Choose Google Ads, GA4, and Tag Manager access for an agency teammate

Choose a suitable way to give one named agency teammate access to an existing Google Ads account, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) property, or Google Tag Manager (GTM) container. Match the permission to the work, check whether access already exists, and send the teammate to the supported access guide or the right account owner.

• Outcome: Client access & onboarding
• Tools: Google Ads, Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Manager
• Responsible: Agency operators deciding what existing product or resource access one named teammate needs for assigned Google Ads, GA4, or Google Tag Manager work.
• Estimated time: 15 minutes

Scope

This SOP covers:

• Choose a permission route for one named teammate in one existing Google Ads account, GA4 property, or GTM container
• Match common campaign, property-configuration, and container-edit tasks to the published access guide that covers them
• Distinguish viewing, editing, publishing, and user-management work in plain language
• Check for suitable direct or inherited access before requesting another invitation
• Record when the account owner or administrator must decide or complete a different access route

This does not cover:

• Adding a user, changing saved permissions, accepting invitations, or linking an Ads manager account in this chooser
• Granting GA4 Administrator access, Ads Admin or Billing access, GTM Publish access, group access, or organization-wide roles
• Creating a new Google account, Ads account, GA4 property, or GTM container
• Choosing permissions for an entire agency team, shared login, vendor integration, or service account
• Access to products or resources outside the three named Google products

Requirements

• The agency teammate's name and exact email address for their own Google Account. Do not use a shared sign-in or ask for their password.
• The product, exact account/property/container, and work the teammate must do. Ask the client or resource owner if any part is unknown.
• A contact who can confirm existing access and approve a new access request. The chooser can still record a route as waiting when approval is not yet available.

Related SOPs

• SOP 016: Grant an agency user access to a Google Ads account
• SOP 013: Grant an agency Editor access to a GA4 property
• SOP 014: Grant an agency Edit access to a Google Tag Manager container

01. Name the teammate, task, and exact resource

Decide what one person needs to do in one specific Google Ads account, GA4 property, or GTM container. Access to one does not grant access to the other products.

1. Create a document called Agency Access Choice. Add the fields below, then start one entry for each product the teammate needs.

   1. Add Teammate and Google Account email, Product, Account, property, or container, and Work to do. Fill them with the details you collected before starting.

   2. Add Owner contact, Access already found, Owner approval, and Chosen guide or next owner. In Owner contact, write the name and email of your client contact. Ask that person who can manage access for each product.

   3. When you need someone else to act, write their name, email, job in this process, and next action under Chosen guide or next owner. For example: “Waiting on Priya Shah, priya@example.com, GA4 administrator: grant Marketer access.” In Owner approval, write “Waiting” or the approver’s name and approved role.

2. Ask what the teammate must actually do. Use view for reading settings or reports, edit for changing them, publish for making GTM changes live on the site, and manage users for inviting people or changing their permissions. If the request combines tasks, list each one; do not assume an editing role also allows publishing or user management.

3. Record the exact existing resource: Google Ads account name and Customer ID, GA4 property name and Property ID, or GTM container name and GTM- ID. If the resource has not been created or cannot be identified, ask its owner to identify or create it before using an access guide. This chooser does not create the resource.

02. Check whether the teammate already has access

An invitation is not needed if the teammate already has the access required for the task. Existing access may come from a direct product permission or, for Ads, an agency manager account linked to the client account.

1. Ask the person who manages access for this product to check the teammate’s email. In Access already found, record their answer: active access, an invitation still waiting to be accepted, or no access. Include the role and the account, property, or container it covers.

   1. If access comes through a linked Ads manager account or a GA4 account that contains the property, record that too. This is called inherited access. It may already let the teammate do the work.

   2. If the teammate already has suitable access, record No new invitation needed. If their access allows more than the job requires, ask the administrator to review it and record that next action.

2. For Google Ads, ask your client contact whether the agency already uses a linked manager account—an account that lets an agency manage several clients’ Ads accounts.

