Track ad placement and performance

The Google Ads API offers several views to analyze where your ads have appeared and how they are performing: managed_placement_view, group_placement_view, and detail_placement_view. Each view provides a different lens on your placement data.

managed_placement_view

• What it shows: This view provides performance data aggregated by the placements you are explicitly targeting (managed placements). It reflects the performance of your Placement criteria.
• UI Equivalent: Content > Placements
• Query Builder: Explore in Query Builder

group_placement_view

• What it shows: This view shows where your ads actually served on the Display Network and YouTube, regardless of whether the placements were explicitly targeted or discovered automatically by Google's system. This can include websites, YouTube channels/videos, and apps.
• UI Equivalent: Content > Where ads showed
• Query Builder: Explore in Query Builder

"Total: Other" row

Performance data for placements with very low activity, as measured by impressions or clicks, may be aggregated into a summary row—often referred to as "Total: Other"—where group_placement_view.placement or detail_placement_view.placement has the value "Other". Individual low-traffic placements might not be listed separately to provide faster report generation. As a result, the sum of individual placement rows in group_placement_view and detail_placement_view might not always match the total statistics for the ad group or campaign. See About the "Where ads showed" report: What does "Other" mean in the total counts by campaign type? for more information.

TargetingSetting options

The behavior and utility of the group_placement_view are influenced by the TargetingSetting for the PLACEMENT dimension at the ad group level. This setting contains a list of target_restrictions, each with a bid_only boolean field that dictates whether your ads show only on targeted placements or on other placements as well. See About "Targeting" and "Observation" settings.

• bid_only = false: This value corresponds to Targeting in the Google Ads UI for placements. If your ad group is set to "Targeting", your ads will only show on the placements you've explicitly added as criteria. You can choose to apply bid adjustments to these placements. In this scenario, group_placement_view largely mirrors managed_placement_view, but is still subject to "Total: Other" aggregation.
• bid_only = true: This value corresponds to Observation in the Google Ads UI for placements. If your ad group is set to "Observation", your ads can show on any eligible placement on the Display Network and YouTube. You can also apply bid adjustments to any placements you have targeted. In this case, group_placement_view is crucial for discovering new placements where your ads are showing, which you might then choose to add as managed placements or exclusions.

detail_placement_view

• What it shows: This view provides a more granular breakdown of placements, offering details beyond the domain or channel level. For example, it can show specific URLs or YouTube video IDs where your ads appeared.
• UI Equivalent: Equivalent to selecting rows in Content > Where ads showed, then clicking View details.
• Query Builder: Explore in Query Builder
• Important Considerations: Similar to group_placement_view, this view is also subject to the "Total: Other" row aggregation for low-traffic placements.

Which view to use?

• Use managed_placement_view to assess the performance of placements you are actively targeting and bidding on.
• Use group_placement_view to understand the full scope of where your ads are appearing, especially when using the "Observation" setting, to discover new targeting opportunities or exclusions.
• Use detail_placement_view to get the most granular details about specific URLs or videos where your ads showed, often used after identifying a domain or channel of interest in the group_placement_view.