Who should own your ad accounts?
Before you hire anyone to run your ads, make sure your business owns the accounts, the tracking and the data. Your provider should work inside them with the access they need, not the other way round.
This is not about distrust. Most agencies are happy to set things up this way. Problems start when nobody checks at the beginning, and the answer only matters when you try to leave.
The checks below take a few minutes each.
What you lose if your agency owns the ad account
An ad account is more than a login. It holds your campaign history, the audiences built from your website visitors and customers, and the conversion data the platform's bidding has learned from. That history is why a mature account often performs better than a new one.
If the account belongs to someone else and you part ways, you keep none of it. You can download reports, but the account, the audiences and the learning stay behind. Your new provider starts from zero, and you pay for the platform to learn again. We covered the switching side of this in How to switch marketing providers without losing a month.
How to check who owns your Google Ads account
Google Ads has five access levels: Email-only, Billing, Read-only, Standard and Admin. The one that matters is Admin. According to Google, only Admins can give people access, change their access level and cancel invitations. Standard users can edit campaigns but can't manage who else has access.
How to check:
- Sign in to Google Ads with your own Google login, not a shared one the agency set up.
- Click Admin (the gear icon), then Access and security.
- Find your email in the list and check the access level next to it. You want Admin.
- While you're there, look at who else is listed and whether you recognize them.
If you can't sign in at all, or you're listed as Standard or Read-only, the account is effectively controlled by someone else.
Agencies often manage many clients through a manager account (sometimes called an MCC). That is normal and fine. Linking your account to their manager account gives them access, and when the link ends, your account stays with you. The thing to avoid is an account that only exists inside their manager account with no Admin on your side.
Also check billing. The payment profile should be in your business's name, with your card or invoicing on it. If the agency pays Google and bills you, ask how that works if you leave.
How to check who owns your Meta (Facebook) ad account
Meta now calls Business Manager a business portfolio. Assets like ad accounts, Pages and your tracking dataset (formerly the pixel) are either owned by a business portfolio or shared with it as a partner.
The key point: a partner can be given full control of your asset and still not own it. The portfolio that owns it decides who gets in.
How to check:
- Go to Meta Business Suite and open Settings (Business settings).
- Check that you have full control of the business portfolio itself, not just partial access.
- Open Accounts → Ad accounts and select your ad account. Check that it is owned by your business portfolio, not listed as shared by a partner.
- Do the same for your Pages, your Instagram account and your datasets (pixels).
- Under Partners, you should see your agency listed with access to your assets, not the other way round.
The detail most people learn too late: Meta says an ad account created in one business portfolio can't be transferred to another business's portfolio. The owner can share it with you, but it never becomes yours. So if a provider offers to "set up a fresh ad account" for you, make sure it is created inside your portfolio, not theirs.
Meta changes its menu names often, so the exact labels may differ slightly. The question to answer is always the same: whose portfolio owns this asset?
Programmatic and streaming TV: who owns the data in a DSP seat?
Display, streaming TV and most online video are bought through a demand-side platform (DSP), such as The Trade Desk or Google's Display & Video 360. Access to a DSP is called a seat.
DSP seats come with high minimum spends, so most small businesses don't have their own. They buy through a provider's seat instead. That is normal, and owning a seat isn't realistic for most small budgets.
What it means in practice:
- The campaign history lives in their seat. You can't log in and take it with you.
- Audiences built in the seat usually stay there. Retargeting lists and lookalikes built inside a DSP don't move with you.
- Reports are the part you can keep. Ask for regular exports that show spend, impressions, and where your ads ran (sites and apps).
The part you can protect is your own data. Keep your website tracking (Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics) and your customer lists in accounts you own, and have the provider add their tags to your setup. Then whatever audiences they build start from data that stays with you. More on this in The customer list you are not using.
The rest of the ownership checklist
Ad accounts get the attention, but these matter too. For each one, your business should hold the top access level on your own login:
- Google Analytics 4: Administrator access on the account and property.
- Google Tag Manager: Publish and admin rights on the container.
- Google Business Profile: You should be the Primary owner.
- Google Merchant Center (if you sell products): Admin access.
- Your website and domain: The domain registered in your business's name, and admin logins you control.
- Call tracking numbers: Ask whether the numbers can be ported to you if you leave. If not, don't print them on anything permanent.
- Creative files: Ask who owns the ads, images and videos made for you, and whether you get the source files.
How to request owner access: copy this wording
Send this before you sign, and ask for the reply in writing. Copy it and change the details in brackets.
"Before we sign, please confirm the following in writing: (1) [Business name] will have Admin access on our own Google login to our Google Ads account, and the payment profile will be in our name. (2) Our Meta ad account, Pages, Instagram account and dataset will be owned by our business portfolio, and your team will be added as a partner. (3) Any new ad accounts you create for us will be created inside accounts we own. (4) We will have Administrator access to Google Analytics and Tag Manager, and Primary owner access to our Google Business Profile. (5) For any programmatic or streaming TV buying, you will send monthly exports showing spend, impressions and a list of sites and apps where our ads ran. (6) If we end the contract, you will keep access open for 30 days and remove your access when we ask."
A good provider will say yes to all of it without much discussion. If they push back on one item, ask why. There may be a real reason, such as a DSP seat you can't get into, but you should hear it before you sign, not after.
Run this on anyone
This checklist works on any provider, including us. Once you can see your own accounts, you can also check how much of your spend reaches customers: see how to calculate your working media ratio. For the bigger picture of what digital marketing should include and cost, read our guide to digital marketing for small business. And if you're comparing providers, start with Seven questions before you let anyone touch your ad budget.
Sources
- Google Ads Help, About access levels in your Google Ads account.
- Google Ads Help, About manager accounts.
- Meta Business Help Center, About business portfolios.
Who should own my Google Ads account?
Your business should. In practice that means at least one person at your company has Admin access to the account on their own Google login. Your agency can have Standard access or manage the account through its manager account, but only an Admin can add and remove people, so that seat should be yours.
What is the difference between Admin and Standard access in Google Ads?
Google Ads has five access levels: Email-only, Billing, Read-only, Standard and Admin. Standard users can view and edit campaigns but can't manage users. Only Admins can give access, change access levels and cancel invitations.
Can a Meta ad account be transferred to my business portfolio?
Generally no. Meta says an ad account created in one business portfolio can't be moved to another business's portfolio. The owner can share it with your portfolio as a partner, but ownership stays with them. That is why it matters who creates the account in the first place.
What happens to my data if I leave an agency that used its own ad accounts?
You usually lose the account history, the audiences built inside it and the conversion data the platform learned from. You can export reports before you leave, but you can't take the account itself. A new account starts learning from scratch.
Do I need my own DSP seat for programmatic or streaming TV ads?
Usually not. DSP seats carry high minimum spends, so most small businesses buy through a partner's seat. What matters is that you get exportable reports, a list of where your ads ran, and that your website tracking and customer lists stay in accounts you control.