How to Structure Meta Ads for Agency Clients

Advertiser method. Meta does not publish this as a rule. The mechanics below come from Meta’s documentation; the method itself is common advertiser practice, and results vary.

Give each client its own ad account. Meta’s page on advertising for another business says an ad account should only run ads for a single client, and that is the clearest structural rule on the Meta pages cited here. This fits an agency with several clients. It does not fit one brand with one account, where how to structure that account is the question. Who owns each client’s account is a trade-off.

Why does one client get one ad account?

Meta says that once you set an on-behalf-of relationship with a business, you can’t remove it or replace it with another business. You can specify it only once, “because an ad account should only run ads for a single client.” Meta also lists what the setting gives you: terms accepted once for accounts that advertise for the same business, the same audience manager features as that business, such as the audience overlap tool, and the business’s name in the “Why am I seeing this ad?” dialog.

The setting does not change permissions. The business you advertise for can’t see the ad account unless you grant it permission.

Who should own the ad account, the client or the agency?

Meta describes three routes, and they leave the account in different places:

Route	Where the account lives	What Meta says
Request to share a client’s account	The client’s portfolio	The account remains in their portfolio and access is shared with yours
Create a new account and choose another business or client	Your portfolio	A new account is permanently part of that portfolio and can’t be deleted or transferred
Claim an existing account	Your portfolio	It may be permanently moved there and can’t be deleted or transferred to another portfolio

When a client relationship ends on an account you created, Meta says the client should revoke your access to their Page and you should stop using the account. It becomes inactive and stays in your portfolio for historical records.

Which route to pick is your call. The Meta pages cited here describe each route for a situation and do not say one is better.

What does Meta require of an agency with several clients?

Meta says only agencies that have completed agency verification can access ad accounts that belong to other businesses. Unless you are a verified agency, your portfolio can only manage accounts owned by the same company that owns the portfolio. Agencies managing accounts for multiple companies must pass agency verification, which you complete in the security center. Meta also says that to access accounts shared with your business portfolio you need business verification.

How many client accounts can a portfolio hold?

Meta says a new business portfolio can only create one ad account, rising to 3 when a campaign delivers and a payment is made. The limit then increases with advertising spend. A closed ad account still counts toward the limit, so closing an old client’s account does not free a slot.

How do you control who sees which client?

Meta says that once an ad account is in a business portfolio, you can only assign people access to it through that portfolio, using the ad accounts tab or the people tab in settings. Permissions assigned at the portfolio level override asset-level permissions. Check portfolio-level permissions before you give a freelancer access to one client.

What goes inside each client account?

Inside each account, the structure questions are the usual ones: how many campaigns, ad sets and ads each goal needs. When you create an account you enter its name, time zone and currency, so separate accounts let each client have its own. Meta says changing the currency later creates a new account, so set it correctly first.

A repeating pattern across clients can make any account easier for your team to read. A shared naming scheme is an example. That is practice, not a Meta rule.

How can you decide for a new client?

Create or request a separate ad account for the client. Do not add the client to an account that already runs another client’s ads.
Decide who owns it, and write that decision into the client agreement.
Confirm your portfolio is agency verified if the account belongs to another company.
Check your portfolio’s ad account limit before you create more.

FAQ

Can I run two clients from one ad account?

Meta’s page on advertising for another business says an ad account should only run ads for a single client, which is why the on-behalf-of setting can be specified only once. Meta’s pages cited here describe no way to split one account between clients, so use one account each.

What happens when a client leaves?

For an account you created on the client’s behalf, Meta says the client should revoke your access to their Page and you should stop using the account. It becomes inactive but stays in your portfolio for historical records. For a client-owned account, the account stays in the client’s portfolio.

Does the client see my ad account if I advertise on its behalf?

Not automatically. Meta says the on-behalf-of feature doesn’t change the permissions you’ve set, and the business you advertise on behalf of can’t see the ad account unless you grant it permission. Its name does appear in the “Why am I seeing this ad?” dialog on Facebook.