If someone is going to run your Google Ads campaigns, they need a way in that is not your login. Google built two: you can invite a specific email address as a user on your account, or you can link your account to the agency's manager account. Both take about two minutes, both leave you in control, and both can be undone in one click. Here is how each one works.
Before you start
You need to be signed in to Google Ads with Admin access to the account. If you set the account up, you are the admin. If someone else set it up and you cannot find the Access and security page described below, you are probably not, and the fastest fix is to ask whoever created the account to either run these steps or make you an admin first.
Grab one of these depending on which option you use:
- Option 1 needs the email address of the person or agency you are letting in.
- Option 2 needs your own 10-digit Google Ads customer ID, which sits in the top-right corner of every Google Ads screen in the format 123-456-7890.
Option 1: Invite a user to your Google Ads account
This is the route most businesses use, and the one we ask for. You add one email address to your account at the access level you choose, and that person signs in with their own Google login.
- Go to ads.google.com and sign in. If you manage more than one account, make sure the one you want to share is the one open in the top bar.
- In the left-hand menu, click the Admin icon (the gear near the bottom).
- Choose Access and security. You should land on the Users tab. If you only see a Managers tab, or the page is missing entirely, you do not have admin access to this account.
- Click the blue + button, then enter the email address to invite (the address your agency or teammate gave you).
- Pick an access level. The table in the next section explains the five choices. For an agency that is going to build and run your campaigns, choose Admin.
- Optionally set an access expiration date. Leave it blank for an ongoing engagement; set one if you are granting temporary access for an audit.
- Click Send invitation.
What happens next. Google emails the invitee a link. Once they accept, you get a notification inside Google Ads and their address shows up on the Users tab with the level you set. If you typed the address wrong or change your mind before they accept, the pending invitation sits on the same Users tab with a Revoke action next to it.
One detail that catches people: the invited address has to belong to a Google account. Gmail and Google Workspace addresses already are. If the address is something else, Google walks the invitee through attaching it to a Google account when they accept, so it still works, it just takes them an extra minute.
Which access level should you choose?
Google Ads has five roles. They are cumulative in a loose sense, with Admin at the top, but Billing is its own lane for finance people who never need to touch a campaign.
| Level | Can do | Cannot do |
|---|---|---|
| Admin | Everything: edit campaigns, edit billing, invite and remove users, change access levels, link products (Analytics, Merchant Center, YouTube), accept or reject manager-account link requests, complete advertiser verification. | Nothing is off limits. Google recommends every account keep at least two admins. |
| Standard | Edit campaigns, create conversions from Google Analytics events, view billing and run billing reports. | Edit billing details, manage users, or link and unlink products and manager accounts. |
| Read only | View campaigns, use the planning tools, run reports, see billing, see who has access. | Change anything. |
| Billing | Edit billing details and the payments profile, make payments, add funds. | See or edit campaigns, or manage users. |
| Email only | Receive notification emails and scheduled reports. | Sign in to the account at all. |
Our recommendation for an agency: Admin. Day-to-day campaign work fits inside Standard, but the setup that makes paid traffic measurable does not. Linking Google Analytics, connecting Search Console, importing conversions, wiring Tag Manager, adding a second teammate, and accepting a manager-account link are all admin-only. With Standard access, every one of those becomes a "can you log in and click this for us" email, which is exactly the friction you hired an agency to remove.
If company policy caps outside vendors at Standard, that still works. Just expect the first two weeks to include a short list of admin-only tasks for someone on your side to complete.
Option 2: Link your account to an agency manager account
Agencies that run many accounts use a Google Ads manager account (you may hear the older name, MCC, for My Client Center). Instead of adding a person, you link your account to theirs, and their whole team gets access through it. You do not need a manager account of your own for this.
Your part: share your customer ID
Sign in to Google Ads and look in the top-right corner. The 10-digit number next to your account name, formatted like 123-456-7890, is your customer ID. Send that number to the agency. It is not a secret and it is not a password; on its own it grants nothing.
The agency's part: send the link request
From their manager account they open Accounts, then Sub-account settings, click the + button, choose Link existing account, enter your customer ID, and send the request.
Your part again: accept it
- You will get an email from Google about the link request. You can accept from that email, or from inside the account as follows.
- In Google Ads, click the Admin icon, then Access and security.
- Open the Managers tab. Pending requests are listed under Link request.
- In the Actions column, click Accept.
Only an admin on your account can accept a link request, which is one more reason the admin role matters for whoever is coordinating with the agency.
How to remove a manager or user
Access is as easy to take away as it is to grant, which is the whole point of doing it this way instead of sharing a login.
- Click the Admin icon, then Access and security.
- On the Users tab, find the person and click Remove access in the Actions column.
- For a linked agency, switch to the Managers tab and use the same Actions column to unlink the manager account.
Two habits worth building around this: add "remove from Google Ads" to your offboarding checklist for anyone who leaves the company, and look at the Users and Managers tabs every six months. Old contractors and former agencies keeping quiet access is one of the most common things we find in a new account.
How to see what a manager is doing
Everything anyone changes in your account is logged. Click the Campaigns icon and open Change history to see who did what and when, filterable by user and by date. If you are new to working with an agency, it is a reasonable thing to glance at in the first month. It is also how a good agency shows its work.
Common questions
Does this give them my password?
No. Invited users and linked managers sign in with their own Google credentials. Your login never leaves your hands, and you can revoke their access in one click.
Can an agency with Admin access change my payment method?
Admin and Billing roles can edit billing. Standard and Read-only can see billing but not change it. If that matters to you, say so up front; any agency worth hiring will be fine committing in writing to never touch billing without your say-so, regardless of what the role technically allows.
Should I invite a person or link a manager account?
If the agency gave you an email address, invite it (Option 1). If they gave you a manager account ID or asked for your customer ID, link (Option 2). Both are common, and some agencies use both: a link for their team plus a named admin for the person you talk to.
I sent the invitation to the wrong address. Now what?
On the Users tab, the pending invitation has a Revoke action. Revoke it and send a fresh one.
