Google Ads recently experienced a major reporting glitch which affected multiple reporting tools, prevented advertisers from accessing critical performance data, and exposed sensitive competitor information.
Key Impacts:
Due to the glitch, beginning on 30th July, certain important features of Google Ads such as the Report Editor, Dashboards, and Saved Reports in the web interface were unavailable. Other features like Products, Product Groups, and Listing Groups pages were down across the web interface, API, and Google Ads Editor. This temporary outrage resulted in advertisers being unable to access critical performance data.
Another root root concern of the glitch was the exposure of sensitive competitor information. Between July 30-31, 2024, advertisers were able to view unrelated item IDs, product titles, and Merchant Center information from other accounts. This allowed them to identity direct competitors, raising serious privacy concerns. Luckily, the glitch did not include sensitive personal information.
Google’s Response:
Google has acknowledged the issue is and actively working to solve it via ongoing efforts. Ginny Marvin, a Google Ads liaison, stated on X that the team is “actively looking into” the issue and will provide further updates:
Report Editor, Dashboards, and Saved Reports in the Google Ads web interface are back online. Products, Product Groups and Listing Groups pages continue to be down across the web interface, API, and Google Ads Editor. Thank you for your continued patience. We will provide an…
— AdsLiaison (@adsliaison) August 1, 2024
Google has advised advertisers to exercise caution when accessing their Google Ads accounts and avoid acting on any data until Google confirms the issue is fully resolved.
Further updates have been provided over the past few days:
For accounts that have not been affected by this issue, all reporting services have been restored. Thank you for your patience during this time and we apologize for the inconvenience.
For accounts affected by this issue, we are still working to restore reporting services for… https://t.co/3rVexGp1wJ
— AdsLiaison (@adsliaison) August 4, 2024
However, Google has, for the most part, been rather enigmatic about this outrage, offering limited information about the impact and scale of the problem to its users.
