Google Ads Manager Account (MCC): How I’d Set It Up and What Brands Should Keep

Quick question. If your Google Ads agency stopped answering your emails tomorrow, could you still log in to your own ad account?

I mean open Google Ads, pull up the campaigns your business paid for, and pause an ad yourself. Could you do that without asking anyone outside your company?

If you had to think about it, open Google Ads and check Admin > Access and security. Look at Users first. Then look at Managers. Those two tabs tell you who can get into the account directly, which agencies are connected, and whether any manager has administrative ownership.

That last part is where the Google Ads manager account, or MCC, comes in. I’ll walk you through how I’d set one up, what access I’d give an agency, and what I’d check before taking that access away.

Key takeaways

• An MCC lets you manage multiple Google Ads accounts from one place. Campaigns still live in the individual ad accounts.
• If you have one ad account, your agency can link its MCC to it. Your company can keep direct Admin access without setting up an MCC of its own for that purpose.
• An agency can manage campaigns through a linked MCC without administrative ownership. Ask which specific permission it needs before granting ownership.
• Before you unlink an MCC, check who handles billing and whether your campaigns rely on its conversion tracking, audience lists, or portfolio bid strategies.

What is a Google Ads manager account?

A Google Ads manager account is a separate account you use to manage individual Google Ads accounts or other manager accounts. MCC comes from its old name, My Client Center. You’ll still hear it on calls.

Say you run one store in the US and another in Canada, with a separate Google Ads account for each. An MCC gives you one place to switch between them and compare results. You can edit campaigns from that dashboard, but the campaigns live in the respective US and Canadian ad accounts. The MCC itself doesn’t serve ads.

Do you need your own MCC?

If you have one Google Ads account and one agency, I’d start by linking the agency’s MCC to the account you already have. There’s no need to create another manager account just to give the agency access.

If your team runs separate accounts by brand or market, I’d consider a company-controlled MCC. It gives your team one place to review results and manage the accounts it works in. Google also requires a manager account for monthly invoicing.

How to create a Google Ads manager account

1. Go to the Google Ads manager account page and select Go to Manager Accounts.
2. Sign in with your individual, company-managed Google Account.
3. Name your MCC and tell Google whether you’ll manage your own accounts or other people’s accounts.
4. Choose your country, time zone, and currency.
5. Select Explore your account.

Once the MCC is open, follow the linking steps below using your own MCC in place of the agency’s. Have a direct Admin accept the request in each existing ad account, then check that you can open each account from the MCC.

Take an extra minute on the time zone and currency. Google locks both settings on the manager account, so choose settings that make sense for your team. When you link an existing client account, its billing settings stay in place.

How to link your Google Ads account to an agency’s MCC

1. Send the agency your 10-digit Customer ID. Sharing the ID alone gives the agency no access.
2. The agency opens Accounts > Sub-account settings, clicks the plus button, selects Link existing account, and enters your Customer ID to send the link request.
3. A direct Admin on your side opens Admin > Access and security > Managers and accepts the request. Google also lets you accept through the invitation email.

If the link triggers multi-party approval, another eligible Admin has to approve the change. Google gives eligible Admins 20 days to act on that approval request before it expires.

What access should your agency have?

Here’s where I see people get tripped up. The Users tab is for people invited directly. The Managers tab is for linked MCCs. An agency’s team can get into your account through its MCC even if none of their email addresses appears under Users.

For routine campaign management, I’d start with the agency’s MCC linked without administrative ownership. The agency assigns roles to its staff inside its own MCC. If it asks for ownership, ask what it needs to do. For example, an MCC needs administrative ownership to change who has Admin access to the client account.

After linking, check that the agency appears under Managers and that your company Admins appear under Users.

If you’re inviting someone directly, here’s how I’d use the five roles:

• Admin: For the people responsible for users, manager links, product links, or advertiser verification. I’d keep two active company Admins.
• Standard: For someone who needs to edit campaigns and run reports. Standard users can edit some billing information, so check that scope before assigning it.
• Read-only: For someone reviewing campaigns, performance, or billing without making campaign edits.
• Billing: For someone who needs to work on payments and certain payments-profile details.
• Email-only: For someone who needs notifications or reports by email.

Google breaks out the exact permissions in its access-level guide. For contractors with a fixed end date, you can also set direct user access to expire. Google emails reminders seven days and one day before expiry.

