The business grows, and suddenly the owner isn't the only one who needs to respond to reviews, change hours, or add photos to the Google profile. The first instinct is usually to just share the Google account password - but that carries risk, and it doesn't even need to happen at all.

Google Business Profile has a built-in system for adding multiple people to the same profile, with different levels of access, without sharing a single password. Here's exactly how it works.

Roles within Google Business Profile

Before you add anyone, it's worth understanding the three possible roles - each carries a different level of control.

Owner. Has full control - can add and remove other people, delete the profile, and change all details. Multiple owners can exist at the same time.

Manager. Can change almost everything - hours, photos, respond to reviews, publish posts - but can't remove an owner or delete the profile.

Site manager. A more limited role, mainly focused on managing a website linked to the profile, if applicable - used less often in practice than the first two.

For most situations - an employee who needs to update the profile, or an agency handling marketing - the Manager role is enough and recommended, since it gives the needed control without the risk of someone accidentally deleting the entire profile.

How to add a new user, step by step

1. Sign in at business.google.com with an account that has the Owner role.
2. In the left menu, find the People and access section (Business Profile settings > People and access), or look directly for the Managers option.
3. Click the Add button or the plus (+) icon.
4. Enter the email address of the person you want to add - it's recommended this be their personal Google email address (Gmail, or a business address linked to a Google account), not a shared company address.
5. Choose the role - Manager for most cases, or Owner only if that person genuinely needs full control.
6. Click Invite or Save.

The person you added receives an email notification with the invitation - access only officially takes effect once they accept it.

How the person accepts the invitation

1. The invited person should check their email (including the Spam folder, if the notification doesn't show up right away in the Inbox) at the address you entered.
2. The email contains a button or link to accept the invitation - clicking it opens the Google Business Profile.
3. If the person is already signed into a Google account with that email address, access activates instantly. If they don't have a Google account with that address, they'll need to create one first (free, in a few steps).

How to remove someone's access

This matters just as much as adding someone - when an employee leaves the business, or an agency stops working with you, access should be removed right away, not "whenever someone remembers".

1. Go back into the People and access section.
2. Find the name or email address of the person whose access you want to remove.
3. Click the three-dot menu (More options) next to their name, and choose Remove, or Change role if you just want to lower their access level instead of removing them entirely.

How to transfer ownership of the profile

This matters especially if the profile was originally created by an agency or person who no longer works with you, and you want to take full control.

1. The current owner should go into People and access, find you (if you're already added as a Manager), and choose Make owner / Transfer ownership.
2. If you haven't been added to the profile at all yet, you'll first need to be added as a Manager (steps described earlier), before the role gets transferred to Owner.
3. If the old agency or person is no longer reachable and doesn't respond, Google offers a Request access process directly from the profile page in search results - this starts a formal request that Google reviews, along with appropriate verification that you're genuinely connected to the business.

Why you shouldn't share the Google account password

• If multiple people use the same account and password, it's impossible to know exactly who made which change
• When one of those people leaves the business, the only way to revoke access is to change the password for everyone, which is awkward and easily forgotten
• Shared accounts tend to have weaker, easier-to-guess passwords, since the password has to be passed between multiple people
• Google's role system (Manager, Owner) exists precisely so this never needs to happen

Frequently asked questions

How many people can have access to one profile at the same time? There's no strict limit - a profile can have multiple owners and multiple managers at the same time, depending on the business's needs.

Can a manager delete the entire profile? No - deleting the profile and removing owners are actions reserved exclusively for the Owner role, precisely to prevent serious, unintentional mistakes.

What if I've lost access to my profile because it was created by an old agency that's no longer responding? Use the Request access option, available directly from the business profile in Google search - Google then starts a verification process and, if no one disputes the request, grants you access.

Does the person need a Gmail account to be granted access? They need a Google account, but it doesn't necessarily have to be a Gmail address - a Google account can be created with any other email address (for example, a business address) completely free.

Can I see a history of changes - who changed what on the profile? Google Business Profile currently doesn't offer as detailed a public, per-user change history as some other tools - which is exactly why it matters to give everyone their own account instead of sharing one, since that's the only reliable way to know who had access.

What happens if I accidentally remove the only owner while I'm just a manager? A manager can't remove an owner - that option simply isn't available to them in the menu, precisely for security reasons.

Should the agency running my marketing be an owner or a manager? It's recommended that the agency get the Manager role, while ownership stays with you or the business - that way you retain full control even if you switch agencies someday.

In closing

Adding people to a Google Business Profile takes a few minutes, and it completely eliminates the need to share passwords and the confusion over who's allowed to change what.

If several people at your business currently use the same Google account for the profile, it's worth sorting out as soon as possible - give everyone their own access, with a role that matches their actual responsibility.