Migrate inventory management and ad builders to the new Search Ads 360

Templates combine, and improve upon, Inventory Management and Ad Builder functionality from the previous Search Ads 360. The functionality and the associated data will be migrated from the previous Search Ads 360 to the new Search Ads 360, including the following:

Before the migration

The following occurs before the Templates migration:

  • All relevant formula columns, custom dimensions, and bid strategies were migrated to the new Search Ads 360.
  • In the previous Search Ads 360, a notification is displayed that templates and associated data are moving to the new Search Ads 360 starting in 30 days.

What won’t be migrated

Note: For more information, see Address migration issue for functionality that is not auto-migrated.

The following will not be migrated to the new Search Ads 360:

  • Sitelink templates
  • Business-data templates
  • Template email notification settings for campaign and ad group templates
  • Templates associated with inactive feeds
  • Plans and templates that reference client accounts that aren’t active in the previous Search Ads 360
  • Templates that have not been used for more than 365 days

What you need to do before the migration

Note: The migration will happen whether or not you complete the following actions.

Before the Templates migration, do the following:

Ensure templates aren’t paused post-migration

The following table describes scenarios that will cause templates to be paused post-migration and suggested actions to ensure your templates aren’t paused:
Description Suggested Actions

The Start Date setting for campaign and ad group templates no longer supports formulas that reference feed or formula columns.

If formulas reference feed or formula columns, then during migration, the Start Date setting will be reverted to the default setting, and the affected templates will be paused.
  1. Sign in to the previous Search Ads 360.
  2. In the left navigation panel, click Templates.
  3. Click the Inventory Management tab.
  4. Navigate to the Purpose column to determine if campaign and ad group templates are associated with the inventory plans.
  5. For all inventory plans that have campaign and ad group templates, do the following:
    1. Click the Inventory plan name.
    2. Create a filter where Type = Ad group and campaign, by doing the following:
      • Click Filter.
      • From the Attribute or Metric dropdown, select Type.
      • From the is one of dropdown, select the Ad group and Campaign checkboxes.
      • Click OK.
    3. For campaign and ad group templates, click the corresponding gear icon Google Ads | gear [Icon].
    4. Click Campaign settings or Ad group settings as applicable.

      Note: End date settings only display for Microsoft Advertising ad groups.
    5. If the formula references feed or formula columns, remove these references, and replace them with one of the following, which allows the formula to be converted to one of the new Search Ads 360 settings during the Templates migration:
      • today()
      • add_days(date, number-of-days)
      • date(year, month, date)

        Learn more about the Search Ads 360 function list.

        Tip: To identify if the formula references feed or formula columns, review the formula sections within the brackets [].
    6. Click Save Template.

End Date setting for campaign and ad group templates no longer supports formulas that reference feed or formula columns.

If formulas reference feed or formula columns, then during migration, the End Date setting is reverted to the default setting and the affected templates are paused.
  1. Sign in to the previous Search Ads 360.
  2. In the left navigation panel, click Templates.
  3. Click the Inventory Management tab.
  4. Navigate to the Purpose column to determine if campaign and ad group templates are associated with the inventory plans.
  5. For all inventory plans that have campaign and ad group templates, do the following:
    1. Click the Inventory plan name.
    2. Create a filter where Type = Ad group and campaign, by doing the following:
      • Click Filter.
      • From the Attribute or Metric dropdown, select Type.
      • From the is one of dropdown, select the Ad group and Campaign checkboxes.
      • Click OK.
    3. For campaign and ad group templates, click the corresponding gear icon Google Ads | gear [Icon].
    4. Click Campaign settings or Ad group settings, as applicable. Note: End date settings only display for Microsoft Advertising ad groups.
    5. If the formula references feed or formula columns, remove these references, and replace them with one of the following, which allows the formula to be converted to one of the new Search Ads 360 settings during the Templates migration:
      • today()
      • add_days(date, number-of-days)
      • date(year, month, date)

        Learn more about the Search Ads 360 function list.

        Tip: To identify if the formula references feed or formula columns, review the formula sections within the brackets [].
    6. Click Save Template.

