🔐 Why the Google Ads link stops
Search Atlas connects Google Ads only through Google’s secure sign-in (OAuth). There is no supported way to type a client’s email and password into Search Atlas and finish the link by hand. Google must approve the connection in its own window, including any two-factor authentication (2FA) prompt.
A common stall looks like this: you click Connect to Google Ads, enter an email and password, a new Chrome window or profile opens, and the account in Search Atlas still shows as not connected. The sign-in usually never finished, the wrong Google user was chosen, or the window closed before Google sent approval back.
✅ What you need before you connect
- The Google account must be able to access the Google Ads account you want to link.
- For a client account, that user should have admin or standard access on the Ads account, or access through the manager (MCC) account that owns it.
- Someone who can approve 2FA must be available. Do not share the client’s password. Have the client complete the Google prompts, or stay on a call while they approve the code on their phone.
- Use a browser that allows pop-ups for Search Atlas and for Google.
🛠️ Finish the connection in one session
- In Search Atlas, open the project or client you want to connect, then click Connect to Google Ads.
- When Google opens, confirm you are in the intended Chrome profile. If a second window opens as your client, stay in that window and complete every step there.
- Sign in with the Google account that has access to the Ads account. If several Google accounts are listed, pick the correct one. Do not continue with your own account unless it can manage that Ads account.
- Complete 2FA in that same window. Approve the prompt on the phone, authenticator app, or security key before you close anything.
- On Google’s consent screen, allow every permission Search Atlas requests. Denying a permission leaves the account disconnected.
- If Google asks which Ads account or manager account to use, select the client account you intend to report on.
- Wait until Google closes the window or shows that access was granted, then return to Search Atlas and refresh the connection status.
Closing the Google window after the password, but before 2FA or the Allow button, is the most common reason the link looks like it did nothing.
🧰 If it still does not connect
- Turn off pop-up blockers for this site, then start Connect to Google Ads again.
- Open a private or incognito window, sign in to Search Atlas, and run the connect flow with only the client’s Google account. Extra signed-in Google users often send consent to the wrong account.
- In the new Chrome profile, sign out of Google completely, then sign in once as the client and repeat the steps above.
- Confirm the client accepted the latest 2FA prompt. An expired or dismissed code stops OAuth with no error inside Search Atlas.
- Check Google Ads access: the signed-in user must see that Ads account. Invite them in Google Ads first if they cannot open it.
- Disconnect any half-finished Google Ads link in Search Atlas, then connect again from the start.
- Try another browser if Chrome profiles keep switching users mid-flow.
💡 Agency and client setup
You cannot bypass Google and attach the client’s Ads account from the Search Atlas screen alone. The client can sign in to Search Atlas (or sit with you), click Connect to Google Ads, pass 2FA, and approve access. After Google confirms it, you can keep using the project without their password.
Connecting a manager account links the accounts that manager can access. If only one client should be used, select that account during consent or after the link appears, instead of assuming every account under the MCC was chosen.
💬 Still stuck
If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be instantly connected with a member of our team.