   • Resource: About Google Ads manager accounts (See how a manager account links and manages client Google Ads accounts.)

   1. If it does, ask the agency’s manager-account administrator to confirm that the teammate can open the client account and do the assigned work. Record Existing manager-account access when that access is sufficient.

   2. If the agency wants to use a manager account that is not yet linked, record the client administrator and agency administrator as the next owners. They must arrange the link. Manager-account access does not also grant access to GA4 or GTM.

03. Choose the permission that matches the work

Choose one route for each product row. The three linked guides add one named person to one existing resource. They do not cover every Google role or every organization access model.

1. For Google Ads, choose the branch that matches the teammate’s job. Record the role and next action in Agency Access Choice.

   • Warning: Standard access is not a billing-free campaign role. Google Ads currently lists some billing changes and payment actions for Standard users.
   • Resource: Google Ads access levels (Compare the current abilities of Google Ads access levels, including billing.)
   • Then follow SOP 016: Grant an agency user access to a Google Ads account

   1. Edit campaigns: ask the account owner to approve Standard access. This role can also make some billing changes. Once approved, use the linked Standard-access guide.

   2. Only read reports or settings: choose Read-only and ask the account administrator to arrange it. Record that person and the request as the next action.

   3. Invite users, manage account links, or complete advertiser verification: ask the existing account administrator to handle the task or decide who needs Admin access. Record their decision.

   4. Suitable manager-account access already exists: use that route and record the manager-account administrator as the contact for access problems.

2. For GA4, choose the branch that matches the work. A property holds analytics for a website or app. Record the chosen role for that property.

   • Resource: GA4 roles and access levels (Compare Viewer, Analyst, Marketer, Editor, and Administrator roles and their scope.)
   • Resource: Add and manage Analytics users (Confirm that an Administrator is required to add or modify GA4 users.)
   • Then follow SOP 013: Grant an agency Editor access to a GA4 property

   1. Read reports or settings: choose Viewer and ask the property administrator to arrange it.

   2. Create or edit audiences, events, or key events: choose Marketer if these are the changes the teammate needs. Audiences are groups of visitors; events record actions; key events mark important actions. Ask the property administrator to arrange access.

   3. Change broader property settings, such as data collection or retention: ask the owner to approve Editor, then follow the linked Editor-access guide. Editor can change settings but cannot manage users.

   4. Invite people or change their permissions: ask the existing Administrator to do this or approve Administrator access for the teammate. If the request combines several types of work, give the administrator the full task list and record the role they choose.

   5. If the teammate already has access through the GA4 account above this property, ask the administrator to include that role when checking access. Adding a lower role on the property does not reduce the broader access they already have.

3. For GTM, choose the branch that matches the work. A container holds the tracking tags for a website.

   • Resource: Tag Manager permissions (Compare Read, Edit, Approve, and Publish permissions.)
   • Resource: Tag Manager publishing and versions (Understand that publishing makes reviewed workspace changes active on the selected environment.)
   • Then follow SOP 014: Grant an agency Edit access to a Google Tag Manager container

   1. Only inspect the tracking setup: choose Read and ask the container administrator to arrange it.

   2. Change tags while someone else makes them live: choose Edit and follow the linked guide for that container.

   3. Make changes live on the website: Edit is not enough. Ask the container owner to name a person with Publish access who will publish, or decide whether the teammate should receive Publish access. Record that person or pending decision.

04. Record the route and next owner

Make the decision clear enough that the teammate and resource owner know what is being requested and who will act next.

1. Finish each entry in Agency Access Choice. Record the access already available, the approved role, and either the matching guide or the next person who must act. If approval is still pending, use the waiting format from step 1.1.

2. Check that every entry answers these three questions: What does the teammate need to do? What access will let them do it? Who acts next? Mark unfinished entries Waiting on owner or Waiting on teammate, with the next action beside them.