Google Ads: the developer token no longer exists

Yes, if:

• you send conversions to Google Ads from your server or with a tool, through the UploadClickConversions method, with a gclid, a gbraid or a wbraid;
• and your Google Cloud project (or your old token) had sent no conversion of that kind between December 17, 2025 and June 15, 2026. That is the case of any project created since.

Probably not, if:

• your send was already running before June 15: Google restricts only the tokens with no send in that period;
• your conversions go through the Google tag or Google Tag Manager. Google only talks about sends through the API.

The restriction targets conversions by gclid, gbraid and wbraid, and enhanced conversions for leads.

Three practical points, written by Google:

• the API must be enabled explicitly in your Google Cloud project;
• the OAuth scope requested is https://www.googleapis.com/auth/datamanager;
• access to the Google Ads account goes through user permissions: you add the account's email to the Google Ads account or to its parent manager account.

So generate your refresh token for this scope, the one the Data Manager API asks for.

Be careful to enable “Data Manager API” and not “Google Ads API”: it is the most likely first mistake.

Google also lets you validate a request without applying it, with validateOnly, and deduplicate by transactionId the conversions coming from different sources, such as your tag and the Data Manager API.

You do not have to choose. Google writes that, since April 2026, Google Ads accepts user-provided data from site tags, the Data Manager and API connections, without having to choose between these methods.

So that one sale is not counted twice, give the same order reference to the tag (the transaction_id parameter) and to the server send (transactionId): on one conversion action, Google recognizes the duplicate and does not count the second one. Without an identifier, reloading the confirmation page can count the order twice: the rule is the same at Meta, TikTok and ChatGPT Ads, see our guide on double counting.

• the send goes through the Data Manager API, with no developer token;
• Oriva passes the Google click identifier (gclid, gbraid or wbraid), the encrypted email and phone when you have them, the value, the currency, and a unique transaction reference;
• one Oriva destination = one Google Ads conversion action. If you track leads and purchases, you create two destinations;
• the “Test this destination” button asks Google to check the request without recording it: your credentials, your access to the account and the format are checked, nothing is counted;
• without the visitor's consent for advertising, Oriva sends nothing to Google Ads. The consent status (adUserData) goes with each event sent.

The limit, stated plainly: this is the most technical setup of Oriva's destinations, because Google requires OAuth credentials. You need a Google Cloud project with the Data Manager API enabled, an OAuth client and a refresh token. The most frequent trap: not publishing the OAuth consent screen to production before generating the refresh token. Google writes that a project whose consent screen is of the external type and in “Testing” mode gets a refresh token that expires after 7 days (unless the only scopes requested are name, email and profile). Sends then stop a week after installation.

The step-by-step guide is on the Google Ads page.