Keep your account secure

Keeping your data safe is a top priority. While we take a lot of steps to keep your Google Ads account secure, here are a few more ways you can protect your account.

Note: To ensure your Google Ads account remains protected over time, we may periodically suggest tailored recommendations through email updates and notifications in your account.

Protect your Google account

Keep in mind that anyone with access to your Google account can access your Google Ads account and look up your advertising data. To avoid unauthorized access, take steps to protect your Google account.

Enable 2-Step Verification

2-Step Verification is a simple way to protect your account against password theft. When you set up 2-Step Verification, you’ll sign into your account using a password and a second verification step. The second verification step can involve a text message (SMS) or call, security key, or a Google prompt on a compatible mobile device, and ensures potential attackers can’t access your account even if they have your password.

If you don’t want to enter a 2-Step Verification code or use your Security Key every time you sign in to your Google Account, you can mark your computer or mobile device as trusted and not be asked again.

Choose a strong, unique password

A strong password contains a combination of numbers, characters, and case-sensitive letters, so it can't be guessed easily. Don't use the same password for different websites.

Keep your account recovery options up-to-date

Check that your account recovery options are up-to-date to prevent getting locked out of your account.

Scan your computer for malware

Make sure your computer's antivirus protection is up to date and that you periodically run a full system scan. Someone can steal your personal information by spreading malware onto your system, so run full system scans on a regular basis to help ensure that your system is free of malware. Learn more about protecting yourself from malware.

Protect your Google Ads account

Below are a few best practices that can reduce the risk of your Google Ads accounts being compromised by unauthorized users.

Require your users to enable 2-Step Verification


Account administrators can require all users of their Google Ads accounts to enable 2-Step Verification, as described above. When you set up 2-Step Verification, you’ll sign into your account using a password and a second verification step. The second verification step can involve a text message (SMS) or call, security key, or a Google prompt on a compatible mobile device, and ensures potential attackers can’t access your account even if they have your password.

Users who try to access your Google Ads account without first enabling 2-Step Verification will see this message prompting them to set up 2-Step Verification. 

How to change authentication settings in your Google Ads account
  1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
  2. Click the tools icon  in the top right corner of the page.
  3. Under “Setup,” click Account access.
  4. Along the top of the page, click Security settings. 
  5. Click Authentication method to expand the panel.
  6. You’ll have to do one of the following:
    • Select 2-Step Verification.
    • If the “2-Step Verification” option is disabled: 
      1. Click the link to set up 2-Step Verification.
      2. Follow prompts on the screen to add your phone number, confirm that it works, and click Turn On to finish the setup. Once complete, you’ll see “2-Step Verification is ON”. You can now close this page. 
      3. Navigate back to your Google Ads Account and refresh the page to unlock the setting.
      4. Select 2-Step Verification.
  7. Select the date you want the setting to become effective for your account’s users.
  8. Click Save.
Google may automatically enable this setting on your account. When this happens, users will be notified by email and via a product notification. Keep the following in mind:
  • These changes appear as done by “Google Ads System” on the "Change History" page
  • Account administrators can disable this setting at any point

 

How to change authentication settings across your managed accounts

From a Google Ads manager account, you can enable authentication settings on your own manager account, as well as on individual client accounts for which you are an administrative owner.

To change the authentication setting across your child accounts, you can either navigate to these individual accounts or update the setting in bulk.

