How to give access to your Google Ads account

The right access gets your ads run by the people and services you choose, while the account stays yours. Google offers three ways to do it. Here is each one, how Bidhelm connects, and how to take access back.

1. Invite a person to your account

Use this for a colleague, a freelancer or anyone who needs their own sign-in. The person needs a Google Account.

1. In Google Ads, go to Access and security in the Admin menu.
2. Select the plus button.
3. Enter their email address and choose an access level.
4. Select Send invitation.

They accept from the email Google sends. Later, on the same page, you can change their level in the Access level column or remove them with Remove access in the Actions column.

Pick the level that fits the job. Google offers five levels: Email-only, Billing, Read-only, Standard and Admin. Standard and Admin can edit campaigns. Only Admin can give account access beyond email-only, change access levels, link Google Analytics to import conversions, and accept or unlink manager accounts. For monthly invoicing or a credit line, Google says the user needs Admin access.

2. Link to a manager account

Agencies and teams running several accounts usually work from a Google Ads manager account. Google describes it as "a Google Ads account that lets you view and manage multiple Google Ads accounts", with a single sign-in for all client accounts.

The manager account sends a link request using your Customer ID, and an Admin on your account accepts it. Once linked, users with admin access to the manager account can work on your campaigns. If the manager account has ownership, they can also edit user access, managers and product links in your account.

3. Connect an app with Google sign-in

Software that works inside your account connects through your Google Account instead of a password. Google's own advice is clear: don't share your Google Account password with a third-party app. Instead, when an app asks for access, review what it asks for, sign in, and allow it.

You can see every connected app on your Google Account's third-party connections page, and remove access at any time. Google says that once you revoke an app's access, it can no longer access your data. You may need to ask the app's developer to delete data it already has.

How Bidhelm connects

Bidhelm is an AI marketing department, and it connects the third way.

1. Sign up at app.bidhelm.com with your email or your Google account.
2. Connect Google Ads. Select Connect, sign in with Google, allow access and pick the account. The account stays yours.
3. Start your trial. Pick a plan and finish checkout. The 14-day trial starts there, and so does your first report.

The steps, screen by screen, are in Connect Google Ads.

What the connection gives Bidhelm:

• Write access to Google Ads, by OAuth token. It is the standard Google Ads permission, the same one any software that changes campaigns has to hold, and you can revoke it at any time.
• No Google password. Access is never by password.
• No say over your billing. Bidhelm can see whether billing is set up on your Google Ads account. It never sees your payment card and never changes your billing.
• Tokens kept on the server. OAuth tokens are never sent to the browser and are kept out of logs. See Security.

From then on, Bidhelm makes the changes itself and tells you why.

What you keep

• Your account. Bidhelm works inside it. Your campaigns, history and billing stay where they are, and every change Bidhelm makes also shows in your Google Ads change history.
• A record of every change. Every change, with the reason, is in History, kept 30 days on Starter and 90 days on Growth.
• Your people. The people you invite to Bidhelm sign in as owner, admin or member, each with their own login. See Members and roles.
• Your monthly total. You set it, and budget moves between campaigns inside it.
• The final say. Under Settings › Permissions you choose which kinds of change go live on their own and which wait for your yes. See Permissions.

How to take access back

• Remove one account. Under Settings › Connections, open the account's menu and select Remove account. Bidhelm stops working on it, and everything already live stays as it is. Your only Google Ads account can't be removed there, since Bidhelm would have nothing to work on.
• Revoke at Google. Remove Bidhelm on your Google Account's third-party connections page. It takes effect right away and doesn't cancel your plan.
• Cancel your plan. Cancel under Settings › Plan & billing. Nothing renews after it, and Bidhelm keeps working until the end of the period you've paid for. Revoke at Google too if you want the work to stop now. See Cancel or delete your account.

Questions