To delete a Google Business Profile, the primary owner opens Business Profile settings and selects Remove Business Profile. That wipes the profile’s content and every owner and manager, but it doesn’t take the business off Google. Google says removal “doesn’t guarantee that the business won’t show up on Maps and Search”.
So deleting is rarely the whole job for a trade business. Stopped trading? You mark the profile permanently closed. Selling up? You hand the profile to the buyer. An old employee or agency holding it? You take ownership back. This guide shows which route fits and how to do each one.
Do this today
- Decide what you want: to stop managing the profile, to show you’ve closed, or to get the listing off Maps.
- Check your role under Business Profile settings, then People and access. Google says only the primary owner can remove the profile.
- If you’re selling, transfer primary ownership to the buyer. Don’t delete.
- If you’ve stopped trading, mark the profile permanently closed before anything else.
- Save any photos you want to keep. Removal can’t be undone.
Delete, close or hand over?
Google gives five separate routes.
- Remove the profile. The content and the managers go. The listing can stay on Maps with nobody managing it.
- Mark it permanently closed. The listing shows customers your business is closed.
- Mark it temporarily closed. For a break of more than seven days. You reopen it when you’re back.
- Transfer it or step away. You pass primary ownership on or stop managing it yourself. The profile and its reviews stay as they are.
- Ask Google to take it off Maps. Anyone signed in to Google can ask, even without owning the profile.
How to delete a Google Business Profile
These are Google’s steps for removing a profile from your account.
- Go to your Business Profile, signed in to the Google account that manages it.
- Select More, then Business Profile settings.
- Select Remove Business Profile, then Remove profile content and managers.
- If the business has closed, turn on Mark your business as permanently closed.
- Select Continue, then Remove, then Done.
Google says only the primary owner can remove the profile content and managers. A new owner has to wait seven days before deleting a profile, according to Google’s page on owners and managers. If you run several profiles, Business Profile Manager lets you tick them and choose Actions, then Remove businesses.
What deleting does and doesn’t do
- Your content goes for good. Posts, photos, videos and review replies from owners and managers are permanently removed.
- Customer reviews stay. Google says “User-generated content and review remains.”
- There’s no undo. Removed content “can’t be recovered or managed”. To manage the business again you’d have to verify the profile again.
- The listing may stay up. Google says the business can still show on Search and Maps “unless it’s considered ineligible business”.
In our view, that last point matters. Delete without marking the business closed and customers can still find your old number on Maps. You’ve lost the access you’d need to change it.
If your listing has vanished and you didn’t delete anything, the cause is something else. See business not showing on Google Maps? Why and how to fix it.
How to mark your business closed
Permanently closed
- Go to your Business Profile and select Edit profile, then Hours.
- Next to Hours, select Edit, then Permanently closed.
- Select Save.
Google says the profile then clearly shows that your business is closed. What happens to the listing after that is covered under closing down below.
Temporarily closed
Google says to use Temporarily closed when you’re shut for more than seven days, for the off-season or with no reopening date. For seven days or fewer, set special hours instead. The steps match the ones above with Temporarily closed selected.
For broad searches, temporarily closed businesses “can rank after open businesses”, Google says. Mark the profile reopened as soon as you’re back.
What to do in your situation
You’re closing down or retiring
Mark the profile permanently closed first. Google’s two pages describe what happens next differently. The closed page says the profile “may still appear” for people who search for it. The removal page says it “will slowly disappear from search results”.
In our view, marking it closed is the step that matters for a retiring trade, because it tells anyone who still finds you that you’ve stopped. Removing the profile as well is optional.
You’re selling the business
Don’t delete it. Google says transferring primary ownership to the new owner “ensures that all of your business info, like reviews, are maintained”.
- Add the buyer as an owner: More, Business Profile settings, People and access, Add. Enter their email, choose Owner and select Invite.
- Once they’ve accepted, select them in People and access. Next to Access select Edit, then Primary owner, then Save.
- Remove yourself: select your own name, then Stop managing, then Confirm.
You can’t remove yourself while you’re still the primary owner, so step 2 comes first. If you were added as an owner in the last seven days, you have to wait before you can transfer primary ownership.
You’re moving premises
Don’t delete the profile, because Google says “do not create a new Business Profile for the new location”, and our guide on how to set up a Google Business Profile for your trade covers changing the address.
You’ve got a duplicate profile
If you made the duplicate yourself, delete it with the steps above, and see how to set up a Google Business Profile for your trade for duplicates someone else made.
An old employee or agency still owns it
Ask them to make you primary owner using the steps in the selling section. Managers can’t remove other people or the profile, so a manager login won’t fix this.
If they won’t help or can’t be reached, request ownership from Google. Go to business.google.com/add, find your business and select Request access. The current owner gets three days to respond. With no reply, you may get the option to claim it, but “The option to claim a profile isn’t always available.”
If you go to customers and have no shop or office, Google says to contact its support team and enter Transfer ownership of listing as the issue. Google can also take ownership away from someone if the business confirms “you or your agency is no longer authorised”.
Questions about deleting a Google Business Profile
Can I delete a Google Business Profile that isn’t mine?
No, you can’t delete a Google Business Profile that isn’t yours, but you can ask Google to remove it. In Google Maps, signed in, select the business. Choose Suggest an edit, then Place is closed or not here, pick the option that fits and submit. Google removes a listing for a business that “never existed or isn’t eligible to be on Google”.
Will deleting my Google Business Profile delete my reviews?
No. Deleting your Google Business Profile removes your replies, not your customers’ reviews. To get a single review taken down, see remove a Google review or fake review (trades). If reviews have gone missing on their own, see why your Google reviews have disappeared.
Can I get a deleted Google Business Profile back?
You can’t get a deleted Google Business Profile’s content back. To manage the business again you’d verify the profile from scratch and add your photos and details again.
Why can’t I delete my Google Business Profile?
You can’t delete your Google Business Profile unless you’re its primary owner. A new owner must also wait seven days before deleting a profile. Check your role in People and access. If someone else is primary owner, ask them to transfer it to you.
Should I delete a suspended Google Business Profile?
No. Fix the problem and appeal instead. Our guide Google Business Profile suspended? Help for trades takes you through it.
Can you sort out my Google Business Profile for me?
Yes. We set profiles up on a Google account the business owns, with us added as a manager. That way it stays yours. When someone nearby searches for your trade, the map results come from Business Profiles, which is why the profile sits at the centre of our SEO for tradesmen.