How to Change Google Ad ID

Trying to change your Google Ads ID can feel like trying to change your birthday - it’s a core identifier that seems permanent. The short answer is that you can't directly change your 10-digit Google Ads Customer ID number once an account is created. This article cuts through the confusion and explains why that ID is fixed, what to do when you need a fresh start or want to transfer management, and how to navigate the process without losing your campaign data.

What is a Google Ads Customer ID Anyway?

Your Google Ads Customer ID is a unique 10-digit number, typically formatted as XXX-XXX-XXXX, that Google assigns to your account when it’s created. Think of it as your account's social security number or fingerprint. It’s the primary identifier that connects everything you do within the platform.

Every campaign, ad group, ad, keyword, audience, and billing detail is tied directly to this number. It’s used for:

Account Identification: When you contact Google support, they’ll ask for your Customer ID to locate your account.
Linking Accounts: It's how you connect your Google Ads account to other services like Google Analytics, Google Merchant Center, or a Manager Account (MCC).
Billing: Your payment history and billing profiles are permanently associated with this ID.
Agency Management: It's the number an agency or consultant uses to request access to manage your campaigns.

How to Find Your Google Ads Customer ID

Finding your ID is simple. When you're logged into your Google Ads account, just look at the top right corner of the page. You'll see your account name, email address, and right above that, your 10-digit Customer ID.

Why Can't You Just Change the ID?

The permanence of the Customer ID is a feature, not a bug. It’s essential for maintaining data integrity and a clear record of your advertising history. Imagine if you could change your bank account number at will - it would become impossible to track a history of transactions, deposits, and withdrawals. The same principle applies here.

Changing the ID would sever the connection to all of your invaluable historical data, including:

Performance History: Years of click, impression, conversion, and cost data would be orphaned.
Billing Records: All past invoices and payment records are tied to the ID for legal and accounting purposes.
Quality Score Data: The historical performance that influences Quality Score is linked to your account structure, which is housed under your ID.
Account-Level Settings: All your configurations, from conversion tracking to negative keyword lists, are tied to this specific account ID.

In short, the Customer ID is the glue that holds your entire advertising history together. Changing it would shatter that entire record, making accurate reporting and analysis impossible.

Common Reasons You Might Want a New ID (and What You Should Actually Do)

While you can't edit your existing ID, the reason you want to often points to a different, more practical solution. Let's look at the most common scenarios.

Scenario 1: You Want a "Fresh Start" After Poor Performance

This is a common thought process. Campaigns are performing badly, Quality Scores are low, and you think a new ID will wipe the slate clean and give you a second chance with the Google algorithm. This is a myth.

The Reality: Google’s algorithms are far more sophisticated than that. They look at your domain's history, landing page experience, ad relevance, and many other factors that a new account ID won't erase. In fact, abandoning an old account means abandoning all the data - both good and bad - that you could learn from.

What to Do Instead: Audit and optimize your current account.

Pause underperforming campaigns and keywords.
Analyze your Search Terms reports to find new negative keywords.
Rewrite ad copy to improve relevance and click-through rates (CTR).
Improve the user experience on your landing pages.

Working with existing data to find areas for improvement is always more effective than starting from scratch and repeating the same mistakes.

Scenario 2: You Need to Hand Over the Account to a New Owner or Agency

If you've sold your business or a new team is taking over marketing, you need a way to transfer control without handing over your personal Google login credentials. In this case, creating a new account is not just unnecessary, it’s a bad idea because it erases all the valuable historical performance data.

What to Do Instead: Use a Google Ads Manager Account (MCC) and transfer billing.

Grant Management Access: The new agency or owner should have their own Google Ads Manager Account (MCC). They can then request access to manage your account using your current Customer ID. You simply approve the request in the "Access and security" section of your account. This keeps the account's history intact while separating management.
Change the Billing Profile: More importantly, you'll want to transfer billing responsibilities. In Google Ads, navigate to Tools & Settings > Billing > Billing Transfers. You can transfer an account to a new billing setup, which effectively moves the payment responsibility to the new party without creating a new ads account.

