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Client access for PPC agencies: Google Ads, Analytics, Tag Manager and Meta in one link

An agency gets access to a client's Google Ads account by linking it to the agency's manager account (MCC): you send a link request, and someone with admin access to the client's account accepts it in Google Ads under Admin, Access and security, Managers.

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The Create link box with Google Ads, Analytics, Tag Manager, a Meta ad account and a dataset switched on.

  • Corner Cycle Works

    Connected
    • Meta ad account
    • Google Ads
    • Google Analytics

  • Harbour Dental

    Connected
    • Facebook Page
    • Google Ads
    • Tag Manager

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

Adcato puts that acceptance into one link the client opens, together with access to Google Analytics, Tag Manager and the client's Meta ad account. Linking does not give your manager account ownership of their account, and the link never asks for it.

Why it is slow without a link

The usual way is a string of separate requests. You ask for the customer ID, send a link request from your manager account and wait for someone with admin access to accept it. Then you ask again for Analytics, again for Tag Manager, and then walk the client through partner access in Meta. The person you talk to is not always the admin, so each request waits for someone else, and you find out only when you chase.

What your client sees

The client opens your link and sees your logo, your agency's name and what you are asking for. They sign in with Google, and with Facebook if you asked for Meta. Dropdowns list the accounts that sign-in can reach, by name and ID. Anything they cannot share stays in the list, grayed out, with the reason beside it. They pick, choose Confirm access, and the box shows what has been given.

Google asks for two sign-ins: one for Google Ads, and one for Analytics and Tag Manager. Google can ask for a passkey before it lets an app connect to Google Ads. A client without a passkey can finish Analytics and Tag Manager the same day and come back to Google Ads on the same link.

What your client sees after signing in with Google.

You connect your manager account once: sign in with Google and pick it from the list, so you never type an ID. When the client picks their Google Ads account in your link and confirms, the link to your manager account is made. They do not have to find the request inside Google Ads.

  • What each person at your agency can do in the client's account then follows that person's role in your manager account.
  • Linking does not give your manager account administrative ownership. Without it, a manager account cannot add new admin users or remove other manager accounts, and the link never asks the client to hand ownership over.
  • Only someone with Admin access to the client's Google Ads account can accept a manager link. If the person who opens your link has less, the box says so, and they can send the same link to someone who has it.
  • On a Google Ads account with more than three administrators, Google applies multi-party approval to user changes and to linking the account to a manager account. Google Ads multi-party approval explains what that means.

Analytics and Tag Manager

  • Google Analytics 4: access is given on the property the client picks, not on the whole Analytics account. Google gives access added at account level to every property in that account, so this keeps the client's other properties closed. The levels are Google's own roles: Viewer, Editor and Administrator.
  • Tag Manager: access is given on the container. Read lets you see tags, triggers and variables. Publish lets you change tags and publish them to the client's site, which is what tag work usually needs; tell the client that this is what it means. Administrator is set on the Tag Manager account and lets you manage users.
  • Google gives this access to a person's Google account, not to a manager account. You choose which Google account receives it when you create the link.

Meta ad accounts and datasets: a guided step and a check

Meta closed the part of its API that shares an ad account with an agency to new apps in 2021. So the box gives the client your business ID to paste, shows the steps on Meta's own screen, and checks with Meta that the access arrived. A pixel, which Meta now calls a dataset, is shared the same way. When Meta asks a second admin of the client's business to approve, the access is not there until that person has.

The step a client finishes on Meta’s own screen, and the check afterward.

Access levels

Each switch in Create link starts at a set level: Manage campaigns for a Meta ad account (create and edit ads and see results, but not payment methods or who has access), Viewer for Analytics and Read for Tag Manager. You can raise or lower each level before you copy the link. A Google Ads manager link carries no level of its own: what each person at your agency can do follows their role in your manager account. The top level, Admin, lets an agency change who else has access; it is grayed out for a new account, with the reason beside it.

What you see

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

If you cancel

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

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.
  • TikTok is not in the link yet; it is next. Search Console, Merchant Center, Microsoft Advertising and LinkedIn ad accounts are, each as a guided step: your client does it on the platform's own screen, and you confirm it. The integrations page lists what a link can ask for today.
  • It does not create a Google Ads account, a manager account or a business portfolio for anyone. Those have to exist first.
  • A scan that shows the client who else has access, and a way to remove a previous agency, are coming. Today the link gives access and nothing else.

Plans and prices are on the home page.

Guides for PPC work

Questions

Do we need a Google Ads manager account?

Yes, for Google Ads. The link connects the client's Google Ads account to your manager account, so you connect yours once. Analytics and Tag Manager do not need one: Google gives that access to a person's Google account.

What if the client is not an admin?

Only a user with Admin access can accept a manager link in Google Ads, and only an Administrator can add users in Analytics. If the person who opens the link has less, the box says what is missing and who can do it, and they can send the same link to that person.

Does the agency get ownership of the client's Google Ads account?

No. Google says linking a manager account does not give it administrative ownership, and the link never asks for it. The client stays the owner of the account.

Is the Meta ad account step automatic?

No. Meta closed that part of its API to new apps in 2021, so the client does it on Meta's own screen. The box gives them your business ID to paste, shows the steps and checks that the access arrived.

Are you approved by Google?

Not yet. Meta and Google review apps like this one, and Adcato has not passed those reviews yet. The access itself is given on Meta and Google, so it stays if you cancel.

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