Step 1: Decide on a Role for the New User
There are three roles to choose from.
Owners can do anything in the account. Anyone managing your listings, including removing your duplicate listings, will need this level of access. This is what we’ll be asking for.
Managers can do almost everything owners can do, but they can’t add or remove users, nor can they remove listings. Why wouldn’t you give agency owners this level of access? Because having the ability to remove listings can become important, depending on your needs, as can having the ability to add additional users. We once had a client lose access to their account when the sole employee with Owner access left the company. Since we had only been given Manager access, we were unable to add another employee. All of the listings had to go through the verification process all over again for the client to fully re-gain access to the account.
Site Managers may only work with the content. For example, they can post light edits on your behalf, push out posts, respond to reviews, and download insights. This level of access is suitable for an intern, assistant, customer service specialist, or virtual assistant who might be responsible for handling review responses and keeping post content fresh.
Step 2: Sign in to Google My Business
Sign into Google My Business and you’ll see the dashboard below.
Step 3: Choose Your Location
Click on the name of the location to open it.
If you only have one location, you will not be shown this screen.
If you are logged into the wrong Google My Business account, either you won’t see your location, or you’ll see a screen asking “What’s the name of your business?”
If you have multiple locations, you’ll need to repeat these steps to share access for each location separately.
Step 4: Click on Users in the Left Navigation
Once you do, you’ll get a pop-up box. It’s going to show the names of everyone who already has access, and their current roles.
Step 5: Click the “Add” icon on the Upper Right Side of the Box
Now you’ll get the option to enter an email address.
Step 6: Enter the Email Address
We will have provided you with an email address to enter here.
Step 7: Use the Drop-down Menu to Choose the Owner designation.
Step 8: Verify We Have Access
Please send us an email to let us know that you’ve completed the steps so that we can check on our end to be sure everything is working correctly.
Sharing Google My Business Access Using Your Mobile Phone
If you’d like to share access using your mobile phone instead of your desktop or laptop computer, you’ll need the Google My Business app. Open it up and take these steps.
Step 1: Click on the Hamburger Menu
It is located on the top left of your screen and consists of 3 horizontal lines.
Step 2: Tap on “Manage Users”
You will need to scroll down until you see “Manage Users,” and then tap on it.
Step 3: Verify You’re in the Correct Location
Be sure you’re in the right location. You’ll see all your options at the top of the screen as a series of little circles. The big circle on the left is the one you’re in. The little circles on the right are the other locations. Tap on the one you’re trying to work with.
Once you do, you’ll see the current list of users.
Step 4: Tap the Plus Sign
It can get a little confusing here because it tells you to search for users rather than telling you to enter an email address the way the desktop version does.
Step 5: Enter the email address we give you and choose Search.
You’ll either see our name and picture appear or just our email address.
Step 6: Tap the Plus Sign Next to my Name or Email Address
Whether you see my name and photo or you see the full email address you typed in, tap the plus sign to the right of either one and you’ll see a Select Role menu at the bottom of your screen.
Step 7: Tap to Choose the “Owner” Role
Note, you’ll see the “Site Manager” option that we saw on desktop is called a “Communications Manager” on your mobile app.
There’s no real reason for the name change, though one could argue “Communications Manager” is a more accurate description of this role.
Step 8: Verify We Have Access
As with the desktop option, you’ll want to get in touch with us to verify everything is working before you move this item off your to-do list.
Sharing vs. Providing Login Information
Why go through all these steps, versus just providing us with your username and password?
We can work more efficiently for you.
Highly efficient agencies like ours work with many clients’ Google My Business accounts each day. When you share access, we can work on all of our clients’ accounts using one login. This saves us the time of logging in and logging out of client accounts, which means more time spent helping you with your business.
You are protecting your business.
Your account is yours, not ours. By sharing access versus sharing your username and password, you are ensuring that you retain full access to the account. In the event you decide to do business with someone else, you can simply remove us and add them.
Thus, GMB isn’t the only place you’ll want to take the “access” option over the “login” option. If the option exists, as it does on Facebook, WordPress, Google Analytics, Google Ads, your host, and a myriad of other sites, always choose to provide revocable access while maintaining your own ability to get into your account whenever you want and need to. These assets are too important to your business to take chances.