Scenario 3: Your Account Was Suspended

Getting suspended is frustrating, and it might be tempting to junk the old ID and start fresh. Do not do this.

The Reality: Attempting to create a new account to bypass a suspension is a serious violation of Google's "Circumventing systems" policy. Google is extremely adept at linking new accounts to suspended ones through dozens of signals, including payment information, domains, IP addresses, and browser fingerprints. Trying to bypass the suspension will almost certainly result in the new account also being suspended, and it could lead to a permanent ban of you and your business from the platform.

What to Do Instead: Go through the official appeals process. Carefully read the suspension notice, identify the root cause of the violation, fix it thoroughly, and then submit a detailed and respectful appeal explaining the corrective actions you've taken.

The Only Real Solution: Creating a New Account (The Right Way)

Sometimes, creating a brand new account - and thus getting a new, unique Customer ID - is the only logical path forward. This is usually only necessary if you are dealing with a totally different business entity or have an unsolvable billing structure issue tied to the old account.

If you absolutely must start over, follow this structured process to avoid data loss and unnecessary headaches.

Step 1: Export Your Existing Campaign Structures

You will lose all performance history (clicks, conversions, etc.), but you don't have to lose your campaign structures. Before doing anything else, back up your work.

The best tool for this is Google Ads Editor, a free desktop application. Download it, connect your current account, and export your entire account or specific campaigns as an archive file (AEA) or CSV. At a minimum, export lists of your campaigns, ad groups, active keywords, and negative keywords.

Step 2: Pause All Activity in the Old Account

To avoid having two accounts compete against each other or spend money accidentally, log in to your old account and pause every active campaign, ad group, and ad. Don't cancel the account just yet - you might need to refer back to it during setup.

Step 3: Create Your New Google Ads Account

Sign out of your old Google account or use a different one (if needed) and go through the process of setting up a new Google Ads account. This new account will be assigned a brand-new, permanent Customer ID. Make sure to set up your new payment profile and billing information correctly from the start.

Step 4: Import Your Campaign Structures

Now, open Google Ads Editor and log in to your new, empty account. You can now import the CSVs or archive files you saved in Step 1. This will upload all of your campaign structures, saving you dozens of hours of manual rebuilding work.

Review everything carefully after importing to ensure settings like location targeting, budgets, and bid strategies are correct before you enable them.

Step 5: Set Up New Conversion Tracking

This is a critical and often overlooked step. Your old conversion tracking is tied to your old account ID. You need to set up new tracking for the new account.

You'll need to generate a new Google Ads tag and install it on your website, or if you're using GA4, go into your Google Analytics property and link it to your new Google Ads ID (and remember to unlink the old one!). Your ads will run without this, but you'll have no way to measure their performance or use smart bidding strategies.

Step 6: Cancel the Old Account

Once your new account is up and running successfully for a few days, you can safely cancel the old one. Navigate to Tools & Settings > Preferences > Account Status and select "Cancel my account." This will stop any potential future billing and cleanly close it out.

Final Thoughts

To recap, you cannot change an existing Google Ads Customer ID. It's the permanent foundation your entire ad history is built on. Instead of focusing on the ID itself, address the underlying reason you want a change - whether that means improving your current campaigns, using a Manager Account to transfer access, or, as a last resort, strategically creating a new account and migrating your campaign structures.

Managing a new account can feel like you're starting from level zero because you've left your performance history behind. When we built Graphed, we made sure it could solve this exact problem. By connecting both your old and new Google Ads accounts, you can create a unified dashboard that visualizes your complete performance history in one place. You can use simple language to ask questions like "Compare my new campaign performance this month to the same campaign in the old account three months ago" and get instant charts, removing the need to stitch together data in spreadsheets just to see how far you've come.