How to Add a Manager to Google Business Profile: Owner vs Manager

A new marketing hire joins, an agency signs on, or a franchisee opens a branch in Baner, and suddenly someone needs access to your Google listing. The safe answer is almost never "share the login". This guide shows how to add a manager to Google Business Profile, when to make someone an owner instead, and how multi-location brands and agencies should set up access so nobody loses control of a profile.

Every step below follows Google's own help article on adding and removing owners and managers, so you can follow along on your own profile.

Owner vs manager on Google Business Profile: what each role can do

A Business Profile has three kinds of users. Google used to call managers "site managers", so you may still see that term in older guides.

Role	What they can do	What they cannot do
Primary owner	Everything an owner can do, plus transfer primary ownership	Remove themselves before handing primary ownership to someone else
Owner	Add and remove users, change roles, edit the profile, remove the profile	Very little: Google describes owners as having full control
Manager	Edit hours, address, phone, categories and services; post updates; add photos and products; reply to reviews and Q&A; download insights	Add or remove users, or remove the profile

The table tells you something useful: a manager can do almost all of the daily work. According to Google, managers can edit main info, publish posts, manage photos, reply to reviews and download insights. The only things held back are people management and deleting the profile.

That makes the decision simple for most businesses:

Owner: you, a business partner, or a senior person in your company who should be able to add and remove people.
Manager: your front desk lead, an in-house marketer, an agency, or a freelancer.

How to add a manager to Google Business Profile (step by step)

You need to be an owner of the profile to add anyone. If you are a manager yourself, you will not be able to invite people.

Sign in at business.google.com with the Google Account that owns the profile and open your Business Profile.
Select More, then Business Profile settings, then People and access.
Select the Add icon at the top left.
Enter the person's email address. It must be linked to a Google Account.
Under Access, choose Manager (or Owner).
Select Invite.

The person gets an invitation and becomes a user as soon as they accept. Google emails you when they do. Until then, the invite sits under Pending on the People and access page, where you can select Cancel invitation if you sent it to the wrong address.

Two details trip people up:

Each person needs their own Google Account. Google's help page says this is so people can manage profiles without sharing passwords.
Google Groups cannot be added. You cannot invite a shared mailing list like marketing@yourclinic.com as a Google Group. Invite each person individually.

Changing someone's role later

If your clinic manager in Indiranagar was added as a manager and now needs to add staff, an owner can upgrade them:

Go to People and access.
Select the user.
Next to Access, select Edit.
Choose the new role and select Save.

Only owners can change the roles of other owners and managers.

The 7-day limit for new owners and managers

Google puts a short waiting period on new users. For 7 days after someone becomes an owner or manager, they get an error if they try to:

delete or undelete a profile
remove other owners or managers
transfer primary ownership

This matters when you plan a handover. Say your restaurant's founder is leaving and wants to pass primary ownership to the new operations head. Add the new person first, then wait at least a week before the transfer. Trying to do it all on the founder's last day will fail.

How to transfer primary ownership

There is only one primary owner per profile. To hand that role to someone else, the person must already be an owner or manager on the profile. Then the current primary owner:

Opens More, then Business Profile settings, then People and access.
Selects the person who should receive primary ownership.
Next to Access, selects Edit.
Chooses Primary owner and selects Save.

Google's primary ownership help page recommends transferring primary ownership rather than just adding someone as an owner and leaving, so that business information such as reviews is kept. If you are the primary owner and want to stop managing the profile, you must transfer primary ownership first.

How to remove a manager or an old agency

People leave, and agencies change. Removing access should be part of your exit checklist, the same as collecting office keys.

Go to People and access.
Select the user.
Select Remove person.

The removed person gets an email and can no longer change information. Their past review replies, posts and other actions stay on the profile, so you do not lose that history.

If you cannot select the user, you probably have manager access only. Ask an owner to do it. A manager can remove themselves, though: they select their own name, then Stop managing.

