Google AdWords Offers Free Conversion Verification

In today’s In The Trenches article on Search Engine Land, Josh Dreller noted that the Google Conversion Tracking tool now allows advertisers to track up to 30 unique conversion events, up from a mere 5 events. We’re pretty excited about that much needed improvement, as well as this one: Google AdWords now allows advertisers to test their conversion tracking without clicking on their own ads!

Google has always had the irritating habit of charging advertisers to test conversion tracking, and I assume that the reason they continued this practice for so long is because it’s accounted for an extra bit of pocket change. Google’s previous suggestion on conversion verification was either

…waiting for a conversion to occur or completing a test conversion yourself.

While Google suggests you wait, as it won’t cost you a click, I think most advertisers prefer to pay the nickel rather than risk running a campaign for hours or even days, only to find that the conversion tracking was setup incorrectly.

With the new system in place, all you have to do is follow these new steps after adding the conversion tracking code.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3