Someone Else Claimed My Business On Google

Someone else has ownership of my GMB listing, how do I get it back?

TL;DR Follow these steps to take back control

Ashley Clary avatar

Written by Ashley Clary
Updated over a week ago

To request ownership of a storefront business from the current listing owner or if you have lost all records of verifying email and password, follow the steps below, based on your business type:

Storefront business listings

Go to business.google.com/add
Enter the name and address of your business, then select it from the search results.
Click Continue. You'll see a message indicating that someone else verified the listing that includes a hint of the verifying email address (see image below). If you don't see this message, you can directly claim and verify the listing yourself.
Click Request access and fill out the form.
Click Submit. The current listing owner will receive an email with instructions and you'll receive a confirmation email.

What to do after you've requested ownership

Once you've requested ownership, the listing owner (in Google's records) will have 7 days to respond. You can check the status of your request by signing into your Google My Business account or clicking the link in your confirmation email.

If your request is approved

If your ownership request is approved, you'll be notified by email and will be able to manage the listing in the GMB portal.

If your request is denied

If your ownership request is denied, you'll be notified by email and when you sign in to the GMB portal. If this happens, please let us know and we will work to help you appeal the denied request.

If you don't hear back

If you don't get a response after 7 days, you might have the option to claim the listing yourself. Just sign in to the GMB portal and look for a Claim or Verify button on your dashboard.

If there is no update or options presented in the GMB portal after the full 7 days, it may mean that Google dropped the request, or has a material backlog in their service queue. Unfortunately, it may take a second round to get Google to release ownership.

Bulk-verified accounts

If you have a bulk-verified account, you can follow the storefront business instructions above or request ownership of an existing listing as follows:

Upload the location information via a spreadsheet.
Open the uploaded location in Google My Business.
You'll see an "Owner conflict" dialog indicating that the location is a duplicate.
Click Request access. The current listing owner will receive an email asking them to get in touch with you, and you'll receive a confirmation email.

Still need help? Email us at support@localclarity.com