--- title: "Google Ad Console: Account Access and Settings" description: "How the Google Ads console is laid out: where access and roles live, how manager accounts differ from single accounts, and which settings to check before handover." canonical: https://adsbeast.pro/blog/en/google-ad-console-account-access-and-settings language: en published: 2026-10-30T11:35:42.138Z updated: 2026-10-30T11:35:42.138Z author: "ADS Beast editorial team" translations: - ar: https://adsbeast.pro/blog/ar/google-ad-console-account-access-and-settings - he: https://adsbeast.pro/blog/he/google-ad-console-account-access-and-settings - ru: https://adsbeast.pro/blog/ru/konsol-google-ads-dostup-i-nastroyki-akkaunta - uk: https://adsbeast.pro/blog/uk/konsol-google-ads-dostup-i-nalashtuvannya-akaunta --- # Google Ad Console: Account Access and Settings Explained The Google Ad console is the web interface where a Google Ads account is run: campaigns, billing, conversion actions and user access all sit there. Access is granted by email at the account level, or through a manager account that sits above several accounts. Settings live inside each individual account. In short: - Access is managed per account, by email address, with a role that decides what the person can change. - A manager account opens and links many accounts; campaigns and billing profiles still belong to the individual accounts. - Invitations go to a specific email. The most common "I can't see the account" cause is signing in with a different address. - Most ads are reviewed within one business day, and an edit to a live ad can send it back to review. - Before handing an account over, check access roles, billing profile, primary conversions and the conversion window. ## Where account access and roles actually live Access is managed inside the account you want to share, in the admin area under access and security, where you add people by email and assign a role. The role decides what they can do: some roles edit campaigns and settings, others only view reporting or handle billing. Whoever created the account holds the highest level and is the only one who can grant that level to someone else. Two practical details matter more than the menu path, because interfaces get reorganised. First, the invitation is tied to the exact email address you type, including the domain. Second, a role is not a suggestion. If a media buyer cannot change a bid strategy, the cause is usually the assigned role, not a bug. If you work with several accounts, check whether access was granted at the manager account level instead of inside the individual account. Access given there does not appear when you open the account directly. ## Manager account vs regular account: what sits where A regular account holds campaigns, billing and settings for one business. A manager account sits above it and is used to open, link and administer multiple accounts from one place, including shared access and consolidated billing. Campaign settings still live in each individual account, so changes made at the manager level are mostly about access and structure. | What you are doing | Regular account | Manager account | |---|---|---| | Running campaigns, ad groups, keywords | Yes, this is where they live | No, campaigns are not managed here | | Billing for a single business | Set on the account's payment profile | Can consolidate billing across linked accounts | | Adding a person to one account | Yes, by email with a role | Yes, and it can propagate to linked accounts | | Opening a new account for a client | Not applicable | Yes, from one place | | Changing bid strategy or budget | Yes | Only by opening the individual account | The distinction explains most access confusion. Someone added at the manager level can see the accounts linked to that manager, and nothing else. Someone added inside a single account sees that account only, and only after accepting the invitation. ## Why a client's account does not appear after you were added Most often the invitation went to a different email than the one you signed in with, or it is still pending and has not been accepted. Access granted from a manager account shows up only if you open the account through that manager account or link it to your own. Ask the account owner to confirm the exact email and the role assigned. Work through it in this order: 1. Confirm the email address on the invitation, character by character, including any plus-addressing or a separate work domain. 2. Check the inbox and spam folder of that exact address for the invitation and accept it. 3. Ask whether access was granted at the manager level. If so, request that the account be linked to your manager account, or open it from theirs. 4. Confirm the role. A reporting-only role can leave the account visible but most controls inactive, which reads as "no access" to someone expecting to edit. 5. Sign out and back in after the invitation is accepted, so the account list refreshes. If all five check out and the account still does not appear, the problem is on the granting side, not yours. ## Account settings worth knowing before you touch a campaign The settings that change results are rarely the ones people look at first. Billing, conversion tracking and time zone affect how the account reports and bids long after a campaign is built. Billing runs on a payment profile, which can be shared across accounts. Confirm the profile attached to the account is the one that should be charged, especially when an account moves between teams or agencies. Conversion actions carry a primary or secondary label. Primary actions feed the Conversions column and bidding; secondary ones appear under All conversions. A conversion action marked primary by accident will pull bidding toward the wrong signal, and the error is invisible in the campaign view. The conversion window is 30 days by click by default and can be set from 1 to 90. A shorter window suits a fast purchase cycle; a longer one captures consideration periods. Change it deliberately, and note the change, because historical reporting shifts with it. Time zone and currency are set at account creation and are effectively permanent. If an account was opened in the wrong time zone, daily reporting boundaries will never match the client's own analytics, and the fix is a new account, not a setting. ## The daily console: navigation and the desktop view The Google Ads desktop interface is where most account work happens. The navigation rail on the left groups campaigns, goals and conversions, tools, and billing, and the top bar carries the account switcher and the date range. The account switcher is the fastest way to confirm which account you are actually editing, which matters when several clients share similar names. The ads google com home screen, the landing view after sign-in, is a summary: spend, conversions, recommendations and alerts. Treat it as a status board. Recommendations are generated from the account's own history and