Integration Errors — How to Diagnose
Table of Contents
- Token Expired — Recovery Steps
- Missing Permissions — What to Check
- Integration Connected but Data Not Flowing
- Connection Logs — Where to Find Them
Token Expired — Recovery Steps
An authorization token is the access key that Sembot uses to communicate with advertising platforms (Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta). Tokens have a limited validity period — when they expire or are revoked, Sembot loses the ability to fetch data and push changes to the platform.
How to Recognize an Expired Token
In the Connections tab in the side menu, an error message or warning icon appears next to the affected integration. Campaigns and platform data stop updating.
Recovery Steps
Create a new connection — go to Workspace Settings → Connections and add a new connection to the relevant platform (Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta, Shopify). During authorization, sign in with the account linked to the advertising account or store and approve all required permissions.
Assign the new connection to the project — go to the Connections tab in the project side menu and switch the active connection to the newly created one.
Check status — after saving the changes, data should start updating. The first data fetch may take a few minutes.
Google Ads and Microsoft Ads tokens are refreshed automatically by Sembot during normal operation. Manual re-authorization is only required when a token has been revoked — for example, after changing the Google account password, revoking app access in the advertising account settings, or when permissions expire after a long period of inactivity.
Missing Permissions — What to Check
If a user cannot connect Sembot to an advertising account or store, the cause may be insufficient permissions on the external platform's side. Sembot can only connect to accounts and stores that the signed-in user has access to.
How to Verify Permissions
Sign in directly to the platform (Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta Business Manager, Shopify admin panel) using the account or store you are trying to connect to Sembot.
Check that you have access to the advertising account — make sure the advertising account is visible and accessible. If it is not, the account administrator has not granted you permissions.
Contact the advertising account administrator — if you do not have access, ask the account administrator to grant you permissions (recommended role: administrator or standard user with campaign management capabilities).
Set up the connection in Sembot or ask the administrator — once permissions are granted, you can add the connection yourself under Workspace Settings → Connections. Alternatively, you can ask the advertising account administrator to set up the connection with Sembot — the connection is tied to the user who authorized it.
Shopify — a connection can be established in three ways: via OAuth (redirect to the Shopify admin panel) or via a Custom App (requires Client ID and Client Secret from the Shopify admin panel). Each method requires either store owner access or a token with the appropriate permissions to read products.
Required Access Level for Each Platform
| Platform | Required Access Level |
|---|---|
| Google Ads | Google Ads account access (role: administrator or standard) |
| Google Merchant Center | GMC account access (role: administrator or standard) |
| Google Analytics 4 | GA4 property access (role: at least Viewer) |
| Google Search Console | GSC property access (role: at least Restricted) |
| Microsoft Advertising | Microsoft Advertising account access |
| Meta (Facebook) | Administrator role in Business Manager with access to the advertising account and product catalog |
| Shopify | Store owner or Access Token with permissions to read products and feeds (used for product feeds, not campaigns) |
Integration Connected but Data Not Flowing
There are situations where a connection in Sembot appears as active — with no error warning — yet data from the advertising platform stops being fetched or campaigns are no longer synchronizing. This is one of the harder issues to identify because at first glance the integration looks correctly configured.
Possible Causes
Delayed Detection of a Connection Error
Sembot periodically checks the validity of each connection (a so-called health check). If a token expires or the platform temporarily denies access during normal operation, Sembot may not immediately mark the connection as failed — it may only do so at the next check. As a result, the connection may appear as active for a period of time even though it is not working. In this case, wait a few minutes, refresh the connections view, and check whether an error indicator has appeared.
No Access to Specific Resources
The connection may be correctly authorized, but the account used for authorization may not have access to a specific advertising account, campaign, or product catalog. For example, a user may have authorized access to Google Ads but not to the client's advertising account that is a sub-account under a manager account (MCC). In this case, verify that the account used for authorization actually has access to all advertising accounts that should be visible in Sembot.
Advertising Account Suspended or Deactivated
Even if the connection in Sembot is active, the lack of data may be due to the advertising account itself being suspended directly on the platform side — for example, due to payment issues, policy violations, or deactivation by an administrator. Check the account status directly in the Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, or Meta admin panel.
Delay After Re-Authorization
If the connection was recently refreshed or replaced with a new one, Sembot needs a moment to resume synchronization. This typically takes a few minutes. If data still does not appear after 15–20 minutes, try removing the connection from the project and re-assigning it.
Technical Outage on the Platform Side
Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and Meta may experience temporary API outages that prevent Sembot from fetching data. In such cases, the issue will resolve itself once the platform-side outage is resolved.
Diagnostic Steps
- Go to Connections in the side menu and check whether an error indicator has appeared on the connection — error detection can sometimes be delayed by a few minutes.
- Sign in directly to the advertising platform and verify that the account is active and data is visible there.
- Check that the account used for authorization in Sembot has access to all advertising accounts that should be synchronized.
- If the issue affects a specific campaign, check its status in the Campaigns tab — the campaign may have its own synchronization error unrelated to the connection.
- If none of the above steps resolve the issue — create a new connection following the steps described in the Token Expired — Recovery Steps section.
Connection Logs — Where to Find Them
Sembot does not provide a dedicated connection log view for users within the application interface. The history of technical events (such as token errors or failed API calls) is stored in internal system logs accessible only to system administrators.
If you are experiencing recurring integration issues that cannot be resolved using the steps described in this document, please contact the Sembot technical team. Provide the following information to help diagnose the issue quickly:
- Project name and connection name
- Advertising platform (Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta)
- Approximate time the issue occurred
- Description of symptoms — what exactly is not working and since when