The check, in the account
Do this while you can still ask for a change, which is before the first month’s fee rather than after a disagreement. The labels below are the ones on Google’s help pages, read on 15 November 2026.
- Sign in at ads.google.com with the email that is supposed to be yours. If you can only get in through a link the agency sent, and you land inside their manager account, you are looking at their doorway.
- Open Admin, then Access and security. Google’s help page puts the user list on that screen.
- On Users, find your email. You want Admin. Standard can change campaigns and cannot unlink a manager. Read-only can look. Email-only receives mail. Billing can see money and still cannot remove an agency.
- On Managers, read every linked manager account. A manager marked as owner has the extra rights Google lists: inviting admins, accepting other managers, unlinking other managers, and security settings. There is only one owner. Google says that owner does not take the data away from you, and that you remove them by unlinking, provided your user is Admin. If the client account has no Admin of its own, Google says ownership cannot be turned off without that unlink path being available. Get an Admin user on the account first.
- Open billing. The payments profile and the card or bank account should be the business’s. You pay Google. A monthly fee to a specialist is a separate bill. Our pricing page states that split because accounts that mix the two are hard to leave.
If Access and security is missing from the menu, you are not Admin. Stop there and ask, in writing, for Admin on the client account. Do not pay a setup fee against a screen you cannot open.
What “the account is yours” has to include
| Promise | What you should be able to do |
|---|---|
| You can sign in | Your own Google login, not a shared password in someone else’s inbox. |
| You can remove people | Admin on the client account, so you can change access and cancel invitations. |
| You can leave | You can unlink a manager, including an owner manager. Google says client users cannot transfer ownership, but they can unlink. |
| You can see the spend | Billing is visible, and the payer is your business. |
| You keep the history | Campaigns, search terms and conversion history stay in that account after the manager is unlinked. |
None of this requires you to run the campaigns yourself. Admin access and a specialist with Standard access is a normal arrangement. The specialist can do the work. They cannot lock the door.
| Level you were given | You can | You cannot |
|---|---|---|
| Admin | Edit the account, change users, accept or reject a manager, unlink one. | Nothing in the rows below. If Managers is missing, this login is not Admin. |
| Standard | Edit campaigns, ads and bids. | Remove the agency, or stop a new manager being added. |
| Read-only | Look. | Change a bid, a town, or an agency. |
| Billing | See how Google is paid. | Treat that as control of the account. It is not Admin. |
| Email-only | Receive mail about the account. | Sign in and see the campaigns the mail describes. |
Before you hire, and before you leave
Ask for five things in one email, so the answers are dated.
- The Google Ads customer ID, so you know which account the report refers to.
- Confirmation that your email is Admin on that ID.
- The name of any manager account that will be linked, and whether it will be set as owner.
- Whose name is on the payments profile.
- Where call recordings and the lead sheet will live, and that you can export them.
If you are leaving, unlink only after you have checked that at least one Admin remains on the account. Google notes that some ownership changes need an Admin on the client account to exist. Download the report history you care about first. Linking a new specialist is then an invitation you accept, not a chase for a login.
This is the same in every UK nation. Companies House, a Scottish partnership or a Northern Ireland sole trader changes who the legal payer is. It does not change the Admin button.
The monthly view of whether the spend was worth it sits in what a report should show. Access without that report is a login. The report without access is a PDF you cannot check.
Save four screens before you pay, or before you leave
A later argument is easier if the screenshots exist. Save them as PDFs in a folder the business owns, with the date in the file name. Do it while you can still sign in.
- Users. Admin, then Access and security, Users. Your email should show Admin. Anyone you do not recognise gets a question that day, not after the invoice.
- Managers. The same area, Managers. The name of each linked manager, and whether one is marked owner.
- Billing. The payments profile name and the last four digits or bank account that Google will charge. It should be yours.
- The customer ID. The number on the account, so a report that quotes a different ID is obvious.
If you are leaving, take those four, plus an export of the lead sheet and any call recordings you pay for, before you unlink. Campaign history stays in the account. A spreadsheet that lives only in the agency’s inbox does not. Our handover fee, £399 plus VAT on the pricing page as of 15 November 2026, is for a setup you then run. It still assumes these four screens are yours first.
Read-only is enough to open Search terms and see which queries spent the money. You do not need the agency to email you that list. Adding a negative, or pausing a campaign, needs a login that can edit. Email-only cannot open the report at all. If that is the only access you were given, the four screenshots above are the conversation to have before the next invoice, not after a month of queries you never saw. How to read the report is in the lead sheet guide.
Questions from owners
How do I see who has access to my Google Ads account?
Sign in to the account that spends the money, not only an agency’s manager account. Go to Admin, then Access and security. The Users tab lists people and their level. The Managers tab lists manager accounts linked to yours.
What is the difference between Admin and Standard?
Standard can edit campaigns. Admin can also invite or remove users, change access levels, accept or reject a manager link, and unlink a manager. If your agency’s email is the only Admin, you cannot remove them without their help.
Can an agency own my Google Ads account?
A manager account can be set as the owner of a client account. Google says owners do not take data ownership away from the client, and the client can remove ownership access by unlinking. There can only be one owner manager. Users on the client account cannot transfer that ownership themselves, but they can unlink the manager if they have Admin.
Who should pay Google?
Your business, on a payments profile you can see. A management fee paid to an agency is a different invoice from the money paid to Google. If you cannot see billing, you cannot see the spend the report is describing.
What should I get in writing before I pay a setup fee?
That the account’s payments profile is yours, that you will have Admin, and that any manager link can be removed by you. On our pricing page the setup fee is £249 plus VAT on Managed and Managed Plus, and a handover without a monthly plan is £399 plus VAT. The access should be true before that invoice, not afterwards.
I only have a login the agency emailed me. Is that enough?
Open Access and security and read the level. A login that is Read-only or Standard is not control of the account. Ask for Admin on the client account itself. Getting Admin inside the agency’s manager account is not the same thing.
Does this differ in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland?
No. Google Ads access levels are the same across the UK. The company that should be on the payments profile is the company that trades, whichever nation it is registered in. Sole traders should still be able to see the payments profile in their own name.
Can I see which searches spent the money if I am not Admin?
Yes, if the login can open the account. Read-only is enough to look at the search terms report. Adding a negative or pausing a campaign needs a login that can edit, which Standard can do and Read-only cannot. Email-only receives mail and cannot open the report. Admin is what you need when you also have to remove a manager.
What happens to the lead history if I leave?
Campaign history stays in the Google Ads account you can sign in to. The lead sheet and any call recordings you paid for should be in a place you can open without the agency’s password. Put that in the exit note before you need it.
What should I save before I stop working with an agency?
Four screens from the client account, saved as PDFs with the date: the user list, the manager list, the payments profile, and the customer ID. Export the lead sheet and any call recordings you pay for at the same time. Campaign history stays in the Google Ads account after you unlink a manager. A spreadsheet that only the agency can open does not.
Where the figures come from
Checked on 15 November 2026 unless a source prints its own date.
- About ownership of client accounts. Google Ads Help, read 15 November 2026. One owner manager. The client account still owns its data and can unlink the owner.
- About access levels in your Google Ads account. Google Ads Help. Admin can accept or reject manager links, unlink managers, and change other users’ access. Standard cannot.
- Manage users and access levels. Where to look: Admin, then Access and security.