Set Up Instructions

Google Ads

Connect a Google Ads account to Ploy to see everyone who can access it and the access role each person holds. Ploy can also invite people to the account, change their access role and remove their access.

This integration is in beta

The Google Ads integration is in beta. It is built to Google's documented Google Ads API but has not yet been run against many real accounts, so some details may change as we learn from early customers.

Because it is in beta, the first step of setup is a consent checkbox. Ticking it lets Ploy capture redacted error data when a call to Google Ads fails: the error responses Google sends back, with secrets and personal information removed, kept only to help us debug the integration. Ploy captures this only because you agreed to it, and only while the integration is in beta.

What Ploy reads and changes

  • Everyone with access to the connected Google Ads account, with their email address.

  • Each person's access role on the account (Admin, Standard, Read only or Email only), shown as an entitlement.

  • When each person's access was created, shown as their granted date.

  • When you ask it to, Ploy invites a person to the account by email with a role you choose, changes a person's access role, and removes a person's access.

Ploy does not read campaigns, billing or ad data. People who have been invited but have not accepted yet are not shown; they appear once they accept. Google Ads has no suspended state for a user, so a person whose access is removed loses it in Ploy on the next scan.

Before you start

  • You need a Google account that is an admin of the Google Ads account you want to connect.

  • You need a Google Ads API developer token. It is found in the API Center of a Google Ads manager account. Any access level can read users. To invite people, change roles or remove access from Ploy, the token needs Basic or Standard access; Google blocks those changes at the Explorer level.

  • You create an OAuth client for Ploy in a Google Cloud project you own, with the Google Ads API enabled. It stays in your own project.

  • Note the ten-digit customer ID of the account to connect, shown at the top of Google Ads. If you reach that account through a manager account, also note the manager account's customer ID.

Step 1: Create an OAuth client in Google Cloud

  1. In the Google Cloud console, choose or create a project and enable the Google Ads API for it.

  2. If asked, configure the OAuth consent screen for your organization.

  3. Create an OAuth client ID of type Web application, named for example Ploy.

  4. Add this authorised redirect URI: https://api.joinploy.com/integrations/auth/google_ads/callback

  5. Create the client and keep the client ID and client secret to hand.

Step 2: Find your developer token

  1. Sign in to your Google Ads manager account and open the API Center.

  2. Copy the developer token. Check its access level: Basic or Standard is needed for Ploy to make changes.

Step 3: Connect Google Ads in Ploy

  1. In Ploy, go to Integrations and choose Google Ads.

  2. Tick the beta consent checkbox.

  3. Paste the OAuth client ID, the client secret and the developer token.

  4. Enter the customer ID of the account to connect. If you reach it through a manager account, enter the manager account's customer ID too; otherwise leave that field blank. Dashes are fine.

  5. Continue, click Connect to Google Ads, sign in with a Google account that is an admin of the Google Ads account, and allow access.

  6. Back in Ploy, test the connection. Ploy lists the account's users to confirm it can see them.

The first scan starts after setup and Ploy rescans every 6 hours. Ploy connects one Google Ads account per connection; add another connection for each further account, including client accounts under a manager account.

Troubleshooting

  • Google rejected this connection: grant access again from the setup.

  • Google Ads rejected the developer token: copy the token again from the API Center.

  • This developer token only works with Google Ads test accounts: apply for Explorer or Basic access in the API Center.

  • The Google user cannot reach this account: sign in as a user of the account, or enter the manager account's customer ID if you reach the account through a manager.

  • A change from Ploy fails with a permission message: the developer token needs Basic or Standard access, and the Google account that connected Ploy must be an admin of the Google Ads account.

  • A change is held for approval: Google Ads can require a second approval for some access changes. Approve it in Google Ads; Ploy shows the change after the next scan.

Was this helpful?
Was this helpful?