How to Transfer Admin Ownership on Google Analytics Property

Transfer Ownership in Google Analytics

If you have arrived here you probably just sold a website or your moving clients around and are needing to transfer the complete ownership and or admin rights of your Google Analytic’s account to someone else. Most likely the way your Google Analytics account is structured is you have a bunch of web properties under one gmail account. If this is how your account is structured, unfortunately you will not be able to transfer ownership to someone else. This has been very frustrating for us and many other internet marketers.

[alert-note]Update: As of September 2016, you can now transfer Google Analytics accounts.[/alert-note]

You can of course add someone with rights to view your Google Analytics web property. To do that, follow these steps. And see our best recommendation for the problem above below.

Step 1

Click “Admin” at the very top and then click into “User Management.”

google analytics admin user management

Step 2

Then on the right, under the “Add permissions for:” simply add the gmail address of the person you are wanting to give access to and the rights you want them to have. And that’s it! Your done.

add email to GA web property

You would think by checking every permission the person could simply go in and then delete you from the account. However that is not how it works. The original account (gmail account) that setup the Google Analytics account still has full admin rights.

[alert-note]Unfortunately the best recommendation we have found so far is to give full access to new owner and tell them to create a new Account/Property/Profile in their own Google Analytics account and hookup their own analytics code for the website. This way it will start collecting data under their account. They will still be able to access the old historical data as well under the other property, but after times goes by they don’t have to worry about the original person with admin rights possibly deleting or removing them from the account.[/alert-note]

How Should I Setup Permissions on my Google Analytics Account?

If you are just setting up an account, I highly recommend you simply create a new gmail account for that website. Every client we work with, we setup a new gmail for the client and the Google Analytics account is setup on that gmail account. We then give access to view it to ourselves. This way though if you ever lose the client, have to let them go, need to transfer rights, you can simply remove yourself (or they can) from the Google Analytics account. Creating a separate gmail account is also recommended if you are creating google+ profiles, google maps, etc…

Please share your comments below. Or if you have figured out a way to fix the problem above please let us know!

author bio
Brian Jackson

I craft actionable content and develop performance-driven WordPress plugins. Connect on X, subscribe to my newsletter (once a month), or buy me coffee.

27 thoughts on “How to Transfer Admin Ownership on Google Analytics Property”

  1. I’ve been always wondering what would be the best approach when handing over the analytics account to my client. Some clients really didn’t like my account peeking into their stats.

    I never thought of creating new email address and meanwhile I know asking for gmail password form client is not practical.

    Now I know what I should do for my next client :)

    Reply
    • Ya creating a new gmail account for each client is the best way I have found to do it. Especially if you are running AdWords and wanting to bill them directly. Also, you can register for local listings, create google maps listings, bing map listings, etc… and not have to worry about transferring them later. Simply hand them the logins + gmail account and your good to go. Glad the article was helpful to you Jay!

      Reply
  2. It is possible to remove yourself from an Analytics account, could you not have them add your email with full permissions and then delete themselves?

    Reply
    • Thanks for your comment Kristi. Unfortunately that doesn’t actually work. The original gmail account that set it up you cannot remove. Hopefully Google will eventually fix this.

      Reply
  3. Nice post. Great advice as to best approach: creating a new gmail account, setting up analytics and giving my client these details!
    That is the approach I will take. I will also use this approach for google webmaster tools. Nice.

    Reply
    • Thanks Johan. Yes, that is the best long term approach. You can give yourself admin access on Analytics, Webmaster Tools, and AdWords. And then if your client ever leaves, all you have to do is hand over their Gmail access :) And you’re done! It is a little setup work in the beginning but down the road, it makes the most sense.

      Reply
  4. Thanks! I set up analytics on my personal gmail account and wanted to transfer it to my blog google account. It was easy once I added my blog account as a user and then deleted my personal gmail account as an admin. Thanks for your help!!

    Reply
  5. Hi Is there a way to get an analytics account transfered to the site owners gmail address where an agency is refusing access to analytics after the client has been paying them £30K per month? Thanks

    Reply
    • Wow, that sounds like a tough one. I would probably threaten legal action at least and see if they budge. If the agency created it under their own gmail then it is actually impossible to transfer. If they did this, the agency isn’t very smart. However, they could give the new owner access to it. The bad thing about that is, the agency could at anytime revoke the access. If you can’t get ownership of it, I would suggest starting fresh with a new gmail account. And maybe getting an export of the agency analytics data in case you need to compare historical data.

