How To Add A User To Google Search Console In 2020

Brandon Lazovic, October 8, 2020 | digital marketing

Do you want to add a user to your Google Search Console account?

Whether you want to share data for your site’s organic traffic or update settings within GSC, this guide will walk you through how to add a user to Google Search Console.

Step 1: Log Into Google Search Console

First, you’ll want to log into your Google Search Console dashboard.

Step 2: Select The Property You Want To Share Access With The User

Next, you’ll select the website property that you want to provide access to using the drop-down menu in the left hand corner of the GSC dashboard.

Step 3: Click Settings

Once the website property is selected, click “Settings” in the bottom left-hand corner of the dashboard.

Step 4: Select Users and Permissions

Within the property settings, click on “Users and Permissions”.

Step 5: Add Your User For Google Search Console Access

On the next screen, you’ll be able to see all of the users that currently have access to your Google Search Console account.

From here, click on the “Add User” button in the top-right corner of the dashboard.

Step 6: Add Your User’s Email Address

After clicking on “Add User” you’ll be prompted to enter an email address for the user you want to provide access for.

One caveat: the entered email address needs to either be a gmail address, or an email address that uses the G-suite.

Step 7: Set User Permissions

While on this screen, you’ll also set the permission levels for the user, which I’ll cover below:

Full Access

This gives a user complete access to your Google Search Console account. Users that are granted full access won’t be able to add or remove property owners, but will have the ability to make a majority of changes to your site’s settings in GSC.

Restricted Access

This level of access allows users to view your account’s data, but they can’t make any changes or edits such as submitting sitemaps or disavowing backlinks.

Verified Owner

You can also add someone as an owner to the account - they’ll have to prove that they own the website, such as posting a special verification file on their website, but will have full access to the property and the ability to add or remove users.

Delegated Owner

Delegated owners are granted ownership by a verified owner, but never verified ownership of the website. They can add users or other delegated owners.

Associate

Associates can take certain actions or access certain data, but don’t have the ability to open or view your Google Search Console account.

Step 8: Click “Add” Button

All that’s left is to click the “add” button and you’re done! The user will receive an email confirmation granting them access to your Google Search Console account.

Step 9: Change Or Remove Access

In the future, you can change someone’s level of access, or remove them from the account entirely in the “Users and Permissions” area.

Frequently Asked Google Search Console Questions

Should I Grant Full Or Restricted Access?

In most cases, restricted access is fine if you want to grant them visibility into your data without the ability to change settings within your account.

Full access, on the other hand, allows users to make changes to your property settings, such as disavowing backlinks, submitting sitemaps, or submitting pages via the URL inspection tool for fetching/rendering.

If I Have The HTTP Version Of My Site In GSC, Do I Have To Add HTTPS As Well?

Google treats this as a separate entity and you’ll have to verify access for the HTTPS version of your website.

There are three ways you can verify a website with Search Console:

You can upload a small file that Google provides you to the root directory of your website that hosts your index.html or index.php file
Add a meta tag to the header of your website
Click on Google Analytics verification - this will work if you already have Google Analytics set up on your site.

How Long Does It Take For Data To Appear In GSC?

Data can take upwards of a few weeks to populate in your GSC dashboard. After that initial period, data is fresh within a 24-48 hour delay.

What If We Don’t Have A Current Site Owner?

If the verified owner on your account leaves, you can verify another site owner. The new site owner will have the ability to see the list of all owners/users that are verified for the site. You can also remove previous owners by deleting their verification token from your website.