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Prepare the details a teammate needs before setting up tracking and campaigns for an existing Google Ads client. Use the supplied worksheet to collect the client’s goal, account details, access, and next steps. This guide prepares the handoff; tracking setup and campaign launch come afterward.
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Clarity, structure and references reviewed in this version. This is not a test in a live account.
Prepare the details a teammate needs before setting up tracking and campaigns for an existing Google Ads client. Use the supplied worksheet to collect the client’s goal, account details, access, and next steps. This guide prepares the handoff; tracking setup and campaign launch come afterward.
This SOP covers:
This does not cover:
Use the supplied worksheet to keep the client brief, account details, owners, and next actions together. Make a separate copy for each client.
Open the Google Ads Client Handoff - Template, select Make a copy, and rename it with the client name and date. Move your copy to the folder your team uses for this client. Work in the Client Handoff tab; the Fictional Example tab shows a filled-in example.
On Client Handoff, fill the Client brief fields: business name, product or service, intended customer or service area, the client’s goal in their words, and final landing-page URL. If you do not know an answer, put the person to ask in Responsible owner and the question in Next action or note.
This procedure starts with an existing client account. Check the account identity and the teammate's current access before asking an administrator to add anyone.
Open Google Ads and select the client’s account. Copy its name and Customer ID into the matching Google Ads account fields in your worksheet. The Customer ID is the account’s numeric identifier. If you cannot open it yet, ask the client’s account administrator to confirm these details.
In the worksheet’s Google Ads account section, record the agency teammate’s Google Account email and how they currently access the client’s account.
Ask the client’s Google Ads administrator to check Admin > Access and security. Record whether the teammate already has access, has an invitation waiting to be accepted, or still needs access. Include the role shown, such as Standard or Read-only.
Ask whether the agency already uses a linked manager account, which lets it manage several clients’ Ads accounts. If this gives the teammate the access they need, record that route. Otherwise, name the administrator who will arrange access.
If the teammate still needs access, record the matching next step below. These are handoff instructions for the administrator; you do not need to send invitations during this guide.
The client wants to invite the teammate directly: agree on the access level and end date with the client administrator. For Standard access, give that administrator the account name, Customer ID, teammate email, and end date, plus the linked invitation guide. Standard can edit campaigns and make some billing changes.
The agency uses a manager account: ask its administrator to confirm the teammate can reach the client account through it. If the client has not chosen a route, mark the row Waiting on client and record that decision as the next action.
Name the result the business wants to count and the event that proves it happened. A button click is not automatically a completed lead.
Fill the Website and Tag Manager section. A Google Tag Manager (GTM) container holds the site’s tracking tags. Ask the website owner which platform the site uses, whether a GTM container exists, and whether it is installed. Record its name and GTM- ID if available, plus who can edit and publish changes. If setup is missing, choose the matching handoff below.
A GTM Web container exists but is not installed on a WordPress site: use the linked guide to install that existing container through Site Kit. It does not create a container. The guide requires WordPress administrator access and a Google Account that can access the container.
No GTM container exists: assign the website owner to arrange its creation using the linked guide. That guide creates a Google Tag Manager account and container. For WordPress, the Site Kit guide above then installs the new container. Record any client decision still needed as Waiting on client.
A GTM container exists but needs installation on another platform: name the platform and assign its website owner to choose and carry out the platform-specific installation. The linked Site Kit guide covers WordPress only.
If the implementer needs GTM access, ask the container administrator to arrange Edit access using the linked guide. Edit allows changes to the workspace—the draft version of the tracking setup—but cannot make them live. Record who will edit and who will publish in the two person fields in Website and Tag Manager.
In Measurement plan, record the main result the client wants to count and what happens on the website when it occurs. For example, a successful form submission might open a thank-you page. Choose the matching path below.
A successfully submitted form opens a dedicated thank-you page: record that page’s full URL, the fixed value the client assigns to one lead, and its currency. Choose the linked form-tracking guide. The page should open only after a successful submission. This counts visits to the thank-you page as a sign that a form was submitted; it does not confirm lead quality or later sales.
The client wants to count clicks to another website: in What happens after the customer completes the action?, record the page containing the link and the link’s full destination URL, beginning with https://. Choose the linked outbound-click guide. Confirm with the client that the click itself is what they want to count; it does not tell you whether someone bought or booked on the other website.
Neither fits: write the desired result and what the site does in the worksheet. Examples include purchases, calls, sales recorded in a customer database, and forms that stay on the same page after submission. Name the website or tracking specialist who will choose the method, and mark the row Needs work or Waiting on client.
In Measurement plan, find Planned measurement guide or named specialist handoff. Put the person setting up tracking in its Responsible owner column. In Website and Tag Manager, fill the two fields naming who can edit and publish. Check that they have the access, website details, and client-set value needed by the chosen guide. Put missing inputs and the person supplying them in Next action or note.
Keep account administration, implementation, and campaign approval with their named owners. The handoff status is not permission to spend or launch.
In Measurement plan, Account decisions, and Campaign handoff, name the people responsible for the items below. Record what each has confirmed or what they need to do next.
Record who handles billing, payment, and any advertiser-verification request from Google. Also name who will confirm auto-tagging, the setting that adds Google’s click identifier to ad links so visits can be connected to ads.
Record who approves the campaign, the budget, and the intended launch date. If the client has not decided these yet, write the question and responsible person beside the field.
Choose a Status for all 26 fields. Items to finish counts blank statuses and rows marked Needs work or Waiting on client. Use these choices:
Choose Ready when the answer is confirmed. Choose Not applicable when the field does not apply, such as the field beginning If measuring a click when you chose form tracking.
Choose Needs work when your agency owns the next step, or Waiting on client when you need client information or a decision. Fill Responsible owner and Next action or note for each open item.
At the top of the sheet, choose the overall status. This tells the next teammate whether they can begin setting up tracking; campaign launch is a later decision.
Choose Ready for implementation handoff when the account is confirmed, the brief and tracking method are clear, and the implementer has the required access, website details, and GTM editor and publisher. The selected tracking guide still needs to be completed.
Choose Needs work when the agency has preparation to finish. Choose Waiting on client when client information or a decision is needed first. If both apply, choose Waiting on client and leave both next actions in the relevant rows.
