Quick answer: Google Ads account ownership should sit with your business. Give your marketer manager-account access so you keep the data if you part ways.
A Google Ads account builds up value over time: conversion history that Smart Bidding learns from, keyword and search term data, audiences and quality history. If that account belongs to your marketer, it can disappear the day you part ways.
What you should own
Under a Google account controlled by your business (ideally an address on your own domain, like admin@yourbusiness.com.au, not a staff member’s personal Gmail):
- Google Ads account, with your payment method
- Google Analytics 4 property
- Google Tag Manager container
- Google Business Profile
- Google Search Console property
- Google Merchant Center, if you sell products
How marketers should get access
Google Ads
Your marketer links your account to their manager account (MCC). You approve the link request in your account under Admin → Access and security → Managers. They can then manage campaigns, but you remain the owner. To end the relationship, you remove the link.
Alternatively, add them as a user with Standard access under Admin → Access and security → Users.
Analytics, Tag Manager, Search Console and Business Profile
Add the marketer’s email as a user with the access level they need (Editor or Manager for most work), not Administrator or Owner unless there’s a good reason.
Warning signs
- The marketer created the account “for you” and you’ve never logged in
- Invoices for ad spend come from the marketer, not Google, and you can’t see the actual spend
- You don’t have admin access, or they’re the only admin
- They say the account “belongs to the agency” or includes proprietary setup you can’t keep
Some agencies do run ads in their own accounts and bill you. If that’s the case, agree in writing before you start that the account (or at least the data) transfers to you if you leave. Many don’t allow that, which is why owning the account from day one matters.
If you don’t own your account now
- Ask for admin access or ownership. Google Ads accounts can’t be transferred between Google accounts directly, but your Google account can be added as an admin, and the marketer can then remove themselves.
- For Analytics and Tag Manager, ask to be made an administrator, then remove theirs when you part ways.
- For Business Profile, request ownership through Google if the current owner won’t respond.
- If they refuse, set up new accounts in your name. You lose history, but you’ll own everything from then on.
The same principles apply to Meta. See who should own your Facebook ad account.
Sources and further reading
Written by Gregory
20 years building websites and running lead generation, mostly with my own money on the line. Based in Sydney, working with clients worldwide. How I work →