Brian over at MicroISV speculates:

Now that Google is opening up the AdWords API, my guess is that we’re going to see dozens if not hundreds of apps that will handle scheduling of ads. By scheduling ads to appear at times when people are more likely to download my software, I have a better chance of both increasing sales and quite possibly, decreasing expenses. My other option is to use the API to increase the bids on my AdWords so that they appear first in the list during non-peak times which has the potential to increase sales during times that are traditionally slow.

My view is that it will take a while these apps to show up. Here's why I think the AdWords API adoption is going to be somewhat slow:

• The API is hard to use. SOAP is new to most web developers. Just look at the AdWords API Google Group for evidence of this. There's a lot of stalled tinkerers.
• The quota system needs to change. Right now it's too restrictive and limits the incentive for doing things entirely with the API
• The AdWords community is essentially secretive. Most participants have economic interest in keeping their techniques to themselves.

What could Google do to increase the adoption beyond the AmazEbayShoppingTag.coms? A few things are obvious:

• Change the quotas, so people could use it freely and not have to think about the quota.
• Put out a lot more sample code for people to copy. Publish examples of successful SOAP envelopes, both the requests and the responses.
• Have a contest to promote sharing of code.
• Hire an evangelist who has the time to post on the group and cheer people on...

Note that I don't think the choice of SOAP is a limiting factor. There are some who clamor for a REST version, but I think the AdWords API is more complex than most of the current REST things, and a different interface wouldn't spur adoption any faster. The AdWords API is a great thing because it's an early example of web services for the masses. Google should make it happen faster, though.

¶ 2/19/2005