Campaign goals are no longer supported. The setting will be dropped during the Templates migration and will leave the template configured for manual bidding.
  1. Sign in to the previous Search Ads 360.
  2. In the left navigation panel, click Templates.
  3. Click the Inventory Management tab.
  4. For all Inventory Plans that have campaign templates, do the following:
    1. Click the Inventory template name.
    2. For campaign templates, click the corresponding gear icon Google Ads | gear [Icon].
    3. Click Campaign settings.
    4. Navigate to Bid Strategy > Campaign goal.
    5. For templates that use campaign goal, do one of the following:
      • Remove the setting and apply a bid strategy.
      • Remove the setting and leave the template configured for manual bidding.
    6. Click Save Template

Bid strategies

Update your Inventory Management campaign templates to use bid strategies that are supported in the new Search Ads 360.

Note: If your campaign templates in the previous Search Ads 360 only use manual bidding configurations, this action does not apply to you. We’ll migrate your templates to the new Search Ads 360 after the other migration dependencies are resolved if any apply.

Before the Templates migration, switch conversion bid strategies to target value-based formula columns on your campaign templates.

Important: If your campaign templates that use formula-weighted conversion bid strategies aren't updated to target value-based formula columns, the bid strategy and its associated settings will be changed to the default value (manual bidding) during the Templates migration. The active templates associated with formula-weighted conversion bid strategies will be paused in the new Search Ads 360.

Note: You will not see the bidding configuration setting in the new Search Ads 360 Templates feature until your bid-strategies are migrated to the sub-manager account.

Configure templates to take advantage of migration automation

The following table describes best practices to configure templates to maximize automated migration:

Description Suggested Actions

Migrate Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising expanded text ads (ETA) templates to responsive search ads (RSA) templates.

Note: Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising ETA templates are not supported in the new Search Ads 360.

Before the Templates migration, do the following to change your Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising ETA templates to RSA templates:

  1. Sign in to the previous Search Ads 360.
  2. Migrate ad builder and inventory management expanded text ad templates to responsive search ad templates.

This ensures your Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising RSA templates include all of your relevant ad templates in the new Search Ads 360.

Template status must be active or paused for templates to be migrated to the new Search Ads 360. Removed templates won’t be migrated. In each set of connected templates, we will only migrate templates up to, but not including, the first removed template.

For example: If the template hierarchy is as follows: active plan → paused campaign template → removed ad group template → active ad template, the plan and campaign templates will be migrated to the new Search Ads 360, but the ad group and ad templates will not be migrated.

If there are active or paused templates that won’t be migrated to the new Search Ads 360 because they are associated with removed inventory plans or templates, change them to be associated with active or paused inventory plans or templates if you want them migrated to the new Search Ads 360.

Ensure templates and associated data can be migrated

The following table describes how to ensure that your templates and associated data can be migrated to the new Search Ads 360:

Description Suggested Actions

Upgrade your bid strategies

You must agree to upgrade your bid strategies and be upgraded to supported bid strategies to be migrated to the Templates functionality in the new Search Ads 360.

Upgrade bid strategies and budget management in the new Search Ads 360.

Resolve formula column sync errors

If active or paused templates reference formula columns that have sync errors, resolve the sync errors by doing the following:

  1. Sign in to the previous Search Ads 360.
  2. In the left navigation panel, click All accounts > Campaigns > Columns > Formula columns.
  3. Identify the formula columns that have sync errors. They are preceded by the red error icon .
  4. Fix sync errors with formula columns and custom columns, or remove the template if it’s no longer needed.

Resolve business data table sync errors

Note: Business data tables are called "custom dimensions" in the new Search Ads 360.

If active or paused templates reference business data tables that have sync errors, resolve the sync errors by doing the following:

  1. Sign in to the previous Search Ads 360.
  2. In the left navigation panel, click Templates.
  3. Review each row in the Ad Builders table, and identify all rows that have Ad builder text containing the following syntax: [c:”table_name.column_name”]. These are the templates that reference business data tables.
  4. Record the business data tables that are referenced by the Ad Builder templates. You’ll need this information later.
  5. In the left navigation panel, click Business Data. Business data tables that have sync errors are preceded by the red error icon .
  6. Hover over the red error icon for information about the sync error.
  7. Resolve the sync errors.

