Adding a manager to your Google Business Profile

To add a manager, sign in at business.google.com, open Business Profile settings, then People and access, choose Add, type the person's email address, pick Manager under Access and send the invitation. A manager can do almost all the day-to-day work on your profile but cannot add or remove people or delete it. That is the right level for a helper or an agency: they can do the job, and the keys stay with you.

Owner or manager: the difference in plain words

Google gives each person on a profile a role.

• Primary owner. One person per profile. The final say: this is the account Google treats as the business's own.
• Owner. Full control, the same as the primary owner in daily use. Owners can add and remove people, change roles and delete the profile. You can have more than one.
• Manager. Google's help says managers have mostly the same access as owners: they can edit hours, photos and services, reply to reviews and post updates. What they cannot do is add or remove users or delete the profile. Managers used to be called "site managers" in older Google screens, so you may see both names in old emails.

For a part-time helper, a family member who answers reviews, or a marketing agency, Manager is enough. Keep Owner for yourself and, if you like, one trusted partner in the business who would need full control if you were away.

Each person needs their own Google account. You cannot add a shared group address, and you should never hand over your own password instead.

How to add a manager, step by step

1. Sign in at business.google.com with the Google account that owns the profile.
2. Open your profile. If you have several businesses, pick the right one.
3. Choose the menu for more options, then Business Profile settings.
4. Choose People and access.
5. Select Add at the top.
6. Type the email address of the person's Google account. Ask them which address to use; it is often not the one they email you from.
7. Under Access, choose Manager.
8. Select Invite.

The person gets an email and accepts. You get an email when they do. Until then they show under a "pending" heading, and you can cancel the invitation there if you sent it to the wrong address.

Adding an agency without handing over the keys

Agencies sometimes ask to be made owner, or ask for your Google password "to make it easier". Neither is needed for ordinary work. Updating hours, posting photos, writing posts and replying to reviews all work with manager access.

What to agree in writing before they start:

• They work as a manager, under an email address of the agency's own.
• The profile stays in your Google account, with you as primary owner.
• When the contract ends, they remove themselves, or you remove them, the same week.

If an agency already owns a profile you thought was yours, that is a different job; getting your Google Business Profile back from an old agency covers it step by step.

See who has access today

Do this even if you have never added anyone. Profiles change hands over the years, and many owners find names they do not recognize.

1. Go to Business Profile settings, then People and access.
2. Read the list. Each person has a role next to their name.
3. For each one, ask: do I know who this is, and do they still need it?

Common surprises are an old web designer, a former office manager, a listing service from years ago, or a Gmail account the owner set up once and forgot. While you are there, check that the primary owner is an account you can sign in to today. If you are not sure, website ownership and Google: who controls your listing explains why that matters.

Removing someone who has left

Only owners can remove people.

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

Google tells them by email that they no longer have access. The replies and posts they made stay on the profile, so you do not lose that history.

If the person looked after other things too, such as your website login, your domain or your social pages, make a list of those before you remove them and ask them to hand each one over. The profile is often the easy part.

Changing someone's role

If a manager should become an owner, or an owner should drop to manager, select them in People and access, edit their access level and save. Only owners can change roles.

If you are leaving yourself

To hand the business on, first make the next person an owner. Then transfer primary ownership to them; Google's Business Profile help center has the current steps for that. Only after that can a primary owner remove themselves.

A small safety rule worth knowing

Google puts a short waiting period on people who have just been made owner or manager: for their first seven days they cannot delete the profile, remove other users or take over primary ownership. It protects you if you add the wrong person by mistake. If someone you just added asks to "speed things up", the honest answer is to wait the week.

What to do this week

• Open People and access and read the list of names.
• Remove anyone who no longer works with you.
• Make sure you, under an account you control, are the primary owner.
• Add helpers and agencies as Manager, never as owner, and never with your password.
• Write down who has access, with which email, and why.

Your profile and your website send customers to each other, so the same rule applies to both: the business holds the keys. If your website is the part you are less sure about, you can see your site rebuilt first and look at it before changing anything.