Understanding manually removed entities in Search Ads 360 templates

This article explains how Search Ads 360 handles manually removed entities in the context of Templates. It covers the system's behavior towards manually deleted entities, the process of reinstating them, and the distinction between manual and automatic entity removal.

Manually removed entities vs. system removed entities

Manually removed entities are defined as entities deleted directly by a Search Ads 360 user, not by the Template system. Templates treats these differently when considering recreation, as the system assumes manual removal was intentional and should not be reversed automatically. If a template would create an entity identical to a manually removed one, the system prevents its creation.

To reinstate a manually removed entity, go to the Excluded entities tab and restore the entity from there. Learn more About excluded entities from templates.

During the next evaluation, any template that would have created an entity with the same name will adopt the manually created entity under its management.

Entities removed automatically by the system using the "Remove managed entity" Status setting (when items are no longer present in the feed) will be automatically recreated by the Templates system when the feed item returns. Only manually removed entities are blocked from recreation.

How to find removed entities

Apply filters and add reporting columns to identify removed entities.

1. Sign in to your Search Ads 360 account.
2. Navigate to a sub-manager account.
3. In the navigation menu on the left, select Templates and then Excluded entities.
4. Select Add filter. Under the "Attributes" dropdown, select Status. You can filter by Template management status.

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Recreating removed entities and placing manually removed entities under template management

If an entity name exactly matches the output of a template, you can place the manually created entity under template management. Even if you set the entity "unmanaged", as long as the name matches the output of an existing template, the template may create new ads and other items within the unmanaged entity.

Note: If the parent ad group or campaign are associated with a Template and have a Template management Status of "Managed", the template will pause or remove the ad group or campaign as feed data changes.

Recreating manually removed entities at scale

If you need to recreate a large number of manually removed entities, there are some workflows we suggest to simplify the process and reduce errors.

Instructions to locate removed entities

1. Using the "Columns" button, add a column to your view for "Template name" under the "Attributes" dropdown.
   • Optionally, you can also add "Template Management Status" and "Template ID".
2. Download a bulksheet of all the removed campaigns.
3. Change the "Action" column to "Add" in the downloaded report.
4. Remove the values in the "Campaign ID" column.
5. Re-upload the report through bulk upload to recreate the campaigns.

Note: Template generated entities that were manually removed will still have the associated Template name in the Template name column. You can filter by the specific Template name you’re looking for.

Convert manual entities to template management

Note: You can create a template that aligns with an existing entity's name or modify an entity to match a pre-existing template.

To convert manual entities to template management, do the following:

1. Sign in to your Search Ads 360 account.
2. Navigate to a sub-manager account.
3. Set up a template that generates the same name as your manual entities.
4. Activate the templates by clicking Enable on the "Status" icon menu.
5. Wait for Search Ads 360 to evaluate the feed. Existing entities that match your templates are automatically identified.
6. Enable template management for manual entities:
   1. In the left page menu, click Accounts.
   2. Click the Campaigns, Ad groups, RSA, Keyword, or Sitelink options for a page that could contain items generated from a template.
   3. On this page, ensure the column which identifies whether page instances are "Managed" or "Unmanaged" is displayed by doing the following:
      1. Click Columns above the table.
      2. In "Attributes", click Template management status.
   4. To apply template management to "Unmanaged" items, do the following:
      1. Click the check boxes for the "Unmanaged" items for which you want to change the template management status.
      2. In the "Edit menu", click Change template management status.
      3. Select Enable management by templates. The applicable client account types are shown.
      4. Click Apply.