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Someone else owns my Google Business Profile: if that’s your situation, you get it back by requesting ownership from Google. Go to business.google.com/add, find your business and select Request access. Google emails the current owner, who has 3 days to respond. If they ignore it, you may be able to claim the profile yourself, and if they refuse, you can appeal. When the person holding it is an old agency, a web designer or an ex-employee, Google’s own rules say they have to give it back to you.
The quickest route depends on who has the profile and whether you can reach them.
How do I find out who owns my Google Business Profile?
Google won’t show you the owner’s name or email, so start with the people who could have set the profile up. It’s usually one of these:
- A marketing agency or SEO company you paid at some point, even years ago.
- The web designer who built your site and “sorted Google” at the same time.
- A staff member, ex-employee or family member who created it under their own Gmail.
- The previous owner, if you bought the business.
- You, under an old Google account you’ve stopped using.
Check the last one first. Google’s ownership request guide says that if you can’t find a “Claim this business” or “Own this business” button, you might already be the owner. Search your old inboxes for emails from Google Business Profile, and use Google’s Accounts troubleshooter if you’ve lost the login.
If nobody you ask knows anything, the request itself does the finding for you. Google emails the owner on your behalf, so you don’t need their contact details to start.
Which route fits my situation?
Ask the person directly when you know who it is and they’re reachable; it’s faster than any form. Use Google’s request process when you can’t reach them or they won’t help.
| Who has the profile | Do this first | If that doesn’t work |
|---|---|---|
| You, under an old login | Recover the account with Google’s Accounts troubleshooter | Request ownership from the account you use now |
| Your old agency or SEO company | Ask in writing to be made owner. Google’s third-party policies give them 7 business days to hand back control | Request ownership, appeal a denial, and report the policy breach |
| Your web designer | Same as an agency: they count as an authorized representative and must transfer ownership on request | Request ownership. Our guide for when a web designer won’t give you access to your website covers the domain and hosting too |
| A current or former employee, or a family member | Ask them to add you as owner, then make you primary owner | Request ownership and appeal if they deny it |
| The previous owner of a business you bought | Make the handover part of the sale: they add you as owner and transfer primary ownership | Request ownership and appeal if they deny it |
| Someone you don’t know, or a competitor | Don’t contact them. Request ownership through Google | Appeal the denial and contact Google support |
| Any of the above, for a service-area business with no shop or office | Contact Google and enter “Transfer ownership of listing” | Follow up through the same support case |
The last row matters for most trades. Google’s ownership guide sends service-area businesses (plumbers, electricians, cleaners and others who go to the customer) to its contact form instead of the standard request.
How do I request ownership of my Google Business Profile?
For a business with a shop front or office that customers visit, the request is a short form. These are the steps in Google’s request ownership guide:
- Sign in to the Google account you want to own the profile from. Pick one the business will keep long term. A staff member’s personal Gmail puts you back in the same position the day they leave.
- Go to business.google.com/add.
- Enter your business name and address, then choose your business from the list. You’ll see the message “Someone else may manage this Business Profile.”
- Select Request access.
- Fill in the form and select Submit.
Google sends you a confirmation email, and the current owner gets an email asking them to respond within 3 days. You can check where your request stands by signing in to Business Profile or through the link in that confirmation email. If the owner approves it, you get an email and can manage the profile straight away.
What happens if the owner doesn’t respond within 3 days?
You may be able to claim the profile yourself. Open the confirmation email from your request, select View request, then Verify, and follow the instructions on screen. You can also sign in to Business Profile and look for a Claim or Verify button.
Google warns that this option isn’t always available. If you don’t see it, go to Google Business Profile support and explain that your request went unanswered. Keep the confirmation email, because it proves when you asked.
What if my ownership request is denied?
You can appeal, and in the meantime you can still suggest edits to the listing on Google Maps. Both options are in Google’s guide to duplicate profiles and ownership issues, which links to the contact form for appeals.
Google doesn’t publish a list of what an ownership appeal needs. When we prepare one, we gather proof that the business named on the listing is yours and runs from that address or phone number: the business registration or licence, a utility bill or lease, photos of your signage or branded van, and a website on your own domain that shows the same name and number. Make sure the name and address on each document match the listing. The same paperwork also helps if a profile you’ve just recovered is ever suspended; our guide to a suspended Google Business Profile covers that appeal.
If the person who denied you is a third party you once paid, report them as well. Google’s third-party policies have a form for reporting violations.
My old agency or web designer won’t hand it over. What can I do?
Put the request in writing and quote Google’s rules back to them, because those rules are on your side. Google’s third-party policies say that end customers must keep ownership or co-ownership of their Business Profile at all times, and that within 7 business days of notice from a client, the agency must let that client regain exclusive control and remove its own permissions. Google’s eligibility and ownership guidelines go further: anyone managing a profile for the owner must transfer ownership to the business owner immediately on request.
