Google Ads is a platform that enables companies and agencies to tailor their online advertising strategies to suit their objectives. For example, companies can go beyond search-based advertising and reach platforms like YouTube through Google Ads, offering advertisers the opportunity to connect with audiences through targeted video campaigns.
Google Ads is comprised of the following elements under a hierarchical tree structure:
Manager Accounts (MCC): Each top-level manager account can branch out to manage individual accounts or other manager accounts. Those manager accounts can then branch out to manage more individual accounts or other manager accounts, and so on. It enables agencies or professionals to manage multiple Google Ads MCCs from a single dashboard.
Campaigns: Within each MCC, advertisers can create one or more campaigns. A campaign is a set of ad groups, ads, keywords, and targeting settings that share a common advertising goal, budget, and targeting criteria. Campaigns are organized based on specific objectives, such as promoting products, generating leads, or increasing website traffic.
This structure enables advertisers to navigate and manage their campaigns with ease, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Google Ads element structure
Permissions in Google Ads cascade downwards. Taking Figure 1 as an example, users added as managers at MCC1 automatically assume managerial roles across all associated child MCCs and campaigns.
IMPORTANT: You can integrate a Google Ads MCC at any level in the hierarchy you have access to as an Admin. Cerby onboards the users, roles, campaigns, and sub-MCCs under the MCC you choose.
For the integration to happen, you must add to Cerby a user account with the Admin role on your MCC and connect it to a Cerby App integration. Cerby uses it as a service account to perform the following user and access management tasks for you:
Identify and import all users and their roles to Cerby.
Invite new users to join your Google Adds MCC through Cerby.
Invite or remove users from your app after provisioning and deprovisioning events in your identity provider (IdP) via Teams or account deactivation.
Remove users of your MCCs from Cerby.
Implement and automate security policies on user accounts.
After importing your users, MCCs, and campaigns, you can see who accesses them and their role level. Users with a Cerby account are automatically matched to their corresponding identities in your MCCs.
External collaborators without a Cerby account are displayed as unmatched users. For these users, you can perform the following actions:
Match and invite users to join the app through Cerby
Invite users to your workspace as guest users or local partners, with secure credentials provided and managed by Cerby
Remove unmatched users
Exempt unmatched users to keep their user account active in Google Ads; however, you cannot manage them through Cerby
This article describes how to add a Google Ads app integration and import its users, MCCs, and campaigns to Cerby.
Requirements
The following are the requirements to connect your Google Ads app integration to Cerby:
A Cerby account
An active Manager Account (MCC) in Google Ads with the Admin role
The MCC ID (10-digit number) corresponding to your Google Ads MCC. To find it, perform the following actions after logging in to your Google Ads account:
Open your Google Ads MCC
Copy the number at the top-right corner of the page next to your profile picture, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Location of the MCC ID on a Google Ads MCC
Save it somewhere safe.
Remove the dashes between the numbers to get only the numerical value of your ID. For example, in Figure 2, the MCC ID is 733-123-4567. Therefore, the number you need for the integration is 7331234567.
Connect a Google Ads app integration
To add a Google Ads integration and import its users and assets to Cerby, you must complete the following main steps:
The following sections describe each main step.
1. Add an app integration and connect it to your Manager Accounts
To add a Google Ads MCC integration to Cerby, you must complete the following steps:
Log in to your corresponding Cerby workspace.
Select the Apps option from the left navigation drawer. The Apps view is displayed.
Click the Connect app button located at the top-right corner of the page. The Connect your apps to Cerby dialog box is displayed.
TIP: You can select the Don’t show this again option to skip this step the next time you connect a new App.Click the Get started button. A wizard is displayed on the Select app page.
Select the Google Ads Manager option. The Grant access to Cerby page is displayed on the wizard.
Click the Login with Google button. The following occurs:
If you are logged in to at least one Google account, the Choose an account window opens with the list of Google accounts.
IMPORTANT: Ensure to log in to the Google account that has the Admin role in the MCC.If you are not logged in to a Google account, the Google login window opens. You must log in to the Google account you use for Google Ads.
The Sign in to {your corporate account} manager window opens. In this window, you can see the information Google can share for the integration, such as your name, email, language preference, and profile picture.
Click the Continue button. The Google browser window closes, and you return to the Cerby wizard.
Click the Next button. The Enter app details page is displayed on the wizard.
Enter and select your app information in the corresponding fields:
Label in Cerby: It is the name assigned to your Google Ads app integration in Cerby, and it will be displayed on the app card.
Business ID: It is the identifier of your Google Ads profile. To find it, follow the instructions described in the Requirements section.
NOTE: Leave the rest of the fields blank.
