Create an account

  • Accounts are created in the Google Ads API using the CreateCustomerClient method on the CustomerService, which is different from the usual "mutate" method for other entities.

  • When using the CreateCustomerClient method, you must specify the customer ID of the manager account that will oversee the new client account.

  • The process involves sending a pre-populated Customer object to the API containing details for the new account.

To create a new client account, submit a pre-populated Customer object using the CreateCustomerClient method on CustomerService.

Unlike standard entity creation (such as creating campaigns using mutate calls), you must specify the customer ID of the manager account in the request rather than the ID of the customer being created.

Request and customer fields

When calling CustomerService.CreateCustomerClient, configure CreateCustomerClientRequest and its nested Customer object as shown in the following table:

Field or header Requirement Mutability and description
customer_id Required The 10-digit customer ID (without hyphens) of the direct parent manager account under which the new client account is created.
login-customer-id (header) Conditional Required in the request headers if the authenticated user accesses the parent manager account (customer_id) through an ancestor manager account higher in the hierarchy.
customer_client.descriptive_name Required Mutable: Display name for the new account (for example, "Acct Created with CustomerService"). Can be updated later with CustomerService.MutateCustomer.
customer_client.currency_code Required Immutable after creation: 3-character ISO 4217 billing currency code (for example, USD or EUR). See supported currency codes.
customer_client.time_zone Required Immutable after creation: Account time zone ID (for example, America/New_York). See supported time zones.
email_address and access_role Optional (allowlist only) Invites a user (ADMIN, STANDARD, READ_ONLY, or EMAIL_ONLY) to the created account during creation. Accounts not on the allowlist must invite users after creation using CustomerUserAccessInvitationService.
validate_only Optional When true, validates the request parameters and manager eligibility without creating the account.

Code example

The following example demonstrates how to create a customer account under an existing manager account:

Java

private void runExample(GoogleAdsClient googleAdsClient, Long managerId) {
  // Formats the current date/time to use as a timestamp in the new customer description.
  String dateTime = ZonedDateTime.now().format(DateTimeFormatter.RFC_1123_DATE_TIME);

  // Initializes a Customer object to be created.
  Customer customer =
      Customer.newBuilder()
          .setDescriptiveName("Account created with CustomerService on '" + dateTime + "'")
          .setCurrencyCode("USD")
          .setTimeZone("America/New_York")
          // Optional: Sets additional attributes of the customer.
          .setTrackingUrlTemplate("{lpurl}?device={device}")
          .setFinalUrlSuffix("keyword={keyword}&matchtype={matchtype}&adgroupid={adgroupid}")
          .build();

  // Sends the request to create the customer.
  try (CustomerServiceClient client =
      googleAdsClient.getLatestVersion().createCustomerServiceClient()) {
    CreateCustomerClientResponse response =
        client.createCustomerClient(managerId.toString(), customer);
    System.out.printf(
        "Created a customer with resource name '%s' under the manager account with"
            + " customer ID '%d'.%n",
        response.getResourceName(), managerId);
  }
}

C#

public void Run(GoogleAdsClient client, long managerCustomerId)
{
    // Get the CustomerService.
    CustomerServiceClient customerService = client.GetService(Services.V26.CustomerService);

    Customer customer = new Customer()
    {
        DescriptiveName = $"Account created with CustomerService on '{DateTime.Now}'",

        // For a list of valid currency codes and time zones see this documentation:
        // https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/reference/data/codes-formats#codes_formats.
        CurrencyCode = "USD",
        TimeZone = "America/New_York",

        // The below values are optional. For more information about URL
        // options see: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6305348.
        TrackingUrlTemplate = "{lpurl}?device={device}",
        FinalUrlSuffix = "keyword={keyword}&matchtype={matchtype}&adgroupid={adgroupid}"
    };

    try
    {
        // Create the account.
        CreateCustomerClientResponse response = customerService.CreateCustomerClient(
            managerCustomerId.ToString(), customer);

