Why the Review Needs Administrator and API Access

Two requests surprise many publishers during an account review: add the reviewer as an Administrator, and turn on API access. Both have practical reasons behind them. Here is what each one does and how to stay in control.

Why the Administrator role

Google Ad Manager controls what each user can see through roles. According to Google's roles reference, the Administrator role has access to everything in the network except legal settings. Narrower roles hide parts of the account that a reviewer needs, such as network settings, Ad Exchange status, user lists and policy notices.

A full review needs to read network age and account settings, revenue history across demand channels, site and app approval status, and policy center issues and invalid-traffic signals.

ADX Approval, which runs reviews for H&T GAMING, states that it uses this access to read account data. During the review we only enable API access in your network, which the review needs; we don't change your ad settings.

Why API access

API access is a network setting that lets approved applications talk to Ad Manager directly. Google's guide to enabling the API confirms that only an Administrator can switch it on.

H&T GAMING's MCM criteria require it before you submit. The reason is practical: its MCM portal sends the MCM invitation through the Google Ad Manager API, and ongoing monitoring and reporting run through the API too. Without it, the invite and the health checks can't happen automatically.

How to turn on API access

1. Sign in to Google Ad Manager
2. Go to Admin, then Global settings, then Network settings
3. Under General settings, switch API access on
4. Confirm the API terms and conditions
5. Click Save

Google points out that the setting is not active until you save.

How to stay in control

Add the reviewer with their own email, never share your password. Keep a note of the date you granted access. Remove the user from Admin, under users, when the review ends if you do not proceed, and it's worth reviewing your full user list every few months anyway, since Google's guidance on preventing invalid traffic treats stale account access as its own kind of risk.

The short version

Administrator access lets a reviewer see the whole account. API access lets the MCM invitation and monitoring work. Both can be reversed by you at any time, which is worth remembering if the request still feels like a lot to ask up front. When you're ready, you can request your free Google Ad Manager account review.