Google Ads Manager Accounts (MCC) for Agencies and Multi-Site Owners

This guide uses Google Ads Help: About Google Ads manager accounts, About linking accounts to your manager account and the other Help pages linked in each section. Checked on 8 November 2026.

What a manager account is

Google describes a manager account as "a Google Ads account that lets you view and manage multiple Google Ads accounts - including other manager accounts - from a single location." It is not an upgrade of an existing account. In Google's words, "it's an entirely new Google Ads account you create", an umbrella with individual accounts linked under it.

From a manager account you can, according to Google:

• use a single sign-in for all linked client accounts;
• search, navigate and manage all accounts from one dashboard;
• create and manage campaigns for client accounts;
• compare performance and run reports across several accounts at once;
• pay through monthly invoicing linked to a payments profile;
• use alerts to monitor linked accounts;
• create and link new Google Ads accounts;
• give your own team different levels of access.

Users of a client account keep signing in to it as before. They cannot see the manager account or the other accounts linked to it, and Google notes that a manager cannot change proprietary information such as the client account's sign-in details.

Who needs one

Google suggests a manager account for advertisers with more than one Google Ads account and for agencies or marketers who run several client accounts. Two hard facts push the decision:

• Up to 20 Google Ads accounts, manager accounts included, can be associated with one email address. Above that, Google points to a manager account.
• "A manager account is required for Ads accounts using monthly invoicing."

A business with one website and one ad account does not need one. A group with several brands or locations, or anyone who also wants to track conversions across accounts, probably does.

Creating a manager account

Google's create a manager account steps start at the manager accounts page:

1. Select Go to Manager Accounts and sign in with the email that will manage the account.
2. Name the account. "This is the name that your clients will find in their client account." URLs are no longer accepted in account names.
3. Choose whether you will manage your own accounts or other people's.
4. Pick country and time zone. The time zone is used for reporting and billing, and Google says time zones cannot be changed.
5. Pick a permanent currency. Client accounts are still billed in their own currencies; across accounts you can view cost converted to the manager account's currency.

The new manager account counts toward the 20-accounts-per-email limit. Inside an existing manager account you can also create a sub-manager from Accounts > Sub-account settings with the plus button, and then move existing accounts under it.

Linking client accounts

To link an existing account:

1. In the manager account, open Accounts > Sub-account settings and select the plus button.
2. Select Link existing account and enter the Customer ID. For several accounts, enter one Customer ID per line. Select Preview.
3. Optionally pick a different manager account in your structure to link to, then Send Request.

People with administrative access to the invited account get an email. They can accept from the email or in their account under Admin > Access and security > Managers, where pending link requests are listed. Once accepted, the account is linked automatically. Sent requests can be withdrawn under Sub-account settings > Sent Link Requests.

Linking does not change the client account itself. Google says its history stays intact, its users keep the same sign-in and permissions, and its billing does not change unless you set up consolidated billing. Accounts you create from inside the manager account are linked automatically.

Structure rules

Google compares the structure to a tree and lists these limits:

So a client can work with more than one agency at the same time, each through its own manager account. The Related managers tab under Admin > Access and security shows which managers outside your hierarchy are linked to your client accounts, without showing their users. To move a directly linked account under a sub-manager, select it, then Edit > Change manager. Accounts managed with API-only access need Google support to move. The account map draws the whole structure below your manager account.

Linked is not the same as owner

This is the part that causes the most confusion. Google states that "Linking a manager account doesn't automatically grant administrative ownership." A manager that links an existing account is not its owner by default; someone with admin access in the client account must turn it on under Admin > Access and security > Managers by setting the Owner column to Yes. A manager that creates a new account becomes its owner automatically.

According to Google's ownership page, admin users of an owner manager can:

• invite, remove and change admin users on the client account;
• accept or decline link requests from other managers, and unlink other managers;
• transfer ownership to another manager or turn ownership off;
• turn on remarketing list sharing and adjust security settings.

A client account can have only one owner, and ownership is transitive: every manager above the owner also has ownership. Google adds that owners "do not take data ownership or administrative rights away from client accounts. The client account still owns its data and has the ability to remove ownership access by unlinking." Google's own advice is to make a manager the owner "if and only if the manager account requires these privileges."

Access levels

Users of a manager account get one of 5 access levels:

What an admin can do inside a client account depends on ownership. Without it, an admin of the manager account can invite users with Standard, Read only or Email only access to the client account, but adding admin users, reactivating the account or removing other managers needs ownership or a direct admin login to the client account. Users can change accounts below their manager account in the structure, never the ones above it.

How many accounts you can link

Google's account limits page says every manager account can be linked to a maximum of 85,000 non-manager accounts, active, inactive and canceled together. The limit on active accounts depends on the highest combined monthly spend of all client accounts in the last 12 months:

The limit is calculated at the top manager account (one with no direct manager) and reviewed regularly. A month above $10,000 raises the limit to 2,500 for at least 12 months. If the limit later drops, you keep the accounts you already have but cannot link or create new ones until you are under it. A new manager with no spend starts at 50. Item limits inside accounts (keywords, lists and so on) are on Google's separate account limits page.

