Third-party advertising policy
We manage Google Ads accounts on behalf of client advertisers, which makes us a third party under Google’s advertising policies. This page sets out the commitments that follow.
Big Sky Investments plans, builds and manages Google Ads campaigns for client advertisers. Because the advertising accounts we operate belong to other businesses rather than to us, Google’s advertising policies treat us as a third party and hold us to specific requirements covering account structure, reporting, fee disclosure and account access. This page states in our own words how we meet each of them.
What follows are operating commitments, not aspirations. Every engagement is run this way, and any client may hold us to what is written here.
Read Google’s own guidance. Google publishes an Advertiser guide: Working with third parties, which explains what an advertiser should expect from anyone managing their Google Ads account. We encourage every client and prospective client to read it and to measure us against it. The same link appears in the footer of every page on this site.
Who this page is for
This page is written for three audiences. The first is our current clients, who are entitled to know the standard we hold ourselves to on their accounts and to raise it with us if we fall short. The second is prospective clients comparing agencies, who should be able to read these commitments before any money is spent and ask any agency they are considering for the same in writing. The third is anyone reviewing how we operate, including Google, our clients’ own advisers and auditors, and platforms assessing an application we have made.
Nothing on this page is limited to a particular client tier or contract size. It applies to every Google Ads account we touch.
One account per advertiser
Each end-advertiser is managed in its own separate Google Ads account. That account is owned by the advertiser and linked to our manager account for the purpose of managing it. We do not combine multiple advertisers into a single Google Ads account.
- The advertising account is the client’s own account, not a sub-account of a pooled account we control.
- Billing, conversion data, audience lists and campaign history stay within that one advertiser’s account.
- We do not run campaigns for one client through an account established for another, and we do not merge accounts belonging to different advertisers.
- Where a client operates several distinct brands or legal entities, we agree the account structure with them in writing before launch.
What we report and how
We report cost, click and impression data at the Google advertising account level, so that every figure in our reporting can be traced back to a specific Google Ads account the client owns and can open themselves.
Cost is reported as the exact amount charged by Google, exclusive of our fees. We do not mark up media cost, blend it with our fee, or present a single combined figure as though it were the amount Google charged. A client comparing our report against the billing records in their own Google Ads account should find the same numbers.
Fee transparency
Our management fee is disclosed in writing before the first purchase of advertising is made, as part of the engagement documentation the client signs. No advertising is bought before the client knows what our services cost.
The fee is itemised on every invoice as a separate line, distinct from media cost. Any change to the fee is agreed in writing in advance and takes effect only from the date agreed; it is never applied retrospectively or absorbed silently into a media figure. Where a third-party tool or service is recharged to a client, it is shown as its own line item as well.
Customer IDs on request
We supply the client’s Google Ads customer ID or IDs on request, at any time and at no charge. A client does not need to give a reason, be current on invoices, or route the request through an account manager. An email to info@bigskyfinancials.trade is sufficient.
The customer ID is what allows an advertiser to sign in to their own account, verify our reporting independently and review the change history. Withholding it would defeat everything else on this page, so we treat any request for it as routine.
Reporting timeliness
Performance data in our reports is refreshed at least once every 24 hours. Where any figure is delayed beyond 24 hours — because of a platform outage, a data-pipeline failure or a pending restatement by Google — the delay is stated prominently on the report itself, next to the affected figures rather than in a footnote.
We identify which figures are affected, how stale they are, and when we expect them to be current. We do not carry forward an older number in place of a delayed one without saying so.
Google data reported separately
Google Ads performance data is presented separately from, and clearly distinguished from, data originating on other advertising platforms. Where a client runs paid social or other channels alongside search, each platform’s figures are labelled with their source.
Combined cross-channel totals are shown only in addition to the per-platform breakdown, never in place of it, and are labelled as combined. This matters because platforms count conversions on different bases and over different windows; presenting them as one undifferentiated number would obscure that rather than resolve it.
Account access and disassociation
Access to a Google Ads account is granted by the account owner and can be withdrawn by the account owner at any time, without our agreement and without notice to us. We never require a client to hand over ownership of their account as a condition of working with us.
On written notice from the client, we remove our access and the client regains exclusive control within three business days. Specifically, we unlink our manager account, remove any individual user access held by our staff, and confirm completion in writing. This applies at the end of an engagement, during a dispute, and on request at any other time.
- Campaign structures, ad copy, audience lists and conversion configuration built in the client’s account stay in the client’s account.
- We do not disable, pause or delete campaigns as a response to a disassociation request.
- An outstanding invoice is a matter for the engagement terms, not a reason to retain access.
No sale or redistribution of client data
We do not sell, redistribute or sub-licence client Google Ads data. It is not aggregated into a product, benchmark or dataset offered to anyone else, and it is not shared with other clients.
Transfer of client Google Ads data to any third party occurs only with the client’s prior written consent — for example, where a client asks us to share reporting with their own accountant, auditor or another supplier they have appointed. Data we hold as an operator for a client is processed under POPIA on that client’s instruction and in line with our Privacy Policy; how we handle data obtained through Google’s APIs is set out on our Google Ads API page.
No guarantees and no claimed affiliation
We do not guarantee ad positions, search rankings, lead volumes, cost per acquisition or any return on advertising spend. Auction outcomes are determined by Google and by competing advertisers, and no third party can promise a result within them. Any forecast we provide is described as an estimate, with the assumptions behind it stated.
We do not claim any partnership with, endorsement by, accreditation from, or special relationship with Google. We do not describe ourselves as acting for Google or as speaking on Google’s behalf, and we do not use Google branding, logos or badges to imply any of the above. Where we name a Google entity — Google LLC or Google Ireland Limited — it is to identify the party a client contracts with or is billed by, not to suggest an association with us.
We are not a financial services business. Big Sky Investments provides marketing and advertising services only. We do not provide financial, investment or trading advice, and we are not an authorised financial services provider in terms of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, 2002.
How to raise a concern
If you believe we have departed from anything on this page, email info@bigskyfinancials.trade. Our office hours are Monday to Friday, 08:00–17:00 SAST, and we respond within one business day. Please describe what happened and, where you can, include the Google Ads customer ID and the report or invoice concerned, so that we can check the underlying records rather than reply in general terms.
Concerns may be raised by a current client, a former client, or a business we have quoted for but never worked with. Advertisers can also read Google’s own guidance on what to expect from a third party in the Advertiser guide: Working with third parties, which sets out the standards independently of anything we say about ourselves.
Further reading
Google’s Advertiser guide: Working with third parties is the reference point for this page and is linked in the footer of every page on this site.
The contractual position between us and our clients — scope, fees, notice and termination — is set out in our Terms of Service. How we collect, use and retain personal information under POPIA is set out in our Privacy Policy. Our company and legal details are published on our company and legal information page.