Sometimes businesses lose access to their Google My Business listing and need to reclaim ownership. The listing may have been claimed by a previous employee or agency or you may not remember the email address you used to claim it. Either way, you want to get back control of your GMB listing.
Google has a process to help you reclaim ownership of your Google My Business listing, but as a platinum GMB product expert, I have a couple tips that will make the process even easier.
Here are the steps you can take to reclaim ownership of your Google My Business listing.
Use a Google account tied to an email address from your business domain.
The best way to regain access to your GMB listing is to use a Google account with an email address from your own business domain throughout the entire process. This will help legitimize your claim further down the process.
Add this email as an administrator to both Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
If you are somewhat tech savvy, be sure to add the same email address as an administrator to Google Analytics and Google Search Console. While not required, this also helps prove that you are the legitimate owner of the GMB listing you want to reclaim.
Search for your business.
Enter the name of your business into the search field and select it from the results.
You’ll see a message saying the listing has already been claimed.
The message will show you a hint of the email address that is the owner of the listing and a button where you can request access.
Fill out and submit the “request access” form.
Complete all fields on the form and request “ownership” level access.
The current owner will receive an email about your request.
They will have 3-7 days to respond to the request. You will also get an email confirmation. Click the link in the confirmation email to check the status of your request.
If the request is rejected or the time frame has expired …
Google will then allow you to verify your affiliation with the business. This is why it is so important to use an email from your business domain and to add your email as an administrator to Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
