Manager account
MCC / my client center / agency account
A manager account is the umbrella account an agency uses to run several advertising accounts from one login. Linking one to your account is normal. Giving it ownership is not the same thing: Google says a manager account can be given ownership of a client account, which lets it manage who has access.
Almost every agency runs client advertising through a manager account, and almost no client is told what one is. Google defines it as an account that lets you view and manage multiple Google Ads accounts, including other manager accounts, from a single location, and suggests thinking of it as an umbrella with individual accounts linked underneath.
For the agency it is straightforward plumbing. One sign in reaches every client account, which is why Google describes it as a single sign in to access all client Google Ads accounts. Nothing about that arrangement is improper, and you should expect it.
The part worth your attention is the difference between linking and owning. Linking lets somebody work in your account. Google states separately that a manager account can also be given ownership of a client account, and that this allows the manager to manage user access for that account. Ownership is the setting that decides who can be let in and who can be removed, which means it also decides how easily you can take the account back.
There is a limit on the other side, and it is reassuring. Google says that with a manager account you will not be able to change proprietary information for a client account, such as the account's sign in information.
In practice
An agency asks you to accept a link request so it can start work. That is routine and you should accept it. A different request, made quietly at the same time or later, transfers ownership. Both arrive as notifications. Only one of them changes who holds the keys, and the one that matters is easy to click past.
Not the same as
- Your ad account
- The manager account sits above it. Your account is the thing that holds your campaigns, your history and your billing.
- Access levels
- Those govern what an individual person can do. This governs which organization administers the account.
Why it matters to you
Everything about leaving an agency cleanly depends on this. If your own business holds ownership and the agency is linked, ending the relationship is an unlink. If the agency's manager account holds ownership, you are asking the people you are leaving to hand something back. The work is identical either way while things are going well. It is only ever tested when they are not.
What to ask or check
- 01Is our account linked to the agency's manager account, or owned by it?
- 02Does anybody at our own business hold Admin access independently of the agency?
- 03If we ended this tomorrow, what exactly would we need them to do?
What people get wrong
That linking and ownership are the same thing. Linking lets somebody work in your account. Ownership, which Google says a manager account can be given, decides who may be let in and removed.
Red flags
- An ownership transfer request presented as part of routine setup.
- No one at your own business holding Admin access independently of the agency.
Who owns it
It should be your business. An agency can be linked, and can hold a manager relationship, without holding ownership of the account itself.