The recent release of Explorer Access for the Google Ads API, along with the Google Ads API MCP server and Developer Assistant, has sparked significant developer interest, leading to a surge in developer token access applications and resulting in review delays. To address this, Google has increased the number of reviewers and fast-tracked some applications to reduce the backlog.
Access Levels and Recommendations
Users with Explorer Access are encouraged to continue using it if it meets their needs, as it provides the same campaign management and reporting features as the Basic and Standard levels. An upgrade to Basic Access is recommended only if:
- Daily quotas are consistently exceeded,
- Growth is anticipated that will exceed quotas,
- Features unavailable in Test or Explorer Access are required.
How to Support Application Progress
Applicants with ongoing Basic Access requests can facilitate faster processing by:
- Ensuring the accounts they plan to manage are listed as children under the Google Ads Manager account used to sign up for the developer token.
- Completing advertiser verification for one or more accounts under that Manager account, or linking already verified accounts from other Manager accounts.
- Updating the Basic Access application with the Google Cloud project number if OAuth App verification has been completed, or completing OAuth App verification for new projects.
- Providing clear, specific details about their use case, explaining why the current access level is insufficient. Applications lacking clarity will be rejected.
