How to Give Your Agency Access to Google Ads, Analytics and Meta Ads

The short answer: you give an agency access to Google Ads, Google Analytics 4, Search Console, Tag Manager, Meta ads and Microsoft Advertising by inviting them as a user (or accepting their agency link request) from inside each account. You never share a password. Choose the lowest access level that lets them do the work, keep yourself as the owner or top admin, and remove them when the project ends. Each section below walks through the current steps and links to the platform’s own help page.

Ads and analytics accounts are where your money and your data live, so they deserve extra care. This guide is part of our series on how to give your agency access without sharing passwords, and it is the same process we ask our own clients at Ambition Business Solutions to follow.

Before you start: a quick checklist

• Make sure you can log in to each account yourself as the owner or an admin. Only top-level users can invite others.
• Turn on two-step verification on your own Google, Facebook and Microsoft logins.
• Ask your agency which accounts they need and what they plan to do in each (run ads, read reports, install tracking).
• Enter the email address your agency gives you. For Google products it must be a Google Account.
• Find your account IDs (Google Ads customer ID, Microsoft Advertising account number). Agencies often ask for these to send a link request.
• Write down what you granted and when, so you know what to remove later.

How do I give an agency access to Google Ads?

Either invite the person as a user, or accept a link request from your agency’s manager account. Most agencies prefer the manager link because it lets them work in all their clients’ accounts from one login, while you keep your own account and billing. Standard access is enough for most agencies: it lets them edit campaigns, while Admin can also manage users and account links.

To invite a user:

1. Sign in to Google Ads and open the Admin menu.
2. Select Access and security.
3. Click the plus button.
4. Enter the email address your agency gives you and choose an access level (Email-only, Billing, Read-only, Standard or Admin).
5. Click Send invitation. You can revoke a pending invitation from the same page.

To accept an agency manager account link instead, go to Admin, then Access and security, open the Managers tab, and choose Accept next to the link request. Google notes that an account with only one admin can lose access to important settings if that person becomes unavailable, so keep at least one admin inside your business.

Official help: Manage access to your Google Ads account

How do I add a user to Google Analytics 4?

Add them in Access Management, at the account or property level. Editor is the right role for an agency that needs to set up events, conversions (now called key events) and settings, while Administrator also lets them add and remove users. If someone only needs to read reports, Viewer or Analyst is enough.

1. Sign in to Google Analytics and click Admin.
2. Under Account or Property, click Access Management. Property level is usually enough.
3. Click the + button, then Add users.
4. Enter the email address your agency gives you. It must be a Google Account.
5. Choose a role: Administrator, Editor, Marketer, Analyst or Viewer.
6. Click Add.

You need the Administrator role yourself to add users. Once your agency is in, they can also show you how much traffic arrives from AI tools, which we explain in how to tell if AI is sending you customers.

Official help: Add, edit, and delete Analytics users and user groups

How do I add a user to Google Search Console?

Add them as a Full user from the property’s settings. A Full user can see all the data and use most tools, while an Owner can also add and remove people and change settings, so your agency rarely needs to be an owner. A Restricted user can only view most data.

1. Open your property in Search Console.
2. Go to Settings, then Users and permissions. You only see this page if you are an owner.
3. Click Add user.
4. Enter the email address your agency gives you. It must be a Google Account, not an email group.
5. Choose Full or Restricted.
6. Save the new user.

Every property must keep at least one verified owner. Make sure that is you.

Official help: Managing owners, users, and permissions

How do I add a user to Google Tag Manager?

Add them in User Management with the account permission set to User and container permission set to what the job needs. Tag Manager has two layers: account permissions (User or Administrator) and container permissions (No access, Read, Edit, Approve or Publish). An agency installing tracking usually needs Publish on your website’s container but only User at the account level.

1. Sign in to Tag Manager and click Admin.
2. In the Account column, select User Management.
3. Click the plus icon, then Add users.
4. Enter the email address your agency gives you. Only Google Accounts can be added.
5. Leave the account permission as User unless they need to create containers or manage users.
6. Set the container permission for your website’s container (for example, Publish).
7. Click Invite. They accept the invitation inside Tag Manager.