        // Display the result.
        Console.WriteLine($"Created a customer with resource name " +
            $"'{response.ResourceName}' under the manager account with customer " +
            $"ID '{managerCustomerId}'");
    }
    catch (GoogleAdsException e)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Failure:");
        Console.WriteLine($"Message: {e.Message}");
        Console.WriteLine($"Failure: {e.Failure}");
        Console.WriteLine($"Request ID: {e.RequestId}");
        throw;
    }
}

PHP

public static function runExample(GoogleAdsClient $googleAdsClient, int $managerCustomerId)
{
    $customer = new Customer([
        'descriptive_name' => 'Account created with CustomerService on ' . date('Ymd h:i:s'),
        // For a list of valid currency codes and time zones see this documentation:
        // https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/reference/data/codes-formats.
        'currency_code' => 'USD',
        'time_zone' => 'America/New_York',
        // The below values are optional. For more information about URL
        // options see: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6305348.
        'tracking_url_template' => '{lpurl}?device={device}',
        'final_url_suffix' => 'keyword={keyword}&matchtype={matchtype}&adgroupid={adgroupid}'
    ]);

    // Issues a mutate request to create an account
    $customerServiceClient = $googleAdsClient->getCustomerServiceClient();
    $response = $customerServiceClient->createCustomerClient(
        CreateCustomerClientRequest::build($managerCustomerId, $customer)
    );

    printf(
        'Created a customer with resource name "%s" under the manager account with '
        . 'customer ID %d.%s',
        $response->getResourceName(),
        $managerCustomerId,
        PHP_EOL
    );
}

Python

def main(client: GoogleAdsClient, manager_customer_id: str) -> None:
    """The main method that creates all necessary entities for the example.

    Args:
        client: an initialized GoogleAdsClient instance.
        manager_customer_id: a manager client customer ID.
    """
    customer_service: CustomerServiceClient = client.get_service(
        "CustomerService"
    )
    customer: Customer = client.get_type("Customer")
    now: str = datetime.today().strftime("%Y%m%d %H:%M:%S")
    customer.descriptive_name = f"Account created with CustomerService on {now}"
    # For a list of valid currency codes and time zones see this documentation:
    # https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/reference/data/codes-formats
    customer.currency_code = "USD"
    customer.time_zone = "America/New_York"
    # The below values are optional. For more information about URL
    # options see: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6305348
    customer.tracking_url_template = "{lpurl}?device={device}"
    customer.final_url_suffix = (
        "keyword={keyword}&matchtype={matchtype}&adgroupid={adgroupid}"
    )

    response: CreateCustomerClientResponse = (
        customer_service.create_customer_client(
            customer_id=manager_customer_id, customer_client=customer
        )
    )
    print(
        f'Customer created with resource name "{response.resource_name}" '
        f'under manager account with ID "{manager_customer_id}".'
    )

Ruby

def create_customer(manager_customer_id)
  # GoogleAdsClient will read a config file from
  # ENV['HOME']/google_ads_config.rb when called without parameters
  client = Google::Ads::GoogleAds::GoogleAdsClient.new

  customer = client.resource.customer do |c|
    c.descriptive_name = "Account created with CustomerService on #{(Time.new.to_f * 1000).to_i}"

    # For a list of valid currency codes and time zones, see this documentation:
    # https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/reference/data/codes-formats
    c.currency_code = "USD"
    c.time_zone = "America/New_York"

    # The below values are optional. For more information about URL options, see:
    # https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6305348
    c.tracking_url_template = "{lpurl}?device={device}"
    c.final_url_suffix = "keyword={keyword}&matchtype={matchtype}&adgroupid={adgroupid}"
  end

  response = client.service.customer.create_customer_client(
    customer_id: manager_customer_id,
    customer_client: customer
  )

  puts "Created a customer with resource name #{response.resource_name} under" +
      " the manager account with customer ID #{manager_customer_id}."
end

Perl

sub create_customer {
  my ($api_client, $manager_customer_id) = @_;

  # Initialize a customer to be created.
  my $customer = Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V26::Resources::Customer->new({
      descriptiveName => "Account created with CustomerService on #" . uniqid(),

      # For a list of valid currency codes and time zones, see this documentation:
      # https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/reference/data/codes-formats
      currencyCode => "USD",
      timeZone     => "America/New_York",

