Before you start
- A Google Ads account with a payment method. It can be the same Google login as your YouTube channel or a different one.
- Access to that ad account as Standard or Admin. Read-only and Billing access cannot create campaigns.
- A YouTube video published through Sprid that is public or unlisted. Google does not run private videos as ads.
- A channel picture on that YouTube channel. Google shows it as the ad’s logo and refuses an ad without one.
You do not create a Google Cloud project, a developer token or an API key. You only sign in with Google and pick the ad account.
Set it up
Skip any step you have already done.
- Ad account. Go to ads.google.com and create an account. Pick the currency and time zone carefully: neither can be changed later.
- Payment method. Open Billing → Settings in that account and add a payment method. Sprid can connect an account without one, but no campaign can start until it has one.
- Access. If someone else owns the ad account, ask them to add your Google login under Admin → Access and security with Standard or Admin access.
Connect to Sprid
sprid connect google-ads --account <slug>Replace <slug> with your Sprid account slug.
Set it up
- Sign in with the Google login that has access to the ad account.
- Google asks to let Sprid see, edit, create and delete your Google Ads accounts and data. Click Continue. Sprid only creates the campaigns you review, and creates them paused.
- If the login can manage more than one ad account, Sprid lists their ids. Connect again with the one this brand should use:
sprid connect google-ads --account <slug> --ad-account <customer id>
The customer id is the ten-digit number at the top right of Google Ads, for example 123-456-7890.
Check the connection
Run sprid status and check that the ad account’s name shows, followed by “(Google Ads)”.
When you promote a YouTube video, Sprid prepares a Demand Gen campaign that shows the video on YouTube (in-stream, in-feed and Shorts) in the countries you pick, at the daily budget you review. It starts paused. Nothing is spent until you confirm the start. Google reviews the ad before it runs, usually within a day.
What Sprid sends Google for the ad: the video, its title as the headline, the first line of its caption as the description, the channel name as the business name and the channel picture as the logo. Hashtags are left out.
If something goes wrong
- “Google Ads promotion is not switched on in Sprid yet”: Sprid is waiting on Google’s approval of its own access. Nothing on your side needs to change.
- “This Google login has no active Google Ads account”: the login you signed in with has no ad account, or only cancelled ones. Create one (step 1) or sign in with the login that has access.
- Your ad account is missing from the list: only active accounts you can open directly, or directly under a manager account you can open, are listed. Ask the owner to add your login to the ad account itself.
- “Google returned no refresh token”: remove Sprid at myaccount.google.com/permissions, then connect again.
- “This Google login cannot manage the connected Google Ads account”: your access is read-only or billing-only. Ask for Standard access and reconnect.
- A campaign refuses to start: add a payment method (step 2). Sprid shows this before you pick a budget when Google reports no approved billing.
- “Google Ads needs the YouTube channel’s picture as the ad’s logo”: add a channel picture in YouTube Studio → Customization → Branding, reconnect YouTube, then promote again.
- “Google Ads cannot target …”: Google does not advertise in that country. Remove it and try again.
- Political or gambling content: Google requires advertiser verification or a certification Sprid cannot hold for you. Promote those from Google Ads directly.
- The ad is disapproved: Sprid shows Google’s policy reason on the promotion. Open the campaign in Google Ads to appeal or edit.
- “Invalid scope”, app unavailable or “redirect_uri_mismatch”: contact Sprid support. Only Sprid can fix these.
Prefer your terminal? sprid docs google-ads reads this same guide.