Giving an agency access: what Google's third-party policy says

Many businesses in India hand their Google listing to a digital marketing agency or a freelancer. Google has a specific third-party policy for this, and it is worth reading before you sign anything. The key points:

The business keeps ownership. Google states that end customers must retain ownership or co-ownership of their Business Profile at all times.
Agencies should be managers. If you already have a profile, Google tells agencies to ask you to invite them as a manager, not as an owner. If an agency creates a new profile for you, it should make you the owner and itself the manager.
No password sharing. The policy tells agencies not to share passwords with clients.
Consent must be on record. Agencies can manage a profile only with your express consent, and verbal consent is not enough.
You can leave. When you give notice, the agency must let you regain exclusive control and remove its own permissions within 7 business days.
No ranking guarantees. Agencies must not make false or misleading claims, such as guaranteed top placement on Google.

A practical test: open People and access today. If you do not see yourself listed as an owner, fix that before anything else. If an agency set up your profile years ago under its own account, ask it to make you the primary owner. If it refuses, Google's policy page links to a complaint form.

For agencies, following this policy is also good business. It keeps you on the right side of Google's enforcement, which can include suspending the profile or the account used to manage it for serious or repeated violations. Our guide for agencies and consultants covers how to run client work at scale.

Access for multi-location brands: business groups

Adding managers one profile at a time works for a single outlet. A brand with 40 stores across Mumbai and Pune needs something more organised. Google's answer is the business group, which it compares to a shared folder for your profiles.

From Google's business groups help page:

Groups are created in Business Profile Manager once you have two or more profiles, using Create group.
You move profiles into a group by selecting them, then Actions, then Transfer businesses.
A user added to a group as owner or manager can access all current and future profiles in that group.
Each group has its own owners and managers.
Google recommends one group per business or brand. Users of one group only see that group's profiles, and you cannot see all profiles from several groups in one dashboard.

In a group, owners can add and remove users, delete the group and transfer it. Managers can add, edit and delete profiles in the group but cannot add or remove users. To change someone's role, select the group at the top left of Business Profile Manager, then Group settings, then Manage users, and pick the new role from the dropdown next to their name.

A simple access plan for a franchise or dealer network

Here is a setup that works for many brands, built only on the roles above:

Head office owns the group. Two senior people at head office are owners, so access never depends on one person.
The central marketing team or agency are managers of the group. They can update every branch but cannot remove the brand's owners.
Branch staff are added to their own profile only. Google lets you add owners and managers to individual profiles inside a group, so the Andheri store manager can reply to Andheri reviews without touching Thane.
Review the user list every quarter. Remove people who have left and agencies you no longer work with.

When a group grows past a few dozen profiles, keeping hours, photos and replies consistent by hand gets hard. That is where managing every location from one dashboard and catching risky edits before they go live save real time.

Frequently asked questions

Can I add a manager without giving them my password?

Yes, and you should. Use People and access to invite them with their own Google Account. Google's help pages and its third-party policy both point away from password sharing.

Can a manager reply to Google reviews?

Yes. Google lists responding to reviews and Q&A among the things both owners and managers can do.

Why can't I see the Add button in People and access?

You probably have manager access. Only owners can add or remove users, so ask an owner on the profile to invite the person or upgrade your role.

What if an old agency or ex-employee controls our profile and will not respond?

Use Google's request access process. The current owner is emailed and has 3 days to respond. If they do not, you may be able to claim the profile, though Google notes this option is not always available. Service-area businesses without a shopfront contact Google support instead.

Get access right once, then stop worrying about it

Access problems rarely show up on a normal day. They show up when the one person with the login leaves, when an agency contract ends badly, or when a branch manager edits the wrong store. Make sure the business owns every profile, give agencies and staff manager access, use business groups if you run several locations, and check your user list every few months. If you want to see how each of your branches ranks once access is sorted, talk to the RankMonk team.