How to Add a Manager to Google Business Profile (and Transfer Ownership)

You need to let a staff member, a marketing agency or a business partner work on your Google Business Profile, but you don’t want to hand over your Google password. The good news is you never have to. To add a manager to Google Business Profile, an owner opens the profile’s settings, invites the person’s email address and picks the Owner or Manager role. The person accepts the invite and gets access through their own Google Account.

In this guide I explain each role in plain words, show the exact steps on Google Search and in Business Profile Manager, and walk through transferring primary ownership. I also cover what to do when someone else controls your profile, and the errors I see most often.

The Three User Roles on a Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile has three levels of access. Every profile has exactly one primary owner. It can also have several owners and several managers.

• Primary owner: the main account in charge of the profile. It has full control, and it is the only user who can hand primary ownership to someone else.
• Owner: full control, almost the same as the primary owner. Owners can add and remove users, change roles and delete the profile.
• Manager: can edit almost everything about the business, but can’t add or remove users and can’t remove the profile.

Here is how the roles compare on the tasks people ask me about most:

What Happened to the “Site Manager” Role?

You may still see older guides that mention a third, lighter role called “site manager”. Google removed it in 2021 and turned every existing site manager into a manager. Today the Manager role is the lowest level you can give, so there is no “read-only” option.

That matters when you plan access. Anyone you add can change your business name, hours and phone number. So only invite people you trust to edit the listing.

Which Role Should Each Person Get?

My rule of thumb is simple: the business keeps ownership, and everyone else gets the least access they need.

• The business owner or a director: primary owner, using an account the business controls long term.
• A second senior person, such as a co-founder: owner, so you are never locked out if one account has a problem.
• A marketing agency or freelancer: manager. They can do all the day-to-day work without being able to remove you.
• Front desk or store staff who reply to reviews or post updates: manager.

In my experience, the biggest mistake is letting an agency or a web designer become primary owner “to make things easier”. When that relationship ends, getting the profile back can take weeks. I’d always keep at least two owners inside the business itself.

Before You Start: What You Need

• Owner access yourself. Only owners can invite people. If the Add button is missing or greyed out, you are probably a manager.
• The other person’s email address. It must belong to a Google Account. A Gmail address works, and so does a work email that has been registered as a Google Account.
• The right profile. If your business has several locations, check you are inside the correct one before you invite anyone.

Google Groups can’t be added as owners or managers. Each person needs their own account. That is a good thing, because it means nobody needs to share a password.

How to Add a Manager to Google Business Profile on Google Search

If you manage one or a few profiles, Google sends you to manage them straight from Google Search. This is the method most small businesses use.

1. Sign in to the Google Account that owns the profile.
2. Search Google for your exact business name, or search “my business”. Your profile appears with the management panel on top.
3. Select the three-dot Menu button, then Business Profile settings.
4. Select People and access. This is the users section, where you see everyone who can manage the profile.
5. Select Add (the person icon with a plus sign).
6. Type the person’s email address.
7. Under Access, choose Owner or Manager.
8. Select Invite.

The invite now shows as pending in the users list until the person accepts it. On a phone, the steps are the same in the Google app or a mobile browser: search your business name and use the same menu.

How to Add Users in Business Profile Manager

Business Profile Manager is the dashboard at business.google.com. Google mostly keeps it for businesses and agencies that run many profiles, often organised into business groups (folders that hold several locations). The steps are very close to the Search version.

1. Go to business.google.com and sign in as an owner.
2. Open the profile you want to share.
3. Select More, then Business Profile settings, then People and access.
4. Select Add at the top left.
5. Enter the email address, choose Owner or Manager under Access, and select Invite.

Giving Access to Many Locations at Once

If you have ten shops, inviting someone ten times is slow and easy to get wrong. In Business Profile Manager you can add users to a business group instead. Anyone you add to the group gets access to every profile inside it.

Agencies with their own organisation account can also add a client location to one of their groups. In Business Profile Manager, open the Businesses tab, choose the group, select the location, then Users, Invite new users and Add one of your groups. Pick the group and role, then select Add. If you don’t see the invite option, the location owner hasn’t given you enough access yet.

For agencies working with multi-location brands, I recommend this approach. It keeps access tidy, and when the contract ends you remove one user from one group instead of hunting through every location.

How to Accept a Google Business Profile Invitation

If you are the person being invited, this part is for you.

1. Look for an email from Google about managing the business. Check spam and promotions folders too.
2. Make sure you are signed in to the Google Account that matches the email address in the invite.
3. Select the button in the email to accept. You can also search the business name on Google while signed in, and a prompt to accept may appear there.
4. Once accepted, you become a user right away. The owner gets an email saying you joined.

The most common mix-up I see is accepting while signed in to a different account, like a personal Gmail instead of a work account. Sign out of other accounts or use a private browser window if you have several.

Owners can see pending invites in the users list. To withdraw one, find it under the pending section and select Cancel invitation.

How to Transfer Primary Ownership

You might need to make someone else the primary owner when a business is sold, when the original owner leaves, or when you are moving the profile from a personal account to a company account. Only the current primary owner can do this.

1. First, make sure the new person is already an owner or manager on the profile. If they aren’t, invite them using the steps above and wait for them to accept.
2. Open Business Profile settings, then People and access, on Search or in Business Profile Manager.
3. Select the person who will become primary owner.
4. Next to Access, select Edit.
5. Choose Primary owner and select Save.

After the transfer, the old primary owner becomes an owner. They can then stay, change their role or remove themselves.

The 7-Day Waiting Period

Google puts a waiting period on new users. For the first 7 days after someone becomes an owner or manager, they can’t delete or undelete the profile, remove other owners or managers, or take over primary ownership. If you try to make a brand-new user the primary owner during those 7 days, you will get an error.

