How to connect Google and link each client's properties

Google data comes in two steps. First you connect your agency's Google account once. Then you tell ContentForge which Search Console site, GA4 property, Google Ads account and Business Profile belong to each client. Connecting and linking are free.

Step 1: connect your Google account

1. Go to Settings → Google Connection.
2. Click Connect Google Account. You're sent to Google.
3. Sign in with the Google account that has access to your clients' properties. This is usually your agency's account, added as a user on each client's Analytics, Search Console, Ads and Business Profile.
4. Approve everything Google asks for (see "What ContentForge asks Google for" below). If you untick something, the matching data won't load.

You come back to the page and it shows Connected, the account's email and Connected on with the date.

Step 2: link a client's Search Console, GA4 and Ads

1. Open the client and go to Client → Settings.
2. Under Google Integrations, find Google Properties and click Connect (or Edit if something is already linked). If nobody has connected Google yet, the card says to connect it in Settings → Google Connection first.
3. The Connect Google Properties window opens. If the client has a domain, click Auto-match by domain. It picks the Search Console property whose address contains the domain, and the GA4 property whose name contains it.
4. Check or choose the Search Console Property and the GA4 Property yourself.
5. Once a GA4 property is picked, tick the Key Events to Display: the GA4 key events (conversions) you want counted. Tick none to count every key event.
6. Open the Google Ads section and pick the client's account. If you manage accounts through a manager account, pick the Manager Account (MCC) first, then the client's account under it.
7. Click Save Mapping. You see Properties Connected.

You can also start this from the client's Ads & Analytics → Analytics with Connect Properties. You only need one of the three to save. Remove Mapping unlinks Search Console, GA4 and Ads for that client (you're asked to confirm). A linked Business Profile stays linked.

Analytics and Ads are linked for you

When a client has both a GA4 property and a Google Ads account linked here, ContentForge also links that GA4 property to that Ads account in Google (the same link as GA4 → Admin → Product links → Google Ads links). It happens when you click Save Mapping, and when you pick the Ads account in the campaign builder. If the two are already linked in Google, nothing changes. ContentForge doesn't change ad personalization (Google's default stays) or auto-tagging.

Google Integrations shows it under the GA4 and Ads lines:

• Analytics ↔ Ads: Linked ✓: they're linked.
• Linking…: ContentForge is asking Google now.
• Needs action: …: the reason in plain words, with Try again. Fix it in Google, then click Try again.
• Not linked yet with Link now: a client set up before this was added. Click Link now.

To link every existing client at once, go to Settings → Google Connection and click Link them now on the Link Analytics and Ads card. It only appears while some clients with both GA4 and Ads aren't linked yet, and only runs when you click it.

The connected Google account needs the Editor role on the GA4 property and Admin access on the Google Ads account.

Step 3: link the client's Business Profile

1. Still under Google Integrations, find Business Profile and click Link Business Profile.
2. Pick the client's location from the list (name and address). The one that matches the client is already picked and marked Suggested.
3. Click Link this location.

Change picks another location. Unlink, then Yes, unlink, removes it; Search Console, GA4 and Ads stay linked. See How to set a client's Google Business Profile.

Disconnect or switch Google accounts

1. Go to Settings → Google Connection and click Disconnect.
2. The card lists what happens. Whatever you choose, ContentForge's access is revoked at Google and your saved Google sign-in is deleted straight away.
3. Choose what happens to the Google data ContentForge stored for your agency's clients:
   • Disconnect and delete the stored Google data (picked for you): it's deleted straight away, with a count for each kind: Business Profile snapshots, performance and review summaries, Google Ads daily numbers, Zeus's Ads Review findings and changes history, review-reply drafts, the Search Console and Business Profile numbers Zeus compares, and reviews on your sites that came from Business Profile. It refills from Google through anyone in the agency who is still connected. Pick this if you're leaving.
   • I'm reconnecting — keep the stored data: the stored data is kept for up to 30 days, and the card shows the date. If you or anyone in your agency connects Google again before then, nothing is deleted. If nobody does, it's deleted on that date, the same as the first choice.
4. Your clients' Google links (Search Console, GA4, Ads, Business Profile) are kept either way. Until you reconnect, those clients' Google data, reports and Zeus's Google checks can't read Google through your sign-in (a teammate's connection is used if they have one). A different Google account may show Needs reconnecting on some clients.
5. Click Disconnect and delete or Disconnect, keep the data, or Keep connected to change your mind.