How I’d keep control of the account

Keep two direct company Admins. Give each person their own company-managed login and have both test that they can open the client account directly. If the agency sets up the account for you, make this part of onboarding. I’d rather discover a missing invite on day one than find out the only person who can add a user left six months ago.

Look at the Owner column. Linking an existing account gives the MCC no ownership by default. If an agency creates the account through its MCC, Google automatically makes that MCC the administrative owner. Your client account still owns its data. A direct client Admin can grant ownership to a linked MCC if no manager already owns the account. To remove ownership while keeping the link, an Admin of the owner MCC has to make the change, and the client account needs at least one direct Admin. A direct client Admin can also unlink the owner MCC.

Check billing while everyone is still on speaking terms. Know which business is on the payments profile and who can access it. If you use monthly invoicing, find the paying manager in Billing settings. I’d want finance to know who receives the invoice and who can change the setup before any handoff.

Open Merchant Center and GA4 separately. Your Google Ads login doesn’t tell you who administers the Merchant Center account that holds your product data or the GA4 property you use for reporting. Make sure your team has Admin access in both. If you’re already checking Merchant Center and want to tackle the feed, here’s my Google Shopping feed optimization checklist.

What I’d check before unlinking an agency

Your campaigns and their history stay in the account. Some of the things those campaigns rely on may live in the agency’s MCC, and unlinking can cut off access to them. I’d check these four before hitting Remove access:

• Monthly invoicing. If the departing MCC is the paying manager, set up replacement billing under a manager that will remain linked. Otherwise your ads stop serving when you unlink.
• Conversion tracking. Find out which account owns the conversion actions your campaigns use. An old manager’s cross-account tag stops recording conversions for clicks that happen after unlinking. Set up and verify replacement tracking before the handoff.
• Shared audiences. Check campaigns and ad groups that target or exclude shared remarketing lists. Losing those lists can stop affected campaigns or ad groups from running.
• Portfolio bidding. Move campaigns off any cross-account bid strategy held by the departing MCC. If you leave them on it, they can stop serving until you select a valid replacement strategy.

If you can’t find anyone at your company with direct Admin access, ask the current Admin or the owner MCC to invite a company user before the handoff. Have that person accept and test their access.

Then open Admin > Access and security > Managers in the client account, find the departing agency’s MCC, and choose Remove access. Check Users separately and remove any direct agency logins that should go.

Which MCC features are worth using?

Cross-account conversion tracking is useful when several accounts need to measure the same conversion actions. You can manage the actions centrally. A client account uses its own conversion actions or its manager’s, so check which account owns tracking before switching.

Shared negative keyword lists save time if the same exclusions make sense across several accounts. Create the list in the MCC, then apply it to the relevant campaigns from the client accounts. I’d still check whether an exclusion makes sense for each brand or market before rolling it out.

Cross-account portfolio bidding can group eligible campaigns under one bid strategy. Google supports several cross-account strategies for Search and lists Target ROAS for Shopping. Campaigns in the same portfolio must use the same currency.

For everyday account management, I’d start with labels and cross-account reporting. If all you need is to see how your US and Canadian accounts are doing in one place, that alone can justify setting up the MCC.

Google Ads manager account FAQ

Is a Google Ads manager account free?

There’s no separate fee to create the MCC. Advertising spend is billed through the linked ad accounts’ billing arrangements.

Can multiple manager accounts link to the same Google Ads account?

Yes. An individual ad account can have up to five directly linked manager accounts. Only one manager is designated the owner, and ownership permissions also extend to managers above it in the hierarchy. A manager account can have only one direct parent manager.

Does accepting an MCC link give the agency ownership?

An existing client account has to grant administrative ownership separately. If the agency creates a new Google Ads account through its MCC, Google assigns that MCC administrative ownership automatically.

Do I lose my campaign history if I change agencies?

Your campaign history stays with the account. Before unlinking the old agency, check whether you’ll need to replace its billing setup, conversion tracking, shared audiences, or bid strategies.

Can I run ads directly from an MCC?

You can open a client account through the MCC and build or edit campaigns there. The client account is where the ads run.

Want help with your Google Ads setup?

At Solutions 8, clients retain ownership and access to their accounts. When we set up an account for you, we invite you in with full administrator access. You should be able to open Google Ads and see the work whenever you want.

If you want another set of eyes on how your account is set up or what might need to move before an agency handoff, talk to us about Google Ads management.