Tip: You can typically resolve these sync errors by removing relational and business event columns from the referenced business data tables, or by removing the template if it’s no longer needed. Learn more:
Ensure feed columns have values

In the previous Search Ads 360, if feed columns don't have associated values, the columns won't be migrated to the new Search Ads 360. Templates associated with feed columns with empty values will not be migrated and will have the red error icon .

To ensure templates are migrated to the new Search Ads 360, either delete the columns that don't have associated values or make sure feed columns values are populated in the previous Search Ads 360.
Remove the "Creation timestamp" feed filter

In the previous Search Ads 360, the "Creation timestamp" feed filter allowed you to see if the data in the feed was added after a particular date.

This feed filter is not supported in the new Search Ads 360, and templates that use this feed filter will not be migrated to the new Search Ads 360.

To ensure templates are migrated to the new Search Ads 360, delete the "Creation timestamp" feed filter from your templates in the previous Search Ads 360.

Templates associated with inactive feeds will not be migrated to the new Search Ads 360.

Templates must be associated with active feeds in the previous Search Ads 360 to be migrated to the new Search Ads 360.

In the previous Search Ads 360, review templates with red error icons to see if you want to recreate them in the new Search Ads 360.

If desired, rebuild the templates in the new Search Ads 360.

Plans and templates that reference engine accounts that aren’t active in the previous Search Ads 360 won't be migrated to the new Search Ads 360.

Note: Engine accounts in the previous Search Ads 360 are known as "client accounts" in the new Search Ads 360.

Templates must be associated with active engine accounts in the previous Search Ads 360 to be migrated to the new Search Ads 360.

If a child template is linked to another template with an active client account, then it will be migrated.

In the previous Search Ads 360, review templates with red error icons to see if you want to recreate them in the new Search Ads 360.

If desired, rebuild the templates in the new Search Ads 360.

Unused templates won't be migrated to the new Search Ads 360. Unused templates are defined as templates that meet one of the two following sets of criteria:

  • Active or paused templates associated with feed data that hasn't been updated in more than 365 days and where the entire template path hasn't been updated in over 365 days.
  • Paused templates that haven't been updated in over 365 days. If a parent template meets this criteria, its child templates will not be migrated unless the child templates are also associated with another parent template that doesn't meet the unused template criteria.

In the previous Search Ads 360, review templates with red error icons to see if you want to recreate them in the new Search Ads 360.

If desired, rebuild the templates in the new Search Ads 360.
Templates with errors or references to unsupported columns in the multiplier section won’t be migrated.

If templates include a reference to a custom column that no longer exists, or they include an unsupported column like “Creation timestamp” or “ID” in the multiplier, they won’t be migrated.

In the New SA360, you’ll no longer be able to reference the ID column from your inventory feed as the multiplier for your template. As a workaround, you can create an identical column directly in your feed (specific column) and reference that in the multiplier of your template instead.

In the previous Search Ads 360, review templates with red error icons to understand if you want to recreate them in the new Search Ads 360.

On migration day

On migration day, templates, feeds, and the associated entity management states are automatically moved from the previous Search Ads 360 to the new Search Ads 360. We’ll evaluate the feeds and templates to ensure the data and entity generation is equivalent. If you were using Inventory Management and Ad Builder templates in the previous Search Ads 360, the functionality becomes read-only. If you weren’t using the functionality, you will no longer see it in the user interface.

After the migration

Review templates migration results

To review templates migration results, do the following:

  1. Sign in to your Search Ads 360 experience.
  2. Navigate to a sub-manager account.
  3. Click on Experience hub in the page menu.
  4. Check the Onboarding Checklist for migration issues to resolve. If there are actions you need to take, links are displayed in the corresponding Actions columns.
  5. Click the link in the Actions columns. The Templates table is displayed.
  6. If the Migration status column value is “Partially migrated,” there are actions you need to take.
  7. Review your migrated templates and confirm they are correctly configured.

About templates migration status

After templates are migrated, they can have the following statuses:

Status Definition Actions to take

Completed

Templates were successfully migrated.