Click the Next button. The Google Ads app card is displayed in the Apps view, and an account card with the “Connect your account” status is displayed in the All accounts view.
The next step is 2. Check for updates and import users and roles to Cerby, which you must complete from the Cerby dashboard.
2. Check for updates and import users and roles to Cerby
To check for updates and import your user data to Cerby, which includes members, ad accounts, and roles of your Google Ads MCC, you must complete the following steps:
Select the Apps option from the left navigation drawer. The Apps view is displayed.
Click the More options icon of the Google Ads app card you added. A drop-down list is displayed.
Select the Check for updates option from the list. A message box is displayed with information about the user sync process.
NOTE: The check for updates and import process may take a few minutes depending on the number of assets and users and because Cerby automatically matches them to their corresponding Cerby account.Confirm that the Check for updates automation task has the Completed status by performing any of the following actions:
Click the More details button from the message box.
Select the Automation option from the left navigation drawer to open the Automation view.
The Google Ads MCC account and app cards are displayed on the All accounts and Apps views, respectively, of each matched user. To connect their user account to Cerby, matched users must follow the instructions in the 3. Connect your Google Ads account to Cerby step.
NOTE: After adding the Google Ads app integration, Cerby automatically performs daily checks for updates, but you can do them manually. When a user is deprovisioned from your IdP, and a check for updates is performed, Cerby generates a report and sends you an email to confirm their removal from Cerby. Follow the instructions in the article Check for updates in your app and apply report to apply the report, and remove deprovisioned users. |
The next step is 3. Manage unmatched users, which you must complete from your Cerby dashboard.
3. Manage unmatched users
After a check for updates, Cerby automatically matches users to their corresponding Cerby accounts. Users who couldn’t be identified during the check or who are not in the corporate directory are categorized as unmatched. For these users, you can perform one of the following three actions:
All of these actions are performed from the Unmatched users tab of the User Overview section inside the App details page.
IMPORTANT: The actions you perform for unmatched users propagate to the corresponding roles and permissions on assets. |
Match and invite users
To match and invite users to join your Google Ads MCC account through Cerby, you must perform the following steps:
Select the Apps option from the left navigation drawer. The Apps view is displayed.
Click the More options icon of the Google Ads app card. A drop-down list is displayed.
Select the View Members option from the list. The App details page is displayed with the Members tab activated and a table of users in the User Overview section.
Activate the Unmatched users tab from the User Overview section.
Click the Match user button of the corresponding user. The Match user dialog box is displayed.
Enter the username or email address of the user in the Match with search bar. A list of users that match your search is displayed.
Select the corresponding option from the list.
Click the Next button. The Select Cerby role dialog box is displayed.
Select the corresponding role of the user on your Google Ads MCC from the Role drop-down list:
Owner: This role enables sharing access and managing the account configuration.
Collaborator: This role enables only logging in to the account.
Click the Match user button. The dialog box closes, a success message box is displayed, and the user is moved to the Onboarded users tab.
The Google Ads MCC account and app cards are displayed in the All accounts and Apps views, respectively, of each matched user. To connect their user account to Cerby, matched users must follow the instructions in the 3. Connect your Google Ads account to Cerby step.
Remove unmatched users
To remove unmatched users, you must perform the following steps:
Select the Apps option from the left navigation drawer. The Apps view is displayed.
Click the More options icon of the Google Ads app card. A drop-down list is displayed.
Select the View Members option from the list. The app details page is displayed with the Members tab activated and a table of users in the User Overview section.
Activate the Unmatched users tab from the User Overview section.
Click the More options icon of the corresponding user. A drop-down list is displayed.
Select the Remove user option from the list. The Remove user? dialog box is displayed.
Click the Remove user button. The dialog box closes, and a success message box is displayed. The user is removed from your Google Ads MCC.
Exempt unmatched users
Exempted users keep their user accounts active for your Google Ads MCC, but you cannot manage them through Cerby. To exempt unmatched users, you must perform the following steps:
Select the Apps option from the left navigation drawer. The Apps view is displayed.
Click the More options icon of the Google Ads app card. A drop-down list is displayed.
Select the View Members option from the list. The App details page is displayed with the Members tab activated and a table of users in the User Overview section.
Activate the Unmatched users tab from the User Overview section.
Click the More options icon of the corresponding user. A drop-down list is displayed.
Select the Exempt user option from the list. The exempt user dialog box is displayed.
Enter a reason for exempting the user in the Provide a reason field.
Click the Exempt member button. The dialog box closes, and a success message box is displayed. The user is moved to the Exempted users tab.
Now you are done. You can start managing and securing access to your Google Ads users and assets from Cerby.
The following are the supported features of the Google Ads Center app integration you can use: