Good evening, I hope you’re all doing well.
I’m new to this group. I haven’t received my Level 1 n8n quiz badge via email.
I would appreciate it if you could help me.
Thank you.
Email address: haidaramahamoud871@gmail.com;
n8n community username: Mahamoud
Hello @Mahamoud_Haidara Both have official “test mode” paths, no real ad spend
needed. here’s what works:
for GA4 — use the google analytics demo account. google
provides two real production properties anyone can connect to
read-only:
- google merchandise store (e-commerce)
- flood-it! mobile game (app analytics)
join here: Demo account - Analytics Help
once joined, it shows up in your GA4 list. use your normal
oauth credential in n8n and the data api works fully — real
dimensions, metrics, date ranges.
for google ads — you mentioned test accounts didn’t work,
which usually means one of these:
- wrong dev token tier — for test MCC you need “test access”
(instant approval). if you applied for basic access, that only
works on real accounts. - you tried converting a real account into test mode — won’t
work. needs a fresh MCC with the test flag set at creation. - the dev token wasn’t linked to the test MCC customer id in
your api headers.
if you can share the exact error you got, i can pinpoint which
one tripped you up.
honest tip though — even when test MCC works, the dummy data is
pretty thin (2-3 fake campaigns, 1 month of metrics). for real
reporting automation testing, the better path is finding a small
business or freelance client running ads and asking for
read-only api access to their account:
- they go to ads.google.com → tools → access & security → users
- add your gmail as read-only
- you can pull their real data via api without touching their
spend
most small businesses agree to this in exchange for a free
monthly report. one real account = 100x more realistic data than
any sandbox.
are you building this for a client or for your own product?
changes which path makes more sense.