The Google Ads API is Google's programmatic interface to Google Ads, its advertising system. It is meant for developers who write their own software, run their own servers, and manage large or complex Google Ads accounts, from the customer account down to a single keyword.
Through the API a program can create and link accounts, manage account hierarchies and user access; create and update Search, Performance Max, Shopping, Video, Demand Gen and App campaigns with their budgets and assets; upload click, call and enhanced conversions and set automated bidding strategies; and query performance reports in the Google Ads Query Language (GAQL). Client libraries exist for Java, .NET, PHP, Python, Ruby and Perl, next to a REST interface, and requests are authorized with OAuth 2.0.
Access is granted to each Google Cloud project by level: Test reaches only test accounts; Explorer allows up to 2,880 operations a day on live accounts; Basic allows 15,000; Standard has no daily limit. Each higher level needs an application and a review. Developer tokens were retired on September 9, 2026, so the access level now belongs to the Cloud project.