Of all the things that go wrong when a business changes agency, the most avoidable one is also the most damaging: discovering that the ad accounts - and everything in them - don't actually belong to you.

It happens more than you'd think. The agency set everything up years ago inside their own manager account, or under an email address that belonged to them. The campaigns ran, the invoices were paid, and nobody thought about structure until the relationship ended. Then the new agency asks for access and the answer comes back: "You'll need to start fresh."

Starting fresh means losing conversion history, audience lists, learned bidding data, Quality Score history, Pixel data, and a record of what's been tested. In practical terms it can set performance back months. Here's how to make sure that never happens to you.

What "ownership" actually means on each platform

Google Ads

A Google Ads account is a standalone thing with its own ID. It can be linked to one or more manager accounts (what used to be called MCCs), which is how agencies manage multiple clients. Linking is fine - it's how an agency should work on your account. The question is who has administrative access directly on the account, and who created it. If the only admin is the agency, and it was created under their manager account, you're exposed.

Related assets - Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Merchant Center, Search Console, YouTube - each have their own ownership. Merchant Center in particular is often set up by an agency and forgotten.

Meta (Facebook and Instagram)

Meta assets live inside a Business Manager (now Business Portfolio). The ad account, the Pixel, the Facebook Page, the Instagram account, product catalogues and custom audiences all have an owning business. If the agency's Business Manager owns your ad account or Pixel, they own your audiences and your conversion history. Partner access - where the agency is granted access to assets your own Business Manager owns - is the right structure.

Microsoft Ads, Amazon Ads, LinkedIn

Same principle. Microsoft Ads accounts can sit under agency manager accounts; Amazon Ads sits under your seller or vendor account and can be shared; LinkedIn Campaign Manager accounts belong to a Page. In every case the test is the same: if the agency vanished tomorrow, could you log in and carry on?

How to check, in ten minutes

  • Google Ads: sign in with your own email. Go to Admin > Access and security. Confirm your email has Admin access, and look at the Managers tab to see which manager accounts are linked.
  • Google Analytics and Tag Manager: Admin > Account access management. You should have Administrator rights at the account level, not just the property or container.
  • Merchant Center: Settings > People and access. Same check.
  • Meta: Business settings in your own Business Portfolio. Under Accounts > Ad accounts and Data sources > Pixels, check the "owned by" business. If it says the agency's name, that's the problem.
  • Microsoft Ads: Settings > Account access. Confirm you have Super Admin.

If you can't sign in to any of these with an email address your business controls, you don't have ownership. You have a promise.

Why some agencies set it up this way

Usually it isn't sinister. It's convenient. Creating the account inside the agency's structure is faster, billing is simpler, and in the early days nobody asked. Some agencies also offer "no setup fee" arrangements precisely because they retain the account - it becomes a form of lock-in. And occasionally, yes, it's deliberate leverage: accounts held hostage during disputes over notice periods or final invoices.

Whatever the reason, the fix is the same, and a reasonable agency will help you make it.

How to fix it

If you own the accounts but the agency has the only admin

Ask for admin access to be granted to an email your business controls - ideally a shared role account like ads@yourcompany rather than one individual's inbox. Do this for every platform and every related asset. Then confirm you can log in.

If the agency owns the accounts

Google Ads accounts can't change ownership as such, but you can be added as an admin and the agency's manager link can be removed later - the account continues to exist independently. For Meta, ownership of an ad account can't be transferred between Business Portfolios either; the practical route is usually to request the Pixel and ad account be shared with your Business Manager now, and plan a managed migration to assets you own. Audiences and conversion data can't simply be exported, so the earlier this is done, the less you lose.

Going forward

  • Every new account is created by you, under your business email, then access is granted to the agency
  • Agencies get partner or manager access - never sole admin
  • Billing goes through your card or your invoice setup, not the agency's, unless there's a very clear reason
  • Ownership and access are written into the contract, including what happens on exit
  • Review access twice a year and remove anyone who shouldn't be there

The data that matters most

It's worth being specific about what you lose if you start over, because it focuses minds:

  • Conversion history - which Smart Bidding relies on. A new account starts from zero knowledge.
  • Audiences - remarketing lists, customer match uploads, lookalikes. These take months to rebuild.
  • Pixel and conversion API data on Meta - the learning that makes your campaigns cheaper over time.
  • Search term history - years of evidence about what does and doesn't convert.
  • Change history - the record of what was tested, so the next team doesn't repeat it.
  • Account-level trust signals that affect approvals, limits and features.

None of that shows up on an invoice, which is exactly why it gets overlooked.

Ask before you sign

If you're choosing an agency now, make this question part of the conversation: "Will the accounts be created under our ownership, and will we have full admin access from day one?" The answer should be an immediate, unqualified yes. Anything else - "we'll sort that out later", "it's easier our way", "you'll have access through us" - tells you something useful about how the relationship will end.

For the record, every account I work on belongs to the client. I ask for access; I don't take ownership. If you want to check how your current setup stacks up, it's one of the first things I look at in a free PPC audit.

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