How to Add a User to Your Google Business Profile Without Sharing Your Password
Updated: 5 days ago
By Spencer Capron, founder of Capron Media. Updated October 30, 2026.
To add a user to your Google Business Profile, open the profile, go to Business Profile settings, then People and access, select Add, enter their email address, choose Owner or Manager, and select Invite. They get access when they accept. Nobody needs your password, and you can remove them at any time.
How do I add someone to my Google Business Profile?
To add someone, you need to be an owner of the profile, and the person you add needs their own Google Account. Nobody needs your password. These are the six steps as Google documents them, and they take about a minute. The person gets access once they accept the invite.
The steps, current as documented by Google
Go to your Business Profile.
Select More, then Business Profile settings, then People and access.
At the top left, select Add.
Enter the person's email address.
Under Access, choose Owner or Manager.
Select Invite.
The person gets an email invitation. Once they accept, they can work on the profile straight away, and Google emails you to say they accepted. Until then, the invite sits under "Pending" on the People and access page, where you can cancel it.
Can I give someone access without sharing my password?
Yes, and you should never share the password instead. Adding someone as a manager or owner gives them their own access through their own Google Account. You can see who has access on the People and access page and remove anyone in a few clicks. A shared password gives you neither.
If a previous helper or agency used your login rather than their own access, you cannot see what they can still do, and you cannot remove them without changing your password and breaking anything else that uses that account.
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What is the difference between an owner and a manager?
An owner has full control: they can add and remove users, edit everything and delete the profile. A manager can do almost everything else, including editing business details, replying to reviews and publishing posts, but cannot add or remove users or remove the profile. A profile can have several owners but one primary owner.
What they can do | Owner | Manager |
Edit hours, address, phone, services and photos | Yes | Yes |
Reply to reviews and publish posts | Yes | Yes |
Use messaging and download insights | Yes | Yes |
Add and remove users | Yes | No |
Remove the Business Profile | Yes | No |
Which role should you give?
For anyone working on your behalf, manager is the right choice. The only powers an owner has that a manager lacks are adding or removing people and deleting the listing. A helper needs neither, and both are things you would rather nobody else could do. Keep the primary owner role for yourself.
Can multiple people manage a Google Business Profile?
Yes. A Google Business Profile can have multiple owners and multiple managers, each signing in with their own Google Account. Everyone on the profile can see the names and email addresses of the other owners and managers. Only one person can be the primary owner at a time.
Does it cost anything to add a user to a Google Business Profile?
No. Google Business Profile is free, and adding an owner or manager costs nothing. It is not a paid seat like a Google Workspace user. Each person only needs a Google Account of their own, which is also free to create.
Should I have a separate Google Account for my business?
Yes, it is worth it. Sign in to your Business Profile with a Google Account the business controls, not an employee's personal account or a former agency's. People leave; if the only owner leaves with their account, getting the listing back means a slow request to Google.
Then add each helper as a manager using their own account, so access can be given and taken away without touching yours.
How do I remove a user or transfer ownership?
To remove someone, go to People and access, select the person, and select Remove person. Only owners can remove users. To hand over the primary owner role, use Google's transfer process; you cannot remove yourself as primary owner until you have transferred it, and the profile needs another owner or manager to transfer to.
When you remove someone, Google emails them. They can no longer change the profile, but their past review replies and posts stay on it.
Why can't a new owner remove anyone yet?
Google makes new owners and managers wait 7 days before they can delete the profile, remove other owners or managers, or transfer primary ownership. If you add someone today and they try one of those tomorrow, they will see an error. It is a safeguard, not a fault.
Why do older guides show different steps?
Google has moved this setting. Some guides still describe a "Users" menu and an "Invite new user" icon from the old dashboard. On October 30, 2026, Google's own help page gave the path above: Business Profile settings, then People and access. If your screen differs, follow Google's current help page.
Google Business Profile used to be called Google My Business, which is why both names turn up in searches. The person who helps you was once called a "site manager"; Google now calls the role manager.
Can I have two business profiles on Google?
One business should have one profile per location. Google's guidelines say there should only be one profile per business, and not more than one for each location. A business with two real locations can have a profile for each, and one Google Account can manage several profiles.
A one-minute check worth doing today
Open People and access and read the list. If there is a name you do not recognise, or an agency you stopped working with, remove it. Then check that the primary owner is an account your business controls. It takes about a minute.
If you need the listing's identifier for a support conversation with Google, here is how to find your Google Business Profile ID. To see how your listing is doing in local search, our guide to expanding your Google Business Profile's reach is the next read.
If you would like someone at Capron Media to look at who has access to your listing and what state it is in, book a free call about your site.
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Written by Spencer Capron, founder of Capron Media, a Middleborough, Massachusetts SEO service for small business owners. Spencer is HubSpot SEO II certified, holds CompTIA Security+, and has run recurring SEO programs for 30+ small-business clients. He wrote this post in collaboration with our AI agents, and he reviews everything published here.
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