The MCM Policies a Child Publisher Agrees To, Explained

When you accept an invitation from an MCM partner, you are not just switching on a feature. You are entering a relationship that Google governs with a short but strict set of rules, the MCM Policies. Most child publishers never read them, because the parent handles the technical side. That is a mistake. The policies decide which sites can join, who can sell them, and who answers to Google when something goes wrong. This guide walks through each rule in plain English, and explains what it means for you as the child publisher in the Google MCM program.

Where the MCM Policies live

The MCM Policies are not a separate document. They sit inside the Google Ad Manager Partner Guidelines, which Google's help center describes as the policies for anyone using Ad Manager (the page was formerly titled the DoubleClick Ad Exchange Seller Program Guidelines). Section 1.6 of those guidelines is titled "Multiple Customer Management (MCM) policies", and section 1.5 sets the starting point: if a partner wants to manage or sell inventory on a site it does not own and operate, it must use MCM.

Two other parts of the guidelines also matter to child publishers:

• Every Ad Manager partner must follow the guidelines and must make sure that any third party it gives access to its account follows them too.
• Inventory that runs through MCM is subject to the same policies and auction rules as any other inventory, including Google's Publisher Policies.

So the MCM Policies add rules on top of the normal ones. They never replace them.

For background on how the two delegation types work, Manage Account and Manage Inventory, see how MCM works. The rules below apply to both.

Good standing and a direct contract

The first rule is about eligibility. To take part in MCM, both the parent and the child must have an active Ad Manager account in good standing, and both must comply with the MCM Policies.

In practice this means you need your own Ad Manager account first. Signing up for Ad Manager requires an AdSense account, although you do not have to keep using AdSense afterwards. If your account has open policy problems, deal with them before you look for a partner. Our guide to AdX requirements covers what Google checks.

The second rule is about the relationship itself. The parent and child must have a direct contractual relationship with each other. That contract must give the parent the rights it needs to access your account or represent your inventory, and, where relevant, to receive revenue from doing so.

Two consequences follow:

• You should have a written agreement with the company that will be your parent. Not with a reseller of that company, and not with an individual who "knows someone" with an account.
• The agreement and the MCM invitation should match. Under Manage Account, the invitation can carry a revenue share between 0% and 100%, which Google uses to route the parent's portion automatically. If the number in the invitation differs from the number in your contract, stop and ask why before you accept.

Google also states that it, or its agent, may verify the relationship between the child and the parent. Assume that anything you agree to could be checked.

You must own the inventory, root domain included

This is the rule that catches the most people. Google's wording is that the child must own all sites in its child inventory, including the root domain of all websites and all apps. The parent must also make sure this is true for every child it manages.

What does that mean in real life?

• A subdomain on someone else's domain does not qualify. If your blog lives at yourname.somehost.com, you do not own the root domain. The owner of somehost.com does.
• A site you run for a client belongs to the client. Agencies and freelancers often manage sites they do not own. Under MCM, the owner should be the child publisher, in its own account.
• Ownership should be provable. Domain registration, hosting and business records should point to the same person or company that holds the Ad Manager account and passes identity verification.

That last point connects to verification. Google requires MCM Manage Inventory children onboarded after April 3, 2024 to complete identity and address verification (its identity verification page also lists Manage Account children), and under Manage Account the child must verify with its own legal name and official documents, even when the parent receives the payments. Ownership, account and identity should all line up.

Previously disapproved inventory cannot come in

The policies say that child inventory must not have been previously disapproved by Google. Both the parent and the child acknowledge this when they enter the relationship.

This rule exists to stop MCM being used as a back door. If a site was rejected or disapproved by Google, joining a partner's network is not a way to get it monetized anyway.

The guidelines also say that if a partner breaches the terms of another Google product, such as AdSense or AdMob, Google may suspend or terminate that partner's use of Ad Manager. Your AdSense history matters.

Before you apply anywhere, look honestly at your record:

• Has Google ever disapproved this site in AdSense or Ad Manager?
• Are there open issues in your Policy center?
• Has an AdSense account tied to this site been closed?

If the answer to any of these is yes, fix what you can and read our guide on what to do if you are not ready yet before approaching a partner. A partner who says your disapproval history "doesn't matter" is telling you something Google's own rules contradict.

One parent per piece of inventory

The policies state that any given child inventory can only be managed, represented or sold by one parent. Google may also limit the number of parents a child can appoint.

This can seem to clash with another Google rule: a child publisher can have one Manage Account parent and up to 15 Manage Inventory parents at the same time. The two fit together once you separate the account from the inventory. You can delegate different inventory to different parents, but you cannot hand the same inventory to two parents. The same parent also cannot manage you under both delegation types.

In plain terms: if two companies are both trying to sell the same pages on your site through MCM, something is wrong. Keep a simple record of which site, app or section is delegated to which partner.

A child cannot also be a parent

If you are a child publisher, you must not also be, or become, a parent of another child. MCM is built as a clear two-level relationship.

This matters if you run a network of your own sites, or if you were thinking of "passing on" access to friends' sites. As a child, you cannot represent other publishers' inventory through MCM. Each site owner needs its own account and its own relationship.

Who answers for policy violations

The responsibility section of the MCM Policies is short and worth reading twice.

• As between the child and Google, the child is responsible for any and all policy violations on its child inventory, whether the inventory is managed through the child's account or the parent's account, and whether the violation was caused by the parent, the child or anyone else. Google reserves the right to take enforcement action against the child.
• As between the parent and Google, the parent is responsible for all policy violations on child inventory it manages or represents, again whoever caused them. Google can take action against the parent, including disabling its use of MCM.

So responsibility is not handed off. Your partner carries responsibility too, but you never stop being responsible for your own sites. If invalid traffic, a bad ad placement or prohibited content shows up on your pages, the consequences can reach your account, whatever your contract with the partner says.

A few practical habits follow from this:

• Keep control of your content and traffic sources. Do not buy traffic you cannot vet.
• Read the Policy center in your account regularly, even if the parent manages most settings. Under Manage Account, the child keeps its permissions and access to all settings.
• Ask your partner how it will tell you about policy issues it spots, and how fast.

What this means for "account for sale" offers

Put these rules side by side and a pattern appears. Offers to sell, rent or lend you an Ad Manager or AdX account break several of them at once:

• The site being monetized would not be owned by the account holder, which conflicts with the ownership rule.
• There would be no direct contract between the real site owner and the parent.
• Identity verification would be done with someone else's documents, while Google requires the child's own.
• Responsibility for violations would land on an account holder who does not control the content, and Google may verify the relationship at any time.

The guidelines also say Google has no liability arising from a change of control or from assigning networks or contracts to a third party. In other words, if you take over someone else's account, you take on its risks with no help from Google.

Our guide to AdX approval service red flags goes through these offers and the warning signs in more detail.

Next step

The MCM Policies are not obstacles to work around. They describe what a sound relationship looks like: your own account, your own sites, a direct contract and a clean record. If your setup already meets these points, you are in a good position to request a review. Start by checking your account against the requirements, then Get AdX access when you are ready.