Written by Explore Digital 
This week, our colleague and PPC Account Manager Greg asked a question that stumped Google. When he reached out to Google about the Google Partners Program, he wanted to know: Do hidden accounts in MCC affect the overall budget and optimization score average?
Greg’s Google rep was pleased and surprised to hear this question. Amazingly, it hadn’t been asked before. While Google said the answer to this question was yes, they plan to research and test to add a more comprehensive answer to their knowledge tree.
What Are Hidden Accounts in Google’s MCC?
The Google Partners Program certifies and provides resources to those who manage Google Ads accounts. To become a Google Partner, you need to pass Google Ads certification exams that cover basic and advanced concepts around creating, managing, measuring, and optimizing Google Ads campaigns. At Explore Digital, this skilled individual is Greg.
In the Google Partners Program, MCC stands for My Client Center. MCC is a powerful tool that allows partners to efficiently manage multiple Google Ads accounts from a single location.
Using MCC, a partner, like Greg, has a centralized view to monitor all their client accounts. They can easily navigate between accounts, make changes, pull reports, and optimize campaigns across multiple clients.
In MCC, there might be hidden accounts–Google Ads accounts that are linked to MCC but aren’t visible or accessible to all users. You can read more about this here. An MCC manager might choose to hide an account due to client confidentiality, to prevent accidental changes, or simply to declutter by concealing an account that’s no longer active.
Once hidden, accounts don’t show up in the main MCC dashboard search or drop-down account lists. Only users with access can see them.
How Do Hidden MCC Accounts Affect Google Ads Budget & Score?
The Google Ads accounts linked to MCC determine if a partner meets the ad spend requirements for their specific partner status. Google sets different ad spend tiers for regular, premier, and leading premier partners. All the Google Ads spend from accounts in MCC over a 90-day period are combined and put toward meeting a spending requirement.
As Greg learned when posing his question to Google, hidden accounts still count. Even accounts marked as “hidden” within MCC still have their ad spend tallied, as long as permissions are enabled.
Along with their impact on the budget, hidden accounts in MCC also affect optimization scores. The optimization score is a metric Google uses to assess the performance of companies enrolled in the Google Partners Program. The score is calculated based on how well a partner is following Google’s recommended practices for optimizing and managing Google Ads accounts.
The optimization score is ranked from 0-100%, with 100% meaning that your account can perform at its full potential. Factors like proper account structure, keyword selection and coverage, ad text relevance and extensions, bidding strategy usage, and conversion tracking implementation are used to calculate the score.
Cracking the Hidden MCC Google Ads Performance Puzzle
Now we know that Google samples both visible and hidden accounts in MCC to tally the optimization score. So, hidden MCC accounts are still subject to the same evaluation criteria.
If hidden MCC accounts suffer from poor optimization factors, like improper account structure and irrelevant keywords, this can negatively impact the overall score when those accounts are sampled. To prevent this, it’s important to follow Google’s best practices for optimization across all linked accounts, including the ones that are hidden.
Partner with Us: Navigating Google Ads Terrain with Expertise
Need a seasoned Google Ads expert to guide your campaigns to success? Our Explore Digital marketing team possesses the knowledge and experience required to maneuver through the complexities of Google’s algorithms and advertising platforms. Whether you’re aiming to boost your online visibility, optimize your ad spend, or enhance your conversion rates, we’re here to help!
Contact Explore Digital today for a prompt consultation and let us propel your digital presence to new heights.
