Connecting Google Ads
Connect your Google Ads account to Opus Growth.
Before you start
- The Google user you authorize with needs at least standard access to the Google Ads account. Read-only access still returns reports, but no change can be applied.
- For an agency or a multi-account setup, connect with the manager (MCC) account; every client account under it arrives in one authorization.
- Connecting an ad account is possible on Free, Pro and Agency.
Connection steps
- Run the tool. Tell your assistant
connect_google_ads. It returns a one-time authorization link tied to your account; nothing is connected yet at this point. - Open the link. The link is valid for one hour. Open it in a browser where you are signed in as the person who has access to the Google Ads account.
- Grant access. Approve the requested permissions on the Google Ads screen. This is Google Ads's own consent screen, so the sign-in happens there, not with us.
- Select an account. Your accounts are listed after authorization. Tick the ones you want to manage and save; every later operation runs on the account you picked.
- Confirm. Ask your assistant for
list_accounts. If the connected accounts come back with their customer IDs, the connection works.
Requested permissions
openidhttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/userinfo.emailhttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/adwords
Nothing outside this list is requested, and the token is stored encrypted at rest. If you decline any permission on the consent screen, the flow stops and no token is written.
Notes
- When you sign in with Google, the refresh token is stored encrypted.
- If you connect with a manager (MCC) account, all client accounts are accessible.
- You can disconnect at any time from the panel.
Troubleshooting
The account list comes back empty. Why?
It is almost always an access issue: the Google Ads invitation sent to the user you authorized with has not been accepted yet, or that user is signed in to a different account. Confirm you can see the account in the Google Ads interface as the same user, then reconnect.
With an MCC, do I need a separate connection per client account?
No. You authorize once with the manager account, the client accounts under it appear in the list, and you say which one to work on as you go.
Does connecting Search Console or Analytics break my Google Ads connection?
No. Every Google service is stored separately with its own encrypted token, so connecting or disconnecting one does not touch the others.
Why does the screen say ad accounts need a Pro or Agency plan?
That message only appears on WordPress-plan accounts, which do not include ad accounts. Once you move to Pro or Agency, the same connect tool works unchanged.
Why does the link say the connection is invalid or expired?
An authorization link expires one hour after it is generated and it is single use; opening a link that was already used produces the same error. Run the connect tool again, and you get a fresh link to continue with.
I selected several accounts but only one was saved. Why?
Free and Pro are locked to a single account; managing several is an Agency feature. Even if you tick more than one on the selection screen, the first is kept when it saves. Agency work means upgrading the plan; after that you refresh the selection from the panel's account switcher, which reuses the stored token so you never authorize again.
I authorized with the wrong user. What happens?
The stored access is limited to the accounts that the authorizing user can see; an account that user cannot reach is not visible to us either. Disconnect from the panel and connect again with the right user, and the old token is deleted.
Disconnecting
Open the panel, find Google Ads under connected platforms and choose disconnect.
The stored token is deleted immediately, not just hidden, so we can no longer reach the account.
Reconnecting later means running connect_google_ads again and going through
authorization from scratch. Disconnecting does not delete anything inside your
Google Ads account.