Tracking & Conversion Checker

Ads cost money, and every conversion that is not measured makes your campaigns look worse than they are. The check opens your page like a visitor who has just clicked an ad, accepts the cookie banner and shows whether Google Ads, Google Analytics, LinkedIn, Meta, Microsoft Ads and TikTok measure correctly.

We load the page in two real browsers and click “accept all” once and “essential only” once in the cookie banner. This takes 30 to 50 seconds.

How to read the result

We open your page with test click IDs, just as after a click on an ad. First we measure without consent, then we click “accept all” in the cookie banner and measure again. In parallel we click “essential only” in a second browser and measure what is still sent. The comparison shows what is measured too early, too late or not at all.

OK
This point is implemented correctly.
Review
Not an acute error, but room for improvement.
Problem
Likely has a negative effect and should be fixed.
Info
For information, without rating.

01
Which tags are installed
Google Ads, Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Manager, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Meta Pixel, Microsoft Ads, TikTok, Pinterest Tag, Microsoft Clarity and Matomo, each with its ID. For every platform you see whether it sends data before and after consent.
02
Red: tracking before consent
If a tag sends data before visitors have agreed, that is a privacy problem. Cookieless signals via the Consent Mode of Google and Microsoft are shown separately.
03
After “essential only”
If conversion or analytics tags still send data with cookies after rejecting, or the gclid still ends up in a cookie, this is red. If Google or Microsoft only report “denied” without cookies (Consent Mode, advanced variant), we show it as a note with an explanation.
04
Red: no tracking after consent
The tag is installed but sends nothing even after “accept all”. Or the banner does not pass consent on to Google. Both cost you conversions and audiences without anything showing up in your ad account.
05
Consent Mode v2
From the requests to Google we read whether all four signals are set (ad_storage, analytics_storage, ad_user_data, ad_personalization) and whether the default before the click is correctly “denied”.
06
Click IDs from ads
Google Ads, Meta and Microsoft add an ID to the address on every click (gclid, fbclid, msclkid). We check whether it survives a redirect and is stored in a cookie after consent. Without it, no conversion can be attributed to the ad. This is only red if advertising tags are installed on the page, otherwise it is a note. Ideally, test the address your ads lead to.
07
Double counting and conversions
We detect tags installed twice, old Universal Analytics and server-side tagging. Enter the address of your thank-you page to see which conversion events are sent to the platforms there.

Why clean tracking is worth real money

Google Ads, LinkedIn and Meta steer your ads by the conversions reported back to them. If part of them is missing, the platform bids too low for good audiences, pauses ads that work and reports worse figures than your campaigns actually deliver.

The most common causes are mundane: a redirect that removes the gclid from the address, a cookie banner that does not pass consent on to Google, a tag in the wrong category or a Consent Mode without the new version 2 signals. Your ad account shows none of this, only fewer conversions.

At the same time, tracking has to be legally sound. Advertising and analytics tags may only send data after consent. The check covers both in one run: whether anything is measured too early and whether everything arrives after consent.

From the outside we cannot see everything. We do not submit forms, we do not look into your ad account, and data your server sends directly to the platforms is invisible. For a first, honest assessment the check is usually enough.

Frequently asked questions about the tracking checker

Does the check distort my statistics?

The check counts as a single visit. The test click IDs are invalid and are discarded by Google, Meta and Microsoft, so there are no false conversions and no costs. A single visit with an unknown campaign may appear in Google Analytics.

What is Consent Mode v2?

A Google mechanism through which your cookie banner tells the Google tags what visitors have consented to. Since March 2024 Google requires it for ads in the European Economic Area. Version 2 adds the signals ad_user_data and ad_personalization. Without them, remarketing lists and part of the conversions are lost.

What does “cookieless” before consent mean?

With advanced Consent Mode, Google and Microsoft send signals before consent but store nothing on the visitor’s device. Google uses them to model missing conversions. Whether this is permitted without consent is assessed differently across the EU. We therefore show it without counting it as an error.

Why is the gclid so important?

The gclid identifies an ad click. Only if it reaches your page and is stored in a cookie can Google Ads attribute a later enquiry or purchase to that ad. If it is lost in a redirect, Google Ads counts not a single conversion from that page.

Our cookie banner was not recognised. What now?

We know the common consent tools such as Cookiebot, Usercentrics, OneTrust, Borlabs, Complianz, CookieYes and Real Cookie Banner and also look for buttons like “accept all”. With very custom banners this can fail. The result then only shows the state without consent.

Does the check cover Enhanced Conversions or the Conversions API?

No. Both run on hashed data or directly from your server to the platform and cannot be seen from outside. Your ad account shows whether they are active. We are happy to check that together with you.