Hey hey, it’s Nikki, and welcome to "SEO F*%king What". This is the podcast where I cut through the bollocks and give you the real advice you need to get your website found (and making money) on Google.
In this episode, “Who Owns Your SEO Shlt,” I’m talking about something that’s been pissing me off for years: the sneaky way agencies and freelancers end up owning your entire Google presence without you even knowing it.
Over three decades working in digital marketing, I’ve seen businesses spend thousands on Google Ads, Analytics, and Search Console, only to realise later they've forgotten the most important aspect of running these accounts.
In this episode, I’ll break down how to get out of this mess when it happens and ensure it never bites you on the arse again.
I promise, it’s actionable stuff you won’t hear from those LinkedIn gooroos.
So click play and let’s get into it!
Transcripts
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Your marketing agency might own your entire Google presence
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and you'd never know it.
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This is SEO fucking what? I'm Nicky, 30
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years in digital marketing and I'm here to help you make money from
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your website by actually getting found on Google
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today. Why? You probably don't own your own Google accounts and how
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to fix it before it bites you on the ass.
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Let's talk about something that's been pissing me off for years.
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Businesses spend thousands of pounds on Google Ads, Google
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Analytics, Search Console, all the Google products, and they
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don't actually own any of it. Their agency does.
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Or even worse, some freelancer who did a bit of work for them three years
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ago and then buggered off. Here's how it happens.
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You hire an agency or a marketing person and they say,
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okay, we'll set up your Google Ads account for you. Brilliant.
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Except they set it up using their email address, not
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yours, theirs. Same with Analytics. Same with
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Search Console. Same with your Google business profile. And
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you, like most normal people who aren't obsessed with SEO, have
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no fucking idea that this is even an issue. Fast forward
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two years, you want to change agencies or that person leaves
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or you have a falling out and suddenly you discover you can't access
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your own data. You can't see your ad spend, you can't
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check your analytics, you can't prove what traffic you've been getting
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because you don't own it. They do. And
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here's the really shitty part. Some agencies do this
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on purpose. It's a lock in tactic. They know if
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they control your account, you can't leave easily. You're stuck with
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them because moving means losing all of your historical data,
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all your campaign settings, everything. It's hostage
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taking. But with your Google accounts, we've seen businesses
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lose years of analytics data because they couldn't get access when they
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switched agencies. I've seen ad accounts with
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thousands of pounds in credit just gone
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because the person who set it up won't or can't hand over the
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login. Sometimes it's just incompetence. Someone set
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things up quickly, used their own email because it was easier and never thought
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about the consequences. But the result's the same. You're
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fucked. And it's not just agencies. I've seen this with web
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developers, SEO consultants, even the managing
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director's nephew who knows about computers. Anyone
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who's ever touched your Google stuff could potentially own it. But the
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worst thing about this is Google doesn't give a shit
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if someone set up an account with their email. As far as
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Google's concerned, they own it. You can't just ring Google and
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say, oi, that's my business, give it back. They'll tell you to sort it out
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with the person who created the account. And if that person's being difficult,
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you're pretty much screwed. So here's what I want you to check right now.
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Who created your Google accounts? Who created
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your analytics, your search console and your Google Business
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Profile? Who created your Ads account? Whose
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email is the owner? If the answer is anyone except
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someone in your business, you've got a problem. So how do you
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fix this? And more importantly, how do you set things up
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properly from the start so this never happens? I'll tell
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you in just a moment.
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Okay, let's dig into what you do. First of all,
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audit what you have. Make a list for every Google product
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you use. Google Ads, Analytics, Search Console, Google
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Business Profile, YouTube if you've got a channel. Google
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Tag Manager if you're fancy. For each one, find
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out who the owner is, not just who has access,
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who actually owns it. If you don't know,
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ask your agency or whoever manages this stuff for you.
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And if they're cagey about it or won't tell you, red flag,
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massive red flag. Secondly, if someone
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else owns your accounts, get that changed. The owner needs to
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be an email address that belongs to your business, ideally
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a generic1like accountsourcompany.com
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or marketingourcompany.com not your personal email
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that you might leave the company one day. Definitely not your
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agency's email. And here's how it works for each platform.
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For Google Ads, the person who currently owns the account needs to add you as
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an admin, then transfer ownership. They can't just add you
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as a user. You need full admin rights, then ownership.
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If they won't do this, you might need to start a new account. It's
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a pain in the ass. Better than being locked out. Google
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Analytics is a similar deal. They need to add you as an admin of the
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account at the account level, not just the property level.
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Then they can transfer ownership. Make sure you're getting account
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level access because property level won't let you do everything you need
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for search console. It's a little bit easier, they just need to add you as
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an owner. You can have multiple owners, so they don't even need to remove
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themselves. But make sure you're an owner, not just a user
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for your Google Business profile. This is the one that fucks
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people over. Most often. The person who created it
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needs to add you as an owner through the Google business profile
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interface. But if they used a personal account
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to set it up and that account gets deleted, you're
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screwed. Google won't help you. You'll have to verify
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ownership all over again. And sometimes that means waiting weeks
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for a postcard to arrive with a verification code. It's
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medieval, but it's Google. And now. Set things up
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right from now on, if you're hiring someone new, make it
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clear from the start. All accounts get set up with your business email as
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the owner. They can have admin access, but they're not the owner.
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Put it in the contract, make it non negotiable.
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And if they push back, if they say, oh, it's easier if we set
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it up our way, or we need to be the owner to manage it properly.
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Bollocks. That's not how it works. Any decent
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agency or consultant will understand why you want to own your own stuff.
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Document everything. Keep a spreadsheet with all your
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accounts. Who owns them, who has access, how to get in,
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update it every time something changes. Because I promise you, in
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six months time, when someone leaves or you switch agencies or
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you have a new freelancer, you won't remember who set up what.
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And one more thing, I think.
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Set up two factor authentication on the email address that owns these
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accounts. Because if someone hacks that email, they've got access
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to everything. Your ad spend, your data, your entire
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Google presence. Don't be the person who loses their business because
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they used password 1, 2, 3. And check this stuff
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regularly, at least every six months.
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Go through all of your Google accounts, make sure that you still
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have access. Ownership hasn't changed. You're not paying
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for something that you don't need anymore. And people that shouldn't have
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access don't have access. You'd be surprised how
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many Google search console accounts, Google Ads accounts,
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and Google Analytics accounts that I still have access
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to that are clients that I haven't worked with for years.
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I know this isn't sexy SEO advice. It's not going to get you more
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traffic, but it will save you from a world of
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pain when something goes wrong. And trust me, something
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always goes wrong eventually. That's it for this
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week. Go check who owns your Google accounts. Seriously, do it now.
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And if this helped, follow SEO fucking what? Wherever you're
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listening so you don't miss the next episode. Until next time.
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Get found, make money. Stop letting other people own
