How to Give Someone Access to Google Ads Without Your Password

To give someone access to Google Ads, an admin opens Admin, then Access and security, clicks the plus button, types the person's own email and picks an access level. An agency links its manager account instead, and nobody ever needs your password or the code Google sends to your phone.

Why a shared password is the wrong key

Every Google tool keeps a list of users, and each person on that list signs in with their own Google account. That list lets you see who's in, set what each person can do and remove one person in a click, without changing anything for anyone else.

With a shared password, you can't tell who made a change or limit what each person touches. To take access back, you have to change the password for everyone. Google's Business Profile help says it directly: each user needs their own Google account so they can manage the profile without you sharing your password.

The code or prompt Google sends to your phone matters even more. It's the second lock, and it's why a stolen password alone often isn't enough. In a year-long Google study with New York University and UC San Diego, a sign-in prompt on the owner's phone blocked 99% of mass phishing attacks and 90% of attacks aimed at one person. That protection only lasts while the code or prompt stays with the person Google sent it to.

Which Google Ads access level to pick

Google Ads has five access levels. Give each person the lowest one that covers their job, because any higher level lets them change things the job never touches.

Admin is the one to guard. An admin can add and remove people, accept manager links and complete advertiser verification, so hand it out the way you'd hand out a key to the building. Google's own help warns that an account with only one admin can lose access to its tags if that person becomes unavailable.

Access level	What it can do	Good fit for
Admin	Everything below, plus add users, change access levels, link other Google products and accept or remove manager links	Two people on your own team
Standard	Edit campaigns and run reports, but not manage users or links	A staff member who works in the ads
Read-only	View campaigns, users and billing, and run reports, with no campaign or billing edits	An owner, partner or board member who wants to look
Billing	View and edit billing information, and run billing reports	Whoever pays the Google bill
Email-only	Receive notification emails and reports	Anyone who only needs the reports

How to give an agency access: the manager account link

An agency usually works from a manager account, which is one login that holds many client accounts. Instead of adding each person at the agency as a user, the agency sends a link request from its manager account to your 10-digit Customer ID.

Your admin then accepts it. In your account, go to Admin, then Access and security, and open the Managers tab. Requests show under Link request, with Accept and Decline in the Actions column. Google emails the request to your admins too, but accepting it inside Google Ads is the safer habit.

Know what you're handing over. Once you accept, admins on the manager account can manage your campaigns and get your notification emails. If the manager account has ownership, its admins can also edit your users, managers and product links. Keep two admins of your own on the account either way, so your business can always remove the link without anyone's help.

Your other Google tools: where the list lives and which role fits

Each Google tool keeps its own list of users, so a new agency or web person usually needs adding in four or five places. These menu names are current as of October 2026, and Google renames menus now and then.

Tool	Where the list of users is	Role for an agency	Why that role
Google Ads	Admin, then Access and security	A manager account link your admin accepts	Runs your campaigns with no shared password
Search Console	Settings, then Users and permissions	Owner	Linking it to Google Ads takes an owner
Google Analytics	Admin, then Access Management	Administrator	Sets up and counts your conversions
Business Profile	Business Profile settings, then People and access	Owner, never primary owner	A manager can't add or remove users
Tag Manager	Admin, then User Management	Publish, on the container	Adds and publishes your tracking tags

When nobody knows who owns the tool

Business Profile: A profile has one primary owner, and it can also have other owners and managers. Only an owner can add or remove people or remove the profile, so keep the primary owner seat with someone on your own team. If someone outside your business holds the profile, go to business.google.com/add, find your business and select Request Access. Google emails the current owner, who has 3 days to answer, and if nobody does, you may get the option to claim it yourself. A service-area business with no storefront contacts Google support for the transfer instead.

Search Console: Every property needs at least one verified owner, meaning someone who proved ownership with a token like a DNS record or a file on the site. If your only verified owner left, verify the site again yourself. Add your domain in Search Console, copy the TXT record it gives you into your domain's DNS settings, and click Verify. Then add your helper from Settings, then Users and permissions.

Tag Manager: Google's help says to keep at least two active administrators, with the account managed by someone in your own organization rather than an outside agency. So give your agency Publish rights on the container, and the account itself stays yours.

Mistakes that cause lockouts

• Sending a password or a sign-in code by text, email or chat, even to someone you trust, because the message can sit in a thread for years.
• Making a helper the primary owner or the only admin, which leaves your business unable to add or remove anyone without them.
• Removing the old admin before the new one can sign in, which can leave nobody with the rights to fix it.
• Letting an invitation sit until it expires. Across our clients, 18% of Google Ads accounts held an admin invite that expired before anyone used it.
• Giving Search Console Full access when the job is linking it to your ads, because Google only lets an owner make that link.

If you've already shared a password

Change the password today, then check the list of users on each tool for anyone you don't know. In Google Ads, look under Admin, then Access and security, and remove anyone who doesn't belong. Turn on 2-Step Verification while you're there.

If you see changes you didn't make, such as a new user, a new manager link or a budget you never set, report the account to Google as compromised right away. Google's help asks for the times of those changes from your change history, so write them down before you file the report.

If the request came by email, our guide to Google Ads phishing emails shows how to tell a real Google email from a fake one in about thirty seconds.

How we handle access when we run your ads

We ask to be added as a user on each Google tool, so we have no reason to ask for your Google password or a sign-in code. On Open Spots Search: “It’s your own Google Ads account, set up under our manager account. The ad account and its call data are yours either way.” On our other plans: “The Google account is in your business name. We build and manage it. If we ever part ways, you keep the account and the call data.” For your Business Profile, we ask for Owner, the middle of Google's three levels, and the primary owner seat stays with you.

Access is one of the checks in our PPC audit checklist, which shows the rest of what we look at in an account review.

If you'd like a hand sorting out who owns what, book a call with Miguel. He'll walk through which Google tools you have and who can get into each one.

Questions people ask

How do I give someone access to my Google Ads account?

Sign in as an admin, go to Admin, then Access and security, and click the plus button. Enter the person's email, pick an access level and select Send invitation. They accept from the email Google sends them.

What access level should I give my agency in Google Ads?

Most agencies link their manager account to yours, and your admin accepts the request on the Managers tab. If you add a person instead, Standard covers editing campaigns. Keep Admin with two people on your own team.

Why can't I add a user to Google Ads?

Only an admin can add users. If you don't see the plus button under Access and security, ask an admin on the account to add you or raise your access level. On an account with more than 3 admins, a second admin may also need to approve the new user.

How do I remove someone's access to Google Ads?

Go to Admin, then Access and security, find the person and select Remove access in the Actions column. An admin on your account can also unlink an agency's manager account.

See how we run Google Ads accounts

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