Official help: Managing users and permissions

How do I give an agency access to Meta ads?

Share your ad account with your agency as a partner in your Meta business portfolio. Partner access lets the agency work through its own business portfolio, so you never add their staff one by one and you never hand over your Facebook login. Choose partial access with ad management tasks rather than full control unless they truly need it.

1. Ask your agency for their business portfolio ID. It is a number they find in their own settings.
2. Open Meta Business Suite and go to Settings for your business portfolio. Older accounts may still call this Business settings or Business Manager.
3. Under Users, select Partners. You only see this option if you have full control of the portfolio.
4. Click Add and choose the option to give a partner access to your assets.
5. Enter the partner’s business portfolio ID.
6. Select your ad account (and your Page or Instagram account if they need them), then choose the access level for each.
7. Confirm. Another person with full control may need to approve the request before it goes through.

Meta recommends turning on two-factor authentication before you start. A partner with full control can manage an asset but cannot share it with anyone else; only your business can do that. Menu names in Meta change often, so if a label looks different, look for Partners under Users.

Official help: Give a partner access to business assets in your business portfolio

How do I give an agency access to Microsoft Advertising?

Give your agency your account number and accept the link request they send. Microsoft recommends this formal agency link over adding the agency as a regular user. You can still sign in at any time to view or edit your campaigns, and you choose whether you keep paying Microsoft directly or the agency pays and bills you.

1. Find your account number: select Tools, then All accounts, and look in the Account name column. Send it to your agency.
2. Tell the agency who should pay for ads before they send the request.
3. When the request email arrives, sign in and select Tools, then All accounts.
4. Select Accounts Summary, open the Requests tab, then Received.
5. Under Actions, choose Accept request. Only a Super Admin can accept, and requests expire after 30 days.

Microsoft also advises creating the account yourself rather than letting an agency create it under their manager account, because an account created that way cannot later be unlinked from that agency. To end the relationship, hover over Settings, select Direct managers and choose Unlink.

Official help: How to have an agency manage your Microsoft Advertising account

Common mistakes to avoid

• Letting the agency own the account. If an agency creates your ad account under its own login, you may lose your history and data if you part ways. Create accounts in your business’s name and invite them in.
• Giving Admin when Standard or Editor will do. Most day-to-day ad and analytics work does not require the power to add users or change billing.
• Only one owner. If the only owner leaves your company, recovering access is slow. Keep a second trusted person inside the business at the top level.
• Turning off two-step verification to share codes. Invited users have their own login and their own codes, so there is never a reason to do this.
• Forgetting old vendors. Review user lists in every account at least once a year and remove anyone who no longer works with you.
• Inviting a personal address. Use the address your agency gives you, which is often a shared one so access does not disappear when an employee leaves.

Frequently asked questions

Does giving my agency access let them spend my money?

In ad platforms, users who can edit campaigns can change budgets, so agree on spending limits in writing first. Read-only access cannot change campaigns. Billing rights vary by platform (in Google Ads, for example, Standard users can edit billing information), so check the role description before you choose.

Do I need a Google Account to receive access?

The person you invite does. Google Ads, Analytics, Search Console and Tag Manager all send invitations to a Google Account. Any email address can be turned into a Google Account, so your agency handles that on their side.

How do I remove access when the work ends?

Go back to the same users or access page where you added them and remove the user, or unlink the manager or partner. It takes a minute per account, and it does not affect your own login or data.

Why does my agency need Tag Manager and Analytics, not just Ads?

Ads need accurate tracking to show which campaigns bring calls, form fills and sales. Tag Manager is where that tracking is installed, and Analytics is where it is measured. Without both, no one can tell you which ad dollars are working.

Is partner access in Meta safer than adding a person?

For an agency, yes. Partner access goes to the agency’s business portfolio, so they manage their own staff, and you remove the whole agency in one step when the work ends.

Want a second set of eyes on your ad and tracking setup? We run Google and Meta ad management and analytics and tracking projects for small businesses, always with you as the owner of every account. Book a free strategy call and we’ll tell you exactly what access we need, and why, before anything is shared.