How to be a manager on a client's Google Business Profile, not the owner

A florist hires a web designer to build a new site and tidy up her Google listing. She's busy and doesn't want to deal with it, so she says, "Here's my Google password, just do whatever you need."

It's kindly meant. It's also the start of a problem. If the designer logs in with her password, the florist's email, calendar and photos are all within reach too. And if the designer ever sets the listing up from scratch in their own account, the florist may one day find she doesn't control her own business's page on Google Maps.

There's a better way, and Google built it for exactly this. The florist stays the owner of her Business Profile. She adds the designer as a manager. The designer gets their own login, can do nearly all the day-to-day work, and can be removed in a few clicks when the job ends.

How do I get access to a client's Google Business Profile?

Ask the business owner to add you as a manager. Google's help page sets out the steps for the owner:

1. Go to their Business Profile.
2. Open Business Profile settings, then People and access.
3. Select Add.
4. Enter your email address.
5. Under Access, choose Manager.
6. Select Invite.

You'll get an email invitation. Accept it while signed in to your own Google Account, and the profile appears in your list. Google's help page recommends that each person has their own Google Account, so nobody needs to share a password.

Send the owner these steps in a short message before you start. Most owners have never opened "People and access", and a numbered list saves a phone call.

What's the difference between an owner and a manager?

Google has two roles for people on a Business Profile, owners and managers, and one owner is the primary owner.

What you can do	Owner	Manager
Add and remove people	Yes	No
Remove the profile	Yes	No
Edit hours, address, phone number and services	Yes	Yes
Add and edit photos and the logo	Yes	Yes
Create and publish posts	Yes	Yes
Reply to reviews	Yes	Yes
Use messaging	Yes	Yes
Download insights	Yes	Yes

Google's help page sums it up: managers have mostly the same access as owners, and the only exception is that they can't add or remove users or remove the profile.

That's exactly the split you want. You can do the work: update holiday hours, add photos of the new shopfront, reply to reviews. The florist keeps the two powers that decide who controls her business on Google.

Why should the client be the owner?

Because the profile is part of the business, like its phone number and its domain. Reviews, photos and years of history build up on it. If it sits in your account and the relationship ends, the business has to ask you for its own listing back.

This is the same rule as for every other account a business can't run without, set out in who should own each client account: the client owns it, and you get access to do the work. The short name for that is owner-held accounts.

Being a manager also protects you. You're never the person holding a client's listing hostage, even by accident, and your access ends cleanly when the work does.

What if I'm already the owner?

It happens, often because you created the listing for the client at the start. Fix it the same way, in the other direction.

1. Add the business owner as an owner. From People and access, invite their Google Account and choose Owner.
2. Transfer primary ownership to them. Once they've accepted, open their name in People and access, edit their access and choose Primary owner. Google's help page says only the primary owner can transfer primary ownership.
3. Let them change you to a manager. Once they're the primary owner, they can edit your role. Google notes that only owners can change the roles of other people.

Google's help page on transferring ownership adds one timing rule. New owners and managers have to wait 7 days before they can manage some features, and during that time they might get an error if they try to transfer primary ownership or remove other people. Plan the handover a week ahead rather than on the last day of the project.

What if the business has no profile yet?

Then set it up the right way from the first day. Sit with the owner, on a call or in person, while they create the profile from their own Google Account and go through Google's verification. It takes a little longer than doing it yourself, and it saves the whole ownership transfer later.

Once the profile exists and is verified, the owner adds you as a manager using the steps above. You do the rest of the setup (photos, services, hours, the link to the new website) from your own login.

If the owner really can't do it with you, write down that you created the profile on their behalf, and transfer primary ownership to them as soon as they can accept it.

What if nobody can get into the profile?

Sometimes the listing was set up years ago by someone who's gone: a former staff member, a nephew, a previous agency. The business owner can't find the login, and you can't add anyone.

Google has a process for requesting ownership of a profile someone else controls. It's slower than an invite, and it's for the business owner to start, not you. Your job is to help them through it and write down, once they're in, who holds the profile and who has access.

What should I write down?

A short line per client, in the same place as the rest of their details:

• who the primary owner is (a named person at the business, with their Google Account email);
• who else is an owner or manager, including you;
• when you were added, and why;
• what you're allowed to change without asking (hours and photos, say) and what needs their approval (anything about prices or services).

That last line matters. Being a manager lets you edit almost everything. It doesn't mean the owner has agreed to every change. Agree the limits in writing once, at the start.

What does a manager usually do each month?

Most of the work that helps a local business on Google is manager work. A light routine:

• check that hours, phone number and website address match the website;
• set special hours before public holidays;
• add a few recent photos;
• reply to new reviews, or draft replies for the owner to approve;
• post an update when something changes, such as a new service or a closure.

It's a natural part of the local SEO checklist for a new website, which covers how the listing and the site support each other.

When the work ends

Remove yourself. From People and access, select your own name and choose Stop managing. Google says your past replies and posts stay on the profile after you leave, but you can no longer change anything.

Then tell the owner you've done it, and update your notes. A clean exit is the last thing a client remembers about working with you.

For more on keeping every client account in the right name, keeping client accounts in the owner's name covers domains, numbers and payment accounts too. And if you're running a one-person AI agency, the page for web designers shows how that fits into a week of client work.