Google Business Profile Manager: Access, Roles and Adding Users

Google Business Profile Manager is the set of tools Google gives you to edit your business listing, reply to reviews, post updates and control who else can manage the profile. Most single-location businesses now manage their profile directly from Google Search or Maps while signed in, and businesses with several locations use the web dashboard to handle them together. Whichever you use, the most important setting is access: keep yourself as the primary owner and give staff or agencies manager roles rather than sharing your login.

This guide covers where to find the tools, what owners and managers can each do, how to add someone, and what to do if you’ve lost access to your own profile.

What Google Business Profile Manager is

Your Business Profile is the listing that appears in Google Maps and in local search results, with your hours, phone number, photos and reviews. The manager is the behind-the-scenes view where you control that listing. Google has renamed and reshaped these tools several times. You may still see older references to Google My Business, which is the name the product used before it became Google Business Profile.

Today there are two main ways in:

• From Google Search or Maps. Sign in with the Google account that manages your profile and search your business name, or look for your profile in the Maps app. Editing tools appear directly on the listing. This is the route Google points most single-location businesses to.
• From the web dashboard. The Business Profile Manager dashboard lists all the profiles your account can manage. It’s the practical option if you have multiple locations or manage profiles for clients, because it lets you organize locations into groups and work across them.

Both routes edit the same profile. Changes you make in one appear in the other.

What you can do in the manager

• Edit business information: name, categories, address or service area, hours, holiday hours, phone, website and attributes.
• Read and reply to reviews, and report reviews that break Google’s policies.
• Add photos and posts, such as updates, offers and events.
• Use category-specific features Google offers for your type of business, such as bookings, menus or products.
• See performance data, such as how people found you and what actions they took, like calls or direction requests.
• Manage people and access: add or remove users and change their roles.

Some changes, especially to your name, address or category, may be reviewed by Google before they appear, and some may prompt Google to ask you to verify again. Our guide to Google Business Profile verification explains the methods.

Owner vs manager: the user roles

Google lets you give several people access to a profile, each with a role. The names and exact permissions can change, so check the role descriptions in your profile’s access settings when you add someone. The general structure has been stable:

Role	How many	What they can do
Primary owner	One per profile	Everything an owner can do, and is the main account in control of the profile. Primary ownership can be transferred to another owner.
Owner	Several allowed	Edit the profile, reply to reviews, add and remove users, and remove the profile.
Manager	Several allowed	Edit most business information, reply to reviews, add photos and posts. Can’t manage users or remove the profile.

For most businesses, the right setup is simple: the business owner holds primary ownership on an account the business controls, one trusted colleague is a second owner as a backup, and everyone else, including any agency, is a manager.

How to add a manager or owner

The menus move occasionally, but the process has followed the same pattern for a while:

1. Sign in with an owner account and open your profile from Search, Maps or the web dashboard.
2. Open the profile’s settings. Look for a menu (often three dots) and an option for Business Profile settings.
3. Go to people and access. You’ll see a list of current users and their roles.
4. Add the person. Enter their email address, choose Owner or Manager, and send the invitation.
5. Have them accept. They’ll get an email invitation and need to accept it while signed in to the matching Google account.
6. Check the list. Once accepted, their name and role appear under people and access. You can change their role or remove them from the same screen.

To transfer primary ownership, the new primary owner must already be an owner on the profile. Then use the transfer option in the same access settings.

If someone else controls your profile

This is common when a previous employee, a former agency or a past owner of the business set up the profile. Start with the gentle route:

1. Ask the current owner directly to add you as an owner, then transfer primary ownership to you.
2. If you can’t reach them, request access through Google. When you try to claim a profile that’s already verified, Google offers a way to request ownership. The current owner is notified and can approve or deny it.
3. If there’s no response, Google may give you an option to claim or verify the profile yourself after a waiting period. Follow the instructions in your request’s status.
4. If the request is denied or stuck, contact Google Business Profile support with evidence that you run the business, such as a business license, utility bill or website you control.

If you bought a business and inherited its profile, our guide to reviews from a previous owner covers what changes and what stays.

A worked example

This is an illustrative scenario, not a real client.

A bakery owner, Rosa, hired a marketing freelancer two years ago to set up her Google Business Profile. The freelancer created it under their own Google account. Rosa could see the listing but couldn’t change her holiday hours, and new reviews were going unanswered.

• Step one: Rosa emails the freelancer and asks to be added as an owner. The freelancer agrees, adds her, and transfers primary ownership to her business Google account.
• Step two: Rosa adds her shift manager as a second owner, so one person being away never locks the business out.
• Step three: The freelancer is moved to a manager role while they finish a photo update, then removed.
• Step four: Rosa updates her holiday hours, replies to a backlog of reviews, and sets a monthly reminder to check the profile.

If the freelancer hadn’t responded, Rosa would have used Google’s request access process instead. The outcome would likely have been the same, just slower.

Good habits once you’re in control

• Review access every quarter. Remove anyone who has left the business or finished work for you.
• Use a business-owned account. Avoid tying ownership to one person’s personal email address.
• Check the profile after any change. Google may accept edits from the public or from its own data sources, so confirm your hours and details are still right.
• Reply to reviews regularly. Our guide on how to respond to Google reviews covers tone and examples.
• Keep details consistent with your website and other listings so customers and search systems see the same information.

Common mistakes

• Sharing one login among staff. You lose track of who changed what, and a password change can lock everyone out.
• Letting an agency be the only owner. Ownership should stay with the business.
• Creating a duplicate profile when you can’t get into the original. Duplicates confuse customers and can cause problems with Google. Request access instead.
• Keyword-stuffing the business name. Adding services or cities to your name that aren’t part of your real-world name breaks Google’s guidelines and can lead to suspension.
• Forgetting to remove old users. Former staff with owner access can still change or remove your profile.

When to get help

Day-to-day upkeep is manageable for most owners with an hour a month. Help is worth it when you run several locations, have a profile stuck in a suspension or ownership dispute, or don’t have time to reply to reviews and keep details current. Our Google Business Profile management service handles that work using a manager role, so ownership stays with you. For the setup basics, see how to set up a Google Business Profile.

Frequently asked questions

What is Google Business Profile Manager?

It’s the set of tools for managing your business listing on Google Search and Maps: editing details, replying to reviews, posting updates, viewing performance and controlling user access. Single-location businesses usually manage it from Search or Maps, while multi-location businesses often use the web dashboard.

What's the difference between an owner and a manager?

Owners can do everything, including adding and removing users and removing the profile. Managers can edit most information, reply to reviews and add photos and posts, but can’t manage users or remove the profile. Each profile has one primary owner.

How do I add someone to my Google Business Profile?

Sign in with an owner account, open your profile’s settings, go to people and access, add the person’s email address, choose their role and send the invitation. They need to accept it while signed in to the matching Google account.

How do I get access to a profile someone else owns?

Ask the current owner to add you first. If you can’t reach them, use Google’s request access option when you try to claim the profile. If there’s no response or the request is denied, Google may let you verify after a waiting period, or you can contact Google Business Profile support with proof you run the business.

Is Google Business Profile Manager free?

Yes. Creating and managing a Business Profile is free. Google sells advertising separately, but you don’t need to buy ads to manage your listing or reply to reviews.