The short answer
Before you close on a dental practice, confirm who can sign in to the Business Profile, the domain, the website, Google Ads, GA4, and Search Console, and put a person on the buyer side on each one. Check that the profile name, address, phone, and categories match the real office. Record the review history you can see, including the dates of the newest reviews and posts, as a read and not as a price formula. Open the ad account and note what history is actually in it. The work after closing, including the public name, redirects, and the account handoff, is in the post-acquisition transition.
Finish this marketing inventory before closing. It covers marketing only, not valuation or legal review. A group that will run the acquired door next to other offices can start from DSO and multi-location marketing. Ask your own counsel to read the purchase terms.
Who can sign in
Sit with a person who can open each asset, on a login the buyer will still have after the seller's firm is gone. Write the role you see. A promise that access will be sent later is not the check.
Business Profile
An owner can invite other owners and managers. Each person uses their own Google Account, so the password is not shared. Owners can add or remove users and can remove the profile. Managers can edit the profile and cannot add or remove users or remove the profile. A profile can have several owners and only one primary owner. Confirm a person at the buyer side is an owner before you close.
Domain and website
Confirm the buyer can sign in at the registrar and at the host, and can open the site files. The inventory for a group handoff is the agency-switch guide.
Google Ads
Access is granted to a Google Account, at an access level you choose, and it can be edited or removed later. Admin access is what the help page names for monthly invoicing or a credit line. If the account has only one administrator, Google notes you can lose access to your tags if that person is unavailable. The buyer should already be an administrator, not waiting on a vendor inbox.
Google Analytics
Users are added at the account or the property. An account-level user also has that access on every property. Adding or changing a user takes the Administrator role at that level. Deleting a user takes the Administrator role at the account, and the last Administrator cannot delete themselves. The buyer should be an Administrator. A view-only login is not that role.
Search Console
A property needs at least one verified owner, or no user can open it. Owners add and remove users. A verified owner proved control with a token on the site. A delegated owner was added by a verified owner without a new token. Full users and restricted users can see data and do not manage the owner list. The buyer should be a verified owner, with the token on a site the buyer will control.
| Asset | What to confirm |
|---|---|
| Business Profile | An owner can invite other owners and managers. Each person uses their own Google Account, so the password is not shared. Owners can add or remove users and can remove the profile. Managers can edit the profile and cannot add or remove users or remove the profile. A profile can have several owners and only one primary owner. Confirm a person at the buyer side is an owner before you close. |
| Domain and website | Confirm the buyer can sign in at the registrar and at the host, and can open the site files. The inventory for a group handoff is the agency-switch guide. |
| Google Ads | Access is granted to a Google Account, at an access level you choose, and it can be edited or removed later. Admin access is what the help page names for monthly invoicing or a credit line. If the account has only one administrator, Google notes you can lose access to your tags if that person is unavailable. The buyer should already be an administrator, not waiting on a vendor inbox. |
| Google Analytics | Users are added at the account or the property. An account-level user also has that access on every property. Adding or changing a user takes the Administrator role at that level. Deleting a user takes the Administrator role at the account, and the last Administrator cannot delete themselves. The buyer should be an Administrator. A view-only login is not that role. |
| Search Console | A property needs at least one verified owner, or no user can open it. Owners add and remove users. A verified owner proved control with a token on the site. A delegated owner was added by a verified owner without a new token. Full users and restricted users can see data and do not manage the owner list. The buyer should be a verified owner, with the token on a site the buyer will control. |
Google's owner and manager help, Ads access help, Analytics user help, and Search Console permissions help are the pages behind those rows. The order for taking a multi-office stack back from a firm is in switching a dental marketing agency. Use it when the seller's firm is still on the logins. Do not wait until after closing to discover the only owner is that firm.
What the profile shows
Google's representation guidelines say to show the business as it is represented in the real world, across the sign and the other branding, and to keep the address or service area accurate. Use the fewest categories that describe the core business. There should be one profile per business. A second profile for the same door is a problem to write down, not a second asset to count.
