Who can remove whom
Google’s rule is short: owners remove people, managers don’t. An owner can take off any manager and any other owner. A manager’s only removal power is over themselves. The primary owner is a special case: they can’t be removed by anyone else, and can’t even leave on their own, until the primary owner role sits with someone else.
That’s why the first question when someone shouldn’t have access any more is “what’s my own role?” Open People and access and see whether you can select the other person at all. If you can’t, Google’s hint is that you have manager access.
The common cases
A staff member left. If they were a manager or a regular owner and you’re an owner, remove them. It takes a minute. Do it the same day they leave; nothing in Google’s process prompts you to.
You fired the agency. Same steps, provided the agency isn’t the primary owner. If it is, you’re dependent on them to transfer the role, or on the request ownership process if they ignore you.
A business partner is exiting. Decide first who will be primary owner. If the exiting partner holds that role, they transfer it, then remove themselves with Stop managing.
You’re new and cleaning house. If you were added as an owner in the past week, Google blocks you from removing other owners or managers until your 7 days are up. Make your list and come back.
What removal doesn’t undo
Taking someone off the profile stops them from making changes. It doesn’t wipe their history. Replies they wrote to reviews, posts they published and comments they made stay on the listing. Read through recent replies and posts after a messy departure and tidy anything that no longer reflects how you run the business.
Removal also doesn’t touch anything outside the profile. If the person set up your website, your ads account, or a booking link, those are separate systems with their own access settings.
Keep a spare owner
The worst version of this problem is the business with one owner account that nobody can get into. After removing someone, make sure at least two people you trust have owner access, so one lost password doesn’t lock the business out of its own listing.
If it doesn't work
- You can't select anyone: you're a manager. Ask an owner to do it. If no owner is reachable, you'll need the ownership request route.
- The person you want gone is the primary owner: you can't remove them. They have to transfer primary ownership first, or you request ownership.
- You were just added as an owner and get an error removing someone: new owners wait 7 days before removing other owners or managers.
- You want their old review replies gone too: removing them won't do that. Edit or delete those replies yourself.
Questions owners ask
Will the person know I removed them?
Yes. Google says the removed user receives an email. There's no silent option on the owners and managers page, so if the parting was rocky, it may help to tell them yourself first.
Can a manager remove another manager?
No. Only owners can remove other owners and managers. A manager can remove only themselves, using Stop managing. If you need someone gone and you're a manager, an owner has to do it.
What happens to the reviews they replied to?
The replies stay. Google keeps a removed person's past review replies, posts and comments on the profile. If any of them are out of date or unprofessional, an owner or manager can edit or delete them afterward.
Our old agency is the primary owner and won't respond. What now?
You can't remove a primary owner from below. Ask them to transfer primary ownership to you. If they won't or can't, use Google's request ownership flow from business.google.com/add, which gives them 3 days to answer.
Sources
- Manage your Business Profile owners & managers (support.google.com)
- Request ownership of a Business Profile (support.google.com)
Checked 13 Nov 2026. When the platform changes its process we update this page and log it in What changed.