are worth reading, but they are proposals, not instructions, and each one should be judged against the client's margin and constraints. If you are new to the interface, the mechanics of building a first campaign are covered in [Google Ads for Beginners: Launch Your First Campaign](/blog/en/google-ads-for-beginners-launch-your-first-campaign). The console itself is not complicated; the settings underneath it are where accounts go wrong. ## Review times, policy status and what to do while an ad waits Google states that most ads are reviewed within one business day. Some reviews take longer, and a change to an approved ad can send it back to review before it serves again. If an ad stays in review beyond that, check the policy status in the account rather than resubmitting it repeatedly. Resubmitting creates duplicates and muddies the history. The policy status tells you whether the ad is pending, approved, or disapproved with a reason. Disapprovals are usually about the landing page, the claims in the copy, or a restricted category, and each has a specific fix. For teams that ship copy often, checking ad text against platform rules before submission saves a review cycle. That is one of the functions in the [Google Ads workspace](/platforms/en/google-ads), alongside scheduled account audits and budget pacing controls. ## Handing an account to someone else: the handover checklist A handover is an access and settings task before it is a campaign task. Review who has access and at what role, confirm billing is set up on the correct payment profile, and check the conversion actions marked as primary, since those drive bidding and the Conversions column. Also confirm the conversion window, which is 30 days by click by default and can be set from 1 to 90. Document these choices so the next person does not change them by accident. A written handover note should record: - Every user with access, their role, and whether access came from the account or a manager account. - The payment profile in use and who owns it. - Primary conversion actions and why each is primary. - The conversion window and any custom goals. - Account time zone and currency, with the reason they were chosen. - Which automated rules or scripts are running, and what they change. The last item is the one people forget. An automated rule left running through a handover can undo weeks of manual work before anyone notices. ## Common console mistakes and how to spot them early Most access and settings problems announce themselves in the first week if you know what to look for. A new team member who can see everything but change nothing has a reporting role. A client who reports different numbers than the console has a time zone or attribution mismatch. A campaign that suddenly bids toward the wrong action has a conversion action relabelled as primary. The pattern behind all three is the same: someone changed a setting at the account level while working on a campaign. Access, billing and conversions deserve a review before any structural change, not after. Two adjacent areas cause similar confusion. Performance Max campaigns hide much of the placement and asset control behind automation, which is covered in [Performance Max: What You Can Actually Control](/blog/en/performance-max-what-you-can-actually-control). Shopping campaigns depend on the product feed more than on bids, explained in [Google Shopping Ads: Why Your Product Feed Beats Bids](/blog/en/google-shopping-ads-why-your-product-feed-beats-bids). Neither changes how access works, but both change what the person with access should be checking. ## When to bring in outside management An agency makes sense when the account needs continuous structural work and nobody internal owns it. The engagement model, what is included, and how providers price it are set out in [Google Ads Management Agency: Services, Pricing, Selection](/blog/en/google-ads-management-agency-services-pricing-selection). Pricing depends on account size, the number of markets, and how much creative work is involved, so ask for the scope behind any number. Whoever runs the account, keep ownership of the manager account and the payment profile. Grant access at the level the work requires, review the user list on a schedule, and remove access when a contract ends. That single habit prevents most of the access problems described above. ## Next step Open the admin area of the account you are responsible for and audit the user list: every email, every role, and whether each person still needs access. Then confirm the primary conversion actions and the conversion window match what the account is actually optimizing for. If you want the account checked on a schedule rather than by memory, start with the [account audit workflow](/platforms/en/google-ads). ## Questions and answers ### Where in Google Ads do I change who can access my account? Access is managed on the account level under Admin, in the Access and security section, where you add people by email and set their role. The role you pick decides what they can do: some roles can edit campaigns, others only view or manage billing. If you work with several accounts, check whether access was granted at the manager account level instead of the individual account. ### Why can't I see a client's Google Ads account after being added? Most often the invitation was sent to a different email than the one you signed in with, or the invitation is still pending and has not been accepted. Access granted from a manager account also shows up only if you open the account through that manager account or link it to your own. Ask the account owner to confirm the exact email and the role assigned. ### What is the difference between a manager account and a regular Google Ads account? A regular account holds campaigns, billing and settings for one business. A manager account sits above it and is used to open, link and administer multiple accounts from one place, including shared access and consolidated billing. Campaign settings still live in each individual account, so changes made at the manager level are mostly about access and structure. ### How long does Google Ads take to review a new ad or a change to an existing one? Google states that most ads are reviewed within one business day. Some reviews take longer, and a change to an approved ad can send it back to review before it serves again. If an ad stays in review beyond that, check the policy status in the account rather than resubmitting it repeatedly. ### What should I check in account settings before handing a Google Ads account to someone else? Review who has access and at what role, confirm billing is set up on the correct payment profile, and check the conversion actions marked as primary, since those drive bidding and the Conversions column. Also confirm the conversion window, which is 30 days by click by default and can be set from 1 to 90. Document these choices so the next person does not change them by accident.