LinkManagerToClient API manager_link_error : The manager and client have incompatible account types.

[Amol Kawale]

Hello,

While calling LinkManagerToClient API every time am getting following error:

Google Ads failure details:
manager_link_error : The manager and client have incompatible account types.

1. I tried to link another user account to the my test manager account 

2. I tried to link another test manger as well...

But every time am getting above error message - manager & client incompatible account types...

Pls help to resolve issue.

Thanks,

Amol

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Amol,

Thank you for posting your concern.

To investigate the issue, could you provide the complete request and response logs with request ID generated on your end where we can see the error? You can provide it via Reply privately to author option.

If you haven't enabled the logging of the API transactions for the specific client library that you are using, then please refer to the specific guide below:
Java - https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/docs/client-libs/java/logging
.Net - https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/docs/client-libs/dotnet/logging
PHP - https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/docs/client-libs/php/logging
Python - https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/docs/client-libs/python/logging
Ruby - https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/docs/client-libs/ruby/logging
Perl - https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/docs/client-libs/perl/logging

Regards,

Ernie John Blanca Tacata Google Ads API Team

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[Amol Kawale]

Any updates pls? I already sent request & response log to Author as well as mentioned in last reply...

[Amol Kawale]

Hi

I have replied privately as you mentioned in last reply. Can you please confirm that you got my reply. Your reply is highly appreciated...

[Amol Kawale]

Any updates pls?

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Arnol,

Thanks for your patience. The issue is that you are trying to link a production account with a test account. You can only link test accounts with other test accounts, and other production accounts with other production accounts. 

Regards,
Matt
Google Ads API Team

Matt Google Ads API Team

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[Amol Kawale]

Matt,

I'm linking test accounts only but still getting same error...

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hello Amol,

Thanks for getting back to us.

As previously mentioned by Ernie, you encountered the said error because you're linking 2 manager accounts using the CustomerClientLinkService. Please note that this service is used to create a link between client account and manager account.

In addition to that, you're linking a Test MCC account (8073840941) and a production MCC account (7048313856), which has Matt explained earlier that is also not possible. You can only link accounts that are :

• client account to manager account
• test account to test account ; production account to production account

Regards,

Mark Kevin Albios Google Ads API Team

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[Levi S]

if i cant link my test account to my manager account then how can i query google ads from my production manager account to my test account. 

(From my understanding, test manger accounts cant get a developer token only production manager accounts)

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Levi,

Thank you for reaching out to the Google Ads API support team.

Regarding your concern, please note that you need to use the developer token of your production manager account when making requests against the test manager account. Even if it's not approved yet, the token will still work on test accounts, including the ones just created. I would suggest checking this test account guide as it will help you about the details of test accounts. Also, this reporting guide for more information about reporting.

Let us know if you have further questions.

Regards,

Carmela Google Ads API Team

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[Levi S]

To make sure i understand you correctly, Are you saying if i know of someones test account, and im not connected to it at all, i can still use my production manager account developer token and query that test account and get the test data that is in there?

Concerning what im doing, i have a developer token (from my production account) and i currently use it everyday to query my live production google ads account. And that works all well. Recently i wanted to test some write api queries. I created a test account (not related to my production account at all).  According to what you said, I should just swap my customerId key that i use for my production with my test account id? When i do that, and try to hit  the GoogleAdsServiceClient.SearchStream endpoint, i get the following error

Exception thrown: 'Google.Ads.GoogleAds.V12.Errors.GoogleAdsException' in Google.Ads.GoogleAds.dll: 'Status(StatusCode="PermissionDenied", Detail="The caller does not have permission")'

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Levi,

Thank you for getting back to us.

Regarding your concern, kindly note that the permission denied error doesn't have to do with developer tokens. It is about the user not having access. Having said that, kindly note that the user/email address from your Test manager account needs to have access to the Production account. As for "According to what you said, I should just swap my customerId key that i use for my production with my test account id?", yes. Note that the only data you will need to use from your production account is the developer token. The client customer ID you will need to specify in your API requests should come from your test account.

I hope this clarifies. Let us know if you have further questions.