Requirements
Google Ads needs no developer account and no API key. A Google account with access to the relevant Google Ads account is enough. If you manage several clients through an MCC manager account, you connect that once and then assign the matching client account per client.
Google Ads is included in every plan — billing is per client account, never per data source. A client with Google Ads, Meta Ads, GA4 and Search Console costs exactly the same as one with only Google Ads.
Connect Google Ads via OAuth
The connection runs over the official Google Ads API. MetricDash gets read access only — it cannot change campaigns, budgets or ads, and you can revoke access at any time in your Google account.
- 1Open the client and click “Connect Google Ads”.
- 2Sign in with your Google account and confirm read access.
- 3If you connected an MCC, select the matching Google Ads client account.
- 4Assign the connection to the MetricDash client.
Data, sync and budget alerts
Cost, clicks, impressions, conversions, CTR and CPC appear in the client view immediately — normalised and next to every other connected source. The sync runs automatically every 6 hours; in the dashboard a live fetch pulls the freshest numbers whenever you need them, for example just before a meeting.
Set the monthly budget per client, and MetricDash warns you at 80% and at 100% of usage — in-app and by email. Spend anomaly detection additionally flags unusual cost spikes, so a broken bid shows up within hours, not on the monthly invoice.
In reports and the client portal
The Google Ads numbers flow on automatically: into scheduled report emails, into shareable report links — frozen snapshots, valid for 30 days — and into the client portal with its own client login. Your client checks how their campaigns are doing themselves, instead of emailing you for the interim status.
MetricDash also stores daily historical data. So you can show developments over weeks and months — not just the current state — which is what makes honest trend charts possible in the first place.
Common pitfalls
- No API key needed: the connection is pure OAuth — if you are hunting for a developer token, you are overcomplicating it.
- MCC instead of individual logins: one manager account is enough; you do not log in separately per client.
- Read access only: MetricDash changes nothing in your campaigns — write access does not exist by design.
- Forgot the budget? Without a stored monthly budget the 80% and 100% alerts cannot fire.