Consolidated billing

Consolidated billing puts several Google Ads accounts on one monthly invoice, with the spend per account, the purchase order number and one total. Google's requirements:

• a manager account, with all accounts on the invoice linked to one common manager, the "paying manager";
• monthly invoicing, which is a line of credit from Google with agreed terms;
• one currency per invoice; mixed currencies get one invoice per currency;
• up to 50,000 accounts per consolidated invoice.

Google adds that consolidated billing "isn't available to media agencies" and is no longer offered to advertisers in France (Loi Sapin). To create or change a billing setup from the manager account you need Admin, Standard or Billing access to the paying manager, and the paying manager must be linked to the payments profile. Only one manager account per payments profile can hold link-management permission, which lets its admins approve and manage the other managers linked to that profile.

What you can share across accounts

Conversion tracking

With cross-account conversion tracking you create conversion actions in the manager account and use one tag across several client accounts. Rules from Google:

• An account uses either account-specific or cross-account conversions, not both. Existing statistics are kept.
• Client accounts can see cross-account conversion actions but not change them.
• Smart Bidding learns across all conversion actions in the Conversions column, including campaigns in other accounts that share the tracking. Google suggests separate tracking for divisions with completely different conversions if you do not want that.
• Campaigns switch to the manager account's default conversion goals, so check which goals each campaign optimises for.

Google's order of work: create the action, add the new tag while leaving the old one in place, choose the accounts, and remove the old tag after your conversion window. More on tags in our Google Ads conversion tracking guide.

Audience segments

A manager account can share its tag and data segments (website visitors, app users) with client accounts. Pulling segments from a client account needs ownership of it. Google says shared segments can take up to 48 hours to appear, only the owner of a segment can edit it, and if a client turns sharing off, campaigns in other accounts that use those segments stop running. Google also reminds you to share only with the permission of the account that owns the data.

Exclusion lists

From Google's account limits page: a manager account can have 20 negative keyword lists of up to 5,000 keywords each, separate from each child account's own 20. It can also hold 3 placement exclusion lists of up to 250,000 placements each, which apply to sub-accounts at account level only. See our negative keywords and placement exclusions guides.

Working across accounts

The manager account's Campaigns page shows campaigns from every account you manage. From there you can create campaigns and change the status, budget and name of existing ones. Google lists copy and paste from the Edit menu and bid strategies as not offered on that page; those stay inside each account. The Accounts pages add cross-account performance, sub-account settings and a budgets view.

Two tools scale this further. Labels can be applied to whole client accounts to group them, and Google Ads scripts can run from the manager account across many client accounts.

Unlinking and what it breaks

Anyone with admin access to either side can unlink: in the manager account under Sub-account settings > Edit > Unlink, or in the client account under Admin > Access and security > Managers > Remove access. Google shows a preview of the effect first. Google's unlinking page says the client account keeps its campaign history and features, and lists what changes:

• Shared audiences: the account loses the manager's shared lists, and ad groups targeting them, or campaigns excluding them, stop running.
• Cross-account conversions: the manager's tag stops recording conversions for clicks after the unlink, but still records them for earlier clicks for the conversion window (typically 30 days).
• Billing: if the account is on monthly invoicing and the unlinked manager is the paying manager, the account stops serving. Change the billing setup to another manager before unlinking.

For business owners hiring an agency

This section is our suggestion, based on the rules above. If an agency will run your ads, the cleanest setup is usually a Google Ads account your business creates and pays for, with admin users from your own team, then linked to the agency's manager account. Because a manager that creates an account becomes its owner, ask before an agency creates one for you, and decide together whether it really needs ownership. Check Admin > Access and security now and then to see which managers are linked. Our guide to working with a web agency covers the same idea for domains, hosting and logins.

Frequently asked questions

Is MCC the same as a manager account?

Yes. Google's Help pages use both names, for example "Manager Accounts (MCC): About Google Ads manager accounts".

Does a manager account cost anything?

Google's manager account pages do not mention a fee for the account itself. Advertising costs are billed per client account, or on one invoice with consolidated billing.

Can my Google Ads account be linked to two agencies?

Yes. Google allows up to 5 manager accounts to directly manage one individual account, but only one link per MCC hierarchy.

Can I change my manager account's time zone or currency later?

No. Google says the time zone can't be changed and asks you to select a permanent currency when you create the account.

What happens to my campaigns if I unlink my agency?

Your account keeps its campaigns and history. Shared audiences and cross-account conversion tracking from the agency's manager stop working for new activity, and if the agency is your paying manager on monthly invoicing, ads stop until the billing setup is changed.

A manager account organises the work, but results still depend on the campaigns and the pages behind them. See our Google Ads basics guide, our website development service and all our services, or email [email protected].