Everything You Need to Know About the Google Business Profile Manager Agency Dashboard

In June 2018, Google announced the launch of a new agency dashboard for Google My Business, now called Google Business Profile Manager.  The design of it is very similar to a My Client Center (MCC) in Google Ads. To sign up, you go here: https://business.google.com/agencysignup.  If you’re considering whether or not to use it for your agency, I’ll share what we experienced when switching over and how we’ve found using it at my agency.

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On this Page:

• Signing up for the GBP Agency Dashboard
• Requesting Access to the GBP Agency Dashboard
• Having the Business Add You as a User
• Issues with the GBP Agency Dashboard
• Advantages of the GBP Agency Dashboard
• Contact Us

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Signing up for the Google Business Profile (GBP) Manager Agency Dashboard

In order to sign up for the dashboard you should be aware that you need a domain email (not Gmail) for your organization. This Google account cannot currently manage any Google business listings or it won’t work.  In order to add any employees to the agency dashboard, they also need to have zero listings in their account or it will give them an error and won’t let them join.

• Google has instructions for migrating your existing business listings to the account once it’s set up.

 

Requesting Access to Google Business Profiles with the Agency Dashboard

One of the great things about the GBP agency dashboard is that now you can request access to listings instead of having people add you.  To do this, go to the “Manage invitations” section in the GBP dashboard and click to request access to a listing.  It’s important to make sure you request manager access (not owner).  If you request owner access, it will make you the primary owner and bump every other user on the account currently down to a manager level.  This is not ideal for an agency since the business owner should remain the primary owner and have control over who he/she adds. With manager access, you will only be able to add users that are a part of your organization.

 

Having the Business Add You as a User

If the business is set up as a service area business listing with the address hidden, it will not populate to allow you to request access.  In order to get access to these, the current owner of the listing has to add you.

To add you to a listing, the business owner cannot add your email address as a user.  If they add your email address you will still get an email to accept it but clicking the button will result in an error.

How to Get Added to a Single Listing

If they are adding you to a single listing, they need to add one of your location group ID numbers.  To get this, click the location group you want to add them to and press the gear icon.  The Location Group ID will be listed on the next page.

 

When a user goes to add your location group ID number, it should auto-populate the name of your location group.  It’s important to note that the client will see the name of your location group, so name it appropriately. Additionally, if they accidentally put a space at the beginning, it doesn’t auto-populate.

How to Get Added to a Group of Listings

If the business owners are adding you to a Location Group (previously called “brand accounts”) that contains a group of listings, you want to have them add your organization ID as a user to the Location Group. If they try to add your Location Group ID (as mentioned in the last section) it will give them an error since you cannot add a location group as a user to another location group.

 

Issues with the Google Business Profile Manager Agency Dashboard

Historically, Google has not sent out email alerts to “bulk users” (accounts with 100+ listings) when listings get new reviews, Q&A or public edits to the listing. After switching to the Agency dashboard, you’ll likely lose email notifications even if you have under 100 listings.  To get notifications for edits to your Google listings, follow these tips.

Advantages of using the Google Business Profile Manager Agency Dashboard

The main two reasons why I’d suggest agencies use the agency dashboard are:

1. The interface loads faster
2. It’s easier to keep different sets of businesses separated and have different employees manage each group. This article details how to organize this.

Do you have questions about the agency dashboard?  Feel free to let us know in the comments.

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