Link YouTube channels and a Google Ads account

 This article applies only to Google Ads accounts in the new Search Ads 360.

 

This feature isn't available yet in the new Search Ads 360.

Check the Experience hub to stay up to date on your available features, including bidding.

 

Linking a YouTube channel to a Google Ads account allows the linked ads account to run ads based on interactions with your channel’s videos. The linked Google Ads account can be granted permissions to access video ads' organic view metrics, show ads to people who visit and interact with your channel and get insights about how people interact with your channel after viewing your ads.

This article shows you how to link a YouTube channel with a Google Ads account.

How it works

When you link a YouTube channel to a Google Ads account, the YouTube channel owner can choose to make the following features available to your linked Google Ads account:

• View counts: View organic (non-paid) metrics for your videos.
• Remarketing: Create remarketing lists based on viewers’ past interactions on linked channels.
• Engagement: View earned actions metrics from video ads from linked channels.

You can link more than one Google Ads account to a YouTube channel, and vice versa.

Note that linking accounts does not give the YouTube channel owner control over the Google Ads account. Likewise, linking accounts does not let the advertiser add, delete, or modify videos from the linked channel.

If your Google Ads account is overseen by a Google Ads manager account, your YouTube channel metrics are still visible in the new Search Ads 360 experience.

If you have enabled remarketing list sharing in Google Ads, a Google Ads manager account can share remarketing list that you’ve created with its other managed accounts.

Remarketing list sharing isn’t available yet in the new Search Ads 360 experience. Currently, you can only share Google Ads remarketing lists in Google Ads.

Link or unlink accounts from YouTube

Follow these instructions for the new YouTube experience.

Link accounts from YouTube

1. Sign in to your YouTube Studio.
2. Click Settings, then click Channel.
3. Click the Advanced settings tab.
4. Click Link Account.
5. Enter a name for the link, a Google Ads customer ID, and choose which permissions you will grant.
6. Click Done.
7. Click Save.
   
   Once the owner of the Google Ads account approves your request, your YouTube channel will be linked to that Google Ads account.

Unlink accounts from YouTube

1. Sign in to your YouTube Studio.
2. Click Settings, then click Channel.
3. Click the Advanced settings tab.
4. Click Unlink next to the account you’d like to unlink.
5. Click Unlink in the pop-up window.
6. Click Save.

For information about how to link or unlink the previous YouTube experience, see Google Ads Help Center.

Link or unlink accounts from Google Ads

From your Google Ads account, you can link a YouTube channel to your Google Ads account, or unlink a channel currently linked to your Google Ads account. You can also cancel link requests you’ve sent, or accept link requests from channel owners.

Link a YouTube channel to your Google Ads account

1. Sign in to your new Search Ads 360.
2. Navigate to a Google Ads client account.
3. On the navigation bar, click the tools and settings icon , and under "Setup," click Linked Accounts.
4. In the "YouTube" section, click Details.
5. In the “Link YouTube to Google Ads?” section, click Add Channel.
6. In the "Link a YouTube channel" dialog, search for a channel or enter its URL.
7. Do one of the following:
   • If the YouTube channel belongs to you, select I own the channel and click Go to YouTube to complete the account linking process.
   • If the YouTube channel does not belong to you, select Someone else owns this channel, and enter the email address of the channel owner. To review the email that will be sent to the channel owner, click the down arrow next to “View request message.” Click Send request. Once the owner of the YouTube channel approves your request, that channel will be linked to your Google Ads account.

Unlink a YouTube channel from your Google Ads account

1. Sign in to your new Search Ads 360.
2. Navigate to a Google Ads client account.
3. On the navigation bar, click the tools and settings icon , and under "Setup," click Linked Accounts.
4. In the "YouTube" section, click Details.
5. Find the channel you want to unlink, and click Unlink in the “Actions” column.

Cancel a link request you've sent

1. Sign in to your new Search Ads 360.
2. Navigate to a Google Ads client account.
3. In the "YouTube" section, click Details.
4. Find the channel, and click Cancel request in the “Actions” column.

Accept a link request you've received

1. Sign in to your new Search Ads 360.
2. Navigate to a Google Ads client account.
3. In the "YouTube" section, click Details.
4. In the “Link requests," section, find the channel that you received the link request from. The “Status” column will say “Needs your approval.”
5. In the “Action” column, click View request to see details about the link request.
6. To approve the link, click Approve. To reject the link, click Reject.

Related links

• About remarketing to YouTube viewers
• About interactive video ads
• Measure video ad performance