No action required.

Partially migrated

Templates were migrated, but there are things you need to check and potentially address.

Learn more about templates migration changes.

Partially migrated with red error icon

Templates were migrated, but they were paused during the migration. There are things you need to address before activating the templates.

Learn more about templates migration changes.
Migrated - Needs review with red error icon

Templates were migrated and paused during the migration.

To activate the templates, review and save the templates.

To prevent existing campaigns, ad groups, ads, keywords, and negative match from being affected by templates that are activated, set Template management status to unmanaged. This setting can be adjusted for individual items or in bulk from the relevant tables (such as the Campaign table).

About templates migration changes

In general, there are three reasons to update your templates post-migration:

Address migration issues for functionality that is no longer available

Prioritize reviewing and reactivating paused templates. These templates are no longer active post-migration. Paused templates can be identified in the new Search Ads 360 by Migration status = “Partially migrated” and the red error icon .

The following table describes how the migration impacts certain functionality and suggested actions after the migration is complete:

Description Suggested Actions

Campaign goals and some bid strategies are not supported in the new Search Ads 360.

If your campaign templates are using unsupported bid strategy features (for example, formula weighted bidding) in the previous Search Ads 360, the bid strategy and its associated settings were changed to the default value (manual bidding) during the Templates migration. The active templates associated with unsupported bid strategies in the previous Search Ads 360 are paused in the new Search Ads 360.
  1. Sign in to your Search Ads 360 experience.
  2. Click Tools and Settings > Shared Library > Templates.
  3. For campaign templates where Migration status = “Partially migrated,” do the following:

    Important: Start with the templates that have the red error icon . These templates were paused during the migration.
    1. Click the gear icon Google Ads | gear [Icon] associated with the template.
    2. Click Select campaign settings.
    3. Navigate to Bid strategies, and do one of the following:
      • Apply a bid strategy
      • Leave the template configured for manual bidding.
    4. Click Save and continue.
  4. When you’re ready to begin using the templates, do the following:

    Note: Before enabling the template, review the start date and end date settings. Issues with start date and end date settings can also cause templates to be paused after the migration.
    1. Locate the template preceded by the pause icon Pause icon for ad campaigns.
    2. Click the down arrow Down arrow icon to the right of the pause icon Pause icon for ad campaigns.
    3. Click Enable.

The following Keyword field values are no longer supported on keyword templates and will not be migrated:

  • Param1
  • Param2
  • Param3
  • URL template
  • Final URL suffix
  • Advertiser bid strategy
  • Label

No action required for migration.

Network > Search settings for campaign templates

During the migration, the Google search checkbox is selected, and the Search partners checkbox retains the setting it had in the previous Search Ads 360.

The Google search checkbox is not available in the new Search Ads 360.

No action required for migration.

Expanded text ads (ETA) templates are not supported in the new Search Ads 360 for Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising.

 As needed, create and activate Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising RSA templates in the new Search Ads 360.
Location templates are not supported in the new Search Ads 360. In the new Search Ads 360, configure location as part of Campaign templates.

Address migration issues for functionality behavior changes

Prioritize reviewing and reactivating paused templates. These templates are no longer active post-migration. Paused templates can be identified in the new Search Ads 360 by Migration status = “Partially migrated” and the red error icon .

The following table describes functionality in which the behavior has changed, and suggested actions after the migration is complete:

Description Suggested Actions

The Start Date setting for campaign and ad group templates no longer supports formulas. If the formula references a feed column, then during the Templates migration, the Start Date setting is reverted to the default setting, and the affected templates are paused.
  1. Sign in to your Search Ads 360 experience.
  2. Click Tools and Settings > Shared Library > Templates.
  3. For campaign or ad group templates where Migration status = “Partially migrated,” do the following:

    Important: Start with the templates that have the red error icon . These templates were paused during the migration.
    1. Click the gear icon Google Ads | gear [Icon] associated with the template.
    2. Click Select campaign settings or Select ad group settings, as applicable.
    3. Navigate to Start and end dates.
    4. Select one of the following Start date radio buttons, and enter the corresponding numeric or date value, if applicable:
      • As soon as {campaigns}{ad groups} are created
      • {#} days from creation
      • Select a date
    5. Click Save and continue.
  4. To begin using the template, enable it by doing the following:

    Note: Before enabling the template, review the bid strategy and end date settings. Issues with bid strategies and end date settings can also cause templates to be paused after the migration.
    1. Locate the template preceded by the pause icon Pause icon for ad campaigns.
    2. Click the down arrow Down arrow icon to the right of the pause icon Pause icon for ad campaigns.
    3. Click Enable.
Updates to the language settings for campaign and ad group templates will apply to existing items.