On the day you look, compare the profile name, address, phone, hours, and website field with the door you are buying. Note the dates of the most recent posts if the profile has them. A mismatch is a fact for the file. It is not, by itself, a reason this page gives you to change the price. If the public name will change after closing, that choice is in rebrand, co-brand, or keep the local name, and it happens after you already know which profile is the real one.
Reviews as a read
Open the profile and write down what it shows that day: the rating, the count of reviews, the dates on the newest reviews, and whether the business has posted public replies. Read a few of the recent notes so you know what patients wrote. Stop there.
Do not treat a quiet stretch, or a busy stretch, as a score this guide invented. The dates are the record. How a group later asks for reviews and replies, without copying reviews onto another office, is in review requests across many offices. That work is after you own the profile.
The ad account
Open the Google Ads account from Access and security and list the users. Note whether the buyer is already on the account, and whether a firm is the only administrator. Google's access page says an invitation goes to a Google Account and that you can remove access later. An account you cannot open is not a history you can judge.
If you can open it, note which campaigns are running, which are paused, and the dates of the latest edits you can see. Do not grade the account by how old it is.Cost and call counts, if you need them after closing, belong on the group's own report, not in a sentence that prices the deal.
The site and Search Console
Confirm you can open the site and Search Console for the property that matches it. In Users and permissions, a verified owner is the role that can add and remove people. If every verified owner is someone who will leave at closing, the property is not in the buyer's hands yet. Google says a property with no verified owner is one that users cannot open.
If a firm offers an SEO audit of the site before closing, use Google's hiring guidance. An audit should give realistic estimates of the work and of improvement. No one can guarantee a number one ranking. At that stage, grant read access to Search Console and not write access. Ignore a claim of a special relationship with Google.
After you close
Closing does not finish the marketing move. The transition guide is where you keep the current profile and the current ad account, map permanent redirects, and hand off access. The name on the sign, the profile, the page, and the ads is a separate choice. Review requests, if the group runs them, start only after the buyer is an owner on that profile.
- Post-acquisition marketing transition
- Rebrand, co-brand, or keep the local name
- Switching a dental marketing agency
- Review requests across many offices
- DSO and multi-location marketing
Sources
Wording on these pages can change, so confirm the live page. This is marketing guidance, not legal advice.
- Google Business Profile Help: Guidelines for representing your business on Google
- Google Business Profile Help: Manage your Business Profile owners and managers
- Google Search Central: Do you need an SEO?
- Google Ads Help: Manage access to your Google Ads account
- Analytics Help: Add, edit, and delete Analytics users and user groups
- Search Console Help: Managing owners, users, and permissions
Frequently Asked Questions
Who should be able to open the Business Profile before closing?
Someone on the buyer side should already be an owner. Google lets an owner invite other owners and managers, and each person needs their own Google Account so the password is not shared. Managers can do much of the daily editing and cannot add or remove users or remove the profile. A profile can have several owners and only one primary owner.
How should reviews be recorded before they affect the deal?
Write down the rating and the review count the profile shows on the day you look, the dates of the most recent reviews, and whether the business has public replies. That is a read of what is on the profile. Google's representation guidelines do not publish a formula that turns those figures into a price.
Who should hold the Google Ads account?
The buyer should be a user who can open Access and security, with an access level that can remain after the seller's agency is removed. Google's help says you invite a Google Account, choose the access level, and can remove access later. Admin is the level it names for monthly invoicing or a credit line. An account that only a vendor can sign in to is not yet in the buyer's hands.
Who should be an Administrator in Google Analytics?
The buyer. Users are identified by a Google email and can be added at the account or at one property. Account-level access applies to every property in the account. You need the Administrator role to add or change users. The last Administrator cannot delete themselves, so the buyer should not be the only person left without a second Administrator at the group.
Does this page give an SEO timeline for a site you are about to buy?
No. Google's hiring guidance says an SEO audit should give realistic estimates of the work and of improvement, and that no one can guarantee a number one ranking. It does not state a timeline. At the audit stage it says to grant read access to Search Console and not write access.