feeds
Feed.systemFeedGenerationData	Required Defines the link between your AdWords and Places for Business accounts.	Not applicable
FeedMapping	Not applicable AdWords maintains the feed item attribute -> placeholder field relationship for you.	Required You maintain the feed item attribute -> placeholder field relationship.
FeedItem	Automatically managed by AdWords.	Maintained by you via the FeedItemService
CustomerFeed	Required	Not applicable
CampaignFeed	Optional Only needed if you want more control over which businesses from your Places account are used for location extensions on a particular Campaign.	Required
AdGroupFeed	Optional	Optional
	Only needed if you want more control over which businesses from your Places account are used for location extensions on a particular AdGroup.

Just as for other feed types, you can get stats for a location feed's extensions from the PLACEHOLDER_FEED_ITEM report.

This is just a quick overview of the AdWords API support for upgraded location extensions. For more information, check out our feed services guide for location extensions and the accompanying code sample in each client library (Java, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, .NET).

Still have questions? Feel free to visit us on the AdWords API Forum or our Google+ page.

- Josh Radcliff, AdWords API Team

We are glad to announce support for upgraded ad extensions in AdWords scripts. Ad extensions give potential customers more reasons to click your ad by including additional business information upfront such as your address and phone number or more website page links.

We currently support sitelinks, call extensions, and app extensions in Scripts. You can refer to our documentation to learn more about this feature as well as get sample code snippets.

We currently support the following capabilities in AdWords scripts:

• Create various ad extensions at account level.
• Associate ad extensions with campaigns and ad groups.
• Modify existing ad extensions.
• Remove an ad extension’s association with a campaign or ad group.
• Retrieve stats for various ad extensions at account, campaign or ad group level.

Keep in mind that

• We only support ad extensions in Feeds created by the AdWords system. If you created a Feed using the AdWords API, then these items won’t be retrieved by AdWords scripts.
• You may not delete ad extensions at the account level. You can only delete its association with a campaign or an ad group.

We hope you enjoy this new feature. If you have questions or feedback, please visit us on our official forum.

 - Anash P. Oommen, AdWords Scripts Team

As previously announced, starting on September 23, 2013, call, app and sitelink extensions will automatically upgrade to their new formats. If you haven’t done so already, we encourage you to upgrade your extensions ahead of the September 23 deadline so you can take early advantage of the new features, accrue statistics on the upgraded extensions sooner, and ensure that your extensions continue to show.

Starting on the upgrade date, the following changes will take place:

• You won’t be able to use CampaignAdExtensionService.mutate to update your legacy extensions. 
• The 25 characters limit will take effect. Make sure you adjust your sitelink text to 25 characters or less so your extensions continue to show.

The use of CampaignAdExtensionService.get for legacy call, app and sitelink extensions, will be available through October 23. You can use it to consult and compare your legacy extensions data with their upgraded counterparts.

If you allow your legacy extensions be auto-upgraded, the system will do its best to detect and avoid creating duplicate extensions. We recommend that you check all your extensions after the upgrade is finished to ensure they’re configured as you’d like.

Resources
To learn more about managing upgraded extensions with the AdWords API, make sure to consult the Feed Services guide. For a code example on how to upgrade extensions on your own, look in the migration folder in all client libraries.

If you have questions or need help with the upgrade, please visit us on the developer forum or the G+ page.

 - David Torres, AdWords API Team

We recently announced upgraded ad extensions that provide many new capabilities, including mobile-optimized settings, new scheduling features, and detailed reporting at the individual sitelink level. We’ll be helping all advertisers transition to these improved extensions over the coming months. Starting on September 23, 2013, the AdWords API will support only these upgraded extensions, including the 25-character sitelink limit, and we’ll begin automatically upgrading legacy extensions to the new format.

We recommend upgrading your extensions ahead of September 23, 2013 so you can take advantage of all the new features and customize specific settings. Most advertisers are upgrading their extensions as part of their overall upgrade to AdWords enhanced campaigns. To help make the process easy for you, we’ve put together a number of resources:

• The feed services can help you create and retrieve upgraded ad extensions
• Our upgrade guide as well as a complete code example in Java provide best practices 
• Our client libraries provide full support for various feed services and code examples that show how to use them
• The AdWords API Required Minimum Functionality document is updated with information about how feed services can be used to create and manage upgraded ad extensions

As you are upgrading, you can create upgraded ad extensions while still keeping legacy ad extensions in the same campaign; however, only the upgraded extensions will be served. Beginning on September 23, if a campaign only has legacy extensions, we will auto-upgrade them to the new format. If a campaign has both legacy and upgraded extensions, we will only serve the new format, and legacy extensions will be marked as deleted.

If you have questions or need help with the upgrade, please visit us on the developer forum, or at one of the upcoming GDL Office Hours.

 - Anash P. Oommen, AdWords API Team