      # The below values are optional. For more information about URL options, see:
      # https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6305348
      trackingUrlTemplate => "{lpurl}?device={device}",
      finalUrlSuffix      =>
        "keyword={keyword}&matchtype={matchtype}&adgroupid={adgroupid}"
  });

  # Create the customer client.
  my $create_customer_client_response =
    $api_client->CustomerService()->create_customer_client({
      customerId     => $manager_customer_id,
      customerClient => $customer
    });

  printf
    "Created a customer with resource name '%s' under the manager account " .
    "with customer ID %d.\n", $create_customer_client_response->{resourceName},
    $manager_customer_id;

  return 1;
}

curl

# Creates a customer client.
#
# Variables:
#   API_VERSION,
#   MANAGER_CUSTOMER_ID,
#   OAUTH2_ACCESS_TOKEN:
#     See https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/rest/auth#request_headers
#     for details.
#
curl -f --request POST \
"https://googleads.googleapis.com/v${API_VERSION}/customers/${MANAGER_CUSTOMER_ID}:createCustomerClient" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--header "login-customer-id: ${MANAGER_CUSTOMER_ID}" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer ${OAUTH2_ACCESS_TOKEN}" \
--data @- <<EOF
{
  "customerClient": {
    "descriptiveName": "Account created with CustomerService #${RANDOM}",
    "currencyCode": "USD",
    "timeZone": "America/New_York"
  }
}
EOF

Response and next steps

On success, CreateCustomerClient returns a CreateCustomerClientResponse containing the resource_name (customers/{new_customer_id}) of the newly created account (plus an invitation_link if email_address and access_role were included by a manager account on the allowlist). You can then use this resource name or customer ID to verify the account in your hierarchy, grant user access, configure billing, or populate campaigns.

Verify the created account in the manager hierarchy

Query the customer_client resource against the manager account (customer_id) using GoogleAdsService.SearchStream to inspect the newly created sub-account:

SELECT
  customer_client.id,
  customer_client.resource_name,
  customer_client.client_customer,
  customer_client.descriptive_name,
  customer_client.currency_code,
  customer_client.time_zone,
  customer_client.manager,
  customer_client.level,
  customer_client.status
FROM customer_client
WHERE customer_client.level = 1
  AND customer_client.id = {new_customer_id}

Invite users to the new account

If your manager account isn't on the allowlist for setting email_address and access_role directly on CreateCustomerClientRequest, send an access invitation to the newly created new_customer_id using MutateCustomerUserAccessInvitation on CustomerUserAccessInvitationService. When authenticating through the parent manager account, include login-customer-id: {manager_customer_id} in the HTTP request headers:

POST https://googleads.googleapis.com/v26/customers/{new_customer_id}/customerUserAccessInvitations:mutate
{
  "operation": {
    "create": {
      "emailAddress": "user@example.com",
      "accessRole": "ADMIN"
    }
  }
}

Error handling

Calls to CreateCustomerClient can return the following errors:

  • CustomerError: Indicates account-level creation restrictions, such as CREATION_DENIED_INELIGIBLE_MCC (the manager account isn't eligible to create new accounts) or CREATION_DENIED_FOR_POLICY_VIOLATION (customer creation is denied due to a policy violation).
  • ManagerLinkError: Indicates hierarchy or account limit constraints, such as TOO_MANY_ACCOUNTS, TOO_MANY_ACCOUNTS_AT_MANAGER, or MAX_DEPTH_EXCEEDED.
  • AccessInvitationError: Returned if an optional email_address (along with access_role, available only to accounts on the allowlist) is provided on CreateCustomerClientRequest to invite a user to the new account and the invitation fails (for example, INVALID_EMAIL_ADDRESS, GOOGLE_CONSUMER_ACCOUNT_NOT_ALLOWED, or EMAIL_DOMAIN_POLICY_VIOLATED). Accounts that aren't on the allowlist should invite users after account creation using CustomerUserAccessInvitationService.
  • CurrencyCodeError.UNSUPPORTED or TimeZoneError.INVALID_TIME_ZONE: Returned when the specified currency_code or time_zone on the Customer object is invalid or unsupported.
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