Worked example (made-up business). A roofing company parted ways with its marketing agency in the spring. The agency still holds the only owner seat on the Business Profile and hasn’t answered two phone calls. The owner sends this by email and keeps a copy:
Hi [name], we’ve ended our arrangement and need full control of our Google Business Profile for [business name, address]. Please add [owner’s email] as an owner today, then make that account the primary owner once Google allows it, and remove your own access afterwards. Google’s Business Profile third-party policies give you 7 business days from this notice to do this. Thanks, [name].
The date on that email starts the 7 business days. If the deadline passes, the owner requests ownership through business.google.com/add, appeals if the agency denies it, and files the third-party report with a copy of the email attached.
A legitimate agency won’t try to keep ownership in the first place. That’s one of the warning signs we list in our post on whether Google calls you about your business listing.
What’s the difference between primary owner, owner and manager?
The primary owner is the one account in full charge of the profile, owners have full control too, and managers can edit the profile but can’t control who has access. Here’s how Google’s guide to managing owners and managers splits it:
| Role | What it can do | Who should have it |
|---|---|---|
| Primary owner | Everything an owner can do. There’s only one per profile, and it can’t remove itself until it transfers primary ownership to someone else | You, the business owner |
| Owner | Full control: add and remove people, edit the profile, delete the profile. A profile can have several owners | A business partner or one trusted person as backup |
| Manager | Most of what an owner can do, but can’t add or remove people or remove the profile | Your agency, web designer and staff who post updates or reply to reviews |
Google’s third-party policies set up client accounts the same way, with the business owner as owner of the profile and the agency added as manager.
How do I make myself primary owner once I’ve been added?
The current primary owner has to do it, and only after you’ve been on the profile for 7 days. Google’s guide to transferring primary ownership gives these steps for the person handing it over:
- Go to business.google.com and open the profile.
- Select More, then Business Profile settings, then People and access.
- Select your name, then Edit next to Access.
- Choose Primary owner and select Save.
New owners and managers get an error if anyone tries to make them primary owner during their first 7 days, so if the handover fails, check the date you were added. If you leave the profile during those 7 days, you’re removed and have to be added again. Google says the transfer keeps your business information, reviews included, intact.
Once you’re primary owner, remove anyone who shouldn’t still have access: More, then Business Profile settings, then People and access, select the person, then Remove person.
How do I stop this happening again?
Hold the primary owner seat yourself and give everyone else the lowest access they need. Run through this list once your profile is back:
- The primary owner is a Google account the business controls, which you can still log in to.
- One other trusted person is an owner. Google’s April 2025 Business Profile update suggests giving access to several trusted people to avoid lockouts.
- Agencies, designers and staff have manager access.
- People who leave are removed the same week, under People and access.
- Someone signs in now and then. Google’s ownership guidelines list long periods without signing in as one reason an owner’s access can be revoked.
- Ownership request emails from Google get read and answered. Deny a request you don’t recognise; left unanswered, it can let the requester claim the profile after 3 days.
Frequently asked questions
Should I just create a new Google Business Profile instead?
No. Google’s guidance for a profile someone else has verified is to request access, and a second profile for the same business is a duplicate. Our guide on why a business isn’t showing on Google Maps explains what happens to duplicates.
Will I lose my reviews if ownership changes?
No. You’re taking over the existing profile, so the reviews stay on it, and Google says transferring primary ownership keeps your business information, including reviews, intact.
Can a competitor take over my Google Business Profile?
Anyone can send an ownership request, but Google emails the current owner first and gives them 3 days to respond. Deny any request you don’t recognise, and make sure the owner email on your profile is one somebody actually checks.
How long does it take to get ownership back?
If the owner approves your request, you can manage the profile as soon as they do, and an ignored request opens the claim option after 3 days when Google offers it. Google gives no timeframe for appeals, so plan for that route to take longer.
Can my agency stay on as a manager?
Yes, and that’s the setup Google’s third-party policies describe. You keep ownership and the agency gets manager access, which lets it do the work without controlling who else gets in.
If you’d rather someone else sorted out the access and the profile work, our local SEO team does exactly that for service businesses, and you stay the owner throughout. The first two months of management are free.
Sources: 1. Request ownership of a Business Profile (Google Business Profile Help). 2. Resolve duplicate profiles and ownership issues (Google Business Profile Help). 3. Manage your Business Profile owners and managers (Google Business Profile Help). 4. Transfer primary ownership of a Business Profile (Google Business Profile Help). 5. Business Profile third-party policies (Google Business Profile Help). 6. Business eligibility and ownership guidelines (Google Business Profile Help). 7. What’s new in Google Business Profile: April 2025 (Google Business Profile Help).
