Google access: Ads, Analytics, Tag Manager, Search Console, Business Profile.

The one address to grant, on every Google product:

Google Ads

Two ways to do it. The manager link is cleaner (our agency account manages yours, your billing and ownership are untouched, you unlink whenever you like). Adding a user works just as well if you prefer to see a named person in your account.

Find your customer ID

1. Sign in at ads.google.com with the Google account that owns the ads account.
2. Look at the top-right corner next to your account name: a ten-digit number in the form 123-456-7890. That is your customer ID.
3. If the corner shows a manager account (MCC) with several accounts underneath, click into the account we will run and read its ID from the same corner.
4. Send us the ID. Nothing on your side changes yet.

Option A: accept our manager link request

1. We send a link request from our manager account to your customer ID. Google emails the account's admin with the subject "Link request".
2. Sign in at ads.google.com and go to Admin (the gear or the Admin item in the left menu) → Access and security.
3. Open the Managers tab. The Growth Bully appears with the status Pending.
4. Click Accept. Leave Administrative access unticked unless we have asked for it; standard manager access is enough to run campaigns.
5. Reply "Done" to your onboarding email.

How you know it worked. The Managers tab shows The Growth Bully as Linked, and we confirm the account appears in our manager view.

If it fails. No request under Managers means the ID we have is wrong, or the request was sent while you were signed in to a different account. Send a screenshot of the Access and security page with the customer ID visible.

Option B: add us as a user

1. Admin → Access and security → Users, click the blue +.
2. Enter stephen@thegrowthbully.com.
3. Access level: Admin if we set up conversion tracking and linked accounts (the normal case); Standard if you only want campaign management and will do account linking yourself.
4. Click Send invitation. We accept the email within the working day.

How you know it worked. The user shows as Active rather than Pending under Users.

If it fails. "You do not have permission" means your own role is Standard or Read only. Ask the account's Admin (listed on the same Users page) to add us, or to make you Admin first.

Billing stays on your card

Ad spend is paid by you, to Google, from your own payment profile. We never see the card and charge no percentage of spend. Google bills in arrears: it lets spend accumulate to a threshold it sets for your account, then charges the card and emails the invoice to your billing contact. If the card fails, every campaign pauses within hours, and the days lost cost performance that takes time to recover. The common triggers are a card cancelled over an unrelated charge, an expired card, or a bank blocking the first Google charge.

1. ads.google.com → Billing (left menu, or the tools icon → Billing → Summary).
2. Click Payment methods. Click Add payment method, enter the corporate card, tick Set as primary, save.
3. Remove or set as backup any card you no longer hold.
4. Under Settings on the same Billing page, confirm the billing email is a monitored address, not a leaver's.

How you know it worked. The red "Your ads have stopped running" banner clears within an hour and the Summary page shows the new card as primary.

If it fails. A card declined by the bank needs a phone call to the bank, not another attempt. Tell us the same day either way, so we do not spend that day diagnosing a campaign problem that is a card problem.

Google Analytics 4

We need Editor on the property, not on the whole account. Editor lets us create events, mark conversions and build audiences. Viewer only lets us read reports, which is fine for a reporting-only engagement but not for tracking setup.

Find the property ID

1. Sign in at analytics.google.com. Bottom left, click Admin (the gear).
2. In the Property column, click Property details. The Property ID is a nine-digit number at the top right.
3. The Measurement ID (starts with G-) is under Data streams → your web stream. It is the ID your website's tag uses; the property ID is the one we use for access.

Grant access

1. Admin → Property column → Property access management.
2. Click the blue + top right, then Add users.
3. Enter stephen@thegrowthbully.com. Tick Notify new users by email.
4. Role: Editor. Leave the data restrictions unticked unless your policy requires them.
5. Click Add.

How you know it worked. Our address appears in the property's user list with the Editor role, and we reply confirming we can see the property.

If it fails. If Property access management is greyed, you are not an Administrator on the property. Find who is under the same page and forward them this section. If you see two properties and are not sure which is live, send us both IDs; a common situation is one property created by a website plugin and another by an earlier agency, both receiving data.

