Someone else owns my Google Business Profile: what to do

Why this happens

Most of the time, there is an ordinary explanation:

• A former employee set the profile up with their own Google account and left.
• A marketing company or web designer claimed it on your behalf and kept ownership.
• A previous owner of the business still has it.
• A family member or business partner set it up years ago.
• Someone unconnected claimed it, sometimes by mistake, sometimes to take it over.

Whoever it is, the process to get it back starts the same way.

Step 1: Ask the person directly if you can

If you know who has it, the fastest route is to ask them to make you an owner. Owners can add users from the Business Profile settings in a couple of minutes. Ask them to make you the primary owner, then you can remove them.

Step 2: Request ownership through Google

If you cannot reach them, or they will not help:

1. Search for your business on Google or Maps and start the process to claim or manage it. Google will tell you that someone else manages the profile.
2. Choose to request access, and fill in the form: your name, the level of access you want (choose owner), and your relationship to the business.
3. Submit. Google emails the current owner and asks them to respond.

Google says the current owner has 3 days to respond. You can track the status from the email Google sends you.

Step 3: If they do not respond

If the current owner does not respond within 3 days, you may get the option to claim the profile yourself. Google says this option is not always available. If it is, follow the link in Google's emails and you will be taken through verification, often by video. Our guide to video verification shows what to film.

If they deny your request

If the current owner denies you and you are the rightful owner, contact Google Business Profile support. Explain the situation and be ready to prove the business is yours: business registration documents, a utility bill, your website domain, or signage and vehicles in a video. Support can look at disputed ownership.

After you get it back

• Make yourself the primary owner.
• Remove anyone who should not have access, including old employees and agencies.
• Check every detail: name, address, phone, website, hours, categories and services, in case anything was changed.
• Add your team and any agency as managers, never as owners.
• Turn on two step verification on the Google account that owns the profile.

If you think it was taken deliberately

If someone took over your profile without permission and changed your details, treat it as a security problem. Our guide to a hacked Google Business Profile covers what to do.

Avoid it happening again

Always create and own your Business Profile with a Google account that belongs to the business, ideally one tied to your business email domain. Give everyone else, including us, manager access. When we start with a client, we ask to be added as a manager and leave ownership with the client, so the profile always stays theirs.

Questions owners ask

What is the difference between an owner and a manager?

Owners have full control: they can add and remove other users and remove the profile. Managers can edit the profile, reply to reviews and post updates, but cannot add or remove users, change roles or remove the profile. The primary owner should always be you.

My old marketing agency will not give me access. What can I do?

Request ownership through Google. If the agency does not respond, Google may let you verify the profile yourself. In future, keep yourself as the primary owner and add any agency as a manager.

Will I lose my reviews by claiming it again?

No. Requesting ownership gives you access to the existing profile with its reviews. Creating a new profile instead would mean starting again, and usually creates a duplicate.