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How to Connect Google Ads to ChatGPT with MCP?

Published August 20, 2026 · Written by Aanart

SourcetoMCP is a hosted Google Ads MCP server, so there is nothing to install and no Google Cloud project to create. This is a two-part setup: first link Google Ads to SourcetoMCP like any other source, then add SourcetoMCP itself as a custom app inside ChatGPT's developer mode. Once both are done, ChatGPT can pull real campaign performance from your ad account and, if you ask it to, make changes like updating budgets or adding negative keywords. For what the connector covers, see the Google Ads MCP server page.

Before you start

You'll need a SourcetoMCP account with at least one brand created, a Google account with access to at least one Google Ads account, and a ChatGPT account on a Pro, Plus, Business, Enterprise or Education plan. Custom MCP connectors run through developer mode, which works on ChatGPT on the web only. An ad account owned by a manager account (MCC) works too: SourcetoMCP resolves the managing account and retries under it, so there is no login customer id for you to find.

Connect Google Ads to SourcetoMCP

  1. 1From your dashboard, go to Connectors → Add a connection.
  2. 2Find the Google Ads card and select Connect.
  3. 3Sign in with the Google account that has access to the account you want. This opens Google's own consent screen on accounts.google.com and asks you to approve access to your Google Ads data. This covers both reading performance data and making changes on your behalf, since SourcetoMCP can do both.
  4. 4Back in SourcetoMCP, choose which account(s) to connect. Each one shows up with its real name and customer ID (e.g. “Acme Co (624-809-0961)”). Then confirm. They show up on your Connections page.

Add SourcetoMCP as a connector in ChatGPT

  1. 1In SourcetoMCP, open Connect an agent from the dashboard sidebar and copy your server address (it looks like https://sourcetomcp.com/api/mcp).
  2. 2In ChatGPT, open Settings, then Security and login, and turn on Developer mode. Custom MCP connectors sit behind this toggle, and it only appears on ChatGPT on the web.
  3. 3Open the Plugins menu and select the “+” button to create a developer-mode app.
  4. 4Enter the name SourcetoMCP, paste in your server address, and pick OAuth as the authentication type.
  5. 5Save. The app now sits under Drafts in your app settings, where you can switch individual tools on or off.
  6. 6The first time ChatGPT calls it, you'll be asked to sign in to SourcetoMCP and approve access, the same OAuth approval you'd see connecting any other app. After that it reconnects on its own.

Once approved, the connection appears under Active connections on the Connect an agent page in SourcetoMCP, so you can see exactly what has access at any time.

Ask ChatGPT about your Google Ads account

A developer-mode app stays off until you pick it. In a chat, open the Plus menu, choose Developer mode, and select SourcetoMCP for that conversation. Naming the app in your question helps ChatGPT reach for the right tool, as in “Use the SourcetoMCP app to get my top queries last month”.

Anything that writes back to a connected account asks you to confirm first, and ChatGPT shows you the JSON payload it plans to send. Read it before you approve.

With both pieces connected, ChatGPT can query campaign, ad group and keyword performance, dig into search terms, check Quality Score, and review Google's own recommendations, and act on what it finds if you ask. Try something like:

  1. 1How did my Search campaigns perform last week compared to the week before?
  2. 2Show me search terms that got clicks but no conversions in the last 30 days.
  3. 3What's dragging down my Quality Score in my worst-performing ad groups?
  4. 4Find negative keyword candidates from my worst-performing search terms and add them.

The first three are read-only reports. The last one is a write action. See the note below on how SourcetoMCP handles those.

A note on write actions

Unlike a read-only connector, Google Ads through SourcetoMCP can create and change real things in your account: campaigns, ad groups, keywords, budgets, negative keywords and more. Campaigns cover seven channel types, Search, Display, Shopping, Video, Performance Max, Demand Gen and App, each created with a bidding strategy Google Ads accepts for that type. New campaigns and ad groups are created paused by default, so nothing starts spending without an explicit follow-up action, and ChatGPT will tell you what it's about to change before it does anything irreversible. Worth reading its proposed action before confirming, the same as you would for any assistant with write access to a live ad account.

Troubleshooting

My account isn't in the list when connecting: the signed-in Google account doesn't have access to that Google Ads account. Add it under Google Ads' own Tools & Settings → Access and security, then reconnect.

Developer mode is missing from Settings: it is available on Pro, Plus, Business, Enterprise and Education accounts, and only on ChatGPT on the web. The mobile apps do not show it.

The app never appears in a chat: developer-mode apps sit under Drafts and stay off until you pick them. Open the Plus menu, choose Developer mode, and tick SourcetoMCP for that conversation.

ChatGPT says it can't find the tool or has no data: open the app's details page and use Refresh to pull the current tool list from the server. If that changes nothing, check the connection still shows under Active connections in SourcetoMCP.

Revoking access

You can disconnect from either side. In SourcetoMCP, remove the account from your Connections page, or revoke ChatGPT's access entirely from the Connect an agent page. In ChatGPT, open your app settings, find SourcetoMCP under Drafts, and delete it. Turning Developer mode back off hides every custom app at once without deleting any of them.

Still stuck?

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