Skip to content
Adcato
Log inStart free

Client access for freelance marketers: one link instead of a screen-share

As a freelancer you get access to a client's ad accounts the same way an agency does: Meta shares the client's ad account, Page and Instagram account with your business portfolio, and Google links the client's Google Ads account to your manager account.

Start free

Demo link. Facebook and Google are simulated, no real accounts are used.

Northlight Digital would like access to your Meta and Google accounts

Access goes to

  • MetaNorthlight Digital330099887766001
  • Google AdsNorthlight Digital MCC998-877-6655
  • Google Analyticsaccess@northlight.example

  1. Connect(current step)
  2. Select accounts(not started)
  3. Connected(not started)

Sign in with the Facebook profile that manages your business. You pick what to share in the next step.

By continuing you agree to the terms and the privacy notice.

  • Corner Cycle Works

    Connected
    • Meta ad account
    • Google Ads
    • Google Analytics

Everything shown on this page is example data. The agency, the businesses and the people are made up.

Set up those two first. Then you can send one Adcato link, and the client, or whoever their admin is, picks their accounts and confirms.

What you need first

  • A business portfolio of your own (formerly Business Manager). Meta shares a client's assets with a business, so you need one to receive them. You create it in Meta Business Suite. How to find your Meta business portfolio ID shows where its ID is.
  • A Google Ads manager account (MCC), if you run Google Ads for clients. You create it on Google's manager account page: name it, say that it will manage other people's accounts, and pick a country, time zone and currency. It counts toward Google's limit of 20 Google Ads accounts per email address. How to link a client's Google Ads account to your manager account covers the rest.
  • For Analytics and Tag Manager, your own Google account is enough. Google gives that access to a person's Google account, not to a manager account.

You connect the business portfolio and the manager account once, by signing in with Facebook and Google and picking them from a list. You never type an ID.

The Meta box on Connections, after signing in.

Send one link instead of booking a call

Without a link, getting access often means a call where you share your screen and talk the client through Meta's settings, then the same again for Google. With a link you switch on what you need, set the level for each, copy the link and send it by email or message.

The client opens it, signs in with Facebook and Google, and sees their own Pages, ad accounts and properties in dropdowns. A Meta ad account takes one more step on Meta's own screen: the box gives them your business ID to paste, shows the steps and checks that the access arrived. Meta closed that part of its API to new apps in 2021.

The Create link box.

When your client is not the admin

Small businesses often have someone else as the admin: a partner, a web developer or a previous agency. If the person who opens your link cannot share an account, the box says why and who can, and they send the same link to that person. That person does only the part that needs them, and what was done before stays.

The card a client sees under an ad account they are not an admin of.

What the client sees, and what you see

The client sees your logo and the color you pick on the main button. Our name is there once, small, at the bottom of the box. The link can run on your own domain, and the client's screen is in English and Norwegian.

You see on your dashboard where each client stands: what has been given and what is still waiting. Your choices are saved as a template, so the next client's link starts from the same switches.

When you do not need a link

If a client is already an admin, knows their way around Meta's settings and you need one thing, Meta's or Google's own screen is enough. Access link or Meta and Google's own screens goes through when each one makes sense.

What the link does not do yet

  • Adcato is not yet approved by Meta or Google, and sign-up is by invitation while the product is in preview. Until Meta and Google approve the app, it works with simulated and test accounts only, as the security page says.
  • Not every platform is in the link. Outside Meta and Google it covers LinkedIn, Microsoft Advertising, Klaviyo and App Store Connect, each as a guided step: your client does it on the platform's own screen, and you confirm it. TikTok, Shopify, HubSpot, WordPress and Meta catalogs are next. The integrations page lists what a link can ask for today.
  • It does not create a business portfolio, an ad account or a manager account for you or your client.
  • A scan that shows the client who else has access, and a way to remove a previous agency, are coming.

Plans and prices are on the home page.

Guides

Questions

I have no Google Ads manager account. Can I still use it?

For Facebook Pages, Instagram, Meta ad accounts, Analytics and Tag Manager, yes. For Google Ads the link connects the client's account to your manager account, so create one first; Google's help explains the steps.

Do I need a business portfolio of my own?

Yes, for Meta. Partner access is given to a business portfolio, so you connect yours once and the link knows where access should go. You never type its ID.

What if my client has no business portfolio?

Then there is nothing for Meta to share yet. The box tells the client so: they create one in Meta Business Suite, add their Page and ad account to it, and open the same link again.

What if my client is not the admin?

The box says why they cannot share and who can. The client sends the same link to that person, who does only the part that needs them.

Do I keep access if I stop paying?

Yes. The access is given on Meta and Google, not held by Adcato, so it stays there if you cancel.

Checked against