Multiple Google Adwords Accounts

[promo_guy]

I heard we can have more than 1 Adwords accounts. Is this true?

My questions:

1) Do we simply setup a new account or do we call/contact Google to ask first?
2) I have an account now which is about 3 years old but it's probably not the best as I'm still learning how to use Adwords. So, is it better to use an older account even if the CTR and all that isn't brilliant or should I start a new one as I venture into PPC?
3) Any other tips?

Thanks

[Lucid]

You are NOT allowed to have more than one Adwords account. I've known one or two who do but if they get caught, all their accounts will be terminated. The answer is here:

adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=8759

The part about client managers is not well worded in my opinion. With a MCC account, you can have ACCESS to many accounts. The manager does not OWN those accounts.

Doesn't matter how "messed up" your account is. If you feel you need to start over, just start a fresh new campaign, pause or delete the other. Simple as that.

[malcasid]

I think I have 6 accounts. They have been open for a while now and are in active use. They all share the same contact and financial information. I know a few people with several accounts and they have had no problems as well.

I think its a good idea to have a separate account for testing.

[promo_guy]

Hi guys

Thanks for the feedback. You can see by both your totally different replies that I'm unsure what to do lol

I know someone who says he has a few accounts too. Is it going about getting an MCC account?

malcasid - do you have an MCC account or did you quite literally just sign up more than once, especially with them all being tied to the same account. Are you not worried you'll get "caught out"?

[Lucid]

To open separate accounts, you'd need totally different emails (not hard to do) and different credit cards with different names and different addresses. That might be more tricky. But Malcasid apparently has done it so maybe Google is not as diligent as it used to be.

Point is, do YOU want to take the chance of getting caught? It's right there in black and white pixels. Personally, I don't see the point of having more than one and I don't think it's worth the risk.

[promo_guy]

I see your points Lucid, just wondered that if one account happened to be a bit "messy" due to the learning curve of using Adwords (ie bad CTR, etc.) would that affect all future campaigns?

So, I assume you're saying that an old account, no matter its history, would be ok for new accounts and not penalize any new campaigns?

Otherwise yes, I totally see your point. Just wondering why a friend of mine has multiple accounts. He said it was for new campaigns etc. but I assume then he too is taking a big risk.

Anyway, for now I'll focus on QS, good campaign/adgroup structure (assuming I've got the ideas down now) and seeing what happens.

Thanks for the feedback and your POV

[malcasid]

Originally Posted by promo_guy

Hi guys

Thanks for the feedback. You can see by both your totally different replies that I'm unsure what to do lol

I know someone who says he has a few accounts too. Is it going about getting an MCC account?

malcasid - do you have an MCC account or did you quite literally just sign up more than once, especially with them all being tied to the same account. Are you not worried you'll get "caught out"?

I do not have an MCC account. I simply signed up with (slightly) different email addresses. Most of them share the same credit card info.

Your account has an overall history that has an affect on your future campaigns. And thats why it would be a good idea to have one account for testing and one for proven campaigns.

Again my account have been open for a while now and they are blatantly related. I just created gmail accounts with the numbers 2, 3 at the end and signed up with those.

I was afraid of doing this before but I asked around like you did and everyone I asked said it would be ok. The people I asked are seasoned AdWords users.

[Lucid]

Here's my opinion promo_guy, for what it's worth.

As Malcasid said, there is some sort of history. I've heard of this before, I think it may come from Google itself.

However, I believe it is minimal, especially over the long run. I also think this history may be on a campaign level, not account level. Regardless, I've taken over pretty bad accounts in my career and brought them back to life. Either the history angle is over exaggerated or the weight of such history diminishes as a factor of impressions with the "bad" campaign vs the new one. I believe the latter. Otherwise, I would never be able to "fix" accounts to their full potential. Since I can, it's not something I'd worry about.

[malcasid]

Well that's good to hear Lucid. I guess the only time you have to worry about opening another account is when it gets so bad that there is nothing you can do to fix it. And in that case it may be time to give Lucid a call

I don't want to get you into trouble promo_guy. I was just thought I would share my personal experience. I think it would be best if you took Lucid's advice being that he is an expert in AdWords management.

Thinking about it I only know of one case where they couldn't revive their AdWords account.

[promo_guy]

Thanks guys, nice to hear 2 different stories/approaches.

