Last week Thursday after reports from several advertisers, it was confirmed by Google that there was a major reporting blackout. Report Editor, Dashboards, and Saved Reports in the Google Ads web interface were down. On top of that Products, Product Groups and Listing Groups pages were down across the web interface, API, and Google Ads Editor.
The glitch, which Google claims affected only “a small fraction” of advertisers, exposed sensitive data across accounts and disrupted normal reporting services.
Advertisers had a lot to say about these issues varying from gratitude that they don’t look after e-commerce and so were not affected to those who found the lack of listing/product group data as a massive obstacle.
Practical Challenges
Greg Finn, Partner at Cypress North, highlighted the practical challenges:
- “The lack of listing/product group data last week was a massive obstacle for those shopping advertisers. Specifically, we have some campaigns (PMax) that feature monthly deals and sale items for some clients and were unable to confirm that campaigns were working correctly.”
- “While I understand that there was an error on Google’s behalf, flying blind without seeing any product data is beyond scary. As an advertiser, I would much rather see a mistake and continue to work than to know that there is a mistake and have no way to view product data.”
Data usage/Breach
Paid Search Specialist, Sarah Stemen, raised questions about data usage in Google’s auction system:
- “Well, we know Google knows prices of all products, profit margin, msrp, sales etc. But seeing the data cross contaminated makes me wonder if data is being leveraged in the auction more than Google will admit.”
Kate Luke, Head of Digital, emphasized the gravity of the data breach:
- “Let’s not gloss over the fact that this sensitive data is paramount to the businesses affected.”
She called for Google to “address those affected directly rather than deliver generic ‘resolutions’.”
Transparency/Timing
Performance and marketing consultant, Meriem Nacer expressed concerns about Google’s transparency:
- “Will they notify affected brands and reimburse them, or only respond if contacted? Many might not check their accounts or know how to. How did this happen?”
Nacer also feels that due to timing, it can’t be completely unrelated to the Merchant Center Next rollout –
- “They claim it’s unrelated to the Merchant Center Next rollout, but the timing coincides with updated PMax reporting and the upcoming migration. Is it just a coincidence, or did someone push that “big red button” we’ve always joked about? The situation raises many questions.”
Mike Ryan, Head of ecommerce, summed up the severity of the situation, with a particular concern that the issue began earlier than Google is claiming:
- “This is a serious potential breach of advertiser confidentiality, and seemingly also a huge billing fuckup. Google maintains that these errors only occurred from July 30 through July 31, however I have team members who state that this may have been occurring for two weeks or longer.”
Automation/Feed security
Julie Bacchini president and founder, Neptune Moon pointed out the broader implications including automation & questions the sanctity of the feed:
- “It definitely raises some questions about firewalls between accounts though doesn’t it? I think that is the most concerning piece.
- “Reporting and data lags happen. But data leaking is a much bigger issue. And taking it a step further, as automation takes over more and more, will we even know if something like this happens in the future?
- “The biggest issue I have is that it impacted feed based campaigns – so the sanctity of the feed is compromised. I would like a detailed explanation from Google Ads as to exactly how another advertiser’s feed data was allowed to infiltrate another account. And what they have done to ensure it can no longer happen.”
Competitive Intelligence
Marketing Director, Scott Frederickson detailed the potential competitive intelligence leaked:
- “The screenshots showing custom label content in the reports were chilling. For those who don’t know, those labels are entirely free-form. I’ve seen them used for margin bucketing, seasonality, stock controls, best sellers, various promotions, vendors, divisions, all kinds of things.”
Finally advertisers like Reid Thomas, Marketing Strategist, viewed the issue as “a tempest in a teapot… because I have never had an account where a even a week of reports being inaccessible would massively change strategy, especially given that real data wasn’t being blocked for automations, etc.”.
Majority of responses however indicated serious concerns about data privacy, competitive intelligence, and Google’s handling of the situation. As PPC specialist Chloe Varnfield, put it, “Trust in Google is low anyways, so it’s just another letdown.”
The incident has left many advertisers demanding more transparency and better safeguards from Google to prevent similar issues in the future.
