What should I do if someone else owns my Google Business Profile?
Short answer
Find out who holds it, then ask them to transfer primary ownership to a Google account your business controls. If they can't be reached or won't cooperate, request access through Google's ownership request process and follow its current steps. Don't create a second profile, because a duplicate causes its own problems.
If someone else owns your Google Business Profile, find out who it is, ask them to transfer ownership to an account your business controls, and if that fails, request access through Google’s ownership request process. This happens to established companies more than new ones. The profile was set up years ago by an employee who has since left, by a web designer, or by a marketing agency using its own login, and nobody thought about it again until the day a change was needed.
Work out who holds it
Sign in to every Google account the business has used and see whether the profile appears in any of them. Check old company email addresses and the owner’s personal account. If it’s in none of them, start Google’s process for claiming the business. When a profile is already claimed, Google has typically shown a partial hint of the email address that holds it, and a hint is often enough to recognize a former office manager or an old agency. Whoever it turns out to be decides the first move.
| Who holds it | First move |
|---|---|
| An old account of your own | Recover that account through Google’s account recovery |
| A current or former employee | Ask them to transfer primary ownership to the company account |
| A current or former agency | Ask in writing for ownership to be transferred, and check your contract |
| Someone you can’t identify or reach | Request access through Google |
Ask before you escalate
A direct request is the quickest route when the person can be reached. The current owner can add your company account to the profile and then make it the primary owner. Put the request in writing, name the Google account that should receive ownership, and keep a copy. A former employee or agency acting in good faith has no reason to refuse. If an agency refuses or stalls, read your agreement with them, and see who owns your website and accounts when you leave an agency. A dispute over what a contract says is a question for an attorney, not for me.
If they don’t answer, use Google’s process
Google’s ownership request process exists for this situation. In general terms, you ask for access from the account that should own the profile, Google passes the request to the current owner, and the owner can approve or reject it. If the owner doesn’t respond, Google may offer you a way to verify the business yourself and take over management. I’m keeping to the outline on purpose: the waiting periods, the options offered and the screens all change, so follow Google’s current Business Profile help page for requesting ownership.
If the request is rejected, Google has offered a way to appeal. Have the same kind of proof ready that verification calls for: evidence that the business is real, where it operates, and that you’re the person entitled to manage it.
Why you shouldn’t start a new profile
You’d have two listings for one business, which is against Google’s guidelines and can lead to a suspension. The shortcut feels faster and makes things worse. Your reviews would stay on the old listing, which someone else still controls and can edit. If a duplicate already exists, handling a duplicate profile is a separate job.
Once you have it back
Set the ownership up so this can’t happen a second time. The business holds primary ownership in an account whose password and recovery details the owner keeps. Staff and agencies get their own access when you add a manager by invitation, and nobody is handed the owner’s password. Then check what was changed while the profile was out of your hands. A profile audit goes through the name, categories, hours, links and the list of people with access.