Connecting Your Google Ads Account
Quick answer
You connect Google Ads during onboarding, from the questionnaire. A Google authorization window opens, you sign in and grant access, and you select the Google Ads account Agency AI should manage. Your Google Merchant Center account must already be linked to your Google Ads account before you start.
Before you connect
You need:
- A Google Ads account you have admin access to
- A Google Merchant Center account with your Shopify products submitted and approved
- Merchant Center already linked to that Google Ads account
Agency AI does not set up Merchant Center for you. If you haven't done it yet, we recommend the Google & YouTube Shopify app, which syncs your Shopify catalog into Merchant Center. Then link Merchant Center to Google Ads. See Setting up Google Merchant Center + product feed and linking Google Ads.
Without this, Agency AI can connect to your Google Ads account, but it cannot launch Performance Max campaigns — Google requires an approved product feed.
Connecting during onboarding
When you first install Agency AI, the onboarding questionnaire prompts you to connect Google Ads. Click through and a Google authorization window opens, the same way the Meta authorization flow works. Sign in with the Google account that has access to your Google Ads account, grant the requested permissions, and choose the Google Ads account you want Agency AI to use.
Connecting or changing it later
Go to Settings → Google account.
- Google Ads Account Connection shows Connected or not, and the number of days until your access token expires.
- Google Ads Asset Configuration → Selected account lets you switch between Google Ads accounts you already have access to. Click Save Google Ads Account.
- To add or remove accounts entirely, Disconnect Google Ads Account and reconnect.
Common problems
No Merchant Center account appears in the Create Ad dropdown. The Merchant Center account isn't linked to the connected Google Ads account. Fix the link in Merchant Center (Settings → Linked accounts) or Google Ads (Tools → Linked accounts), then return to Agency AI.
The Google Ads account you want isn't in the Selected account dropdown. You authorized with a Google account that doesn't have access to it. Disconnect, and reconnect with the right Google login.
Products aren't appearing in your Performance Max campaign. Products are disapproved in Merchant Center. Open Merchant Center → Products → Diagnostics. The usual causes are missing GTINs, missing shipping settings, or a price mismatch between your feed and your storefront.
"Your Google access token will expire in 0 days." Your connection is about to break or already has. See Reconnecting Meta or Google When Your Access Token Expires.
Why Performance Max
Performance Max places your products across Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube, and Discover from one campaign, optimizing across all of them together. For a Shopify catalog this consistently outperforms running those surfaces separately. Agency AI was the first Shopify app to launch the full Performance Max architecture for merchants.