Connecting Google (Analytics, Search Console & Ads)

Connect GA4, Search Console and Google Ads so traffic, search and spend data flow in.

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Google is usually the first thing you connect - it powers the Google Analytics, Search Console and Google Ads tabs, and feeds attribution. Each Google platform has its own card on the Setup tab: you enter its account ID and click Test connection to confirm it works. When the test succeeds, the card shows what you actually connected - the resolved account name appears next to the Connected pill, and the expanded card adds a "This ID resolves to ..." confirmation with a link to the account, so you can visually check the ID belongs to the right property or account. (If an older connection doesn't show a name yet, one more successful Test connection fills it in.)

Two ways to connect

Recommended - connect your Google account. On the Setup tab, click Connect Google account and sign in with a Google account that can see your Analytics, Search Console or Ads. It's read-only and you can revoke it any time. Then, on each Google card, choose the account from the dropdown (it fills the ID for you) and click Test connection.

More than one Google account is fine. If your Search Console sits under your web developer's login and Analytics under your marketer's, connect both - Connect another Google account is on every Google card. Each card has a Google login dropdown, so each platform reads through the login that can actually see it.

It carries across. Once a login is connected for one platform, the other Google cards open on that same login. Where it is clear which account is yours - your website's Search Console property, or an Analytics property named after your site - it is already selected, with a Connect it button. You can switch to a different login on any card.

The dropdowns list what a login can read when it is your company's - your own address, someone on your login list, or your company's email domain. If someone else connected it, enter the ID by hand.

Or grant access instead. If you'd rather not sign in, give the reporting email shown on each card access to your properties (steps below), then enter the IDs.

Your client connects Google by signing in with their own Google account (recommended), or by granting your agency's reporting email access to each property. Either way, each platform's account goes on its card and is confirmed with Test connection.

You can do the picking for them, with as many Google logins as you need. Sign in with your agency's main Google account in Settings - Integrations, and add any others under Other Google logins - for example if your analytics sit under one address and your ads under another. On each client's Google cards, the Google login dropdown lists every login that client can use - yours and any the client connected - and the account dropdown lists what that login can read. Only your team sees your agency's logins and their lists. A property appears once the client has given that login access; an ad account appears under each manager account the login reaches, and the platform remembers which manager to read it through.

Each platform remembers its login. The account you pick is read through the login you picked it from, so Analytics can read through seo@ while Ads reads through ads@. The other Google cards open on the login a client's first platform used, with the client's own site already selected where it is clear which one it is - then it's one click on Connect it. If you type an ID instead, Test connection tries the client's logins and then yours, and keeps the first that can read it.

Clients' own people see the lists of a login only when it is theirs - their address, someone on their login list, or their company domain. They never see your agency's logins.

Google Analytics & Search Console

If you're granting access rather than connecting your own Google account:

  • Analytics (GA4): open GA4 -> Admin -> Property Access Management, click + Add User, add the email shown on the card, set the role to Viewer, and Add. The account field wants your numeric Property ID (Admin -> Property Settings, top right) - not the G-XXXX Measurement ID.
  • Search Console: open Search Console -> Settings -> Users and permissions, click Add user, add the email shown, set permission to Restricted, and Add. The field wants your Property URL (the full URL with a trailing slash, or the sc-domain: prefix for a domain property).

Enter the ID, click Test connection, and the tab fills in after the first data pull. The card also shows the property name it resolved to, so you can confirm it's the right one.

Google Ads connects through a manager (MCC) link, not a per-user invite:

  1. Enter your Customer ID (top right of Google Ads, format XXX-XXX-XXXX) on the card and click Test connection.
  2. The platform sends a manager link request from its MCC to your Google Ads account.
  3. In Google Ads -> Tools & Settings -> Account Access -> Managers, click Accept on the request from the MCC ID shown on the card.
  4. Click Test connection again - it should go green and show the account name it resolved to.

Connecting your own Google account (above) covers Ads too, and skips the manager-link step.

