Query Structure

Requests for resource fields, segment fields and metric fields can be made via GoogleAdsService.Search using a query. To construct a query in Google Ads Query Language, you will need to build it using the language grammar. A query is made up of a number of clauses:

• SELECT
• FROM
• WHERE
• ORDER BY
• LIMIT

Clauses use field names, resource names, operators, conditions, and orderings to help you select the correct data. Once combined into a single query, a request can be made using Google Ads API. Let's look at how each clause can be used.

Clauses

SELECT

The SELECT clause specifies a set of fields to fetch in the request. SELECT takes a comma-separated list of resource fields, segment fields and metrics, returning the values in the response. The SELECT clause is required in a query.

To get the ID and name of a campaign you can use the following query:

SELECT campaign.id, campaign.name FROM campaign

You can select certain fields without explicitly defining the resource in the FROM clause. In this example you can request the campaign ID from ad groups:

SELECT campaign.id FROM ad_group

It is possible to request different field types in a single request. In this example we have:

• Resource fields

  • campaign.id
  • campaign.name
  • ad_group.name

• Segment fields

  • device

• Metrics

  • metrics.impressions
  • metrics.clicks

SELECT campaign.id, campaign.name, ad_group.id, device, metrics.impressions, metrics.clicks
FROM ad_group

Note: GoogleAdsFieldService provides a catalog for Google Ads Query Language clients with metadata about all resource fields, segment fields, and metrics that are selectable for the described resource. For more details, please refer to the selectable_with property of GoogleAdsField.

FROM

The FROM clause specifies the main resource that will be used to select fields. The resource is used by the service to join with other resources and segment data as required. Only a single resource can be specified in the FROM clause. The FROM clause is required in a query, however it should not be specified when using GoogleAdsFieldService.

The resource_name field of the main resource is always returned. In the following example, ad_group.resource_name will be included in the response despite not being explicitly selected in the query:

SELECT ad_group.id FROM ad_group

The same is true for other resources when at least one field is selected. For example: campaign.resource_name will be included in the response for the following query:

SELECT campaign.id, ad_group.id
FROM ad_group

WHERE

The WHERE clause specifies conditions to apply when filtering data for the request. When using the WHERE clause, one or more conditions can be specified using AND to separate them. Each condition should follow the pattern field_name Operator value. The WHERE clause is optional in a query.

The following is an example of using WHERE to return metrics from a given time period:

SELECT campaign.id, campaign.name, metrics.impressions
FROM campaign
WHERE date DURING LAST_30_DAYS

You can combine multiple conditions to filter the data. This example will request the number of clicks for all campaigns with impressions on mobile in the last 30 days.

SELECT campaign.id, campaign.name, device, metrics.clicks
FROM campaign
WHERE metrics.impressions > 0
AND device = MOBILE
AND date DURING LAST_30_DAYS

Note: The condition separator AND is not an operator and cannot be used in a condition.

For a complete list of operators, consult the language grammar.

ORDER BY

The ORDER BY clause specifies the order in which the results should be returned. This allows you to arrange the data in ascending or descending order based on a field name. Each ordering should be specified as a field_name followed by ASC or DESC. If neither of ASC or DESC is specified, the order will default to ASC. The ORDER BY clause is optional in a query.

The following query will order the returned campaigns by number of clicks from highest to lowest:

SELECT campaign.name, metrics.clicks
FROM campaign
ORDER BY metrics.clicks DESC

You can specify multiple fields in the ORDER BY clause using a comma-separated list. The ordering will occur in the same sequence as specified in the query. For example, in this query selecting ad group data, the results will be sorted in ascending order by campaign name, then in descending order by number of impressions, then in descending order by number of clicks.

SELECT campaign.name, ad_group.name, metrics.impressions, metrics.clicks
FROM ad_group
ORDER BY campaign.name, metrics.impressions DESC, metrics.clicks DESC

LIMIT

The LIMIT clause allows you specify the number of results to be returned. This is useful if you are only interested in a summary.

For example, LIMIT can be used to restrict the total number of results for the following query:

SELECT campaign.name, ad_group.name, device, metrics.impressions
FROM ad_group
ORDER BY metrics.impressions DESC
LIMIT 50

Note: LIMIT allows you to truncate the results. Please use the page_size field of the GoogleAdsService.Search to correctly handle long lists of results.

Language rules

In addition to the examples for each clause, Google Ads Query Language has the following behaviors:

• It's not required for the main resource field to be in the SELECT clause for a query. For example, you might want to only use one or more main resource fields to filter data:

  SELECT campaign.id
  FROM ad_group
  WHERE ad_group.status = PAUSED
  

• Metrics can be selected alone for a given resource. No other fields from the resource are required for a valid query:

  SELECT metrics.impressions, metrics.clicks, metrics.costMicros
  FROM campaign
  

• Segmentation fields can be selected without resource fields or metrics being requested:

  SELECT device FROM campaign
  

• The resource_name field (campaign.resource_name, for example) can be used to filter or order data:

  SELECT campaign.id, campaign.name
  FROM campaign
  WHERE campaign.resource_name = 'customers/1234567/campaigns/987654'
  

Next steps

• Read more about date ranges.

• Read more about ordering and limiting results.