How-to · Updated October 11, 2026
Request ownership of a Business Profile someone else controls
Updated October 11, 2026
15 minutes, then 3 to 10 days
Ask whoever controls the profile to add you as an owner and make you primary owner. If they will not, request access at business.google.com/add, or through Google support for a business with no shop or office. The owner has 3 days to answer. Never create a second profile: Google hides duplicates from Search and Maps.
Before you start
- A Google Account the business keeps. Use one that stays with the business when people leave, so the profile never depends on one person's login again.
- The business name and address as the profile shows them. The request starts with a search for both.
- A way to verify the business. If the current owner does not answer, claiming the profile means verifying it yourself.
Ask the current holder to hand it over
A handover inside the profile needs no review by Google. Only an owner can add people, and only the primary owner can transfer primary ownership, so ask the person who holds it to do these steps.
- They open the Business Profile and select More, then Business Profile settings, then People and access.
- They select Add, enter your email address, choose Owner under Access, and select Invite.
- You accept the invite from the email. They get an email when you accept.
- They select your name, select Edit next to Access, choose Primary owner and select Save. Google may return an error if the person making the change has been an owner for less than 7 days. If they see one, they wait until their 7 days have passed and try again.
Request it through Google when they will not
When the holder will not hand it over, ask through Google's request form; the current owner decides, and a claim may open only if they never answer.
- Go to business.google.com/add, enter the business name and address, and choose your business from the list.
- When you see Someone else may manage this Business Profile, select Request Access, fill out the form and select Submit.
- If the business serves customers at their locations and has no shop or office, Google says to contact support instead. Choose Transfer ownership of listing as the issue.
- Keep the confirmation email. Google emails the current owner, who has 3 days to respond, and the email's link shows your request's status.
- Approved: you get an email and can manage the profile. Denied: you get a rejection email; you can appeal the decision, and you can still suggest an edit to the profile in Google Maps.
- No answer after 3 days: open the confirmation email, select View request, then Verify, and follow the steps to verify the business. Google says the option to claim is not always available.
Do not create a new profile for the same business while you wait. Google allows one profile per business, and a profile it treats as a duplicate does not show on Search or Maps.
Lock it down once you are in
Once you are in, wait out Google's 7-day limit, then make sure the business holds primary ownership and remove anyone who should not have access.
- Wait 7 days. In a new owner's first 7 days, Google returns an error on removing other owners or managers and on transferring primary ownership.
- Open People and access and make sure your business account is the Primary owner. If someone else still holds it, only they can transfer it.
- Remove anyone who should no longer have access: select the person, then Remove person. Their past replies and posts stay on the profile.
- Add a second owner from inside the business. Google needs another owner or manager on the profile before primary ownership can ever be transferred again.
Check it worked
Open People and access. Your business account should show as Primary owner, and every other name should be someone you chose. Removed people get an email from Google.
If you went through the request, allow the 3 days for the owner's answer, then up to another 7 before you can remove the old holder.
If the profile was never verified
A business that shows on Google Maps without a verified owner needs no request. Claim the profile and verify it, and you become its owner.
If you lost the login of the account that owns it
When the owning account is the business's own and only the password or username is lost, recover it through Google's Accounts troubleshooter instead of requesting ownership from yourself.