{"id":4036,"date":"2020-07-23T16:00:46","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T16:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpmudev.whitespark.ca\/gmb-listing-access\/"},"modified":"2024-10-28T16:05:12","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T22:05:12","slug":"gmb-listing-access","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/gmb-listing-access\/","title":{"rendered":"How can I get access to my GMB listing and remove the users that have claimed it?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Getting your Google My Business listing set up for success starts with getting access to your listing by claiming ownership of your business. To take full control of your listing, you then need to ensure the right permissions and level of user access are assigned to trusted partners.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>User Access Levels<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are three user types available for all GMB listings:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Owners (Primary Owner)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; A listing can have multiple owners but only one primary owner. A primary owner has complete control of the listing versus an owner, and cannot be removed from a listing unless they transfer ownership to another owner for that listing.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Managers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; Managers have all of the same capabilities as the owner, except they cannot add or remove users, and they cannot remove the business profile(s).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Site Manager<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; Site Managers have less access to a listing than a Manager, they cannot edit the business information, use messaging, add\/delete\/edit logos, or edit services. With permission from an owner, a Site Manager can be upgraded to a Manager.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/GMB-User-Access-Levels.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>How to Request Access to a Claimed Listing<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have tried to create a new listing only to discover one already exists, don\u2019t panic. You can request ownership of the listing by following a few steps. But keep in mind, the process differs based on your business type.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Storefront (aka Brick-and-Mortar)<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#1. Find the Business Profile in Google Search by:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Searching your business name and address in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/business.google.com\/create\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google My Business<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and selecting your business from the pre-populated search results.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Searching for your business name and address in Google Search or Maps and clicking <\/span><b>Own This Business? <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in the Business Profile.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Request-Listing-Access-via-Search-Own-This-Business-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#2. Select <\/span><b>Request Access<\/b><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Request-Access-Example.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#3. Fill out out the form<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#4. Click <\/span><b>Submit<\/b><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Request-Access-Form-Example-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/google-my-business-management-service\/\">Need help managing your Google Business Profile<\/a>? With Whitespark on your team you can focus on your business and get us to manage your local SEO.<b>Service Area Business\u00a0<\/b><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#1. Go to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/business.google.com\/create\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google My Business<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and search your business information (same as above step 1)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-67329 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/SAB-Request-Access-Example.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"785\" height=\"492\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#2. Click <\/span><b>Next<\/b><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#3. Choose a category that best fits your business, when prompted<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#4. You\u2019ll be asked \u201cDo you want to add a location customers can visit, like a store or office?\u201d as a service area business, select <\/span><b>No<\/b><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#5. Add your service areas, when prompted (optional)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#6. Add your region, when prompted\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#7. Add your phone number and website URL (optional), when prompted\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#8. You will be prompted to Finish and manage this listing via the verification process (likely via postcard). Click <strong>Finish<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-67330 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/SAB-Request-Access-Example-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"625\" height=\"461\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#9. Once you receive the postcard (usually takes 5-10 business days), visit the GMB dashboard again to enter the pin and verify your business. You\u2019ll receive an \u201cOwner conflict\u201d message indicating that the location is a duplicate.<\/span><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-67331 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/SAB-Request-Access-Example-3-205x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"205\" height=\"300\" \/><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#10. Click <b>Request access<\/b><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#11. Fill out the form requesting access to the listing.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The existing listing owner will receive an email notification that you have requested ownership of the listing and you will get a confirmation email. The current owner has 3 &#8211; 7 days to respond. You can see the status of your request by signing in to GMB or clicking the link in your confirmation email.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>If approved<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; You will be notified by email and will gain full access to the listing in the GMB dashboard.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>If denied<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; You will be notified by email and you may be able to appeal the denied request.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>If you get no response<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; Wait 7 days after your initial request was sent, sign in to GMB to see if there\u2019s a <\/span><b>Claim<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or <\/span><b>Verify<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> button.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If there is no option to claim the listing, it means you are not able to gain access to the profile. Follow up by clicking the Support link in the left hand side of the menu in the GMB dashboard.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Under the <em>Need More Help?<\/em> section, select <strong>Contact Us<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Follow the necessary steps to get in touch with a support person at Google<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-67334\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Owner-Conflict-Support-Request.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"344\" height=\"305\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>My Request Was Denied, Now What?<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the event that you are denied access to your business listing, you should receive an email that states<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cYour request to access [Business Name] on Google My Business was rejected.