When a previous agency created the property

"Who owns GA4" means which Google account holds Administrator on the property. If an earlier agency created it inside their own Google account, your history sits there and you may have been given Viewer or nothing. You cannot move a property between accounts, but an Administrator can make you one too, and then you can remove them.

1. Email the previous agency: "Please add [your Google account] as Administrator on GA4 property [ID], then confirm." We will draft it if you send us their contact.
2. Once you are Administrator, add us as Editor (above) and remove any user who no longer needs access.
3. Only if they cannot or will not: we create a new property in your Google account and re-tag the site. History does not transfer; it starts fresh from the day of the switch.

Google Tag Manager

Tag Manager is the container that holds your pixel, your analytics tag and any conversion tags. We need Publish on the container. The container should live in a Google account you own, so that everything we install is visible to you and removable by you.

Find the container ID

At tagmanager.google.com, the container ID is in the top bar of the workspace and in the account list. It is GTM- followed by seven or eight letters and numbers, for example GTM-WH28TM53. Anyone can verify what a container does by opening googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id= followed by the ID; it is public by design.

Grant access

1. tagmanager.google.com → Admin (top tab).
2. In the Container column, click User Management.
3. Click the blue +, then Add users.
4. Enter stephen@thegrowthbully.com. Under Container permissions tick Publish (it includes Approve, Edit and Read).
5. Click Invite. Account permission can stay at User; we do not need account Administrator.

How you know it worked. Our address is listed under User Management with Publish, and the invite email arrives on our side.

If it fails. If you cannot open User Management, you are not an Administrator on the container. If nobody in your company is, the old agency owns it: see below.

If the old agency owns the container

Ask them once, in writing, to add you as Administrator on the container and on the account. If that does not happen within a week, recreate: we create a new container in your Google account, rebuild the tags that matter, and your developer swaps one snippet in the site header. It takes an afternoon and you own the result. The old container keeps working until the snippet is swapped, so nothing breaks in between.

Search Console

1. search.google.com/search-console, choose the property (top left).
2. Settings (left menu, near the bottom) → Users and permissions.
3. Click Add user. Enter stephen@thegrowthbully.com.
4. Permission: Full. Click Add.

Owner or Full? Full lets us see every report, submit sitemaps, request indexing and use the URL inspection tool. Owner adds the power to add and remove other users and to verify the property; only give that if you want us to manage the user list for you. Verified owner (the person who proved they control the site) is different again and should always be someone in your company.

How you know it worked. Our address is listed with Full under Users and permissions.

If it fails. Only an Owner can add users. If the only owner is a former developer, the fastest fix is to verify the domain yourself with a DNS TXT record (Search Console gives you the value) and then add us. We can send the record to your IT contact.

Google Business Profile

1. Sign in at business.google.com with the account that manages the profile. If you manage it from Search or Maps, search your business name while signed in and click Edit profile.
2. Open the three-dot menu → Business Profile settings → People and access (on some accounts Managers).
3. Click Add. Enter stephen@thegrowthbully.com.
4. Role: Manager. Click Invite.

How you know it worked. Our address appears under People and access as Manager (pending until we accept, then active).

If it fails. Only the Primary owner or an Owner can add people. If the profile was claimed by a former employee or a listing service, use Request access from the profile in Search; Google gives the current owner a few days to respond before you can claim it.

Merchant Center (e-commerce only)

1. merchants.google.com → Settings (gear, top right) → Account access (older accounts: Users).
2. Click Add user. Enter stephen@thegrowthbully.com.
3. Role: Standard for campaign work; Admin if we manage feeds and linked accounts.
4. Click Add user.

How you know it worked. The user shows as Active. Also link Merchant Center to Google Ads under Settings → Linked accounts if we run Shopping campaigns; we will tell you when.

If it fails. Only an Admin can add users. Check your own role on the same page.

Common questions on this page

Stuck? Email stephen@thegrowthbully.com with a screenshot of the whole window, including the account name in the top corner.