As a manager account admin who is creating a new child account, you may now be able to reuse an existing payments profile that is already linked to the manager account. If you have admin access on both the manager account and the payments profile, you may be able to link that payments profile to your manager account. This in turn would allow other admins and billing users of the manager account to reuse that payments profile.
We are gradually rolling this feature out, so you should see this option in your account soon if it’s not there yet.
How can I link my manager account to a payments profile?
When you create a new child account from a manager account, the option for linking will be shown on the "Billing Configuration" page under the "Payments profile" section. Once you select a payments profile, you will have the option to link it to your manager account or any other sub-manager account within the hierarchy. If you don't want to link it, uncheck the box. Once completed, click Submit.
How can I unlink a manager account from a payments profile?
Admin users of a manager account can unlink a payments profile if the payments profile is on automatic or manual payments. (If you’re an invoicing customer, refer to the link permissions and guidelines for invoicing customers.)
- In your Google Ads manager account, click the Billing icon
and then click Payments profile.
- Click the specific automatic or manual payments profile you wish to unlink.
- Under the field "Linked to manager", click Unlink manager account.
- [Important] You will receive an alert showing the impacted accounts that will stop running ads due to this unlinking.
- Note that when you unlink a payments profile from a manager account, billing setups of all Google Ads accounts that are using this linked payments profile will be deactivated. Therefore, those Google Ads accounts will stop serving.
- A new billing setup is required for these Google Ads accounts to continue serving.
What are the implications of linking or unlinking your manager account to a payments profile?
Linking your manager account to a payments profile allows you and the manager account’s admin and billing users to perform certain billing and payment actions.
- All admin and billing users of the Ads manager account can now use the payments profile and the payment methods within it to set up billing for existing or new Ads accounts under this manager account.
- Linking your manager account to a payments profile will not impact the billing setup of any existing child accounts that are using that payments profile. The existing child accounts will use the payments profile through the manager account.
A billing setup contains information about your business and how you make payments.
What does this mean for your accounts?
Let’s use an example where you have a manager account with "Child account 1" and "Child account 2". "Child Account 1" uses "Payments profile 1" and "Child account 2" uses "Payments profile 2".
As an admin on the manager account, you now create a new "Child account 3" and want to reuse "Payments profile 1".
Before linking manager account - payments profile
As you are trying to reuse an existing payments profile ("Payments profile 1" in this example), you may now be provided the option to link "Payments profile 1" to your manager account.
If the box is checked for linking, all child accounts using "Payments profile 1" ("Child account 1" in this example) will now consider the manager account as their paying manager.
A paying manager is a manager account that can set up billing for the Ads accounts beneath it in a manager account hierarchy. You can find the paying manager name and ID for a Google Ads account by navigating to its "Billing settings" page.
After linking manager account - payments profile
- After the payments profile is linked to the manager account, the manager account’s admin and billing users now also have certain admin permissions to "Payments profile 1", including using the payments profile to set up billing for all of its child accounts. For existing child accounts using "Payments profile 1", they are now using "Payments profile 1" through their manager account.
- If the payments profile is unlinked from the manager account, any Google Ads accounts under that manager account using that payments profile will stop serving. In the example above, if "Payments profile 1" is unlinked from the manager account, both "Child account 1" and "Child account 3" will lose their billing setup and stop serving.
- New billing setups will be required for "Child account 1" and "Child account 3" to resume serving.
- If a Google Ads account that's using the manager account’s payments profile is unlinked from the Manager account, that Ads account will lose its billing setup and stop serving. In the example above, if "Child account 1" is unlinked from the manager account, it will stop serving.
- A new billing setup will be required for "Child account 1" to continue serving.
Billing and payments permissions
Linking your manager account to a payments profile allows you and the manager account’s admin and billing users to perform certain billing and payment actions.
The table below summarizes the billing and payments actions for Google Ads manager accounts users with admin or billing access, based on whether the manager account is linked to a payments profile.
| Action | Manager account has not linked to a payments profile | Manager account has linked to a payments profile |
| Can view billing information | ||
| Can edit billing information | ||
| View all payments profiles linked to manager accounts within hierarchy | ||
| View all billing setups and budgets within the hierarchy | ||
| Use the linked payments profile and the payment methods within it to set up billing for new Ads accounts under that manager account |
Check the list of payments profiles linked to your manager account
- In your Google Ads manager account, click the Billing icon
- Select a payments profile from the table to check the payments profile’s information card and the list of all manager accounts linked to it.
