Guide · Account access
Google Ads access levels, and why I always ask for Admin
Google Ads has five access levels. Standard edits every campaign and still cannot add a payment method, give anyone access or link Analytics. You find out the day one of those breaks, on a video call with the client.
Short answer: Google Ads has five access levels: Email-only, Billing, Read-only, Standard and Admin. Standard can edit campaigns and billing information. Only Admin can give or change access, link Google Analytics or a manager account, add a form of payment and complete advertiser verification. If you run the account for a client, ask for Admin from day one.
What can each Google Ads access level do?
Google publishes the full list in its help centre. Here are the rows that decide anything, read on 6 October 2026:
| What you can do | Email-only | Billing | Read-only | Standard | Admin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View campaigns and planning tools | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Edit campaigns | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| View billing information | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Edit billing information | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Add or edit forms of payment | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| See users, managers and product links | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Give access, change levels, cancel invitations | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Link Google Analytics to import conversions | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Accept, reject or unlink a manager account | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| See each user’s sign-in method and last login | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Complete advertiser verification | No | No | No | No | Yes |
Source: Google Ads Help, About access levels in your Google Ads account. Standard can also make a payment on postpay accounts. Creating conversions from Analytics events works from Standard up, but linking the property itself needs Admin.
Or see what your team should look at first: the Paid Media Capacity Check, being built nowWhat happens when the client gives you Standard?
Nothing, for weeks. Campaigns run, reports go out, everyone is happy. Then a card expires, a colleague needs access, or Google asks for advertiser verification, and every one of those sits on the Admin side of the table.
On 5 October 2026 I had exactly that. A problem on the account side, not in the campaigns, and my access stopped one level short of fixing it. The fix took a WhatsApp video call with the client, walking them through the screens to change my access, because I had not asked for Admin on day one.
My rule since then is simple. I ask for Admin from the start, and the reason is not campaigns. Standard already edits campaigns. The reason is billing, users and the account itself: the three places where a problem otherwise means chasing the client.
Why does a shared agency login stop working?
A common setup: the client grants access to the agency’s generic email, and every media buyer signs in through that one address. Google is closing that door from two sides.
- Two-step verification ties the login to one phone. When Google asks the generic address to confirm a change, the code goes to whoever holds that phone. Five people sharing one login means four of them waiting.
- Passkeys cannot be shared at all. Google Ads can require a passkey for sensitive actions such as adding users, changing billing information or updating account links. Google’s own help page is blunt: “A passkey is always personal.” Its advice to agencies is to move to individual user access.
- Free email addresses are being blocked from sensitive actions. Google is piloting a rule where users signed in with addresses such as @gmail.com cannot complete those actions and must move to a company domain.
There is a cost people notice later. With everyone on one identity, the Google Ads change history shows the same user on every row, so the one tool that answers “who changed this” stops answering. Software that shares a login across a team runs into the same wall.
Sources: Google Ads Help, Use a passkey to complete sensitive actions, read on 6 October 2026. Google says the requirement is rolling out gradually to a subset of advertisers.
Or see what your team should look at first: the Paid Media Capacity Check, being built nowWhich access level should you ask for?
| Your role on the account | Ask for | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You run the account for the client | Admin | Billing, users, links and verification all live there. Anything less sends you back to the client the day something breaks. |
| A media buyer in your team, under your manager account | Standard, through the manager account | Edits campaigns. User and billing changes stay with whoever holds Admin. |
| You audit the account or review it once | Read-only | Sees campaigns, billing and users, and runs reports. Changes nothing. |
| The client’s bookkeeper | Billing | Payments and payment methods, no campaigns. |
| Someone who only wants the reports | Email-only | Notifications and reports by email, nothing else. |
User access or a manager account link?
Two different things, and agencies often need both. User access is a person’s email with a level on the client account. A manager account link connects the client account to your agency’s manager account, so your team works from there. If the manager account has ownership, its admins can also edit user access, managers and product links inside the client account. Only an Admin on the client side can accept that link request.
What changes when an account has more than three admins?
Google calls it multi-party approval. In accounts with more than three administrators, sensitive changes such as adding users, changing roles or removing someone need a second admin to approve. A request that nobody approves expires after 20 days. Source: Google Ads Help, About multi-party approval, read on 6 October 2026.
The opposite problem is more common in small accounts: one single admin. Google itself warns that an account with only one administrator can lose access to its tags if that person becomes unavailable. Two admins, the client and you, is the healthy minimum.
Or see what your team should look at first: the Paid Media Capacity Check, being built nowWho removes the access when the work ends?
I do, myself, on the last day. Waiting for the client to remove me leaves an agency with Admin on an account it no longer runs, and that is how misunderstandings start months later: a change nobody remembers, a charge nobody can explain, a login that still works.
Removing yourself is one action, and it closes the question for good. If your team also works through a manager account link, unlink that too, or ask the client’s admin to do it, since unlinking is on the Admin side.
What I still don’t know
When the passkey requirement and the block on free email addresses reach every account. Google describes both as gradual and as pilots for a subset of advertisers, with no date I could quote. If your agency still signs in through one shared address, plan the move now rather than on the day Google asks.
Who changed what, and why a shared login hides it: Google Ads change historyQuestions people actually ask
What is the difference between Admin and Standard access in Google Ads?
Both can edit campaigns and billing information. Only Admin can give or change access, link Google Analytics, accept or unlink a manager account, add a form of payment, see each user’s sign-in method and complete advertiser verification.
Can Standard access users add new users in Google Ads?
No. Giving access, changing access levels and cancelling invitations are Admin only. A Standard user can grant Email-only access, and that is all.
What does read-only access in Google Ads allow?
Read-only users see campaigns, billing information, users, managers and product links, use the planning tools and run reports. They cannot edit campaigns, change billing or give access, which makes Read-only the right level for an audit.
How do I give an agency access to my Google Ads account?
Either invite each person’s email with a level, from Admin, Access and security, or accept a link request from the agency’s manager account. Both need an Admin on your side. Invite named people, not a shared agency address: passkeys and two-step verification are personal.
Can several people share one Google Ads login?
Not for long. Two-step verification sends the code to one phone, passkeys cannot be shared, and the change history shows the same user on every row. Google’s advice to agencies is individual user access.
Related reading
- Google Ads change history. What the history shows, what it hides, and why a shared login makes every row say the same name.
- Google Ads API access after the developer token. Access for software rather than people: the levels a Cloud project needs.
- Google Ads budget pacing. The check that tells you the account is short, before the billing side becomes the problem.
- Acceso a Google Ads. This guide, written for people searching in Spanish.
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Who wrote this
I’m Manu. I’m a media buyer, and I built Climent Ads Assistant because no ads software I paid for was worth it. It reads Meta, Google Ads, GA4 and Search Console one client at a time, and changes a campaign only through a proposal that a person signs in the product.