Why Does Google Ad Services Refuse to Connect?
It’s one of the most common frustrations in digital marketing: you’re trying to connect your Google Ads account to a reporting tool, dashboard, or data analysis platform, and you’re met with a stubborn "connection refused" error. This guide will walk you through the most frequent reasons why Google Ads fails to connect and provide clear, step-by-step instructions to get you back on track.
Checking for the Most Common Culprit: User Permissions
The number one reason for a failed connection is insufficient user permissions. To share data with a third-party application, your user account needs a specific level of access within the Google Ads account. Without it, Google’s gatekeepers won’t let the app in.
Understanding Google Ads Access Levels
Google Ads has several access levels, each with different capabilities. Here’s a quick breakdown:
Admin: Has full control over the account, including managing user access, billing, and campaign modifications. This is almost always required for a clean API connection.
Standard: Can edit and manage campaigns but cannot manage user access or billing settings. Some tools can operate with Standard access, but many require Admin permissions to get a complete data picture.
Read-only: Can view campaigns and reports but cannot make any changes. This level is almost always insufficient for connecting a third-party app which needs to request data.
Billing: Can only view and edit billing information.
Email-only: Only receives account reports by email.
Most reporting tools need to make requests through the Google Ads API to pull data, a process that requires either Standard or, more commonly, Admin access to authorize.
How to Check and Update Your Access Level
Not sure what your permission level is? It only takes a minute to find out.
Log in to your Google Ads account.
Click on Tools and settings (the wrench icon) in the top-right menu.
Under the "Setup" column, click on Access and security.
On the "Users" tab, find your email address in the list. The column labeled "Access level" will show your current role.
If you have "Read-only" or "Standard" access and the connection is failing, you'll need to ask a user with "Admin" access to upgrade your permission level. Simply send them a screenshot of this page and request the appropriate upgrade so you can connect your reporting tool.
Solving Authentication Errors from Multiple Google Logins
Have you ever tried logging into a service with Google, only for it to use your personal Gmail instead of your work account? The same issue often derails Google Ads connections. If you're logged into several Google accounts at once (e.g., a personal Gmail, a work G Suite account, and an account for a side project), your browser can get confused during the authorization process.
Why Multiple Logins Cause Problems
When a third-party app asks for permission to connect to Google Ads, it opens a Google authentication prompt. Your browser, which stores cookies for all your logged-in sessions, might default to the wrong account - one that has no access to your Google Ads data. The result is an immediate "access denied" or "connection failed" message.
Simple Steps to a Clean Authentication
This is one of the easiest issues to fix. Try any of these methods to ensure you’re using the right account.
Use an Incognito Window: The quickest solution. Open a new private or incognito window in your browser. This mode ignores all your saved logins and cookies, giving you a fresh start. Log in to your reporting platform first, then when you connect Google Ads, you will be prompted to log in to one specific Google account.
Log Out Everywhere: Go to google.com and sign out of all your accounts. Clear your browser’s cache and cookies for good measure. Then, log in only with the single Google account that has Admin access to your Google Ads account. Now try connecting the tool again.
Pay Close Attention During OAuth: When the Google "Choose an account" pop-up appears, don't just click the first one. Carefully select the correct email address associated with your Ads account.
Dealing with Manager Account (MCC) Complexities
For agencies or businesses managing multiple Google Ads accounts, a Manager Account (formerly known as "My Client Center" or MCC) is a lifesaver. However, it adds another layer of complexity to authenticating third-party tools.
Distinguishing Between Manager and Child Accounts
A Manager Account acts as an umbrella account that holds several individual "child" accounts. The ads, campaigns, and data all live inside the child accounts. When you connect a reporting app, you must tell it which specific child account you want to pull data from. Pointing it at the Manager Account often fails, as the Manager Account itself contains no campaign data.
The key piece of information you need is the Customer ID for the child account. This 10-digit number (formatted like 123-456-7890) uniquely identifies each Google Ads account.
How to Connect to a Specific Child Account
Log in to your Google Ads Manager Account.
From the dashboard, navigate to the specific child account you want to connect.
Once you're viewing the child account's dashboard, look for the 10-digit Customer ID at the top right of the page, next to your account name and email.
Copy this ID.
When your reporting tool asks you to connect to Google Ads, there will likely be a field to enter a Customer ID. Paste it here. This tells the tool exactly where to look for data, avoiding any confusion with the Manager Account.
Remember, your user email must also have the proper permissions (Admin or Standard) on that specific child account, not just the MCC.
Verifying Technical Health: API Status and Outages
Sometimes, the problem isn't on your end. The connection relies on the Google Ads API (Application Programming Interface), which is the set of rules that allows other software to talk to Google Ads. If that system is down or experiencing issues, no connections will work.
How to Check the Google Ads API Status
Google maintains a public status dashboard that shows the health of all its services, including the API.
Visit the Google Ads API Status Dashboard.
Look for any recent incidents or outages. A green checkmark indicates that the service is running normally. A yellow or red icon suggests there is an active problem.
If the API is down, there is nothing you can do but wait for Google’s engineering team to fix it. This is rare but a good thing to check if you’ve already tried everything else.
Don't Forget About the Third-Party Tool
The tool you're using to connect could also be the problem. Their connection might be broken, outdated due to a Google API update, or temporarily down for maintenance. Check their website for a system status page, blog, or social media updates to see if they've reported any known issues with their Google Ads integration.
Final Checks: Account Status and Security Blockers
If you’re still striking out, there are two last areas to investigate: the status of the Ads account itself and potential security software interference.
Inactive or Canceled Accounts
You cannot connect a third-party tool to a Google Ads account that has been canceled. The API access is automatically disabled for non-active accounts. To check:
In Google Ads, go to Tools and settings > Setup > Account settings.
The "Account status" will clearly show if your account is "Active" or has been "Canceled". If an account has been canceled, you'll need to rely on manual CSV exports for historical reporting.
Firewalls, Ad Blockers, and 2FA
Corporate firewalls, VPNs, and even zealous ad-blocking browser extensions can sometimes prevent the authentication pop-up windows from working correctly.
Temporarily Disable Extensions: Turn off any ad blockers, privacy guards, or pop-up blockers and try the connection process again.
Check Your Network: If you are on a strict corporate network, it might be blocking the communication protocol. Try connecting from a different network (like your home Wi-Fi) to rule this out.
Look for 2-Factor Authentication (2FA) Prompts: Strong security is great, but don't miss the 2FA notification on your phone during the login process. If you don't approve it in time, the connection will fail.
Final Thoughts
Resolving a Google Ad Services connection failure almost always comes down to methodical troubleshooting. By checking your user permissions, clearing up account authentication conflicts, using the correct Customer ID for manager accounts, and verifying API status, you can solve nearly any connection roadblock you encounter.
We believe that your time is better spent analyzing performance - not debugging software connections. That’s why we’ve architected our platform to handle these handshake issues seamlessly, so you're not left hunting down API statuses or searching for account IDs. When you link your Google Ads data source to Graphed, our secure one-click process gets you connected so you can immediately start creating real-time dashboards using plain-English prompts, turning hours of frustration into seconds of insight.