When it won't connect

If a Test connection fails, the card shows a specific message in a red box - find yours below. (You can run up to 10 tests per platform per hour.)

Analytics or Search Console won't connect

"We can't access your Google Analytics yet. Have you added [email] as a Viewer?" (or, for Search Console, "...as a Restricted user?")

  • Why: the reporting email hasn't been granted access to that property, or was added on the wrong property.
  • Fix: add the exact email shown on the card - as a Viewer in GA4 (Admin -> Property Access Management) or a Restricted user in Search Console (Settings -> Users and permissions) - on the correct property, then Test connection again.

"[login] can't see this Google Analytics account. Pick a Google login that can, connect another Google account above, or add [email] as a Viewer."

  • Why: none of the connected Google logins that were tried can see that property or site. The message names each login it tried.
  • Fix: choose the login that has access in the card's Google login dropdown, or click Connect another Google account and sign in with the one that does, then Test connection again.

"We couldn't find that Google Analytics / Search Console account. Double-check the ID you entered."

  • Why: wrong ID. GA4 wants the numeric Property ID (not the G-XXXX Measurement ID). Search Console wants the full URL with a trailing slash, or the sc-domain: prefix for a domain property.
  • Fix: re-enter the correct ID/URL and Test connection.

"Google Analytics is rate-limiting us right now. Try again in a few minutes."

  • Why: too many requests to Google in a short window.
  • Fix: wait a few minutes and Test again.

The sign-in was blocked, or nothing happened after "Connect Google account".

  • Why: the Google consent was cancelled or denied, so no access was granted. (You may simply land back on the Setup tab with Google still showing as not connected.)
  • Fix: click Connect Google account again and approve all the read-only permissions when prompted.

Connected, but the tab still says "add the email as a Viewer" even though you did.

  • Why: the property may not be verified, or the Analytics Data API isn't enabled for it - both look like an access error.
  • Fix: confirm the Search Console property is verified / the GA4 property is correct, then Test again. Give the first data pull a little time to appear.
Google Ads won't connect

"A manager link request is pending..." or "We've sent a manager link request to Google Ads account..."

  • Why: the platform has sent a manager (MCC) link request and is waiting for you to accept it.
  • Fix: in Google Ads -> Tools & Settings -> Account Access -> Managers, click Accept on the request from the MCC ID shown, then click Test connection again.

"The link between [MCC] and Google Ads account [ID] is refused / cancelled / inactive."

  • Why: a previous manager link was declined or removed.
  • Fix: in Google Ads -> Account Access -> Managers, choose Link to manager with the MCC ID shown, then Test connection.

"We couldn't find Google Ads account [ID] - it should be the operating account, not a manager (MCC) account."

  • Why: wrong Customer ID, or you entered a manager account instead of the operating one.
  • Fix: enter the operating account's Customer ID (top right of Google Ads, XXX-XXX-XXXX) and Test connection.

"Couldn't look up / send a manager link request from manager account [MCC] (agency-side)... the developer token is still on Test access."

  • Why: this one is on your side, not the client's. Your MCC's developer token is on Test access, or the connected Google account doesn't have Admin on the MCC.
  • Fix: apply for Basic/Standard access in the MCC's API Center, and make sure the OAuth account has Admin rights on the MCC.
It worked before, then stopped

"...credentials need refreshing - please contact support."

  • Why: the Google login used to read your data expired or was revoked. Note: if you connected your own Google account and later removed the platform's access in your Google security settings, you'll see this same message.
  • Fix: if you connected your own Google account, reconnect it from Setup -> Google. Otherwise it's on the platform side - contact support.
  • Fix: reconnect your agency Google reporting account (Settings -> Integrations -> Google). If the client connected their own Google and revoked it, ask them to reconnect.

Removing a Google login (the Remove this Google login button on a card) is safe too: anything it was reading switches to another connected login that can see it. If no other login can, that platform stops syncing until you connect one that can.

Disconnecting is safe - your cached data stays available; only new syncing stops until you reconnect.

For anything not covered here, see Common issues & fixes or Error messages explained.