While the data is being kept, the Google connection card says "Google is disconnected. Stored Google data is kept until (date) — reconnect to keep it." Click Reconnect Google to keep it.

The green message afterwards says what was deleted, or the date the kept data will be deleted. If part of it couldn't be deleted right then, it says so; it's retried automatically and finished within 30 days. Removing a Google Sheets connection from a form also revokes and deletes it straight away. Deleting your account or login does all of this too; see How to delete your account.

Reconnect the same Google account and every client's links work again straight away; nothing needs linking again.

If you connect a different Google account, each client's Google Integrations card checks every link against the accounts connected in your agency. A link none of them can open shows a warning icon and Needs reconnecting. Reconnect the Google account that has access, add the new account as a user on that client's property in Google, or click Edit (or Change for a Business Profile) to pick another one. When nobody in the agency has Google connected, the links stay listed with "These links are kept, but Google isn't connected".

What ContentForge asks Google for

• Search Console, read only: search terms, impressions, clicks and positions.
• Analytics, read only: traffic sources, conversions and key events.
• Analytics, edit: only to link a client's GA4 property to its Google Ads account. ContentForge doesn't change anything else in Analytics.
• Your email address: to show which Google account is connected.
• Business Profile, manage: read the profile, reviews and calls, and post, reply or change the profile when you click to.
• Google Ads: read campaigns and numbers, and make the changes you apply from the Zeus Ads Review, the campaign builder or Add as negative.

If you connected Google before the Analytics edit permission was added, the client's Google Integrations shows Google needs reconnecting. Reconnect Google to let ContentForge link Analytics and Ads. Click Reconnect Google and approve; everything you already linked stays.

Setting up Search Console for a Mount Olympus site asks for two more (manage Search Console, verify sites). The editor shows Reconnect Google when your connection doesn't have them yet; reconnecting keeps everything you already approved. See Connect Google Search Console.

What it unlocks

• The client's Analytics tab: traffic, conversions and search performance.
• The client's Google Ads tab, plus the Zeus Ads Review and campaign builder.
• The client's Business Profile reviews, posts, photos and calls on Local → Business Profile.
• Sync from Search Console on the client's Keywords tab, and Search Console data for Zeus's scans.

Examples

• One agency login for everything: your agency Google account is a user on every client's Analytics and Search Console. Connect it once, then link each client with Auto-match by domain in a few seconds.
• A client's GA4 is named "Main website": auto-match can't find it by domain. Pick it from the GA4 Property list yourself, then tick the key events "generate_lead" and "phone_click".
• Ads through a manager account: pick your Manager Account (MCC), then the client's account under it.

Limits and what it can't do

• One Google connection per person. The agency can have several people connected; see "Who can use it".
• Disconnect removes only your own Google sign-in, plus the Google data stored for your agency (straight away, or after 30 days if you chose to keep it and nobody reconnects). Every client's links are kept, for you and the rest of the agency.
• Kept Google data waits 30 days at most. It can't be kept longer, and your saved Google sign-in can't be kept at all.
• Each client links one Search Console property, one GA4 property, one Google Ads account and one Business Profile.
• The lists only show what the connected Google account can see. ContentForge can't add itself to a client's properties for you.
• Google Ads data depends on ContentForge's Google Ads access being approved by Google. If Ads accounts or numbers don't load while Analytics works, contact support.
• Clients never see or change these links.
• Analytics and Ads are linked automatically only for GA4 and Google Ads. Google has no way for apps to link a Business Profile to Ads; do that in Google Ads yourself.
• An Ads account reached through a manager account (MCC) can't always be linked by ContentForge. Link it in GA4 → Admin → Product links → Google Ads links.

