What's different in the new Search Ads 360?
In the new Search Ads 360, you can use sFTP to upload bulk changes to campaigns, costs, and conversions. You can view and schedule all uploads from the Schedules tab on the Bulk Actions page. sFTP endpoints you create on this tab will be immediately available for use on the Uploads tab. sFTP endpoints you created in the previous Search Ads 360 experience will continue to work.
You can use your own sFTP server, or you can set up a Google-owned sFTP directly in Search Ads 360.
You can create sFTP endpoints from a manager, sub-manager, or client account. The top-level manager which you log in as always owns the endpoints.
If your organization regularly generates bulksheets, Google sFTP lets you fully automate the process by sending the bulksheets to Search Ads 360 through a Google-owned sFTP connection as soon as they are created.
If you upload bulksheets frequently, you can use your own software to upload bulksheets to a secure FTP endpoint instead of manually uploading through the new Search Ads 360 UI. Some third-party sFTP programs allow you to schedule bulksheet uploads.
You can create a scheduled SFTP connection for which you set up a frequency and time at which Google pulls files from your SFTP server according to this schedule. This is a new feature in the new Search Ads 360.
What's a secure FTP endpoint?
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a standard way of uploading files into a computer system. Secure FTP encrypts data as it's transferred over the internet. This ensures privacy and integrity of your data. Secure FTP is usually abbreviated as sFTP. The endpoint provides a unique internet address and a separate storage area that Search Ads 360 uses to process the files. Only users with access to the username and password can upload files to your endpoint.
You can use your own sFTP endpoint, or you can set up a Google-owned endpoint directly in Search Ads 360.
What's a Google-owned sFTP?
A Google-owned sFTP is a secure connection owned by Google. You can set this up directly in Search Ads 360. To ensure the privacy of your data, endpoints you create in Search Ads 360 are protected by a username and password. Because the server is owned by Google, Search Ads 360 can detect when your bulksheets are updated, and automatically apply changes to your campaigns.
If you create sFTP endpoints at the manager-account level, you can upload conversions for all related sub-manager accounts to that single endpoint.
Using Google’s sFTP allows Search Ads 360 to detect updates to your data and automatically upload changes to your campaign. You can also use a third-party program to schedule and upload bulksheets to Google sFTP endpoints. In this scenario, you as the customer control the scheduling and uploading of the files.
If you choose SFTP, Search Ads 360 does not detect updates to your data, and you will need to upload any changes manually unless you create a schedule. For scheduled SFTP, you must have your own sFTP server and set up a schedule in Search Ads 360. Search Ads 360 will then pull the file from your sFTP server according to the schedule.
Port number for the sFTP endpoint
Search Ads 360 uses port 19321 to receive sFTP connections. This port number can't be changed.
How soon does processing start?
Search Ads 360 starts processing bulksheets as soon as possible after the sFTP upload completes. You may see a slight delay if multiple bulksheets were uploaded to Search Ads 360 at roughly the same time (for example, if different users upload bulksheets simultaneously).
If you require bulksheets to be fully processed in a specific order, make sure processing of the first file is complete before uploading the next one. Search Ads 360 attempts to start processing in the order in which bulksheets are uploaded—either through the UI or an sFTP endpoint—but processing order isn't guaranteed. In addition, Search Ads 360 may finish processing a smaller bulksheet before a larger one, even if it started on the larger bulksheet first.
If you or other users upload more than one bulksheet with the same name:
- If Search Ads 360 starts processing a bulksheet before you upload the second one with the same name, the second bulksheet is treated as a separate file (even though it has the same name as the first file).
- If you upload a bulksheet through sFTP and then immediately use sFTP to upload a second bulksheet with the same name before Search Ads 360 has a chance to start processing the first bulksheet, Search Ads 360 ignores the first bulksheet and only processes the second one.
Note that Search Ads 360 doesn't email confirmation or status information about bulksheets that you upload through sFTP. Instead, you can use the Search Ads 360 UI to view upload status and history and download any error sheets, which list errors for items that Search Ads 360 couldn't process.