How to transfer a Google Ads account or switch agencies

Switching managers in Google Ads is simple if the account is yours: you unlink the old agency, link the new one and your campaign history stays ^[1]. Before you cancel, though, settle who is admin, who pays and where your conversions are measured. Otherwise your ads may stop or your conversions may disappear ^[1].

That applies whether you move to another Google Ads agency or take over management yourself. As long as the old agency is the admin, the payer or the owner of your measurement, you need its cooperation.

First check who owns your account

1. Who is admin? You can see it under Admin, then Access and security ^[2]. Only an admin can change access levels, accept link requests from manager accounts and unlink manager accounts ^[3].

2. Which manager account is linked? Your agency's shows on the Managers sub-page ^[4]. If it is the owner, it can invite and remove admins, among other things, but as an admin you can always unlink even an owner ^[5].

3. Who pays? Under Billing, then Settings, the payer details show who is responsible for payment ^[6]. If your agency is listed there, or a manager account is the paying manager, billing runs through the agency ^[7].

Situation A: the account is yours

1. First sort out conversions, shared lists and tools (see the five points further down).
2. Unlink the old agency under Access and security, Managers sub-page, with "Remove access". Google shows the consequences beforehand ^[4].
3. Have the new agency send a link request from its manager account, based on your customer ID ^[8]. The order matters: an account can only have one direct manager ^[4].
4. Accept the request as an admin ^[3].

Whatever sits in the agency's manager account is lost in the process. Remarketing lists from it are no longer populated, and ad groups that target them are paused ^[1]. Conversion actions from it no longer record conversions for new clicks ^[1]: a campaign that bids on conversions is then flying blind.

Situation B: your agency pays Google

Some agencies pay Google themselves and invoice you, through their manager account ^[8]. If you unlink the paying manager account on monthly invoicing, your ads stop showing ^[1]. So transfer billing first.

Between two agencies, this is called Change who pays:

1. The previous agency starts the request, with the new agency's manager account ID and a transfer date ^[7].
2. The new agency has 7 days to approve it; without a response, the request expires ^[7].
3. Google reviews the transfer; if there are no questions, it is approved within 48 hours ^[9].
4. Because the feature is still in beta, the account then has to be unlinked manually and linked to the new manager account within 7 days. Otherwise your ads stop ^[9].

If you take over management yourself, agree before the end date of the contract how billing moves to you.

Situation C: the account belongs to the agency

Ask for admin access, in writing and for an email address at your own company. An owner can invite admins ^[5]. As soon as you are admin, you are in situation A or B.

If the agency refuses, ask for an export. With Google Ads Editor the full account can be exported to CSV, images included ^[10]. With that you rebuild everything in a new account in your own name, without the performance history.

Ad quality doesn't start from zero: according to Google, moving the same ads and keywords to another account has no impact ^[11]. How that quality works is explained in improve your Quality Score in Google Ads.

Settle this before you cancel

1. Your own admins. You or a colleague with a company email address is admin of Google Ads, GA4, Tag Manager and Merchant Center. For Tag Manager, Google recommends at least two active administrators ^[12].
2. Merchant Center in your own name. Only admins can add people, and users with standard access cannot link a Google Ads account ^[13].
3. Your own conversion actions. If you measure with an action from the agency's manager account, create your own conversion action before unlinking ^{[1], [14]}.
4. An export of the account in hand ^[10].
5. An end date for the old agency's access. You can give users an expiry date, after which their access ends automatically ^[15].

How to organise Tag Manager and who gets which permissions is explained by my colleague Cédric in Google Tag Manager explained. You can download the full checklist, per situation and per tool.

After the switch: access and learning period

Read-only access is enough for an audit. It lets someone view campaigns and reports, but not change anything ^[3]. That is also how the free Google Ads audit from Izoard works: an access request from our manager account, with no changes to your account.

Expect a learning period. If the new manager changes your bid strategy or its settings, it starts learning again. According to Google, that usually takes 1 to 2 conversion cycles ^[16]. So ask what they will change in the first 30 days.

Ask whose account they work in. The only right answer: yours, and that is how we work at Izoard too. What else to ask before you sign is in how much does Google Ads cost in Belgium; if you are just starting out, read Google Ads for SMEs.