Who can use it

• Settings → Google Connection is in the sidebar for the agency Owner and Admins only. They connect, reconnect and disconnect.
• Linking a client's properties needs the Clients tool. Team members limited to some clients only see those clients.
• Team members don't need their own Google login. When someone in the agency has connected Google, team members see each client's Google data through that connection. If a person has connected their own Google account, their connection is tried first, then the owner's, then the others in the agency.

Troubleshooting

• "Google authorization was denied": you clicked Cancel or Deny on Google's screen. Click Connect Google Account again and approve.
• "Missing authorization code or state" or "Invalid state parameter. Please try again.": the sign-in took too long (over 10 minutes), was opened in another browser, or cookies were blocked. Start again from Connect Google Account in the same browser.
• "Sign in to ContentForge in this browser, then connect Google again.": you were signed in to ContentForge as someone else (or not at all) when Google sent you back. Sign in, then connect again.
• "Authorization expired. Please try again.": start the connection again.
• I can't see Google Connection in Settings: only the Owner and Admins see it. Ask one of them to connect Google; you'll still see the data.
• "No Search Console properties found" or "No GA4 properties found": the connected Google account has no access to any. Add that Google account as a user on the client's Search Console and Analytics, or connect the Google account that has access.
• "Client has no domain set. Please add a domain to enable auto-matching.": add the website on the client's details, or pick the properties yourself.
• "No matching properties found. Please select manually.", or auto-match picked the wrong one: auto-match only compares the domain with Search Console addresses and GA4 property names. Pick the right ones from the lists and click Save Mapping.
• "No key events configured in GA4": the GA4 property has no key events, so Conversions will be 0. Mark the events that matter (form sent, phone click) as key events in Google Analytics, then come back and tick them.
• "Please select at least one property to map": pick at least one of Search Console, GA4 or Google Ads.
• "Additional access required" in the Google Ads picker: the connected account didn't grant Ads access. Click Disconnect on Settings → Google Connection, connect again and approve everything.
• "API rate limit reached. Please wait a moment." in the Google Ads picker: Google asked for a pause. Click Try again after a moment.
• "No Google Ads accounts found" or "No accounts found under this MCC": the connected account can't see any Ads accounts there. Ask for access in Google Ads, or connect another Google account.
• Google needs reconnecting (on Settings → Google Connection, Google cards, and Needs your attention on your dashboard): Google stopped accepting the saved sign-in, for example after a password change or when access was removed. Click Reconnect Google and sign in again; your client links stay as they are. A short Google outage doesn't turn the connection off, so try again in a minute first.
• Needs reconnecting next to a client's Search Console, GA4, Ads or Business Profile: none of the Google accounts connected in your agency can open that property. This usually happens after switching to a different Google account. Reconnect the account that has access, give the connected account access to the property in Google, or click Edit / Change and pick another one. The check is repeated every few minutes, and straight away after anyone reconnects.
• "These links are kept, but Google isn't connected": nobody in the agency has Google connected (for example after Disconnect). Click Reconnect Google and the links work again.
• "Reconnect Google to let ContentForge link Analytics and Ads.": your Google connection was made before ContentForge asked for the Analytics edit permission. Click Reconnect Google and approve everything.
• "Your Google login can't edit this Analytics property.": the connected Google account is a Viewer or Analyst on that GA4 property. Ask its owner to give it the Editor role (GA4 → Admin → Property access management), then click Try again.
• "Your Google login isn't an admin on this Google Ads account.": ask an admin of the Ads account to give the connected Google account Admin access, then click Try again. Or link it yourself in GA4 → Admin → Product links → Google Ads links.
• "This Ads account is managed under a manager account; link it from GA4 → Product links.": your access to the Ads account comes through a manager account, which Google doesn't let ContentForge use for this. Link it in GA4 → Admin → Product links → Google Ads links. The card keeps showing Needs action until a Try again finds the link.
• "Google couldn't find this Analytics property for the connected login.": the GA4 property was deleted or the connected account lost access. Click Edit and pick the property again.