Google Ads Setup for Data Manager

This guide covers the Google-side setup required before onboarding a client to the Data Manager API integration. It walks through creating a service account, enabling the API, granting Google Ads access, and creating conversion actions, and it lists the values MetaRouter requires to complete the configuration.

Setup Steps

1. Create a Service Account

Follow Google's guide: Set up access — Service Account

On Step 4 of that guide, set the scopes to:

scopes="https://www.googleapis.com/auth/datamanager"

Once the Service Account is created, go to Keys → Add Key → JSON and download the key file.

2. Enable the Data Manager API

Open the Google Cloud Console left-side menu → APIs & Services → Library
Search for Data Manager API
Click it, then click Enable API

3. Add the Service Account to Google Ads

Sign in to Google Ads as an admin
Admin → Access and security
Users → blue + button to add a new user
Enter the Service Account's full email address in the Email field
Set Access level to Standard
Click Add account

4. Create a Conversion Action

Repeat once per conversion type needed.

In your Google Ads account, go to Summary within the Goals menu.
Select + Create conversion action.
Select Conversions offline.
Select Edit data sources.
Select Skip this step and set up a data source later and check the Customer data checkbox to confirm compliance with Google's EU user consent policy and Customer data policies.
Click Done and Save and continue
Choose the conversion category (or categories) you want to measure.
Select + Create conversion and click Connect data source later
Click Edit settings
Update the Conversion name. Optionally adjust Value and Count if needed.
Click Done and Save and continue
Click Finish
Go to Goals → Conversions → Summary → View all conversion actions
Open the newly created Conversion Action
Copy the ctId value from the URL — that is the Conversion Action ID

Note: These steps are only for offline conversions. If page-level (web) tracking is also needed, the conversion-action setup steps differ — see Google's documentation on web conversions for the alternative path.

What MetaRouter Needs

Needed For	Field	Where to Get It
Authentication	Service Account email	The Service Account created in Step 1
Authentication	Service Account private key	`private_key` value inside the downloaded JSON key file
Conversion uploads	Customer ID	Google Ads account
Conversion uploads	Conversion Action ID (one per conversion type)	`ctId` URL parameter from Step 4