Now that I think about it, it's one of those things where because I have a friend who has multiple accounts and he's doing well (so he says) that perhaps I should get multiple accounts.

Other than that, and my fear of an older "messy" campaign, there's no solid evidence I need one. Funny isn't it? Can you tell I'm an Adwords noob? lol

I'll stick with this one and see how it goes...thanks again for both your opinions

[Derek Pankaew]

;/ ... Most of the stuff in this thread just isn't true. You CAN have multiple accounts. See:

Can I have multiple AdWords accounts? - AdWords Help

"Client managers (such as third parties or search engine marketers) who use a My Client Center can have multiple AdWords accounts. All associated accounts must be linked to the manager's My Client Center account."

It does NOT say "you can't own multiple accounts." It says search engine marketers can have multiple accounts so long as it's linked to your MCC.

Also, their main concern is that you're not using multiple accounts to trigger multiple ads for the same keywords. Delete/pause your old accounts and you're more than fine.

From a de-facto reality point of view (in other words, what really goes on) Google doesn't really care about multiple accounts. I know plenty of marketers who own multiple accounts that aren't even linked via MCC.

I've personally gone through maybe 10 accounts over the last few months. If I screw up a QS on something I basically scrap the account and start over.

[ChristopherJames]

I'm not really adding anything new here, but I thought I would chime in. I know a handful of people that have multiple Adword accounts, and to my knowledge none have had their accounts terminated.

BTW this is my first post here. I'm glad to be here and be part of the community. Thank you.

[malcasid]

Originally Posted by ChristopherJames

I'm not really adding anything new here, but I thought I would chime in. I know a handful of people that have multiple Adword accounts, and to my knowledge none have had their accounts terminated.

BTW this is my first post here. I'm glad to be here and be part of the community. Thank you.

Welcome to the Warrior Forum Christopher!

[MKons]

Originally Posted by promo_guy

Thanks guys, nice to hear 2 different stories/approaches.

Now that I think about it, it's one of those things where because I have a friend who has multiple accounts and he's doing well (so he says) that perhaps I should get multiple accounts.

Other than that, and my fear of an older "messy" campaign, there's no solid evidence I need one. Funny isn't it? Can you tell I'm an Adwords noob? lol

I'll stick with this one and see how it goes...thanks again for both your opinions

erm, I would suggest opening a 2nd account. There is nothing wrong with having multiple accounts, just don't forget to link them using MCC.

Use one account to launch "testing" campaigns and once you find keyword/ads/etc that work, pause those campaigns and move them to your "good" account.

Your account history is quite an important factor and it can greatly affect your "good" campaigns.

[Lucid]

> Use one account to launch "testing" campaigns

To me, this does not make sense. You should always be testing. Always. All the time. Adwords is not a set and forget tool which is what you are proposing once you are satisfied with a certain result. But that doesn't mean that result will always be the same. Things will change which will force you to test something else.

[Software Factory]

I have two separate accounts both using the same credit card. Then my credit card company incorrectly charged back some of their charges and both accounts were suspended. I reversed the charge-backs, but google didn't automatically restart the accounts. I then called them and spoke to a lady there, gave her information for BOTH accounts and they were restored.

Moral -Google seems ok with it.

[MKons]

Originally Posted by Lucid

> Use one account to launch "testing" campaigns

To me, this does not make sense. You should always be testing. Always. All the time. Adwords is not a set and forget tool which is what you are proposing once you are satisfied with a certain result. But that doesn't mean that result will always be the same. Things will change which will force you to test something else.

haha, yeah right ok...

use the data you collect from your "test" campaigns to launch small (read -- targeted, high ctr) campaigns (in your "good" account).

of course you should always be testing, that is just common sense. at any given time you should have at least 1-2 "test" (read -- big, unoptimized, poorly targeted) campaigns running along with loads of smaller ones (with keywords hand picked from your test campaign -- very targeted and optimized).

p.s. this is search network only. content is completely different.

[CDarklock]

Originally Posted by Lucid

> Use one account to launch "testing" campaigns

To me, this does not make sense. You should always be testing.

I personally don't trust that AdWords campaigns on the same account really exist in a vacuum. I think that if you have campaigns on an account, and you add a new campaign on the same account, some of account A's history with the other campaigns is inherited by the new one.

From a scientific perspective, this contaminates your test results on the new campaign. So if you're trying to build a campaign and turn it over to a client, or define a system for building one's first campaign, your results won't be the same.