Lost access to your Google Business Profile? How to get it back.

Step 1: Check what you can still access

Try every Google account you or your team have used. Search your inbox for emails from Google about the Business Profile; they show which address is the owner or manager.

Step 2: Ask the current owner, if you know who it is

If an agency or ex-employee owns it, ask them in writing to add you as primary owner. It takes them two minutes in the profile's settings. Keep the request polite and in writing.

Step 3: Request ownership through Google

If the owner will not respond or you do not know who it is, search for your business on Google or Maps while signed in to your account and choose the option to claim or request access. Google sends the current owner a request. If they do not respond within the time Google allows (typically about a week), you may get the option to verify and claim it yourself.

Have proof ready: business license, utility bill or bank statement with your address, photos of signage, and your website showing the same name, address and phone.

Step 4: Keep control from now on

• The primary owner should be an email the business controls permanently, not a personal Gmail of someone who might leave.
• Add agencies and employees as managers, not owners.
• Write down which email owns your Google profile, domain, website, social accounts and directory listings. Keep it somewhere safe.

While you work on it

Make sure customers can still reach you through Apple Business Connect, Bing Places, your website and free directories like PITHE, all with the same name, address and phone.