Back to top

    Bug with Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool showing ad scores and more data

    The Google ad diagnosis tool is currently down after showing data it should not have been showing. Google is investigating the issue.

    It looks like the Google Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool accessible over here has a bug where some people are able to see data for specific ads, apparently from the Google auction process. For those experiencing the issue, the tool shows the ad and then shows the formats available, the ad score, the bid ECPM, Fmt ECPM, the number of rejections and potentially more — for all of the ads (regardless of advertiser) on the simulated search results page.

    Screenshot. We have received multiple screenshots from readers but @SulekshVS shared a screenshot publicly on Twitter:

    DzbzDeIU0AEZov0

    Tool is currently down. Now when I try to access the tool, the tool returns a sorry message saying “We’re sorry…”. Here is a screenshot of that message:

    Google Ad Tool Bug

    The data. I am not exactly sure what all the data points mean in this layout but I know it should not be shown there. You can all speculate or take educated guesses on what the data means.

    Google is aware. Google did respond about the concern on Twitter saying they will investigate the issue:

    Why should you care? The bug impacts the usability of this tool and advertisers may be justifiably concerned when data about their campaigns is shown somewhere it shouldn’t be displayed.

    Update from Google. Google fixed the issue Friday and posted this tweet:


    Search Engine Land is owned by Semrush. We remain committed to providing high-quality coverage of marketing topics. Unless otherwise noted, this page’s content was written by either an employee or a paid contractor of Semrush Inc.


    About the Author

    Barry Schwartz
    Barry Schwartz is a technologist and a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics.

    In 2019, Barry was awarded the Outstanding Community Services Award from Search Engine Land, in 2018 he was awarded the US Search Awards the "US Search Personality Of The Year," you can learn more over here and in 2023 he was listed as a top 50 most influential PPCer by Marketing O'Clock.

    Barry can be followed on X here and you can learn more about Barry Schwartz over here or on his personal site.