MCC and Sub-MCC: how to structure accounts for multiple markets

Why you need a structure

Once you have more than three or four accounts, problems start without a structure: it’s unclear which budget belongs to what, reports are built by hand, and access is granted account by account. A contractor leaves — and someone forgets to remove their access in one of ten accounts.

A Google Ads manager account (MCC) solves this: all accounts are visible in one place, and access can be given to a whole group at once.

Three levels

1. MCC — the top level. Here you see all accounts and overall metrics.
2. Sub-MCC — a logical group: brand, client, branch or region.
3. Ad account — a specific market with one currency and time zone.

Accounts are linked to a manager account by Customer ID — a number like 123-456-7890. Linking doesn’t move history or change campaigns: the account simply becomes visible and manageable from the MCC. One ad account can be directly managed by at most five manager accounts, but within one hierarchy by only one.

How to group

The main principle: a Sub-MCC is whatever you count money and grant access by. If finance looks at budgets by brand and teams are split by country, group by brand and keep countries at the account level.

Naming

Agree on names up front — it saves hours in reports. A handy scheme: brand · country · currency · purpose, for example “Shop · DE · EUR · Search”. A name like that tells you what the account is at a glance and is easy to find with a filter.

Currency and time zone

An account’s currency and time zone are set permanently when it’s created — that’s what Google’s help center says. So the rule is simple: one market, one account with the local currency and time. Then ad schedules and reports match the market’s day, and spend isn’t distorted by conversion. More in our article on account currency.

Manager account limits

Google has limits worth keeping in mind as you grow:

On top of that, no more than 85,000 accounts can be linked to one manager account — including inactive and canceled ones. The limit applies at the top level of the hierarchy, and for a new MCC with no spend it’s 50.

For a small business with its own MCC this means room can run out sooner than it seems. Agency MCCs with high volume hardly feel these limits.

Access and roles

Give people access only to the level they work on:

• owner — everything, including finance and people;
• admin — finance and accounts;
• member — work with the accounts of their business line;
• viewer — view only, for example for finance or a client.

When a contractor finishes, access is closed at one level, without going through every account.

Payment in the structure

Google lets you combine invoices for many accounts into one — that’s consolidated billing. It requires a manager account and monthly invoicing, which Google doesn’t approve for everyone. Accounts on one invoice must share a currency.

In an agency structure the agency takes care of payment: you keep a balance in the dashboard and split it across accounts. At Gads there’s a separate balance for each currency, and transfers between accounts happen instantly.

Reports

With a well-planned structure, a report on a brand, branch or client means choosing a Sub-MCC and a period, not stitching spreadsheets together by hand. In the Gads dashboard, a report on selected MCCs and accounts for any period exports to xlsx.

Structure checklist

• One market, one account with the local currency and time zone.
• Sub-MCCs match how you count money.
• Account names follow one scheme.
• Everyone has the minimum role they need for their work.
• It’s clear who creates new accounts and who removes access.

Sources

• Google Ads Help: account limits for manager accounts
• Google Ads Help: linking accounts to your manager account
• Google Ads Help: language, time zone and currency settings
• Google Ads Help: consolidated billing

Questions