Google Ads connection

What it reads

For each connected account, Growth Dept MTA reads spend, impressions and clicks by ad and day, with the names and IDs of campaigns, ad groups and ads. Performance Max campaigns, and any other campaign whose spend has no ad rows, get one campaign-level row per day, so their spend still counts.

It also reads hourly spend, view-through conversions, and Google's own conversions, conversion value, all conversions and all conversions value, which fill the Google platform-reported columns.

A pull runs about once an hour and re-reads the last 7 days, and a nightly pull re-reads the last 30. Each pull replaces the rows for its window, so days that Google restates end up matching Google. Spend is converted to the brand's currency as it arrives, at the European Central Bank rate for each day.

Connecting

1. Sign in to Growth Dept MTA as an owner or admin of the brand's organization. Other members can see Settings > Connections but cannot change it.
2. Open Settings > Connections and click Connect on the Google Ads card.
3. Google shows its own sign-in and permission screen. Sign in as a Google user who can see the ad accounts you want, and approve the request.
4. Back in Growth Dept MTA, the page lists every ad account that login reaches. Tick the ones that belong to this brand and click Connect.
5. Each account you chose appears on the card, and a backfill starts over the brand's lookback window (Settings > Lookback window), or as far back as Google keeps data if that is shorter. Scheduled pulls take over from there.

Client accounts under a manager account appear in the list too. See Manager accounts.

To add accounts later, click Connect beside Link an additional ad account on the same card. If the list comes up empty, the login you used reaches no ad accounts: connect again as a user who has access to them.

If you have been sending Google Ads spend through the spend API or a spreadsheet, remove those rows before you connect. They carry their own account ID, so they would be counted on top of the connected account's spend. Settings > Data Spreadsheets lists each upload. Once the connection is live, the spend API and spreadsheets refuse new Google Ads rows.

If the card says “Google Ads connection is not set up on this server yet.”, the Connect button stays off until Growth Dept registers its Google app. Email support@growthdept.ai if you see it.

Manager accounts

A Google Ads manager account (MCC) gives one login access to the client accounts linked under it.

When the Google user you connect with has access to a manager account, the account list shows each client account directly under that manager. The manager itself is not listed. Tick the client accounts that belong to this brand; to add more later, use Link an additional ad account. Each one gets its own row on the card, with its own Disconnect button.

Growth Dept MTA reads a client account through its manager, sending the manager's customer ID to Google as the login-customer-id header. An account the user can open directly is read without one.

Two kinds of account do not show up in the list:

• Client accounts under a second manager nested inside the first. Connect as a Google user with direct access to that inner manager or to the client account.
• Accounts past the first 50 that the user can open directly. Connect as a user whose access is limited to this brand's accounts or their manager.

Tracking parameters

Set this as the Final URL suffix at the account level, so every campaign carries it, and keep auto-tagging (gclid) on. It lets each visit resolve to its campaign, ad group and ad. Settings > UTM guide in Growth Dept MTA shows the same string with a copy button.

nbt=nb%3Agoogle%3A{network}%3A{campaignid}%3A{adgroupid}%3A{creative}

Limits

• Growth Dept MTA only reads from Google. It does not change campaigns, budgets or ads.
• Google's reported conversions are Google's own credit, under Google's attribution settings. They fill the Google platform-reported columns and are not part of Growth Dept MTA's attribution.
• When Google answers that too many requests have been made, the run ends and a later pull continues after the wait Google gives.
• If Google rejects the stored token, or refuses to refresh it, the account's row on the card shows the error, and the account has to be connected again.

Disconnecting

Each linked account has its own Disconnect button in its row on the Google Ads card. Only owners and admins can use it. After you confirm:

• Syncing for that account stops.
• The stored access token is deleted.
• Data already pulled stays in your reports.

Connecting the account again later starts a new backfill.