How to manage AdWords accounts for two business units

[SmileMoreSEO]

Hello!

I need some insight with a problem I'm struggling with. First, some background...

Our company has two business units: (1) our dental practice and (2) our insurance business. In 2013, we started using AdWords to promote our insurance business. In 2013, we also used an agency to manage our SEM efforts for the dental practice. In 2014, we plan to bring our dental practice SEM campaign in-house and manage both AdWords account internally. That leads to my question...

Is it possible with the one AdWords login that we've used for our insurance business to add a second, completely separate account? And by completely separate, I mean separate reporting, separate Campaigns tab, etc.

If it's not possible, whats a guy to do? Set up a completely separate AdWords account with a different email address and login?

Any insights from those who have managed a similar situation would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
Erik

[Branden_S]

Hey Erik,

You want separate AdWords accounts for separate businesses.  You should keep them separate for a variety of reasons...billing, reporting, conversion rates are different, different goals, etc.  You will need to have 2 separate email addresses for the 2 accounts.  However you can manage both of the accounts inside 1 account called an MCC.  An MCC allows you to have several separate accounts inside 1 master shell.

Hope this helps

Branden

[CommT]

Hi Erik,

You need to set up a 'My Client Center' account and link your adwords accounts to this. This will give you completely separate reporting etc. Link below explains it:

http://www.google.com/adwords/myclientcenter/

If you get stuck, just phone your Google account manager! (Log into your adwords account and click on 'Help' in the top right hand side and then choose 'phone' and it'll give you the phone number for your country).

Good luck

Amelia

[CommT]

Haha Looks like Branden beat me to it with the same advice!

[SmileMoreSEO]

Thank you both! I will check out the My Client Center.

Even with that, I'll still need to create the second account with a second email address?

Thanks again!
Erik

[CommT]

I think you'll need to create a new Google account for the MCC, then you can create as many child accounts within the MCC as you like

One thing though....

You say in your original post that an agency has been managing your dental Adowrds account - so surely this account still exists and you should be able to take control of it? I would try and do this if you can so you can compare your PPC against what the agency ran for you.

[SmileMoreSEO]

Hi Amelia,

The agency had their own platform, so there isn't an AdWords account to take ownership of, per se.

Thanks again!

Erik