Someone Claimed My Google Business Profile: How to Take Back Control

If someone else has claimed your Google Business Profile, go to business.google.com/add, find your business and select Request access. The current owner has 3 days to respond. If they approve, you can manage the profile; if they don't answer, Google may let you verify it yourself; if they refuse, you can appeal. Service-area businesses without a storefront contact Google support instead.

It's rarely a hacker. Most of the time it's a marketing agency, a former employee, or someone who once "helped you with Google" and stayed on as owner. Sometimes a stranger simply claimed a profile Google had created automatically for your business. Below is the process as Google documents it today, plus what to do when the other side won't cooperate.

Which situation are you in?

Find your case first. It decides whether this takes one email or a formal process with Google.

First, check what actually happened

A Google Business Profile has three kinds of users. There is only one primary owner. Owners also have full control: they can add and remove people and even delete the profile, but only the primary owner can hand over primary ownership. Managers can edit details, post, add photos and reply to reviews, but can't add or remove users or remove the profile. Your goal is to end up as primary owner. Google explains the roles in Manage your Business Profile owners and managers.

Before you start a formal request, rule out the simple explanations:

• Check every Google account you or your team has used: an old Gmail, a former office address, the account you set up ads or Analytics with. A "lost" profile often turns out to be on one of them. If you just forgot the login of the account that verified the profile, recover that account instead of starting a new request.
• Search for your business on Google. If clicking "Own this business?" in your business panel leads to the message "Someone else may manage this Business Profile", the profile is already claimed. During the request, Google may show a partly hidden version of the email that manages it, something like m•••@gmail.com. That fragment is often enough to tell whether it's your old agency, an ex-employee or someone you don't know at all.
• Go through old contracts and invoices from whoever built your website or ran your ads. If they set up the profile, they're the first people to ask.

Step 1: Ask the current owner to hand it over

If you know who holds the profile and they're reachable, this is the cleanest route. Ask them in writing to:

• add your Google account as an Owner under Business Profile settings > People and access;
• then make you Primary owner: in People and access they select your name, choose Edit next to "Access", pick Primary owner and save.

Two details trip people up. Only the primary owner can transfer primary ownership, and Google makes new owners and managers wait 7 days before they can remove other users, delete the profile or change primary ownership. So expect about a week before you can clear out the old accounts. The exact steps are in Google's guide to transferring primary ownership.

Step 2: Request access through Google

If you don't know who the owner is, or they won't answer, use Google's official ownership request:

• Sign in to the Google account you want to manage the profile with, ideally one tied to the business rather than a personal Gmail.
• Go to business.google.com/add, enter your business name and address, and pick your business from the list.
• You'll see a message that "Someone else may manage this Business Profile." Select Request access.
• Fill in the form and select Submit.

Google emails you a confirmation and notifies the current owner, who has 3 days to respond. Keep that confirmation email, because you'll need its link later. You can check the status by signing in to Business Profile or through the link in the email. The official steps are on Google's Request ownership of a Business Profile page.

Fill in the form honestly, the way a real owner would: who you are, how you're connected to the business and how you can be reached. When the other side is acting in good faith, for example an agency that simply forgot to hand the profile over, a clear request is the fastest way through.

Service-area businesses (plumbers, cleaners, mobile hairdressers, anyone without a storefront customers visit) don't use this form. Google asks you to contact Business Profile support and enter "Transfer ownership of listing" as your issue.

Step 3: If the owner doesn't reply within 3 days

If 3 days pass with no answer, open the confirmation email, select View request, then Verify, and follow the steps on screen. You can also sign in to Business Profile and look for a Claim or Verify button. Google notes that the option to claim isn't always available. If you don't see it, contact Business Profile support.

How verification works now

Verification is where you prove you're the real business. You can't pick the method: Google decides which options to offer based on your business type, public information, region and business hours, and sometimes asks for more than one. The options include:

• a phone call or text message;
• email;
• a live video call, which is only available during your business hours;
• a video recording;
• a postcard by mail.

According to Google, verification reviews take up to 5 business days (rarely longer), most postcards arrive within 14 days, and verification codes expire after 30 days. Details are in Verify your business on Google.

