The steps to add a manager or owner to a Google Business Profile, what each role can do, the seven day waiting period, and why you should never hand over your password.
If someone else is going to help with your Google Business Profile, whether that's an office manager, a family member or an agency like us, the right way to give them access is to add them as a user. It takes about a minute, you keep control, and you never have to share your Google password. Here's how to do it and what each role allows.
The person gets an email with the invitation. Once they accept, they show up in the People and access list and you can change their role or remove them from the same screen.
Owners have full control. Google's description is that owners can add or remove users, manage profile information, and even delete the profile. There's also a primary owner, which is the one account that can transfer ownership of the whole profile.
Managers can do almost everything an owner can, including editing business information, replying to reviews, handling messages, adding photos and viewing performance data. The difference is that managers can't add or remove other users and can't remove the profile.
For anyone outside your business, choose Manager. That includes us. An agency that asks to be made an owner, or asks for your login, is asking for more control than the job needs. You should be able to remove any outside help in one click, and Manager access gives you that.
Google adds a waiting period for new users. When you become a profile owner or manager, you have to wait seven days before you can manage some profile features. During that week a new user can't delete or undelete the profile, remove other users or transfer primary ownership. Everyday work like editing services, adding photos and replying to reviews is available right away. If you're adding an agency, invite them a week before you want them to start on anything structural.
Go back to People and access, click the person's name, and choose Remove. If they were the primary owner, you'll need to transfer primary ownership to yourself first. It's worth doing this audit once a year. Profiles often still list a former employee, an old web designer or a marketing company from years ago, and every one of those accounts can change your hours or your phone number.
This is common. The profile was set up by a previous agency, a former partner or an employee who left, and nobody knows the login. Search your business on Google, click the listing, and look for an Own this business? link. Google will show you a partial email address of the current owner and let you request access. If they don't respond within a few days, Google gives you a way to claim it yourself, and you may be asked to verify the business again. We wrote up the verification methods in how to verify your Google Business Profile.
When a client starts a local SEO plan with SiteHike, adding us as a manager is the first thing we ask for. From there we set the categories, services, service area and photos, answer the questions on the listing, and watch it for suspensions and unauthorized edits. You stay the owner the whole time, and you can see every change in the profile's history.
Start with a free audit of your site and your Google listing. It costs nothing and you aren't signing up for anything.