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the bottom of the email there should be an option to appeal this decision. When you click this link, you will be prompted to follow steps to verify the listing and take it over. Verification will either be via phone or postcard and in some instances you may be asked for additional information.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Important:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> If the original owner of the listing does not grant you the access, then <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/21\/google-is-automating-ownership-conflict-resolution\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">anything added by that owner will not transfer with the listing<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, including photos and review responses, if access is gained in the appeal process. But customer reviews and photos will still be attached to the listing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tip:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Before starting the request ownership process for a business listing, make sure that the address and phone number published are correct. If this business information is wrong, use the Suggest An Edit feature first to update the Business Profile.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you are unable to Appeal the decision (some people have encountered instances of not having the appeal link in the email). We recommend that you:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Get in touch through one of Google&#8217;s support channels <\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Twitter<\/strong> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GoogleMyBiz\">@GoogleMyBiz<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Facebook<\/strong> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GoogleMyBusiness\/\">Google My Business page<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Have Google Call You<\/strong> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/business\/contact\/business_c2c_l\">Send request here<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Have Google Support Contact You<\/strong> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/business\/contact\/business_other_problem\">Schedule via this link<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reach out to product experts for help via the <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/business\/community?hl=en\">Community Forum<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Managing User Roles<\/h2>\n<p><b>How to Transfer Primary Ownership<\/b><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Only the primary owner can transfer ownership of a Business Profile, and only to an existing owner or manager. If the person that should be the primary owner is not currently added as a user on the listing, add them as an additional owner or manager, and then transfer the role of Primary Owner to that user.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Log in to the GMB dashboard<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the Menu on the left, select <\/span><b>Users<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From the list of users, select the user whom you\u2019d like to transfer primary ownership to. Their user role will be noted to the right of their name with a dropdown menu. Open the dropdown menu and select <\/span><b>Primary Owner<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Click <b>Transfer <\/b>and<b> Done<\/b>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>How to Remove or Limit a User\u2019s Access<\/b><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Only an Owner can add or edit another user&#8217;s access.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Log in to the GMB dashboard<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the Menu on the left, select <\/span><b>Users<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From the list of users, select the user whose role you\u2019d like to change.\u00a0 Their user role will be noted to the right of their name with a dropdown menu. Open the dropdown menu and select <\/span><b>Manager, Site Manager, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">or<\/span><b> Remove <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">from the dropdown menu.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Click <\/span><b>Done<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-67333\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/GMB-Users-Manage.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"627\" height=\"465\" \/><\/span><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/google-my-business-management-service\/\">Need help managing your Google Business Profile<\/a>? With Whitespark on your team you can focus on your business and get us to manage your local SEO.<\/p>\n<h3>Listing Management Best Practices for Business Owners<\/h3>\n<p><b>Who should be the primary owner?\u00a0<\/b><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The business owner should always be the primary owner of their business listing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Who should have access and at what level?<\/b><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sometimes marketing agencies may need <\/span><b>Owner<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> access to sync tools or reporting, but should be trusted by the business owner before this high level of access is given. GMB listing <\/span><b>Owners<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can remove any other <\/span><b>Owner<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Did You Know: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can add an agency as a user by entering their Agency ID. This confuses a lot of businesses owners, however you can add an agency by entering their 10-digit agency ID in the field where you can add a new user by email address.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/google-my-business-management-service\/\">Google My Business Management Service<\/a> optimizes every feature of Google My Business listings, syncs with external reporting software and tools and <\/span><b>does not<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> require <\/span><b>Owner<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> access. In fact, if a business gives us <\/span><b>Owner <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">access, we demote our access to <\/span><b>Manager<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Why? It\u2019s better for marketing agencies to have the manager role to \u201csilo\u201d the business from any flagged activity from other users or business listings they own.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Can I use my personal email to manage my GMB? Or must I use an email with my business email domain? Why?<\/b><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can use any email address to create and manage your GMB listing. We recommend using your email address at your business domain for a stronger trust signal to Google Support that you are the legitimate owner of the business. This can be very helpful in gaining access to your listing if it&#8217;s currently owned by a Google User whose email address is not associated with your business domain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Successfully taking ownership of your GMB listing from another user can be a long and trying process, but it&#8217;s worth the effort to unlock your Business Profile.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getting your Google My Business listing set up for success starts with getting access to your listing by claiming ownership of your business. To take full control of your listing, you then need to ensure the right permissions and level of user access are assigned to trusted partners.\u00a0 User Access Levels There are three user [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3953,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"classification":[],"class_list":["post-4036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4036"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4045,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4036\/revisions\/4045"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4036"},{"taxonomy":"classification","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/classification?post=4036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}