  1. Sign in to your Google Ads manager account.
  2. From the page menu on the left, click Accounts, then click Management at the top of the page.
  3. Select the accounts you want to edit.
  4. Click Edit, hover over “Change security settings”, and select Change authentication method.
    • Select 2-Step Verification.
    • If the “2-Step Verification” option is disabled: 
      1. Click the link to set up 2-Step Verification.
      2. Follow prompts on the screen to add your phone number, confirm that it works, and click Turn On to finish the setup. Once complete, you’ll see “2-Step Verification is ON”. You can now close this page. 
      3. Navigate back to your Google Ads Account and refresh the page to unlock the setting.
      4. Select 2-Step Verification.
  5. Select the date you want the setting to become effective for existing users.
  6. Click Save.
“Confirm it’s you” security challenges
To help protect your account, you may need to prove it’s you when you try to complete sensitive actions like the following:
  • Inviting Standard or Admin users
  • Performing out-of-the-ordinary budget changes
  • Creating Ads with URL domains not previously used in your account
When attempting these actions, you may be asked to confirm it’s really you by completing a security challenge such as receiving a security code on your phone. For more information on completing these challenges, learn how to verify it’s you when accessing your account.

Restrict the email domains your users can use

By adding allowed email domains in your security settings, you can ensure that users from outside your organization don’t get invited to access your Google Ads account. For instance, if you set “example.com” as the allowed email domain for your account, you will only be able to invite user@example.com to the account, but not user@gmail.com. Note that only users with admin access can add allowed email domains to accounts. 

  1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
  2. Click the tools icon  in the top right corner of the page.
  3. Under “Setup,” click Account access.
  4. Along the top of the page, click Security settings. 
  5. Click Allowed domains to expand the panel.
  6. Click Add Domain to add a domain to the list.
  7. Click the "x" symbol  to the right of a domain to remove it.
  8. Click Save.

Avoid sharing login credentials among multiple users

If many people need to use your Google Ads Account, don't have them share the same username and password. Instead, grant each person access to the Google Ads account, using their individual Google account. Each Google account can have direct access to up to 20 Google Ads Accounts. Also keep in mind that if you're managing multiple Google Ads accounts, a manager account might be a better option for you. You can then give different users access to the manager account, and allow them to access multiple accounts from that single manager account.

Review who has access to your Google ads account

Last but not least, you should regularly check on user access and permissions across your Google Ads accounts.

Check for unauthorized changes

Sign in to your Google Ads Account regularly to check for any unexpected or unauthorized activity such as changes to your ads or budget. If you think someone may have accessed your billing information, check your bank or credit card statements as well for any unauthorized activity. Report unauthorized Google Ads activity. 

Remove inactive users

Remove access for users who have left your company or no longer work with your Google Ads account. Unless you remove these inactive users, they can still sign in to your account and make changes. Learn how to remove users from your account.

Grant the minimum access needed for each user

When you invite a new user, that user is assigned a specific access level. With different access levels, you can give users selective access to various tasks and features. For example, users with Admin access can invite new users into the account to make changes, while users with Standard access can't. Similarly, you can assign a “Read only” access or “Email only” access to users who don't need to make changes to your account. Learn more about access levels in your Google Ads Account.

Review related manager accounts

If you have client accounts under a manager account, you can check if they’re linked to any managers outside of your MCC hierarchy in the “Related managers” tab. Learn more about the Related managers tab.

Opt out of 2-step verification 

Google strongly encourages all advertisers to use 2-step verification to log in to their accounts. Using 2-step verification protects your account and sensitive data from attackers, even if they have your password. If you’d prefer not to protect your account, follow the instructions below.

Opt out of 2-step verification

Step 1: Disable the 2-step verification requirement in Google Ads

Note: You must have administrative access to make this change. 

  1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
    • Note: If you see a message saying you must set up 2-step verification to log in, follow the instructions to set up 2-step verification on your Google account. (This can be disabled later.)
  2. Click the tools icon  in the top right corner of the page.
  3. Under “Setup,” click Account access.
  4. Along the top of the page, click Security settings. 
  5. Click Authentication method to expand the panel.
  6. Set the authentication method to Standard.

Step 2: Disable 2-step verification on your Google account

  1. Go to your Google account.
  2. On the left navigation panel, click Security.
  3. On the "Signing in to Google" panel, click 2-Step Verification.
  4. Click Turn Off.
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