Since we are all getting familiar with Google’s new Final URLs at the same time, I thought I’d share a quick lesson learned, which will hopefully save you time as you update and optimize your AdWords accounts.
Before the advent of Final URLs, it used to be that you could click any ad in your AdWords account, and you would automatically go to the landing page, and you would see all the URL parameters. This is no longer true. Now, if you click on ad in your account, you will go to a naked landing page that has zero parameters, and you’ll probably think that you made an error in putting the parameters in your ad.
However, this is actually NOT the case. Now, in order to troubleshoot your Final URLs, instead of clicking the ads in your account, you’ll need to edit the ad, and click “test.” Then, if you get a green go signal like in the screenshot below, you’ll also see a small speech bubble appear. If you hover your mouse over the speech bubble, you’ll see a another popup that reveals a “Click URL.” This is the URL you would want to click in order to get the experience of one of your users clicking an ad.
How To Test That a URL Is Working
How To Click a URL and See What a User Sees
