So, two weeks ago I talked about how Google is starting the process of migrating every AdSense account to a Google Account, something that anyone with an AdWords account is going to find problematic. See, you can’t have an AdWords account and an AdSense account on the same Google account, due to technical restrictions. Luckily, if you don’t use AdWords much, and even if you do, there’s a good solution.
See, AdWords lets you add multiple users to an account, and they can all have the same permissions and access to that account. That’s what we’re going to exploit here.
- Create a new Google Account, unless you already have a second one lying around you’d like to use.
- Sign in to AdWords.
- Click My Account, then Access, then Invite Other Users.
- Invite your second Google Account.
- Go to that account’s email inbox and accept the invitation.
- Go back into AdWords with your first account, and accept the second account’s acceptance of the invitation (I know its confusing, but you have to).
- Now, sign into AdWords with your second Google account, which now has full access to your AdWords account.
- Go back to the Access area
- Look for your original Google Account, the one you wanted to make an AdSense account. Next to it should be a “Disable Access” link. If there isn’t, you’re probably signed in with the wrong account. You need to be signed in with an account that has full access and isn’t the one you want to delete. Click “Disable Access”.
- Unless something strange has happened, you’re done!
You’ve now changed your AdWords account to a different Google Account, which frees up your regular Google Account to use your AdSense account. For many people, like myself, its far more important to have AdSense on your regular account than AdWords than the other way around, so this is the way to go. I did it last night, and it worked like a charm.
There’s another reason to do it: AdWords supports multiple account access, AdSense doesn’t. My AdSense account manager tells me they would like to add that feature in the future, as well as the ability to link AdSense and AdWords accounts, and are investigating the possibility. Until that happens, you don’t want to shoot yourself in the foot.
See, since AdSense can have only one login, and AdWords can have multiple, you want to switch AdWords to a different account, since it’s more flexible. If Google finds a way to have AdWords and AdSense on the same account, but doesn’t add multi-user access to AdSense, then you’ll only have the option of moving your AdWords account, so you want your AdSense account on your regular Google Account.
He also told me has decided that it won’t force migrate anyone from AdSense to Google Accounts until they have found a way to link AdSense and AdWords accounts with each other. So, honestly, you could just sit on your butt until this is resolved. Still, I’m glad I migrated my account. Now, I don’t have to re-login every ten minutes. As long as I’m logged into my Google Account, AdSense opens on its own. For that, it was all worth it.
On a side note, I noticed while I was migrating something about Google Print logins. I dismissed it at the time, but it looks like it was referring to Google Print ads, which Andy Beal reports is now showing up in the AdWords interface.
