Paid Media

How to switch Google Ads agencies without losing control of your accounts

Changing Google Ads agencies? Check account access, billing, conversion tracking and campaign history with this practical account handover checklist.

Arturs Rubins · 2026-09-29 · 4 min read

A Google Ads agency handover should preserve the business's access, campaign history and ability to measure results. Begin with an inventory of the current account and its dependencies before removing anyone or creating a replacement account.

This checklist is for a planned supplier change. If ownership is disputed or nobody can access the account, resolve that access problem first rather than attempting to rebuild around it.

1. Confirm the account the business will retain

Record the Google Ads customer ID, business administrators, linked manager accounts and billing arrangement. Google's access management guidance explains account permissions. Use individual invitations and appropriate roles instead of sharing passwords.

A public agency-performance question asks whether a new agency can use historical data. Google explains that unlinking a manager does not erase the individual account's campaign history. Keeping the existing account can therefore preserve continuity; do not create a new account merely because the supplier changes.

2. Inventory dependencies, not just campaigns

Check manager-owned or cross-account conversion tracking explicitly. Removing a management link without understanding measurement or billing dependencies can interrupt more than reporting access.

3. Capture the campaign baseline

Save an agreed report period, campaign structure, active ads, exclusions, budgets and conversion definitions. Document experiments, recent changes and known problems. A spreadsheet of spend alone will not tell the incoming team why a campaign was configured that way.

List automations, scripts, external connectors and subscriptions. Identify which are owned by the business and which require migration or replacement. Handle credential transfer through an appropriate secure process; do not put passwords or API keys in a general handover document.

4. Agree a controlled transition

1. Name one business approver, one outgoing contact and one incoming owner.
2. Agree the change window and who can edit campaigns during it.
3. Confirm incoming access and billing continuity before removing outgoing access.
4. Test a representative enquiry or purchase and any relevant CRM import.
5. Recheck goals, active budgets, landing destinations and reporting after the change.
6. Remove unneeded access only when the dependency review and tests are complete.

Avoid multiple teams changing bidding, measurement and landing pages at the same time without a log. Otherwise, a performance change becomes difficult to explain.

5. Use a sign-off checklist

Mark items passed, failed or pending with evidence. A handover is not complete merely because an invitation email was sent.

Will changing agencies improve performance immediately?

A supplier change alone is not an optimisation. Establish a baseline and a prioritised review using the Google Ads audit checklist. If still selecting a partner, use our agency selection questions.

Plan a handover with fewer unknowns

Request a free performance audit and mention that you are changing agencies. Our paid media team can review the account structure and discuss the next steps.