Three accounts, about twenty minutes, and you never give us a password. This page remembers where you got to, so you can stop halfway and come back.
0 of 12 doneWorks on a phoneStuck? Reply to our email and we’ll do it on a call
What we’re asking for, and what we’re not
We never ask for your password. Every step adds us as a named person on your account. If anyone ever asks you for login details — us included — say no.
You stay the owner of everything. On your Business Profile we ask to be a Manager, never an Owner. You can remove us from any of these in about ten seconds, without asking us.
We ask for the lowest level that does the job. Where reading is enough, we ask to read.
Without these, an audit is guesswork. Anyone offering to audit your site without asking for them is reading the outside of your website and estimating the rest.
Google moves its menus around. If a button is named slightly differently, look for something close — the shape of each process hasn’t changed in years. If you can’t find it, message us rather than clicking around.
1 · Google Search Console
~8 min · the important one
Google’s own report on how your site performs in search — what people searched for, which pages Google filed, what it refused to file, and whether there’s any penalty. It is the single most important thing on this page, and no tool can see it from outside. We need: Full user. Not Owner.
Open Search Console and check you're in the right place
Go to search.google.com/search-console and sign in with the Google account that manages your website. Top left there’s a dropdown with your address in it — make sure the one showing is yours. Don’t think you have one? Whoever built your site very often set one up — ask them first. If not, it’s a ten-minute job we’ll do with you on a call.
Open Settings, then Users and permissions
Settings is in the left-hand menu near the bottom — on a phone, tap the menu icon first. Inside it choose Users and permissions.
Have a look at who's already on the list
Worth thirty seconds. It’s common to find a developer or agency from years ago still holding access. Tell us if you see a name you don’t recognise.
Add us as a Full user
Click Add user, paste in the email address we sent you, set permission to Full, confirm. Several properties listed and unsure which? Add us to all of them — it costs nothing, and the plain domain one with no https:// in front is usually the best.
2 · Google Analytics
~5 min · not blocking
Search Console tells us what happened in Google. Analytics tells us what happened on your site once someone arrived. We need: Viewer — read-only. We can’t change a setting or delete a thing, and there’s no reason for us to have more.
Open Analytics and find Admin
analytics.google.com, then Admin — usually a gear icon at the bottom of the left menu. No website listed? You may not have Analytics, or it’s under someone else’s account. This one isn’t blocking — the audit runs without it.
Go to Property access management
Under the Property column. Check the property named at the top is your website.
Add us as a Viewer
The + button, top right → Add users → paste our email → pick Viewer → save.
3 · Google Business Profile
~5 min
Your listing on Google Maps and in local results. For a business serving a particular area it is often doing more work than the website. We need: Manager. Never Owner.
Be careful with this one — and not because of us
Your Business Profile is the most valuable thing on this page and the easiest to lose. Never transfer ownership to anybody — not to us, not to an agency, not to whoever built your site. Manager lets someone do the work; Owner lets them lock you out.
Open your profile
business.google.com, or just search your own business name in Google while signed in — the editing panel appears in the results.
Find the people settings
Settings → People and access, sometimes shown as Managers.
Check who else is on there
Old agencies and former staff turn up here constantly. If anyone other than you is listed as Owner, tell us immediately — that’s a serious finding and it goes to the top of your report.
Invite us as a Manager
Add → paste our email → role Manager → send. Says someone else already manages it? Common and fixable, but don’t start a reclaim on your own — send us a screenshot and we’ll tell you which path applies.
4 · The things only you know
~2 min · by email
Three accounts tell us what the machines think. This is the bit nobody can look up, and it’s why our reports say things a tool can’t. Bullet points, not an essay.
Your three most profitable jobs
Not the most common — the most profitable. It changes which pages we work on first, and it’s the question most audits never ask.
Where you actually go, and where you don't
The towns you genuinely serve. Just as useful: the ones you’d rather not drive to. We will not put a town on your website that you don’t want work from.
Anything done to the site before
A previous SEO company, a package bought online, a redesign, a change of address. You will not be judged for any of it — half our clients have something in this box, and knowing early saves weeks.
Who looks after the website itself
A name and an email, or “nobody, it’s just me”. Some of what we produce needs pasting in, and knowing who does that on day one prevents the most common way this work stalls.
That's everything
Once all four sections are ticked, send us a quick note and we'll confirm each one works from our side. If anything didn't go to plan, tell us which step — we'd rather spend ten minutes on a call than have you fighting a menu.