How to Share Google Search Console Access the Right Way
By Toy Wen Da, Co-Founder · Updated · 5 min read · scored 93/100
To share Google Search Console access, open Settings > Users and permissions, click Add user, enter the person's Google account email and pick Full or Restricted permission. You never exchange a password, because Google ties the email directly to your verified property.
Step-by-step: granting access to Google Search Console
Follow these steps as they appear in the current Search Console interface:
- Sign in to Google Search Console with an account that has Owner permission.
- Select the property you want to share from the property dropdown in the top-left corner.
- Click Settings in the left-hand menu (the gear icon near the bottom).
- Click Users and permissions.
- Click the Add user button near the top right.
- Type the person's email address in the field provided.
- Choose a permission level, Full or Restricted.
- Click Add to confirm.
The new user gets an email notification and sees the property in their own Search Console account the next time they sign in. There is no invitation link to click and no separate login to manage.
Which permission level to choose
Search Console permissions come in three tiers, so match the level to what the person actually needs to do.
| Permission Level | What They Can Do | Can Add or Remove Users? | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner | Full control, including verifying ownership and managing all users | Yes | You, or a long-term technical partner |
| Full | View all data, submit sitemaps, request indexing, use most tools | No | Your SEO agency or in-house marketer |
| Restricted | View most reports and data, but can't take actions | No | A client, decision-maker or analyst who just needs visibility |
An Owner can verify the site through several methods, such as an HTML tag, a DNS record or Google Analytics, and according to Google Search Central documentation on property verification, only an Owner can add or remove other users. If you're troubleshooting link quality rather than access, the Links report in Search Console is the place to look, and this guide to checking spam backlinks in Google Search Console walks through it without any paid tool.
When built-in sharing is enough, and when it isn't
Native sharing covers most everyday situations, but it has real limits.
One property vs. the whole site
If someone needs to check a single domain or subdomain, add them as a user and you're done. A business with ten location subdomains or several ccTLDs has to repeat the process for every property, because Search Console has no single dashboard that spans properties you haven't already grouped under one account.
A one-off favor vs. an ongoing workflow
Granting access for a one-time audit is simple: add the user, let them look, and remove them when they're finished. Recurring reports, automated alerts or a weekly spreadsheet of data are a different story. Teams often pull that data through the Search Console API instead of adding another human user, since the API returns the same metrics programmatically.
Common mistakes when sharing Search Console access
- Defaulting everyone to Full permission, when most decision-makers only need Restricted access to see reports.
- Forgetting to remove past agencies or freelancers, whose Full access still lets them submit sitemaps or change settings.
- Adding a personal email instead of a work one, which makes it harder to track later who has access.
- Assuming access transfers with a project handoff. It doesn't, and each new partner has to be added manually.
FAQs
Do I need to give someone my password to share Search Console access?
No. Access is tied to the person's own Google account email, not your login credentials, so you never share a password.
Can I give someone access to just one page instead of the whole property?
No. Permissions apply to the entire property, and you can't restrict a user to a single URL or folder.
What happens if I accidentally make someone an Owner?
They can add or remove other users, including you, and verify or unverify the property. You can demote them to Full or Restricted from the Users and permissions page as long as you still have Owner access yourself.
Does the person I add need a Gmail account?
They need a Google account, but any email address linked to one works, including a work email.
Can I see who has access to my Search Console property?
Yes. The Users and permissions page lists every user, their permission level, and whether they were added as Owner, Full or Restricted.
Talk to the team about your Search Console data
Knowing how to share access is only half the job, because someone still has to turn those clicks and impressions into decisions. If you'd like to see that data in a clear, client-ready report, talk to the team and look at a sample report built from real Search Console data.
Resources / References
Sources
About the author
SearchBlueprint researched, wrote and scored this article with the content pipeline our customers run on their own sites. The score in the byline is what our content engine gave this page before it published. Nothing here is reviewed by hand, which is the point: it is the product's output, published where anyone can check it.