Articles on: Dynamic Number Insertion (DNI)

DNI: testing visits (Google Ads, direct, organic)

Before going live, it's worth testing that your swap groups behave correctly for each traffic source you're tracking.

Because Nimbata only swaps a number when the session matches the source assigned to a swap group, you need to simulate each source type to verify it independently.

How to test a Google Ads visit

Nimbata detects paid search sessions by reading the gclid parameter that Google appends to ad click URLs when auto-tagging is enabled.

To simulate this without clicking a real ad:

Open a new browser tab.
Navigate to your website URL and append ?gclid=test
E.g.: https://www.yoursite.com/?gclid=test
The number assigned to your Google Ads swap group should replace your regular number on the page.

If this works but real Google Ads clicks don't swap, the issue is likely that gclid is being stripped by a redirect. See the troubleshooting checklist for details.

If auto-tagging is disabled in Google Ads, gclid will never be appended to real ad clicks.
Go to Google Ads > Admin > Account settings > Auto-tagging.
Make sure the checkbox is enabled.

How to test a direct visit

A direct session is one with no referrer and no UTM parameters; a visitor who typed your URL or used a bookmark.

Open a new incognito or private window (this clears any existing session cookies).
Navigate directly to your website URL with no parameters.
The number assigned to your Direct swap group should appear.

Use incognito to avoid your own existing session cookie being picked up, which could cause Nimbata to show a number from a previous visit rather than a fresh direct session.

How to test an organic visit

An organic session arrives from a search engine with a referrer header but no paid click identifier.

Open a new incognito or private window.
Go to Google (or another search engine) and search for your business by name.
Click through to your site from the organic search results.
The number assigned to your Organic swap group should appear.

Alternatively, you can simulate the referrer manually by navigating from https://www.google.com to your site in the same browser tab, which passes Google as the referrer.

How to test a custom UTM source

If you have a swap group assigned to a custom parameter source (e.g. a specific campaign):

Open a new incognito window.
Navigate to your website URL with the UTM parameters that match your swap group configuration; e.g.: https://www.yoursite.com/?utm_source=facebook_ads&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=spring-promo
The number assigned to that swap group should appear.

Confirming visits in Nimbata

After each test visit, check Analytics > Visit Stats to confirm Nimbata recorded the session under the correct channel.

The Visitors row should increment for the channel you just tested.

Troubleshooting: DNI: troubleshooting checklist (numbers not swapping)

Detailed guide: DNI script 101: how to install and configure it

Detailed guide: How to set up swap groups

Updated on: 03/04/2026

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