All guides, by feature
Connect Google Ads or another ad platform
Connect the platform from Integrations, sign in to it, then choose which accounts to sync and which client each belongs to.
Before you start
- Who can do this
- Agency Owner or Admin
- You need
- A login for the platform with access to the ad accounts, ideally one your agency will keep.
- The clients the accounts belong to, already added in Clients.
- Where in Orbit
- Sidebar › Data › Integrations
Steps
Tick a step’s number when it’s done. We’ll remember where you were.
In the sidebar, open Integrations and choose + Add Connection.
Find the platform, for example Google Ads. Check it’s marked , then press Connect and sign in to it when its window opens.
Back in Orbit, under Choose the ad accounts to sync, tick each account and pick the client it belongs to.
Press the save button, which counts what you ticked, such as Save 3 ad accounts. If any account still has no client, choose .
When it worked
Orbit shows “Connected” and opens the connection while its first sync runs.
If something goes wrong
Orbit showsOnly agency owners and admins can add connections. Ask one of them to connect this platform.
Ask an Agency Owner or Admin to connect it, or to change your role in Team.
Orbit showsThis login doesn’t have access to any ad accounts. Check the account’s permissions on the platform, then try again — or reauthenticate with a different login.
Give that login access to the accounts on the platform, or reauthenticate with a login that has it.
The connection says Needs accounts.
Its accounts were never chosen, so it isn’t syncing. Press Finish setup → on its row and choose them.
It’s connected, but no data reaches reports.
Check the platform is one marked Syncs to reports. Others, such as Microsoft Advertising, can be connected but send no data to reports yet.
Orbit showsCouldn’t start the connection
Try again. The detail under the message says why, such as “The platform did not return a sign-in page.” If it keeps failing, email support with that detail.
How it works
Limits: How often Orbit syncs, and its limits
Orbit syncs every connection once a day on its own. There’s no Sync now button: the only way to sync sooner is Retry on a connection that failed.
- Each daily sync refreshes the last 7 days, so changes the platform makes to recent days come through.
- On Sundays, the sync refreshes the last 90 days instead. History older than that isn’t refreshed on its own; email support@orbit.group if you need it.
- A connection’s first sync starts as soon as its accounts are saved with a client.
- In the + Add Connection catalog, six platforms send data to reports: Facebook Ads, Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Google Analytics, Shopify and Amazon Marketplace. They’re marked Syncs to reports.
- Other catalog platforms, such as Microsoft Advertising, Snapchat Ads, X (Twitter) Ads and Google Ads Manager, can be connected but send no data to reports yet.
- Retry shows on the Dashboard’s Data sync card next to a connection that failed. Anyone at your agency can press it.
Explainer: What assigning an account does
Each ad account belongs to one client. That decides whose dashboards, reports, pacing and Data chat answers its data appears in.
- Until an account has a client, its data syncs but appears nowhere: not in dashboards, reports or Data chat.
- An account can belong to one client only.
- Assigning an account starts a sync straight away. Earlier days catch up as Orbit re-syncs them, up to 90 days back.
- When you choose accounts on a connection, Suggested means Orbit pre-filled a client because its name appears in the account’s name. Nothing is saved until you save.
- Find Accounts adds accounts already chosen on a connection that are missing from this list. It doesn’t fetch new accounts from the platform: to add those, open the connection from Integrations.
- Re-check account names from Google/Meta refreshes names for every connection whose accounts you pick from a list, not only Google and Meta. Google Analytics, Shopify and Amazon Marketplace aren’t included.
Prevention: Keep connections from breaking
A connection is only as reliable as the login behind it. These habits keep it signed in.
- Connect with a login your agency will keep, not one tied to someone who might leave. If that login goes, every account on the connection stops syncing.
- When the person who connected a platform leaves or changes their password, reauthenticate it with a current login straight away.
- Keep that login’s access to each ad account on the platform. Removing it there stops the sync here.
- Glance at the Sync health tile on your Dashboard. A broken connection shows as Failed or Stale within a day.
- Finish setup on every connection, so nothing sits at Needs accounts or Needs clients.
- Fix a broken connection by reauthenticating, never by deleting it.
Explainer: Finding a source in the catalog
+ Add Connection opens Add a Data Source, a catalog of the sources Orbit can connect. Search it or filter by category, and look for Syncs to reports on the sources that feed reports.
- Search data sources... matches a source’s name and its description.
- The category filter starts at All Categories. Categories include Marketing & Ads, Analytics, CRM and Messaging.
- Only six sources carry Syncs to reports: Facebook Ads, Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Google Analytics, Shopify and Amazon Marketplace.
- The steps along the top, Connect Platform, Choose Accounts and Sync Data, show where you are.
- Only Owners and Admins see Connect. Everyone else sees “Only agency owners and admins can add connections. Ask one of them to connect this platform.”
- The Trade Desk and Google Tag Manager aren’t in the catalog. They’re cards under AI Tools & MCP Servers in Integrations.
Explainer: What each kind of source does in Orbit
Six platforms send data to reports. Other ad platforms can be connected and their accounts saved for later. CRM, messaging, file, database and similar sources connect, but send nothing to reports.
| Source | After you sign in | Reaches reports |
|---|---|---|
| Facebook Ads, Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads | Tick ad accounts from a list | Yes |
| Google Analytics | Type one GA4 property ID | Yes |
| Shopify | Type the store’s .myshopify.com domain | Yes |
| Amazon Marketplace | Type your Seller ID | Yes |
| Other ad platforms, such as Microsoft Advertising, Snapchat, X or YouTube | Choose or type accounts | Not yet. Accounts are saved for when it does. |
| CRM and email marketing, such as HubSpot, Salesforce or Mailchimp | Nothing more to set up | No |
| Messaging and files, such as Slack, Gmail, Google Drive or Google Sheets | Nothing more to set up | No |
| Databases and warehouses, such as BigQuery, Snowflake or PostgreSQL | Nothing more to set up | No |
| Project management, support, payments and finance, such as Jira, monday.com, Zendesk, Stripe or QuickBooks | Nothing more to set up | No |
- Data chat can answer questions about HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, Google Drive, monday.com and BigQuery by querying them directly, since their data isn’t stored with your ad results.
- Sources that don’t reach reports show Never synced on the Dashboard. Nothing is wrong.
- Every connection belongs to your agency. Its accounts, not the connection, are assigned to clients.