What the Google Ads API lets you manage, by campaign type.
“Supports Google Ads” says little about a tool. A Search campaign, a Shopping campaign and a Performance Max campaign are built from different parts, and what can be changed, and reviewed before it is changed, differs with them. This guide maps the parts.
Which campaign types the API supports.
| Campaign type | What Google documents | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| Search, Display | Supported, including Display expansion on Search | The widest range of precise changes |
| Shopping | Supported; the Google Ads account must be linked to a Merchant Center account with approved product data | Part of what drives results lives outside Google Ads, in the product feed |
| Performance Max, Demand Gen | Supported; Google describes them as fully supported for both reporting and management | You manage inputs; Google's systems decide the combinations |
| App, Local Services | Listed among supported types | Check the dedicated documentation before building |
| Video | Performance can be read for all video campaigns; for some video campaign types, changes cannot be written: no pausing, enabling, targeting changes or new ads | A tool may report on video without being able to act on it |
| Call-only ads | New ones can no longer be created; existing ones are supported until February 2027 | Plan the move to responsive search ads with call assets |
Google's documentation, read on 12 October 2026. It does not state on these pages whether Smart campaigns are among the supported types.
What a change is made of, in each type.
- 01Search: keywords, ads, budgetsEach decision has a precise object: this keyword, this ad, this budget. A change can be written as a before and after and checked against the search terms that triggered it.
- 02Display: targeting and creativesThe levers are audiences, placements and creatives. A change is still precise, but its effect is harder to anticipate from past data than a keyword's.
- 03Shopping: listing groups and the product feedThe API manages listing group trees, the equivalent of product groups in the interface. Titles, prices and availability come from Merchant Center: a review that looks only at Google Ads misses half the picture.
- 04Performance Max: asset groups and signalsYou supply images, logos, headlines, descriptions and videos in asset groups; Google states that it automatically mixes and matches them by channel. You can review what you supply, not each combination shown.
What can be reviewed before a change, by type.
Our own reading, for teams designing a review or approval step around the API.
| A precise before and after? | Evidence to attach | What stays outside the review | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search | Yes, for most changes | Search terms, conversions over a stated period | Automated bidding decisions |
| Display | Yes | Placement and audience results | Where each impression is served |
| Shopping | Yes, for listing groups and bids | Results by product group | Feed changes made in Merchant Center |
| Performance Max | For the inputs: assets, signals, budget, goals | Results by asset group | How assets are combined and where they run |
Campaign drafts, the interface's own way to prepare changes, exist only for Search and Display campaigns.
Why Plireo starts with Search.
Plireo is being built around changes that can be written exactly, checked and approved. Search is where that is most true, so it is the first type covered: reading, analysis and four types of prepared change. Display, Shopping and Performance Max are in the target scope of the first version and are only detected today; video is outside it.
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