The short answer: To let an agency or freelancer work on your Google Business Profile, add them as a Manager, not an Owner, from the People and access settings. Yelp, Bing Places and Apple Business (the new home of Apple Business Connect) each have their own way to invite users too. In every case you keep ownership, you never share a password, and you can remove access when the work is done.
Your listings are often the first thing a customer sees, on Google Search, Maps, Yelp, Bing and Apple Maps. That makes them worth protecting. This guide covers the current steps for each one. For the full series, see our hub guide on how to give your agency access without sharing passwords.
Before you start
Gather a few things first so each invite takes a couple of minutes:
- Make sure you can sign in as the owner of each listing. If you’re not sure who claimed your Google profile years ago, find out now.
- Turn on two-step verification for the Google, Yelp, Microsoft and Apple accounts you use to manage listings.
- Get the email address your agency gives you for each platform. Some platforms need it tied to an existing account (for example, a Google Account or an Apple Account).
- Decide what the agency will do: update hours and photos, reply to reviews, post updates or all of these.
- Check who already has access and note anyone who should be removed, such as former employees or past vendors.
How do I add a manager to my Google Business Profile?
Invite the agency as a Manager from Business Profile settings, under People and access. A Manager can do almost everything an Owner can, including editing your info, posting and replying to reviews, but can’t add or remove users or remove the profile. That is the right level for an agency. Owners have full control, and each profile has one primary owner, which should be you.
- Go to business.google.com and sign in with the account that owns your profile.
- Select More, then Business Profile settings, then People and access. (If you manage your profile directly from Google Search, the menus may look a little different.)
- Select Add at the top left.
- Enter the email address your agency gives you.
- Under Access, choose Manager.
- Select Invite. The agency has to accept before they can make changes, and pending invites can be canceled from the Pending section.
Google also adds a safety buffer: new owners and managers must wait 7 days before they can remove other users, delete the profile or transfer primary ownership. To remove someone later, open People and access, select the person and choose Remove person. Their past review replies and posts stay on the profile. Keeping your profile accurate is a big part of our Google Business Profile optimization work, and this is the access level we ask for.
Official help: Google Business Profile Help: owners and managers
How do I give someone access to my Yelp business page?
Use User Management in your Yelp for Business account to invite a user. Be careful here: Yelp doesn’t offer limited roles. Anyone who accepts your invite gets the same access you have, including replying to reviews and messages, editing business info, using and changing payment information, and adding or removing other users.
- Sign in to Yelp for Business and go to Account Settings.
- Click User Management in the left menu.
- Click Invite a User.
- Choose a job title for the person.
- Enter the email address your agency gives you.
- Select the business location or locations they should manage.
- Click Send Invite. They accept by clicking Accept Invitation in the email from Yelp (it sometimes lands in a spam or Social folder).
You can invite up to 15 users. If you don’t see User Management, or your business has 10 or more locations, Yelp may ask you to send a share access request through its support form instead. To remove someone, return to User Management and click the trash can icon next to their name. Because invited users can see payment details, many owners invite an agency only for a defined project and remove them afterward.
Official help: How do I share access to the Yelp page for my business?
How do I give an agency access to Bing Places?
Bing Places for Business ties each listing to the Microsoft account that claimed it, and Microsoft doesn’t currently publish a step-by-step help article for adding users. Bing has updated the Bing Places dashboard over the years, so menu names you see in older guides may not match. Here is the safest way to handle it:
- Sign in to Bing Places for Business with the Microsoft account that owns your listing.
- Open your listing and look for a user or access option. It has been labeled Manage users in the past, but the label may differ in the current dashboard.
- If you find it, add the email address your agency gives you and give them only the access they need.
- If you can’t find a user option, contact Bing Places support from the dashboard rather than sharing your Microsoft login.
If adding a user isn’t available, your agency can send you the changes and you can make them yourself in a few minutes. Either way, the Microsoft account that owns the listing should belong to your business, not to the agency or a former employee.
Official help: Add and manage your business listing (Microsoft Support)
How do I give someone access to Apple Business Connect?
Apple Business Connect is now part of Apple Business, which combines Business Connect with Apple Business Manager and Apple Business Essentials. You invite an agency user from the People section of Apple Business and choose a role, plus whether they manage one brand or all of them.
- Sign in to Apple Business with an account whose role can invite users.
- Choose People, then Users.
- Select Add.
- Select Send Email and enter the Apple Account email address your agency gives you.
- Choose their role and whether they will manage a single brand or all brands.
- Select Invite.
For an agency, a marketing role (Apple’s guide names Marketing Administrator) or a custom role with only brand management permissions is usually enough. Avoid making an outside agency an organization administrator; Apple recommends having a second organization administrator from inside your own business in case the first can’t sign in.
Official help: Manually add users in Apple Business (Apple Support)
Common mistakes
These are the listing access mistakes we run into most often:
- Making the agency an Owner. On Google, Manager is enough for nearly all agency work. An Owner can remove you.
- Letting someone else claim your listing. If an agency, web designer or former employee claimed your profile under their own account, they control it. Get ownership moved to an account your business controls.
- Inviting Yelp users without thinking about payments. Every Yelp user has the same access you do, including payment information. Invite only people you trust, for as long as you need them.
- Sharing a Google, Microsoft or Apple password. Those logins often unlock email, files and more. Use invites instead.
- Never reviewing the user list. Check each platform once or twice a year and remove anyone who no longer works with you.
A quick hypothetical: say you own a plumbing company in Florence, KY, and you hire an agency to clean up your listings. You add them as a Manager on Google, invite them to Yelp for the length of the project, add them to Apple Business with a brand-only role, and keep every owner role yourself. When the project wraps, you remove them in a few minutes. (This is an illustration, not a real client.) If listings across many directories are part of the job, our citation building service handles that side.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between an Owner and a Manager on Google Business Profile?
Owners can add and remove users and delete the profile. Managers can edit the profile, post and reply to reviews but can’t manage users or remove the profile. Give agencies Manager.
Can my agency reply to reviews for me?
Yes. Managers on Google and invited users on Yelp can reply to reviews. Agree on tone and approval rules first, because replies are public. Our guide on why reviews decide whether AI recommends you explains why those replies matter.
Why did my new manager get an error when removing someone?
Google makes new owners and managers wait 7 days before they can remove users, delete the profile or transfer primary ownership. It’s a safety feature, and it also means a new manager can’t quickly take over your profile.
What happens to my listings if I remove the agency?
Your listings, reviews and photos stay with you. On Google, replies and posts the agency made stay on the profile after they’re removed.
Not sure who owns your listings, or want a second set of eyes before you invite anyone? Book a free strategy call with Ambition Business Solutions. We’ll help you confirm ownership, set the right access level on each platform and plan what your listings should be doing to bring in customers.
