Quick answer: Never share your Google login to give someone GBP access. Instead add them as a user with the right role: in your Business Profile, open the menu > Business Profile settings > People and access > Add, enter their email, choose Manager (day-to-day work) or Owner (full control including user management), and send the invite. Agencies get Manager; only you and perhaps one trusted principal hold Owner.
The roles, plainly
Primary Owner: one account; can delete the profile and transfer ownership – keep this on a company account you control forever. Owner: everything except removing the primary owner – reserve for principals. Manager: edit info, post, respond to reviews, view insights – the correct role for agencies, marketers and staff. Managers cannot remove owners or delete the profile, which is exactly the containment you want.
Step-by-step
1. Sign in to the Google account managing your profile and open your Business Profile (search your business name or use maps). 2. Menu (three dots) > Business Profile settings > People and access. 3. Add > enter the invitee’s email > select role > Invite. 4. They accept via email; new managers face a short cooling-off period before full powers unlock – plan handovers ahead of campaigns. 5. Audit the people list quarterly and remove departed staff and ex-vendors immediately.
The mistakes that cost businesses their profiles
Sharing the primary login (agency staff churn, and your recovery options walk out with them), letting an agency create the profile under their account (you become a guest on your own listing – demand primary ownership transfer before signing anything), and orphaned ownership on an ex-employee’s personal Gmail (recovery is slow and sometimes impossible). Ownership hygiene is business continuity, not admin trivia.
Why this matters more in the AI era
Your GBP now feeds AI answers about your business – hours, services, review sentiment (full playbook). Losing control of it means losing control of what assistants tell customers. Contractual takeaway for any agency relationship: you own the asset, they get Manager, both leave a paper trail.
FAQ
Can I give access without any Google account on their side?
No – invitees need a Google account. What they do not need is your account.
How do I transfer primary ownership from an agency to me?
They open People and access, promote you to Owner, then change Primary Owner to your account. Refusal to do so tells you everything – escalate via Google support with proof of business ownership.
Adexorb Technologies always works as Manager on client profiles – your asset stays yours. That should be every agency’s default.