      Reply
      • Thanks Brian, it got a whole lot worse than the above. The agency i referred to also refused access to the adwords account quoting they had “a special arrangement with Google”. i raised it with Google and they couldn’t transfer any access either as the agency had all their clients in one Google adwords account. So the client spent 90k, got nothing and have no evidence of any work. I think the moral of this story is. Make sure you have access at admin level and also make sure you have a unique adwords account for your business especially if you’re using a Google Agency.

        Reply
        • Wow sorry to hear that. Sounds like a mess. I can’t even fathom how an agency could act like that. I couldn’t sleep at night if I treated my clients that way. That is horrible.

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  6. It sounds clever to setup a Gmail account for clients and then setup Google Analytics for that account as. But what do you do when the client already has a Gmail account? Do you setup a new account anyway or do you tell the client to setup a Google Analytics for that existing Gmail account?

    Reply
    • Hi Torben. For clients that already have a Gmail account I always either get the login from them, or tell them to how to setup Analytics and give me admin access. I then have a central gmail for things such as setting up Google+ pages, etc. since you can easily change the owner whenever. This way there is less bouncing around between gmail accounts.

      Reply
      • Ok, but isn’t it a bit insecure to ask clients for their login credentials to Gmail? I mean, if I did that I would have access to ALL their mails!

        Reply
        • Sorry I should have clarified… I only do that if they don’t use their Gmail account. A lot of times I have found clients that have a gmail previously setup by a former marketing company. Clients seem to bounce a round a lot. Most of my clients always use an email on their own domain. If they do use the gmail, I would then simply ask them to create an analytics account and give you admin access :)

          Reply
        • Hey Torben! Great concern to have for your clients, however, you’d be surprised how fast the client is to give up their Gmail login in order to get some good help.

          Asking if my clients or new clients have a Gmail account is almost one of the first things I ask. If they do, great! I ask for their login to begin setting up their Analytics, Webmasters Tool and checking to see if they verified their G+ business page.

          THEN, in this case, I add my company Gmail ID to all of those in order to have access as an Admin or Manager, so I can login using my credentials moving forward. I always tell them to change the password once I’m done.

          Now, if they do not have a Gmail account, then things are much, much easier. Because sometimes… I mean, most times, small business owners don’t do a good job of keeping password records. So, with the 1st situation, you may have to help them find their password(s). When setting up a new Gmail account, then you do it all and give the client UID/PWD info and you keep record too.

          We’ve yet to have a client say no to asking for their info. They get frustrated because they can’t figure out how to do things, and when we show them how easy it is or how fast we can do it, then they are relieved and just want it done.

          If they are really uneasy about giving you their PWD, then I recommend this…

          Ask to meet in person if you are local… or do a Go To Meeting where you can control their mouse/screen and have them enter in the PWD, so you don’t see or know what it is. Then you can jump in and take care of all the setup and add in your Gmail ID, so you no longer need there’s.

          Billable or non-billable time is your call for this strategy. I make it billable :)

          Hope this helps settle your worries and your clients as well.
          – Patrick
          http://whiteboardcreations.com

          Reply
  7. So basically there is no way to do what your title says. Is there any talk of this changing? Any other documentation that this feature may be supported in the future? Seems to be quite an issue for businesses if their structure changes or they change web developers.

    Reply
    • Hey Andrew! Ya sorry I titled it because I knew what people would be searching for. Its what I searched for originally when I was trying to do this, then digging deeper and realizing its not possible :( I have not seen any documentation or mentions of this being supported in the future. However, Google+ business pages have a very nice “change of owner” feature… I would love to see that eventually integrated into Analytics. I agree it is a big problem. Especially when accounts change hands.

      Reply
      • No worries. I am glad you let us know right away it’s not possible. Thanks for the info

        Sent from my U.S. Cellular® Smartphone

        ——– Original message ——–

        Reply
    • Thanks for the tip Donald. Unfortunately that doesn’t work all the time. I think it has to do with when the original analytics account was made. More of a bug with Analytics if you ask me. On newer accounts though that does seem to work :)

      Reply
  8. Hello My client integrated analytics to his website from old developer. now that old developer doesn’t exist so they want to move there services to me. we dont have cantrole pannel aces of old developer but we have access to website source how we can move old analytics to new pannel?

    Reply
  9. So when you create a new gmail account for a client do you use their details – first and last name, D.O.B, phone number, current email address?

    Reply
    • You can create a Gmail account with just a name and email address. I do this all the time. However, you can’t create too many too often otherwise it might force you to provide a DOB/phone number.

      Reply

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