Create a Google Ads engine account

An engine account is the object that connects Search Ads 360 with one of the supported search engines. Each engine account specifies the ID or number of the account that it's connecting to, a date on which Search Ads 360 starts managing the account, and other settings that are specific to the type of engine.

Special permissions required

• In Search Ads 360, you need agency manager or advertiser manager permissions.
• In Google Ads, you need administrative access to the Google Ads account.

How to create a Google Ads engine account

Here's an overview of how to create a Google Ads engine account (the details appear later in this article):

1. In Search Ads 360, create a Google Ads engine account.
2. In Google Ads, link your customer ID to Search Ads 360.
3. Run your first sync to import existing campaigns from the engine.
4. View the engine account status to confirm that the account is able to serve ads.

Create a Google Ads engine account

1. Navigate to the advertiser that will contain the engine account.

   Steps for navigating to an advertiser

   1. Click the navigation bar to display navigation options.

   2. In the "Agency" list, click on the agency that contains the advertiser. You can search for an agency by name or scroll through the list.

   3. In the "Advertiser" list, click on the advertiser.

   4. Click Apply or press the Enter key.

   Search Ads 360 displays the advertiser page, which contains data for all of the advertiser’s engine accounts.

2. Click the Engine accounts tab.

3. Click New ▼ and select Google Ads.

   The settings panel for the new engine account appears.

4. Name the account.

   • Choose a name that will allow you to identify the account. Enter up to 100 characters.
   • If you have a naming convention in other systems (for example, Google Ads manager accounts, billing), using the same convention here would help account matching (for auditing or billing).

5. Optional. Select a date in the Launch date field.

   Choose a date that is meaningful to you such as the date you linked the account. Search Ads 360 doesn't use the date for reporting or syncing.

6. Enter engine settings as described below.

7. Click Save.

   If your account isn't already linked to Google Ads, a message appears with instructions to sign in to your Google Ads account to accept the link request. If you see this message, sign into Google Ads and link your customer ID to Search Ads 360.

Google Ads settings

• Google Ads customer ID: You can find this value in the upper righthand corner of the Google Ads UI.

• Google Ads auto tagging check box: After the initial sync of the account, the setting from Google Ads is shown here. Auto-tagging should be enabled to allow Search Ads 360 to report on conversions and visits. Learn more about auto-tagging in Google Ads Help.

• Sync details: Optionally set up a schedule to sync the account in Search Ads 360.

• URL template: Use an account-level URL template to apply a third-party tracking URL or a common set of URL parameters to landing page URLs for all ads, keywords, and sitelinks in an engine account.

  URL templates are hierarchical. The template you create in an engine account will apply to all campaigns, ad groups, keywords, and sitelinks that don't already define their own template. Learn more about URL templates in Search Ads 360.

  In accounts that use parallel tracking, URL parameters that appear in this field may not be sent to the landing page, depending on how you define them. The recommended practice for these accounts is use the Final URL Suffix to specify URL parameters that your landing pages require.

Link the Google Ads customer ID to Search Ads 360

After you create an engine account in Search Ads 360, Search Ads 360 sends a link request to your Google Ads account. A message appears in the Search Ads 360 UI, instructing you to sign in to your Google Ads account to accept the link request. (If you don't see the message, then your account is already linked and you can skip the following steps.)

Complete the following steps to accept the link request in Google Ads:

1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.

2. Click the gear icon and select Account settings.

3. Click Account access in the left navigation pane.

4. In the Client managers table, look for a linking request from,

   dart_search_google_mcc_ds3 number

   The number represents the link between Search Ads 360 and the Google Ads account.

5. From the Actions menu, click Accept request to grant Search Ads 360 access to the account.

6. Click OK in the note that describes the account's access level.

7. Go back to Search Ads 360 and click Save again.
   Search Ads 360 will successfully create the engine account.

The new engine account appears in the engine account table and will be available under Account in the account navigation bar.

If the conversion API is enabled for your advertiser, Search Ads 360 automatically does the following as soon as you click Save:

• Enables auto-tagging in your Google Ads account if it isn't already enabled
• Adds the following parameters to the Final URL Suffix in Google Ads:
  • gclsrc=aw.ds

  • {_dsmrktparam} 

These updates may place your account under review.

 

Notice an extra Search Ads 360 account?

 

An additional Search Ads 360 account might be linked to your Google Ads account. For the time being, you can ignore the additional link. Search Ads 360 is testing an enhanced link between Google Ads and Search Ads 360. No changes will be made to your account without your permission.

Run your first sync

To import existing campaigns from the engine, run your first sync. 

When you run the first sync for a Google Ads account, Search Ads 360 creates custom parameters for Search Ads 360 macros and traffics the custom parameters to Google Ads. Search Ads 360 macros are not available in Google Ads accounts. Instead, use the custom parameters Search Ads 360 created.

The new custom parameters will place your Google Ads account under review. 

Verify the authorization status of your Google Ads engine account and your Google Ads manager account

To verify that Search Ads 360 is authorized to access a Google Ads engine account that is managed by a Google Ads manager account, navigate to an advertiser and check the Authorization status column in the reporting table. The Authorization status column displays one of the following:

• OK indicates that the Google Ads account is successfully associated with Search Ads 360. 

• Invalid Credentials indicates that the Google Ads manager account's customer ID should be linked to Search Ads 360.
  To resolve this issue, contact support.

The Authorization status updated column indicates the last time the authorization status was updated. The status is updated several times each day.