What is the difference between an owner and a user in Search Console?
User Management
An owner controls the property itself: who has access, property-wide tools such as the change of address, and links to other Google products. A user works inside the property without controlling it. A full user sees all data and takes most actions; a restricted user mostly views. Owners come in two kinds: verified owners hold a verification token on the site, and delegated owners were given ownership by another owner.
Verified owners and delegated owners
According to Google's permissions help, both kinds have the same powers. The difference is how they got them, and how they lose them:
- A verified owner proved control with a token: an HTML file, a meta tag, a DNS record, or a Google Analytics or Tag Manager connection. To remove one, you remove their token from the site; taking them off the user list alone isn't enough, because the token would let them back in.
- A delegated owner was added by an existing owner and can be removed on the Users and permissions page.
Ownership rests on tokens. If every verified owner disappears, the delegated owners and users lose access too after a grace period. Search Console keeps collecting data, but nobody can see it until someone verifies again.
What only owners can do
- Add and remove owners and users, and manage everyone's permissions.
- Link a Google Analytics account to the property.
- Use the Change of Address tool when moving to a new domain; users can only view it.
Full users and restricted users compared
| Task | Full user | Restricted user |
|---|---|---|
| View reports, including Performance, Links and rich result reports | Yes | Yes |
| URL Inspection | Yes | Fetch only |
| Request indexing | Yes | No |
| Submit sitemaps | Yes | No |
| Remove URLs | Yes | View only |
| Disavow links, reconsideration requests, validating fixes | Yes | No |
| Share report links | Yes | No |
| Property settings such as crawl rate | Yes | View only |
| Messages | All | Only those that affect them |
The full matrix is in permission levels.
Choosing a level for each person
- Owner: only people who must manage access, ideally two or more, verified with company-controlled accounts so access doesn't leave with one employee.
- Full user: whoever does technical SEO work, such as an agency submitting sitemaps, inspecting URLs and validating fixes.
- Restricted user: people who only read reports, such as managers or clients.
A property can have up to 100 users who aren't owners, and each person needs a Google Account; email groups can't be added. Adding someone is covered in adding a user.
How AutoPSEO helps
You can give colleagues and clients access to your properties in AutoPSEO without adding them in Search Console. Invite them by email as an editor or a viewer, optionally limited to particular properties; they work through your connection, so they need no Search Console access of their own. Viewers can look but can't change settings or spend your research allowance (sharing and team access).
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