Who Controls Your Google Business Profile? Get Access Back

Plenty of small businesses never set up their own Business Profile. A nephew claimed it on his phone years ago, the web designer verified it along with the domain, or an employee who has since left used his personal Gmail. Nobody checks until the phone number needs changing, and the one person with access stopped answering calls months ago.

The ad account ownership piece argued that the business should own every account and give helpers access, never the reverse. The same rule applies here, and Google already gives you the tools.

Who can do what on a profile

Google has two kinds of user, owners and managers, and one of the owners is the primary owner.

• Primary owner. Exactly one per profile. A primary owner can't remove themselves until primary ownership has passed to someone else.
• Owners. A profile can have several. Google's roles page gives them full control, including adding and removing users and even deleting the profile.
• Managers. Google used to call them site managers. They can do almost all the daily work, from editing hours and photos to replying to reviews. They can't add or remove users, and they can't remove the profile.

Each person needs their own Google Account, so nobody has to share a password. Google Groups can't be added as owners or managers.

Check who has access today

Sign in with the Google account you think is connected. On Search, look up your business name and city, or "my business". The Business tab in the Google Maps app works too. When the profile opens with its editing tools, select More, then Business Profile settings, then People and access.

That page lists every current user and pending invite. Look for the personal Gmail of someone who left, the agency you stopped paying, and any address you don't recognise. If you can't select anyone on the list, Google says you may only have manager access. No editing tools at all can mean that account isn't on the profile, so try your other Google accounts first.

Add people the right way

From People and access, select Add, type the email address, choose Owner or Manager under Access, and select Invite. You'll get an email when they accept. Unaccepted invites sit under Pending, where you can cancel them, and an owner can change a role later with Edit next to Access. Your business partner needs owner access; the web designer needs manager access.

Move primary ownership without starting over

If the nephew or an old agency is primary owner today, fix it with a transfer rather than a fresh profile. Google says transferring primary ownership keeps business information, such as reviews, in place. Its rules also allow one profile per business, and a profile treated as a duplicate won't show on Search or Maps.

Primary ownership can only move to someone already on the profile, so it takes two steps:

1. The current primary owner invites the business's own Google account as an owner, and you accept.
2. At least seven days later, the primary owner opens People and access, selects that account, selects Edit next to Access, chooses Primary owner and saves.

The gap matters. In their first seven days, new owners and managers get an error if they try to delete the profile, remove other users or transfer primary ownership, and Google warns of an error when someone is made primary owner too soon. Put the date in the diary.

Take people off the profile

An owner removes someone from People and access by selecting the person, then Remove person. Google emails them to say so. Their earlier review replies and posts stay, but they can no longer change business info. Managers can't remove anyone except themselves.

If you've just been added as an owner, wait out the seven days first. When the person leaving is the primary owner, get primary ownership moved to the business account before anything else. After that, you can take your own personal Gmail off too: select your name, then Stop managing, then Confirm.

When someone else holds it and won't reply

Try the human route first. A polite call asking the old helper to add your business account as an owner is often quicker than any form. If that fails, Google has a request process for storefront and hybrid businesses:

1. Go to business.google.com/add and enter your business name and address.
2. Choose your business from the list. You'll see a message that someone else may manage this Business Profile.
3. Select Request Access, fill in the form and submit it.

You'll get a confirmation email. Google then emails the current owner, who has three days to respond, and you can check the status by signing in or through the link in your confirmation email.

• If they approve, you'll get an email and can manage the profile, with the seven-day limit applying to you.
• A denial brings a rejection email. You can still suggest edits to the profile and can try to appeal the decision.
• No reply within three days? You may be able to claim the profile: open the confirmation email, select View request, then Verify, and follow the steps. Google notes this option isn't always available.

Claiming means verifying the business, so get the signboard and documents ready; the video verification article covered what reviewers look for. For an appeal, keep proof that you run the business to hand, such as registration papers or a utility bill in its name.

A service-area business with no shop or office takes a different route: contact Business Profile support and choose "Transfer ownership of listing" as the issue.

If the profile sits on an old business Gmail whose password nobody remembers, use Google's account recovery steps instead. You can't call Google for sign-in help, and it says it doesn't work with any account or password recovery service, so anyone selling "recovery" isn't Google.

Requests can arrive the other way too. If an email asks you to approve someone as an owner or manager, Google's advice is to refuse unless you know who is asking.

The setup we recommend

• Make a Google account the business controls the primary owner: a Gmail created for the business, or an address on your own domain. Never a personal or employee Gmail that can walk out of the door.
• Add at least one more owner from inside the business, such as a partner. Google's own tip is to give access to more than one trusted person to prevent lockouts.
• Give agencies and freelancers manager access, ours included. A manager can't remove you or delete the profile, and Google's security advice is to add owners with extra care because they can transfer ownership.
• Turn on 2-Step Verification for the business account (Google Account, then Security and sign-in). Without a passkey, Google recommends its prompts as the second step and warns that codes sent by text can be vulnerable to phone-number hacks. Google won't call you to verify a code or ask for your OTP, so never read one out to a caller.
• Add a recovery phone and email the business will keep. Do it while nothing is wrong, since a new or changed recovery number can take up to seven days to take effect.
• Open People and access a few times a year, and on the day anyone leaves.

FAQ

Our old agency is the primary owner. Do we lose our reviews if they hand it over?

Not if they transfer primary ownership to your account, which Google says keeps business information such as reviews in place. The costly move is abandoning the old profile for a fresh one: the reviews stay behind, and the new profile risks being treated as a duplicate.

Can a manager lock us out of our own profile?

On their own, no. Managers can't add or remove users or remove the profile. They can still edit the phone number and hours, so give manager access only to people you'd trust with those.

The ex-employee who set it up won't reply. Should we just make a new profile?

Please don't. Google can treat a second profile as a duplicate when a verified one already exists for the business, and duplicates don't show on Search or Maps. Send the access request and wait out the three days, then use the claim option if it appears. It's slower, but it's the route that keeps the reviews and history.