No action required for migration.

In the previous Search Ads 360, updates to the language settings do not apply to existing items.

In the new Search Ads 360, these updates will apply to existing items. After migration, you may see changes to existing campaigns and ad groups according to the current language settings on the templates.
The End Date setting for campaign and ad group templates no longer supports formulas. If the formula references a feed column, then during the Templates migration, the End date setting is reverted to the default setting, and the affected templates are paused.
  1. Sign in to your Search Ads 360 experience.
  2. Click Tools and Settings > Shared Library > Templates.
  3. For campaign or ad group templates where Migration status = “Partially migrated,” do the following:

    Important: Start with the templates that have the red error icon . These templates were paused during the migration.
    1. Click the gear icon Google Ads | gear [Icon] associated with the template.
    2. Click Select campaign settings or Select ad group settings, as applicable.
    3. Navigate to Start and end dates.
    4. Select one of the following End date radio buttons, and enter the corresponding end date information, if applicable:
      • No end date
      • {#} days from creation
      • Select a date
    5. Click Save and continue.
  4. To begin using the template, enable it by doing the following:

    Note: Before enabling the template, review the bid strategy and start date settings. Issues with bid strategies and start date settings can also cause templates to be paused after the migration.
    1. Locate the template preceded by the pause icon Pause icon for ad campaigns.
    2. Click the down arrow Down arrow icon to the right of the pause icon Pause icon for ad campaigns.
    3. Click Enable.
Draft ads are not supported in the new Search Ads 360. During the migration, draft ads were created in a paused state.

Creating ads in a paused state could cause account limits to be hit. Advertising platforms limit the number of ads in each ad group and in each account. Errors display if the limits are exceeded.

To avoid hitting account limits, do one of the following:

  • Reduce the number of ads produced by changing the multiplier or reducing the number of ads templates.
  • Remove the template by clicking the down arrow Down arrow icon to the left of the template name, and click Remove.
Changing template status

No action required for migration.

In the previous Search Ads 360:

  • Ad Builder — Changing the template status to active, paused, or removed changed the managed entity status to match the template status.
  • Inventory Management — No change to managed entity status when changing the template status to active or paused. Changing the template status to removed removes the managed entities.

In the new Search Ads 360:

  • Changing the template status to active or paused doesn’t change the status of related managed entities.

Note: To change the status of managed entities, go to the appropriate table and bulk change the status.

  • Changing the template status to removed, removes the managed entities.

Ad groups applied to templates are now dynamically updated

No action required for migration.

In the previous Search Ads 360, ad groups were statically applied to templates; meaning if you updated your ad groups, you also had to manually update their template association.

In the new Search Ads 360, the Templates functionality dynamically looks for updated or new ad group configurations. You can define conditions for the ad groups selected for this template. The conditions are applied each time the template is evaluated. So if new or updated items match, the template will be updated with those items.

You can still use the static model that was used in the previous Search Ads 360.

Tracking template field improved

No action required for migration.

In the previous Search Ads 360 > Inventory Management, the Tracking template field was a static text field.

In the new Search Ads 360, it is a formula field called URL template

URL suffix field improved

No action required for migration.

In the previous Search Ads 360 > Inventory Management, the URL suffix field was a static text field.

In the new Search Ads 360, it is a formula field called URL template.

Keyword maximum cost per click (max CPC) functionality change

No action required for migration.

In the previous Search Ads 360, CPC bid settings could be inherited or defined for each keyword in the keyword template.

