Adthena's Google Ads connection has evolved over time. There are three ways an account might currently be connected:
- Legacy Standalone (oldest): a dedicated Adthena email address was added directly as a user on your Google Ads account, not through a manager account. This was the original method, before Adthena had a manager account (MCC) connection at all.
- MCC, linked in the old app: your account was connected to Adthena's manager account through an invitation your Google Ads MCC Admin accepted, set up before the current self-serve flow existed.
- MCC, linked via OAuth in the new app (current): the same manager account connection, but set up through the current self-serve flow in Adthena.
Methods 2 and 3 are both fully supported. Your account is linked, your data flows in, and Decision Intelligence and other MCC-dependent features work normally. No action is needed either way.
Method 1, Legacy Standalone, is the one being phased out. If you're on this connection, you'll need to migrate to get onto MCC. The rest of this guide covers that migration.
Check your account status
- In Adthena, go to Integrations > Marketing Platforms.
- Find the Google Ads card. If it shows Action needed, one or more of your accounts needs attention.
- Click into the Google Ads card to see your Linked Google Ads accounts overview. If any accounts are flagged under Migrate to Adthena MCC, those are the ones on Legacy Standalone.
If your account needs migrating
Important: Your Google Ads data will stop syncing briefly during migration, from when the old connection is removed until the new one is confirmed.
Access requirements differ depending on what you're completing:
- Full MCC migration (data sync restored, plus Decision Intelligence and other MCC-dependent features): whoever completes this needs admin-level access on the Google Ads account. Standard access is not sufficient and will be routed to an admin for approval instead.
- OAuth only (unlocks Decision Intelligence, but data does not sync going forward): standard access to the Google Ads account is sufficient. No admin approval is needed.
Decision Intelligence in Google Ads
Decision Intelligence needs your Google Ads account data to detect a problem against, without it, there's no account-level data to check for issues in the first place. Instead of relying on synced data, it does a live pull from your Google Ads account each time a report is requested. Because of this, completing OAuth is enough to unlock Decision Intelligence, full MCC linking isn't required.
Step-by-step instructions
- Remove Adthena's access in Google Ads. Go to Access and security in your Google Ads account, find the Adthena email address associated with your account, and remove it for each account that needs migrating.
- Notify Adthena support. Confirm the access has been removed, a screenshot is the easiest way to do this.
- Wait for confirmation. Adthena will uncouple the old connection on our end so your account is released for reconnection.
- Complete the in-app migration. Go to Integrations > Marketing Platforms > Google Ads, find the account under Migrate to Adthena MCC, and click Migrate. Sign in with Google when prompted.
- Choose how far to go:
- Full MCC approval: admin approves the manager account invitation when prompted. This restores full data syncing, plus Decision Intelligence and other MCC-dependent features.
- OAuth only: unlocks Decision Intelligence, but your Google Ads data will not sync going forward.
Need help?
If you run into any issues completing migration through the self-serve flow, contact your Adthena Customer Team.