Why you should never own your Google Ads account

We get it. You're paying for the ads, so you'd like to own the account the ads run from. Very natural. Also very dangerous, and we'd be failing in our duty of care if we let you.

It's for your protection

Ad platforms are complicated. There are buttons. Some of the buttons spend money. If you had admin access, you might press one. Worse, you might open the search terms report and discover that 40% of your budget went to people searching for free versions of what you sell. Nobody needs that kind of stress. That's why we keep the account in our name, behind our login, on our billing profile, with our management margin quietly baked into the spend.

Data is better when it's ours

Years of conversion history, audiences and test results are extremely valuable. That's exactly why they should stay with us when you leave. It would be irresponsible to hand such a precious asset to someone who might actually use it, like your next agency.

"Can I at least have read-only access?"

Absolutely. We'll send it through right after the next quarterly review, which has been rescheduled. In the meantime, here's a screenshot of a dashboard that we've cropped for readability.

What happens if you leave

Nothing dramatic. We simply pause your campaigns, archive your data "in line with our standard retention policy" and wish you every success. Your new agency starts from zero, which is a wonderful opportunity to relearn everything you've already paid to learn. Growth mindset!

A note on billing

You may notice your invoice says "media spend" and a single number. That number includes the media, our fee, our fee on the media and a small "platform handling charge" for the stress of pressing the buttons on your behalf.

P.S. It's worth knowing exactly who owns your ad accounts, analytics and website, and getting it in writing. If you'd like a straight second opinion, talk to the real agency at the bottom of this page.