Connecting Google Ads
How to link your Google Ads account to BidSmart, exactly what access the connection grants, and why BidSmart stays read-only until you approve a change.
To use BidSmart you link your Google Ads account so it can read your Shopping performance product by product. The connection includes the ability to make changes, but BidSmart is read-only in practice until you approve something in the queue. It analyses and proposes; it executes only what you sign off. This guide walks through linking the account and explains what the access actually does.
What you're connecting, and why
BidSmart works by analysing your real Shopping performance product by product, so it needs to read your Google Ads account. Linking the account is the first step: without it, there's nothing for BidSmart to analyse. See how BidSmart works for the full picture of what happens after the connection.
Linking your account
The connection runs entirely through Google's own authorisation flow. You're never typing your Google password into /tools:
- Start the connection in BidSmart (Connect Google Ads).
- Sign in on Google's screen with the account that manages your Ads, and approve the access Google shows you.
- Pick the Ads account to link, if your login manages more than one.
- Let it analyse. BidSmart reads your Shopping performance and breaks it down per product. Give it a few days of data before expecting recommendations.
Because the grant happens on Google's side, you can revoke it at any time from your Google account's security settings, or from within /tools.
What access is granted
Deep dive Full access, but read-only in practice until you approve
The connection technically grants BidSmart the ability both to read your account and to write to it, because eventually, once you approve a change, it has to be able to apply that change to Google Ads. There's no way to make approved bid adjustments without write access. But it's worth being precise about what that does and doesn't mean day to day.
Reading is continuous. From the moment you link, BidSmart pulls Shopping performance, meaning impressions, clicks, cost, conversions, conversion value, and breaks it down to the product level to form its analysis. This is the part that runs on its own, and it's entirely non-invasive: reading your numbers changes nothing.
Writing is gated behind you. BidSmart never writes to your account off its own initiative. Every change is a recommendation that waits in the approval queue and executes only after you sign it off. So although the permission to write exists from the moment you connect, the behaviour is read-only until you deliberately approve something. There is no autopilot that could use the write access without your decision; that mode does not exist, by design.
And when a write does happen, it's not a blind one: every executed change records its before and after state, so it's auditable and reversible. The write access, in other words, is only ever exercised on changes you've personally approved, and even those you can undo. See how BidSmart works for the approval model in full.
After connecting
Once BidSmart has a few days of data, it starts forming recommendations. From there:
- Read your first bid recommendations and the reasons behind them.
- Watch for budget pacing signals on capped or under-pacing campaigns.
- Work the approval queue: approve, reject, or leave each item. Nothing executes until you do.
Step by step
- Open BidSmart and start the Google Ads connection. In BidSmart, choose Connect Google Ads. You'll be sent to Google's own sign-in and consent screen, since the connection is authorised by Google, not by handing over a password to /tools.
- Sign in and grant access on Google's consent screen. Sign in with the Google account that has access to your Ads account, and approve the access on Google's screen. This is where the permission is granted, and you can review exactly what's requested there.
- Select the Ads account to link. If your login manages more than one Ads account (or a manager account), pick the specific account whose Shopping campaigns you want BidSmart to analyse.
- Let BidSmart read and analyse your performance. Once linked, BidSmart pulls your Shopping performance and breaks it down to the product level. Give it a few days of data to settle before expecting recommendations.
- Review recommendations before anything is written back. BidSmart makes no changes to your account from linking alone. Proposed changes appear in the approval queue and execute only after you approve them.
Frequently asked questions
Does connecting Google Ads let BidSmart change my account straight away?
No. Linking grants the technical access to read and, on your approval, write, but BidSmart writes nothing until you approve a change in the queue. In practice it's read-only until you say otherwise.
Do I hand over my Google password?
No. The connection goes through Google's own consent screen. You sign in with Google and approve access there; /tools never sees your password and the access can be revoked from your Google account at any time.
Can I disconnect later?
Yes. You can revoke the connection from within /tools or directly in your Google account's security settings. Revoking stops all analysis and, of course, any ability to execute changes.