Test accounts let you try out new API implementations or account configurations
prior to implementing the changes in your production environment.
While production accounts serve ads that require billing and are rendered to
users, test accounts appear in the Google Ads UI as cancelled accounts since there
is no active billing and they don't render ads to users.
Because test and production accounts cannot interact in any way, you cannot use
a test account under your existing production manager account. To use test
accounts, you need a new account hierarchy, with a test manager account as the
root.
Why use test accounts?
Test accounts don't affect your live ads or charge your account, hence they're a
useful way to experiment with the API. Test accounts provide extra benefits
during active development. Particularly, test accounts:
- Can be set up in a hierarchy and organized just like production accounts.
- Can be viewed and manipulated in the Google Ads UI, just like production
accounts.
- Don't require an approved developer token, so you can start experimenting
with the API immediately, even before your application is reviewed or
approved.
- Can't serve ads or interact with your production accounts in any way. This
gives you a safe environment to test code or configuration changes without
impacting your serving accounts.
- Have the same restrictions, including
rate
limits
, as production accounts.
Since test accounts don't have budgets, you might see an error when creating a
test sub-account in a manager account. You can safely ignore this error.
Create test accounts and campaigns
The following instructions create a test manager account, a test client account,
and a few campaigns to populate the test client account. Note that "client" here
refers to a Google Ads client account, not your client app.
Click the blue button to create a test manager account. If prompted, sign
in with a
Google Account
that isn't
linked to your production
Google Ads manager account
.
There is also a link to create a new Google Account if you need to do so.
Create a test manager account
While in your test manager account, create a test client account:
Click
Accounts >
add_circle
>
Create new account
and fill out the form. Any client accounts you
create from your test manager account are automatically test accounts.
Create a few test
campaigns
under the test client account from the Google Ads
page.
Take note of the
client customer ID
for the new test client account, and
save it so you can make API calls later.
View test accounts
To view test accounts in the UI, you can
unhide the accounts
by
choosing to view cancelled accounts.
Test accounts appear with a red label:
If you don't see the red
Test account
label on your Google Ads account page,
then the account is a production account.
Limitations
Test accounts are a great option for testing changes before deploying them to
production, or developing your application while your developer token has
test account access
. However, there are
some limitations to keep in mind.
- Because test accounts can't serve ads or interact with your production
accounts in any way, serving metrics -- like impressions, conversions, or
cost data -- are empty.
- Some features cannot be tested with test accounts. This includes bid
simulations, conversion uploads, and billing. Other features, including
recommendations, have limited capabilities within test accounts because
test accounts don't generate serving data.
- Test manager account hierarchies can contain
up to 50
test accounts.
Take a look at the
Testing Best Practices
page for guidance on working around these limitations.