Google is introducing significant changes to the CustomerService.CreateCustomerClient method in the Google Ads API, effective March 17, 2025. These modifications aim to align the API's functionality with how the Google Ads UI handles new account creation, with a focus on policy enforcement and quota limitations.
New Error Codes for Policy Enforcement
To limit potential abuse, Google has implemented two new error codes in version v19 of the API:
- Manager accounts below spending thresholds will face restrictions. Google Ads manager accounts that don't meet certain spending thresholds or don't maintain a sufficient number of active, policy-compliant child accounts will become ineligible to create new child accounts. When attempting to create accounts under these circumstances, developers will receive a
CustomerError.CREATION_DENIED_INELIGIBLE_MCCerror code in v19.
Solution: Link a Google Ads account that complies with Google policies and meets the required spending levels under your manager account.
- Manager accounts with policy violations will lose creation privileges. Google Ads manager accounts flagged for policy violations related to account creation will no longer be permitted to create child accounts. In these instances, developers will receive a
CustomerError.CREATION_DENIED_FOR_POLICY_VIOLATIONerror code in v19.
For both scenarios, existing API versions (v18 and older) will instead throw a ContextError.OPERATION_NOT_PERMITTED_FOR_CONTEXT error.
Quota Limits for Account Creation
The Google Ads API will now enforce limits on the creation of new accounts. Once these limits are reached, developers will receive a QuotaError.RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED error. Additional information about retry timing will be available in the retry_delay field of the quota_error_details, indicating how long to wait before attempting another API call.
Google has noted that these quota limits are not expected to affect most developers.
Required Action
If your application utilizes the Google Ads API for creating new Google Ads accounts, it's essential to review and update your code to properly handle these new error codes before the March 17, 2025 implementation date.
