How to add users and set permissions in Google Search Console

Only an owner can add people to a Search Console property. As an owner, open Settings, then Users and permissions, click Add user, enter the person’s Google Account email, choose a role and save. The safest default is the lowest role that lets the person do the work, and you should keep more than one owner. Google documents all of this in managing owners, users and permissions.

The four roles

Owner means full control: adding and removing users, configuring settings, viewing all data and using all tools. There are two kinds of owner. A verified owner proved ownership with a token, and a delegated owner was granted ownership by an owner without a token. A full user has view rights to all data and can take some actions; requesting indexing, for example, needs an owner or a full user (Ask Google to recrawl your URLs). A restricted user has simple view rights on most data and receives only the messages that specifically affect them. An associate can act for the site or access certain data, but cannot open the Search Console account or its data directly.

Adding and removing a user

Only a property owner, or an owner of a parent property, can add or remove users, and the Users and permissions page is visible only to owners. The person needs a valid Google Account; an email group cannot be added as a user. If you see “This user may only be added as Owner”, the person already owns a containing property, so they can only be added as an owner here.

To remove someone, open the menu next to the user and click Remove access; it takes effect quickly. If a warning says the user might regain access, they were a verified owner with ownership tokens: remove those tokens, which are listed under Unused ownership tokens.

Removing access is not removing ownership

A verified owner keeps ownership as long as their token is on the site. Removing the person from the user list is not enough: remove the file, tag or DNS record as well, or they may regain access. This is the step people forget when someone leaves, so make it part of offboarding.

Limits and the case of the lost owner

A property can have at most 100 non-owner users. Delegated owners can be added until verified and delegated owners together reach 500, while verified owners have no maximum. A property needs at least one verified owner, or no one has access; if you lost your only verified owner, verify ownership again to regain it, then remove the former owner’s token if you took over the site (verify your site ownership). That is why a single owner is a risk: if the only verified owner loses access, everyone loses it. The article on adding a site and verifying ownership explains the verification side.

Search Console permissions and SEOKit invitations

Inviting a colleague to SEOKit does not add them in Search Console. They read the shared property through your connection, so you do not have to give them a Search Console role. Use the lowest role in Search Console for people who also work there directly, and do not make everyone an owner, since owners can add and remove other owners. For the SEOKit side, see sharing work with a team and the documentation on team and shared reports.

Go further

FAQ: add a site and verify ownership: Verified and delegated owners. Playbook: share work with a team: SEOKit access that does not need Search Console roles. Docs: team and shared reports: Invitations, seats and shared reports.