In the new Search Ads 360, keyword templates allow CPC bid settings to be inherited or overwritten per match type. If the use case is different based on client account or account type, you can use a single template by adding customizations to the setting. You can create multiple templates if you need more customization.

Example: In the new Search Ads 360, a keyword template has three keywords (k1, k2, and k3). k1 and k2 have the same match type. k3 has a broad match type. The CPC bid settings for k1 and k2 must be the same. k3 can use a different CPC bid setting. If k1 and k2 need different values, then move k2 to a different keyword template.

Keyword landing page URL consolidated

Note: In the new Search Ads 360, landing page URL is called "final URL."

No action required for migration.

In the previous Search Ads 360, landing page URL could be inherited or defined for each keyword in the keyword template.

In the new Search Ads 360, keyword templates allow final URL settings to be inherited or overwritten once per keyword template. If the use case is different based on client account or account type, you can use a single template by adding customizations to the setting. You can create multiple templates if you need more customization.

Address migration issues for functionality that is not auto-migrated

The following table describes functionality that won’t be automatically migrated and actions for you to take after the migration is complete:
Description Suggested Actions

Sitelink templates will not be migrated to the new Search Ads 360.
  1. Sign in to the previous Search Ads 360.
  2. In the left navigation panel, click Templates.
  3. Click Inventory Management.
  4. Locate sitelink templates by doing the following:
    1. Click an Inventory plan name link, which takes you to the Inventory Templates tab.
    2. Click Filter.
    3. Click Attribute or Metric.
    4. Create a filter where “Type equals Sitelink,” and click OK.
    5. Click Apply Filters to display all of the sitelink templates.
  5. To see your sitelink template settings, click the corresponding tools and settings icon Google Ads | gear [Icon] for each sitelink template .
  6. Record the sitelink settings for your sitelink templates.
  7. Sign in to your Search Ads 360 experience.
  8. Click Tools and Settings > Shared Library > Templates.
  9. To create a new template, click the plus button icon .
  10. From the dropdown, click Sitelink template.
  11. Use the sitelink templates settings you recorded in the previous Search Ads 360 to recreate the sitelink templates in the new Search Ads 360.

Template email notification settings for campaign and ad group templates will not be migrated to the new Search Ads 360.

Note: There is no email-notification feature available yet. The feature is planned for 2024.
Business-data plans and templates will not be migrated to the new Search Ads 360.
  1. Sign in to the previous Search Ads 360.
  2. In the left navigation panel, click Templates.
  3. Click Inventory Management.
  4. Locate your business plans:
    Look at the “Purpose” column and find plans that have the purpose “Business data feeds”.
  5. To see your business data plan settings, click the corresponding plan checkbox, then click Edit > Edit details…
  6. Record the business data-plan settings.
  7. Click Cancel to exit the business data plan settings.
  8. Click the link for the inventory plan whose settings you recorded. The "Inventory Templates" tab opens.
  9. To see your business-data-row template settings, click the corresponding tools-and-settings icon Google Ads | gear [Icon].
  10. Record the settings for your business-data-row template.
  11. Sign in to your Search Ads 360 experience.
  12. Click Tools and Settings > Shared Library > Templates.
  13. To create a new template, click the plus button icon .
  14. From the dropdown, click Custom dimension template.
  15. Use the business-data-plan settings you recorded in the previous Search Ads 360 to recreate the following custom-dimension template settings in the new Search Ads 360:
    Previous Search Ads 360 Setting New Search Ads 360 Setting
    Business data Custom dimension
    Inventory account Data source
  16. Assign a name to your custom dimension template. For example, combine your business-data plan and business-data template names, separated by " - ".
  17. Apply the feed filters you recorded from both the business-data plan and the business-data-row template to the filter setting for the custom-dimension template feed.
  18. Use the business-data-plan settings you recorded in the previous Search Ads 360 to recreate the custom-dimension templates in the new Search Ads 360.
    Previous Search Ads 360 Setting New Search Ads 360 Setting
    Foreign key: inventory data Value match
    Feed driven column Secondary dimension update.
If you want to use your business data from the previous Search Ads 360 as your custom dimensions in the new Search Ads 360, you need to prepare that data for auto migration, if it has not auto-migrated.

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