So if you are planning a handover, add the new person at least a week before you need the transfer done. Also note that if a new user leaves within those 7 days, they are removed and have to be invited again.

Google says this waiting period exists to protect profiles. I think it is a sensible safety net, because it stops someone who just got access from instantly taking over a listing.

What to Do if Someone Else Controls Your Profile

Sometimes you search for your business and find the profile is already verified by someone else. It might be a former employee, an old agency or a past owner. Don’t create a new duplicate listing. Request access instead.

1. Go to business.google.com/add and sign in with the account you want to use.
2. Enter your business name and pick your business from the list.
3. When you see a message that someone else may manage this profile, select Request access.
4. Fill in the form with your contact details and how you are connected to the business, then submit it.

Google emails the current owner, and according to Google’s help page on requesting ownership, they have 3 days to respond. If they approve, you get an email and can manage the profile. If they deny it, you can still suggest edits to the listing and try to appeal.

If they don’t reply within 3 days, you may be able to claim the profile yourself. Open your confirmation email, select View request, then follow the steps to verify. Google notes that the option to claim isn’t always available.

For service-area businesses (those without a storefront that customers visit), Google handles ownership requests through its support contact form instead. Before I file any request, I always try the simple route first: contacting the old agency or staff member and asking them to add you as an owner. It is usually faster than waiting on a form.

If you are starting from scratch because no profile exists yet, my step-by-step Google Business Profile setup guide covers creating and verifying one.

How to Change Roles or Remove Users

Review your users list every few months, and always when staff leave or an agency contract ends. Only owners can change roles or remove people.

Change Someone’s Role

1. Open Business Profile settings, then People and access.
2. Select the person.
3. Next to Access, select Edit, choose the new role and select Save.

Remove a User

1. Open People and access and select the person.
2. Select Remove person and confirm.

The removed user gets an email. They lose the ability to change the profile, but their past review replies and posts stay on the listing.

Remove Yourself

To leave a profile, select your own name in the users list, then Stop managing and Confirm. A primary owner can’t do this until primary ownership has been transferred to someone else.

Common Problems and How to Fix Them

“The Person Doesn’t Have a Google Account”

The invite has to go to an email linked to a Google Account. If your agency uses a work address that isn’t one, they can create a Google Account with that address without making a Gmail inbox. Then resend the invite.

The Invite Never Arrived

Check spam first and confirm the spelling of the email address. If it still isn’t there, cancel the pending invitation and send a new one. The person can also search the business name on Google while signed in to see if a prompt to accept appears.

Since June 2026, many owners and agencies have reported that invite emails simply don’t go out for some profiles, and I haven’t seen Google announce a fix. If resending doesn’t work, the workarounds people report are sending the invite from a different owner on the same profile, resending a few times from the single profile rather than a group, or adding the profile to a business group. None of these works every time, so allow extra time when you plan a handover.

The Add or Remove Button Is Greyed Out

You are almost certainly a manager, not an owner. Ask an owner to change your role. If you are trying to remove the primary owner, that won’t work either. The primary owner has to transfer that role first.

“You Can’t Do This Yet” Errors

This is usually the 7-day waiting period. If you or the other person became a user in the last week, wait until the 7 days have passed and try again.

You See the Wrong Profile or No Profile at All

You are probably signed in to a different Google Account than the one that was invited. Check the account icon in the top corner. If you manage many locations, also make sure you are inside the right business group in Business Profile Manager.

The Primary Owner Has Left the Business

Ask the old primary owner to transfer the role before they go, or as soon as you can reach them. If nobody still working in the business has owner access, use the request access process above.

Security Tips for Profile Access

• Never share a password. Google built the roles so every person can sign in with their own account.
• Use the least access needed. Agencies and staff should be managers unless there is a real reason for more.
• Keep two owners in the business. If one account gets locked or the person leaves, you still have control.
• Use a business-controlled account as primary owner. A shared company Google Account or a director’s work account is safer than a junior employee’s personal Gmail.
• Review users regularly. I check the users list every quarter and remove anyone who no longer works on the profile.

The same habits apply across Google’s other tools. If you are also sharing analytics, see my guides on giving access to Google Analytics 4 and adding a user to Google Search Console, so your agency gets the right level everywhere.

What Has Changed Recently

The roles and the basic invite steps have stayed the same for a long time. These are the changes I’d keep in mind when sharing access today.

• The users section is called People and access. On Google Search and in Business Profile Manager you now reach it through Business Profile settings, then People and access. If an older guide tells you to look for “Managers” or “Users”, this is the same place.
• Q&A management through tools ended (November 2025). Google discontinued the Business Profile Q&A API on 3 November 2025. If an agency or software tool used its manager access to answer questions in bulk, that no longer works. Public Q&A in Maps is being replaced by AI answers, so managers spend their time on profile details and reviews instead.
• Invite emails failing for some profiles (from June 2026). Owners have reported that manager and owner invites are not delivered, and reports were still coming in during October 2026. Check for a pending invite on the People and access page and use the workarounds above if the email never arrives.

The 7-day waiting period, the three roles and the request access process with its 3-day window all work the same way as before.

Conclusion

The short version of how to add manager to Google Business Profile: you need owner rights, the person’s Google Account email and about two minutes. Give managers to agencies and staff, keep ownership inside the business, and plan any ownership transfer at least 7 days ahead.

Your next step: open People and access today and check who has access. Remove anyone who shouldn’t be there, and make sure a second trusted person inside the business is an owner. For the full list of what each role can do, Google’s help page on managing owners and managers is worth a bookmark.