How to request ownership of Google Business Profile when the owner won’t respond

When you request ownership of a Google Business Profile, Google emails the current owner and gives them 3 days to respond. If they approve, you get access. If they ignore it, Google may let you claim the profile yourself by verifying it. If they deny it, you can still suggest edits or appeal. Most owners get stuck because they don’t know which of those they’re in, or because they picked the wrong path for who actually holds the listing.

This guide covers what Google’s process actually promises, a table that matches the right path to who holds your profile (a former employee, an old agency, the business’s previous owner, or nobody you can identify), a day-by-day timeline, a message that gets an ex-agency to hand it back, and how to lock the profile down once it’s yours.

What happens after you request ownership?

Google sends you a confirmation email and notifies the current owner, who has 3 days to approve or deny. Approval gives you access straight away. A denial sends you a rejection email. If there’s no response in 3 days, you may be able to verify the profile yourself from the link in your confirmation email.

Google’s help page on requesting ownership of a Business Profile sets out the steps for a storefront or hybrid business:

1. Go to business.google.com/add and enter your business name and address.
2. Pick your business from the list. You’ll see “Someone else may manage this Business Profile.”
3. Select Request access, fill in the form and submit it.
4. Keep the confirmation email. It holds the link you’ll need later.

Two details from that page matter more than they look. First, if nobody responds, Google says you may be able to claim the profile, by opening the confirmation email and selecting View request, then Verify. It also notes the option isn’t always available. Second, service-area businesses (no shopfront customers visit) can’t use this route. They have to contact Google and choose “Transfer ownership of listing” as the issue.

Before you request: rule out the easy answers

A surprising number of “someone else owns my listing” cases turn out to be you, on a Google account you forgot. Spend ten minutes on these first:

• Sign in with every Google account you might have usedOld personal Gmail, the account your website was built on, the shared front-desk address, the account an ex-partner set up. Open business.google.com in each and look for your listing.
• Read the masked email on the request screenThe request screen may show a partly hidden version of the current owner’s email address. If it does, a few letters and a domain are often enough to recognise an old employee or agency.
• Search your inbox for Google emailsSearch for “Business Profile” and “Google My Business”. Verification codes and monthly performance emails reveal which address the profile was tied to.
• Check whether it’s actually unclaimedIf the listing shows “Own this business?” or “Claim this business” on Google Maps, nobody has verified it. Claim it directly instead of requesting access.
• Gather proof now, not laterBusiness registration, a utility bill or lease in the business name, photos of your signage, and an email address on your website’s domain. You’ll need some of these for verification or for support.

Pick the right path for who holds your profile

The request form treats every owner the same. Real situations aren’t. The quickest route depends on whether you know the person and whether they’re cooperative.

A friendly invite always beats the request form. It’s instant, it keeps the profile’s reviews and history, and nobody has to re-verify anything.

A message that gets an old agency or employee to hand it back

Keep it short, specific and impossible to misunderstand. Most people who hold an old profile aren’t being difficult; they just don’t know what you need.

“Hi [name], we’re updating access to our Google Business Profile for [business name, address]. It looks like it’s still under your account. Could you add [your email] as an Owner? On a computer: open the profile from Google Search, go to the three-dot menu → Business Profile settings → People and access → Add, enter the email and choose Owner. Once that’s done, we’ll take it from there. Thanks.”

Send it by email so you have a dated record, and submit a Request access through Google on the same day. If they never reply, the 3-day clock is already running.

The timeline: what to do on which day

That last row trips people up. Google’s page on managing owners and managers says new owners and managers must wait 7 days before they can remove other users, transfer primary ownership or delete the profile. Set a reminder rather than assuming something is broken.

Why you shouldn’t just create a new profile

When the request stalls, creating a fresh listing looks like a shortcut. It usually makes things worse. You start from zero reviews, the old profile keeps showing (often with the wrong hours or phone number), and Google can treat the new one as a duplicate. Google’s guidelines for representing your business expect one profile per business location, so a second profile at the same address works against you rather than for you.

If a duplicate already exists, sort out ownership of the original first, then deal with the extra listing. If you’ve recently moved, our guide to changing your Google Business Profile address covers when an edit is right and when a new profile genuinely is.

What if verification fails?

Claiming a profile after a silent owner still means proving the business is yours, and Google picks the method. It may be a phone call, an email, a code, or a video. Video is where most owners stumble: one continuous take that shows the street, your signage and something only staff can access.

If that’s where you’re stuck, our guide to fixing a failed video verification walks through the shot list. And don’t change your business name, address or category while verification is pending. It makes the reviewer’s job harder and can restart the problem.

Lock it down once it’s yours

Most ownership problems start the same way: the profile was set up on one person’s account, and that person left. Once you’re back in, set it up so it can’t happen again.

1. Make a business-owned Google account the primary owner. An address on your own domain, such as [email protected], that doesn’t belong to any one person.
2. Add a second owner you trust. A partner or senior manager, so one lost account can’t lock you out again.
3. Give agencies and staff Manager access, not Owner. Managers can edit, post and reply to reviews, but can’t remove you.
4. Turn on 2-Step Verification for every owner account, and keep its recovery phone and email current. Google’s account recovery tips show why that matters if you ever lose a password.
5. Review People and access every quarter. Remove ex-staff and old vendors the week they leave.

The same applies to practitioners. If doctors or other professionals at your practice have their own profiles, our guide to Google Business Profiles for individual doctors explains how to keep the practice in control when someone leaves.

Where to start this week

Search your business on Google Maps signed out, then try business.google.com/add with your name and address. If it says someone else manages it, check your own old accounts first, send the message above to anyone who might hold it, and submit Request access the same day. Put a reminder in your calendar for day 3 and day 7.

If you’d rather not untangle it alone, our local SEO service includes recovering and securing your Business Profile. The free visibility audit on our contact page starts by checking who controls it.