Client onboarding access checklist for agencies (Meta and Google)

Before the kickoff call, find out who at the client is an admin on each account, and collect the IDs you will need: your own Meta business portfolio ID to give them, and their Google Ads customer ID. Then ask for the least access that lets you do the work, one account at a time, and check on your side that each one has arrived before you start. This page lists what to ask for on Meta and Google, who at the client can give it, and where to check.

This is the overview. Each line links to a step-by-step guide for that task.

Before the first call

If the person you talk to is not an admin, they cannot give access. Ask for names first.

Ask the client to find:

• Who has full control of their Meta business portfolio (formerly Business Manager; the glossary lists the renamed terms). Meta now also calls this full access. Only these people can share assets with an agency.
• The names of their Facebook Page, Instagram account, ad account and dataset (formerly pixel), so you can check later that the right ones were shared.
• Their Google Ads customer ID. It is shown in the top right corner of their Google Ads account. See how to find the customer ID.
• Who is an admin on their Google Ads, Google Analytics, Tag Manager, Search Console and Merchant Center.

Send them:

• Your business portfolio ID. Meta shows it under Settings > Business portfolio info. The client needs it to share assets with you. See how to find the business portfolio ID.
• The Google account email address each of your people will use for Analytics, Tag Manager, Search Console and Merchant Center. It does not have to be a Gmail address; see using a work email for Google access.
• Your manager account name, if you use one for Google Ads, so the client can recognize your link request. See how to create a manager account.

Meta

On Meta, the client shares assets with your business portfolio as a partner. Meta's partner article says only people with full control of the client's business portfolio can do it, that you need a business portfolio of your own, and that another person with full control may have to approve. For each asset the client chooses full control or partial access, which Meta describes as permission for specific tasks such as creating content, managing ads and responding to messages.

What to ask for, and the guide for each:

• Partner access to the business portfolio's assets. The overall flow. Guide: give an agency access in a Meta business portfolio.
• Facebook Page. Ask for partial access with the tasks you need: managing ads if you only advertise, and creating content and responding to messages too if you run the Page. Guide: Facebook Page.
• Instagram account. Same idea as the Page. Guide: Instagram.
• Ad account. Ask for partial access to manage ads, not full control. Guide: Meta ad account.
• Dataset (pixel). Meta names a Meta Pixel as one of the things a client may need your business portfolio ID to share. Guide: share a dataset or pixel.

If you would rather send the request from your side, see requesting access to a client's Meta assets. If the client wants to make sure a request really comes from you, send them how to check an agency access request. If Meta shows an error while the client shares, see Meta sharing errors. If the client sells products through a Meta catalog, see catalog access. If you will handle the leads from the client's lead ads, see leads access.

If a Page or Instagram account is not in the client's business portfolio yet, see adding a Page and connecting Instagram. If the client cannot find your request, see a Meta invitation not showing. If an old agency's portfolio still owns an asset, see getting assets out of an agency's portfolio.

Meta also asks that two-factor authentication is turned on for the business portfolio. If the client has not done it, that is a step to add; see two-factor authentication in a business portfolio.

Google

Google has no single partner screen. Each product has its own access list.

• Google Ads. If you have a manager account (MCC), send a link request with the client's customer ID; an admin on their account accepts it. Without a manager account, the client invites your person by email with the Standard level. Guides: manager link (agency side) and Google Ads access (client side).
• Google Analytics 4. The client adds your Google account on the property, not the account, because Google says account-level access opens every property. Ask for Viewer or Analyst for reporting, Marketer or Editor for setup. Guide: GA4. If the client's property sits in another agency's Analytics account, see moving a GA4 property.
• Tag Manager. Account permission User, container permission Publish on the one container you work on. Guide: Tag Manager.
• Search Console. An owner adds you as a Full or Restricted user. Only owners can. Guide: Search Console.
• Merchant Center. An admin adds your person with Standard access, or approves your request if you use Merchant Center for Agencies, which Google says is available on a limited basis. Guide: Merchant Center.

On Google Ads accounts with more than three admins, Google now asks a second admin to approve new users and manager links, and the request expires after 20 days. Ask early how many admins the client has. See the multi-party approval guide.

If an invitation or a link request does not arrive, see Google invitation not working. If Google asks the client for a passkey first, see Google Ads passkeys.

Other platforms

For other platforms, each guide below covers one platform's own way of sharing:

• Google Business Profile
• LinkedIn Page
• LinkedIn ad account in Campaign Manager
• TikTok ad account in Business Center
• TikTok post as an ad, with a Spark Ads code
• Shopify store, as a collaborator
• YouTube channel
• Microsoft Advertising account, through a link request
• Klaviyo account

Who at the client can give each item

If your contact cannot do a step, this is the person to ask for:

• Meta business portfolio assets: someone with full control of the business portfolio.
• Google Ads: someone with Admin access on the account. Standard users cannot accept manager links or give access.
• Google Analytics 4: someone with the Administrator role on the account or the property.
• Tag Manager: someone with the Administrator account permission.
• Search Console: an owner of the property.
• Merchant Center: an Admin.

Check that access arrived

Do not start work on an assumption. Check each item from your side:

• Meta: the shared assets appear in Settings of your own business portfolio. Meta says both sides can see them there. Check the level for each.
• Google Ads (manager link): the client's account appears in your manager account. Google sends you a confirmation email when the client accepts.
• Google Ads (invitation): your person accepts Google's email, then signs in.
• Google Analytics 4: sign in with the Google account the client added and open the property. If you cannot see it, ask the client to look under Admin > Access Management.
• Tag Manager: your person accepts on the Invitations card on Tag Manager's Accounts screen.
• Search Console: sign in with the added Google account and open the property.
• Merchant Center: your person accepts Google's email; until then the client sees them as pending.

Keep a record

For each client, write down what was given, at what level, by whom at the client and on which date. When something stops working, or when the work ends, this record tells you what to check and what to give back. It also helps the client: they can see exactly who has access to what, and check it against who has access to their Facebook Page.

Ask for less than admin

Meta's own advice is that giving people only the permissions they need helps keep business portfolios more secure. The same applies on Google. Partial access in Meta, Standard in Google Ads, Publish on one Tag Manager container and a property role in Analytics cover the work. Leave admin rights, and the power to add or remove people, with the client. The guide to access levels lists the working level for each account in each platform's own words.

It also makes the end of the work simpler. When you give the accounts back, there is less to undo. The guide on removing an old agency's access covers that side, and the client offboarding checklist covers yours.

Doing it with an access link

Our access link covers most of this checklist. One link can ask for a client's Facebook Pages, Instagram accounts, Meta ad accounts and pixels, Google Ads (through your manager account), Google Analytics 4 and Tag Manager, each with the access level you set. The client signs in with Facebook and Google, picks their accounts from lists and confirms. The Meta ad account and the pixel take one more step on Meta's own screen, which the link shows and then checks. Search Console, Merchant Center, Business Profile, YouTube, LinkedIn, Microsoft Advertising and Klaviyo are guided too: the link shows the steps beside the platform's own screen, and the agency confirms the access once it can see it. The integrations page lists everything a link can ask for.