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:
- Feeds
- Custom columns
- Custom dimensions
- Metadata, such as Inventory Management or Ad builder management status
- Templates
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
Before the Templates migration, do the following:
- Ensure templates aren't paused post-migration
- Configure templates to take advantage of migration automation
- Ensure templates and associated data can be migrated
Ensure templates aren’t paused post-migration
Description | Suggested Actions |
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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. |
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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. |
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Campaign goals are no longer supported. The setting will be dropped during the Templates migration and will leave the template configured for manual bidding. |
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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 |
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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:
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 |
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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:
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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:
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:
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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:
- Sign in to your Search Ads 360 experience.
- Navigate to a sub-manager account.
- Click on Experience hub in the page menu.
- 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.
- Click the link in the Actions columns. The Templates table is displayed.
- If the Migration status column value is “Partially migrated,” there are actions you need to take.
- See "About templates migration status" below.
- Learn more about templates migration changes.
- 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 |
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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
- Address migration issues for functionality behavior changes
- Address migration issues for functionality that is not auto-migrated
Address migration issues for functionality that is no longer available
The following table describes how the migration impacts certain functionality and suggested actions after the migration is complete:
Description | Suggested Actions |
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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. |
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The following Keyword field values are no longer supported on keyword templates and will not be migrated:
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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
The following table describes functionality in which the behavior has changed, and suggested actions after the migration is complete:
Description | Suggested Actions |
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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. |
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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. |
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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:
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Changing template status |
No action required for migration. In the previous Search Ads 360:
In the new Search Ads 360:
Note: To change the status of managed entities, go to the appropriate table and bulk change the status.
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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
Description | Suggested Actions | ||||||||||||
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Sitelink templates will not be migrated to the new Search Ads 360. |
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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. |
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Business-data plans and templates will not be migrated to the new Search Ads 360. |
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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