If video is offered, Google recommends using it. The recording has to be one continuous, unedited take of at least 30 seconds, filmed and uploaded from your phone through your Business Profile. For a storefront it must show where you are (street signs, building numbers, nearby businesses), that the business exists (your storefront or signage, with the business name on a permanent fixture and matching the profile), and that you manage it (something only staff can access, like opening the cash register, the kitchen or the storeroom). Leave out bank, tax or ID numbers and other people's faces. We go through it shot by shot in what to film for Google Business video verification.

Get your paperwork ready before you start: a business registration certificate or license, a recent utility bill or lease in the business name at the profile address, and photos of the storefront and signage. Verification doesn't always ask for documents, but they're what you'll attach to an appeal or a support case, and the more closely the name and address match the profile, the smoother it goes.

If your request is denied

A denial isn't the end. Google sends you a rejection email; you can still suggest edits to the profile, and Google says you can try to appeal the decision. If you can't find a way to appeal, contact Business Profile support and attach your proof.

Write the support case like an evidence file, not a complaint:

• who you are and your role in the business;
• the business's registration details and how long you've operated at that address;
• who you think holds the profile and why;
• what you've already tried, with dates;
• the documents above, plus screenshots of Google's emails about your request.

When the owner is a "hostile" agency

The most frustrating case: a company that built your site or ran your ads refuses to hand over the profile, to keep you tied to them. It's a bad practice, and Google's own rules are on your side. Its third-party policies say clients must keep ownership or co-ownership of their profile at all times, and an agency must give a departing client exclusive control back within 7 business days of notice. Its ownership guidelines also say representatives must never claim a profile without the owner's consent and must transfer ownership as soon as the owner asks.

• Ask them in writing (email) to make you primary owner, and point to those policies. Keep every reply.
• If they refuse or stall, don't wait for them. Start the Request access process in parallel. Google's process is built around proving you are the real business, not around who clicked the button first.
• You can also report the agency to Google through the third-party policy violation form in the Business Profile Help Center.
• Don't argue over the phone; document everything. You have the contract, the invoices and the proof that the business is yours.

The lesson for next time: your Google profile, domain and website should always sit on YOUR accounts, not the vendor's. Agencies can do all the day-to-day work as managers; there's rarely a reason for them to be the owner. Here's how to add employees and agencies without sharing your password. If someone promises results but refuses to give you access, that's a red flag. At MPO Web Studio we work the other way round: we set things up on your accounts and hand over every login, so you never depend on us.

If you were the owner and someone took it from you

This is a different problem: you used to manage the profile and suddenly lost access, or you see changes you didn't make. Google's guidelines list several reasons ownership can be revoked, including not having signed in to your account recently, the business telling Google you're no longer authorized, or Google being unable to reach you by email. In those cases you can re-verify or request ownership from whoever holds the profile now.

• Secure your Google account first: change the password, check the recovery phone and email, and turn on 2-Step Verification.
• If you still have owner access, open People and access and remove anyone you don't recognize.
• Take screenshots of every change and keep all of Google's emails about the profile.
• Contact Business Profile support, and if you've lost all access, start a new ownership request as described above.

Once you're back in, lock it down

• Make yourself primary owner, then remove anyone you don't recognize (People and access, select the person, Remove person). Their past review replies and posts stay on the profile.
• Add a second account of your own as owner, as a backup in case you lose access to the first.
• Use a business email you'll always control, not an employee's personal account.
• Turn on 2-Step Verification for every owner account.
• Give agencies and staff manager access, not owner. Owners can change the profile and its ownership, so Google advises adding them with extra care.
• Never ignore an email saying someone has requested ownership of your profile. If nobody responds within 3 days, the requester may be able to verify the profile themselves. Google's advice is not to approve requests from people you don't know. Scam emails imitate these messages, so check the sender before clicking anything, and if in doubt sign in to business.google.com yourself instead of using the email's links.
• Check the profile once a month: hours, address, phone, photos, and who's listed under People and access.

For a local business that lives on nearby customers, the Google profile is often the first impression, sometimes more than the website itself. Treat it accordingly. If you get stuck somewhere in the process or want to set everything up correctly the first time, message us on WhatsApp; we'll look at your situation and tell you honestly what can be done, with no "guaranteed #1" stories.