Your marketing agency might own your entire Google presence

and you'd never know it.

This is SEO fucking what? I'm Nicky, 30

years in digital marketing and I'm here to help you make money from

your website by actually getting found on Google

today. Why? You probably don't own your own Google accounts and how

to fix it before it bites you on the ass.

Let's talk about something that's been pissing me off for years.

Businesses spend thousands of pounds on Google Ads, Google

Analytics, Search Console, all the Google products, and they

don't actually own any of it. Their agency does.

Or even worse, some freelancer who did a bit of work for them three years

ago and then buggered off. Here's how it happens.

You hire an agency or a marketing person and they say,

okay, we'll set up your Google Ads account for you. Brilliant.

Except they set it up using their email address, not

yours, theirs. Same with Analytics. Same with

Search Console. Same with your Google business profile. And

you, like most normal people who aren't obsessed with SEO, have

no fucking idea that this is even an issue. Fast forward

two years, you want to change agencies or that person leaves

or you have a falling out and suddenly you discover you can't access

your own data. You can't see your ad spend, you can't

check your analytics, you can't prove what traffic you've been getting

because you don't own it. They do. And

here's the really shitty part. Some agencies do this

on purpose. It's a lock in tactic. They know if

they control your account, you can't leave easily. You're stuck with

them because moving means losing all of your historical data,

all your campaign settings, everything. It's hostage

taking. But with your Google accounts, we've seen businesses

lose years of analytics data because they couldn't get access when they

switched agencies. I've seen ad accounts with

thousands of pounds in credit just gone

because the person who set it up won't or can't hand over the

login. Sometimes it's just incompetence. Someone set

things up quickly, used their own email because it was easier and never thought

about the consequences. But the result's the same. You're

fucked. And it's not just agencies. I've seen this with web

developers, SEO consultants, even the managing

director's nephew who knows about computers. Anyone

who's ever touched your Google stuff could potentially own it. But the

worst thing about this is Google doesn't give a shit

if someone set up an account with their email. As far as

Google's concerned, they own it. You can't just ring Google and

say, oi, that's my business, give it back. They'll tell you to sort it out

with the person who created the account. And if that person's being difficult,

you're pretty much screwed. So here's what I want you to check right now.

Who created your Google accounts? Who created

your analytics, your search console and your Google Business

Profile? Who created your Ads account? Whose

email is the owner? If the answer is anyone except

someone in your business, you've got a problem. So how do you

fix this? And more importantly, how do you set things up

properly from the start so this never happens? I'll tell

you in just a moment.

Okay, let's dig into what you do. First of all,

audit what you have. Make a list for every Google product

you use. Google Ads, Analytics, Search Console, Google

Business Profile, YouTube if you've got a channel. Google

Tag Manager if you're fancy. For each one, find

out who the owner is, not just who has access,

who actually owns it. If you don't know,

ask your agency or whoever manages this stuff for you.

And if they're cagey about it or won't tell you, red flag,

massive red flag. Secondly, if someone

else owns your accounts, get that changed. The owner needs to

be an email address that belongs to your business, ideally

a generic1like accountsourcompany.com

or marketingourcompany.com not your personal email

that you might leave the company one day. Definitely not your

agency's email. And here's how it works for each platform.

For Google Ads, the person who currently owns the account needs to add you as

an admin, then transfer ownership. They can't just add you

as a user. You need full admin rights, then ownership.

If they won't do this, you might need to start a new account. It's

a pain in the ass. Better than being locked out. Google

Analytics is a similar deal. They need to add you as an admin of the

account at the account level, not just the property level.

Then they can transfer ownership. Make sure you're getting account

level access because property level won't let you do everything you need

for search console. It's a little bit easier, they just need to add you as

an owner. You can have multiple owners, so they don't even need to remove

themselves. But make sure you're an owner, not just a user

for your Google Business profile. This is the one that fucks

people over. Most often. The person who created it

needs to add you as an owner through the Google business profile

interface. But if they used a personal account

to set it up and that account gets deleted, you're

screwed. Google won't help you. You'll have to verify

ownership all over again. And sometimes that means waiting weeks

for a postcard to arrive with a verification code. It's

medieval, but it's Google. And now. Set things up

right from now on, if you're hiring someone new, make it

clear from the start. All accounts get set up with your business email as

the owner. They can have admin access, but they're not the owner.

Put it in the contract, make it non negotiable.

And if they push back, if they say, oh, it's easier if we set

it up our way, or we need to be the owner to manage it properly.

Bollocks. That's not how it works. Any decent

agency or consultant will understand why you want to own your own stuff.

Document everything. Keep a spreadsheet with all your

accounts. Who owns them, who has access, how to get in,

update it every time something changes. Because I promise you, in

six months time, when someone leaves or you switch agencies or

you have a new freelancer, you won't remember who set up what.

And one more thing, I think.

Set up two factor authentication on the email address that owns these

accounts. Because if someone hacks that email, they've got access

to everything. Your ad spend, your data, your entire

Google presence. Don't be the person who loses their business because

they used password 1, 2, 3. And check this stuff

regularly, at least every six months.

Go through all of your Google accounts, make sure that you still

have access. Ownership hasn't changed. You're not paying

for something that you don't need anymore. And people that shouldn't have

access don't have access. You'd be surprised how

many Google search console accounts, Google Ads accounts,

and Google Analytics accounts that I still have access

to that are clients that I haven't worked with for years.

I know this isn't sexy SEO advice. It's not going to get you more

traffic, but it will save you from a world of

pain when something goes wrong. And trust me, something

always goes wrong eventually. That's it for this

week. Go check who owns your Google accounts. Seriously, do it now.

And if this helped, follow SEO fucking what? Wherever you're

listening so you don't miss the next episode. Until next time.

Get found, make money. Stop letting other people own

your.