How to Switch Google Ads Agencies Without Losing Your Data
A step-by-step guide to changing Google Ads agencies: securing access, keeping your history, handing over cleanly and avoiding a dip in results.
To switch Google Ads agencies without losing your data, make sure you own every account before you give notice: Google Ads, Merchant Center, Google Analytics, tag manager and any conversion tracking. Then add the new agency as a user alongside the old one, have the new agency review everything before anything changes, and remove the old agency’s access only once the handover is done. If your Google Ads account is in your name, your history stays with you. If it is not, you have more work to do, but you can usually recover most of it.
Here is the order to do it in.
Step one: check who owns what
Before you tell your current agency anything, log in to each of these and check that you are an admin:
- Google Ads. Your account, with your billing on it. If you only see it through the agency’s manager account, ask to be added as an admin user directly.
- Merchant Center. Where your product feed lives.
- Google Analytics. Your property, with you as an admin.
- Google Tag Manager, if you use it. This is where tracking tags are often set up.
- Your store’s tracking apps or settings. For example, the Google channel in your store platform, or any app that sends conversions.
If any of these are owned by the agency, ask for ownership to be moved to you now. Do it politely and in writing. Most agencies will. Some will drag their feet if they sense you are leaving, which is why this comes first.
Step two: export what you might lose
Even when you own the account, export a few things for safety:
- Campaign structure and settings, using Google Ads Editor or a download from the interface.
- Search term reports and keyword lists for the past year.
- Negative keyword lists.
- Conversion action settings.
- The product feed and any supplemental feeds or rules in Merchant Center.
- Reports the agency sent you.
If the old agency ran your campaigns from its own account, which is the case you want to avoid, you cannot move that history. You can still export the structure and copy it into a new account you own. You lose the account’s past data, but not what was learned.
Step three: bring the new agency in before the old one leaves
Add your new agency as a user, or accept a link request from its manager account. Give it read access first. A good new agency will want to review everything before it changes anything. This is where an audit helps. Our free Google Ads audit covers tracking, structure, search terms, feed and budget.
Overlap matters. If the old agency is removed the same day the new one arrives, nobody is watching the account during the most fragile week.
Step four: give notice and agree the handover
Read your contract for the notice period. Then ask the old agency for:
- A short written summary of the account: what is running, why, and any tests in progress.
- Any scripts, rules or automated tools set up in the account.
- Any tracking it set up outside the account, such as server-side tagging.
- A list of tools billed to you that it managed.
Keep the tone friendly. You want a clean handover more than you want to win an argument.
Step five: do not change everything at once
The biggest risk in a switch is a new agency that rebuilds the whole account in week one. Campaigns that use smart bidding rely on past data. Big changes can reset that learning and cause a dip.
A careful new agency will:
- Check tracking first, so decisions are based on real numbers.
- Fix clear problems: broken tags, disapproved products, obvious wasted spend.
- Make structural changes in stages, so the effect of each one can be seen.
Our guide to the first 90 days with a Google Ads agency explains what each month should look like.
Step six: remove old access
Once the new agency is set up and the handover is done, remove the old agency’s access from every account in step one. Check user lists in Google Ads, Merchant Center, Analytics and tag manager. Unlink the old manager account in Google Ads.
Also check for:
- Billing that still points to the old agency.
- Shared budgets or audiences owned by the old manager account.
- Email alerts going to the old agency.
Common mistakes
- Giving notice before checking ownership. This is the most expensive one.
- Deleting old campaigns. Pause them instead. Their history is useful.
- Switching tracking setups during the move. Change one thing at a time.
- No overlap. Even a short overlap helps.
- Judging the new agency in the first weeks. Early weeks should be about fixing foundations. Results come after.
When the old agency owns the account
If your agency set up the Google Ads account under its own name and will not transfer it, you may need a new account. It is frustrating, but not the end. Export what you can, build a clean structure in an account you own, and fix tracking from the start. The learning comes back faster than you think when the feed and tracking are right.
Next time, make ownership the first thing you agree. Our list of questions to ask before hiring a Google Ads agency puts it at the top.
Thinking about a switch?
Nathan Synoground has managed Google Ads across 150 client accounts since 2018. With TheCMO, your account stays in your name from day one. See how our Google Ads management works, request a free audit of your current account, or compare other agencies on our ranking.