The short answer
Treat Google Business Profile as an access system, not a stack of logins. Put each brand in its own business group, keep a person at the dental business as owner, and give vendors manager access on their own Google accounts. When the account holds ten or more eligible profiles of that same business, submit bulk verification from the Verifications tab. The spreadsheet upload is not that request. Point each profile at its own location page, use one lowercase UTM pattern so Analytics can separate offices, and ask every patient for a review the same way, with nothing offered in return.
Day-to-day setup for a handful of offices is covered in running several Business Profiles. This page is the operating rules for a group: roles, the chain verification path, a shared link pattern, and a review routine that does not break Google's contribution rules. Brand architecture for the wider group sits on DSO and multi-location marketing.
Who can change what
Google splits access in two layers. A single listing has owners and managers. A business group, the shared folder in Business Profile Manager, has its own owners and managers. Mixing those layers up is how a regional manager ends up able to delete an office they were never meant to touch, or how a vendor becomes the only person who can invite anyone else.
Primary profile owner
Can do
Full control of that listing, including who else can edit it and whether the listing is removed. A listing has one primary owner.
Limit
Cannot step away until primary ownership is moved to another user. A person added in the last 7 days cannot take primary ownership yet.
Profile owner
Can do
Same day-to-day control as the primary owner: users, info, posts, photos, review replies, and removal of the listing.
Limit
For the first 7 days, a new owner cannot delete the listing, remove other users, or transfer primary ownership.
Profile manager
Can do
Edits hours, address, phone, services, photos, posts, and review replies. Can download insights.
Limit
Cannot add or remove users and cannot remove the listing.
Business group owner
Can do
Adds or removes group users, can delete the group, and can transfer the group. Can add, edit, and delete listings inside it.
Limit
The primary group owner cannot remove themselves until another user can receive that role. One spreadsheet belongs to one group.
Business group manager
Can do
Adds, edits, and deletes every listing currently in the group, including listings added later.
Limit
Cannot add or remove people from the group. A group cannot manage another group.
| Role | Can do | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Primary profile owner | Full control of that listing, including who else can edit it and whether the listing is removed. A listing has one primary owner. | Cannot step away until primary ownership is moved to another user. A person added in the last 7 days cannot take primary ownership yet. |
| Profile owner | Same day-to-day control as the primary owner: users, info, posts, photos, review replies, and removal of the listing. | For the first 7 days, a new owner cannot delete the listing, remove other users, or transfer primary ownership. |
| Profile manager | Edits hours, address, phone, services, photos, posts, and review replies. Can download insights. | Cannot add or remove users and cannot remove the listing. |
| Business group owner | Adds or removes group users, can delete the group, and can transfer the group. Can add, edit, and delete listings inside it. | The primary group owner cannot remove themselves until another user can receive that role. One spreadsheet belongs to one group. |
| Business group manager | Adds, edits, and deletes every listing currently in the group, including listings added later. | Cannot add or remove people from the group. A group cannot manage another group. |
Google's third-party policy adds a rule agencies and in-house vendors both have to live with: the business keeps an owner or co-owner at all times. Do not share the login. If a partner built the listing, make the business the owner and the partner a manager. If the listing already existed, the business invites the partner as a manager, not as an owner. When the contract ends, the partner has 7 business days to detach its Google account and hand exclusive control back.
Invites go to an email address from People and access on the listing, or from Group settings, then Manage users, on the group. Google Groups cannot be added as owners or managers. Removed users lose the ability to edit, but replies and posts they already published stay on the listing.
Business groups as the boundary
A business group is the safer replacement for a shared password. In Business Profile Manager, once an account has two or more profiles, Create group is at the top right. You name the group, then move listings into it with Actions, then Transfer businesses. Anyone you later add as a group owner or group manager can open every listing in that folder, including listings added next quarter.
Google's own tradeoff is the governance choice:
- •One group per brand. One dashboard and one spreadsheet. The cost is that every group owner and group manager can see every office in it.
- •A group per region or sub-brand. People only see the offices in their folder. The cost is a separate spreadsheet import per group, and no single download that spans groups.
You can still invite someone onto one listing inside a group without giving them the whole folder. That is the right seat for an office manager. Deleting a group cannot be undone, and you must move or remove every listing first. To hand a brand to a new operator, transfer the group instead of deleting it. A group cannot be the manager of another group.
Bulk verification for ten or more
Google's bulk verification page and the bulk management overview describe a sequence. Skipping a step is the usual reason a ten-office group is still verifying offices one postcard at a time.
- Use a working email on the business domain when you can. Google says an unrelated mailbox can slow the review because support has to reach you.
- Create the business group and put the listings there before you ask for the chain check.
- Build one spreadsheet for that group with every location the account manages. Google compares the sheet to the real size of the business and may ask for evidence if they differ. Leaving offices out is a stated reason a request fails.
- Upload the sheet and clear errors in the dashboard. Listings are not eligible to show until they are verified, and the upload itself is not the verification.
- Submit the form. In Business Profile Manager, open Verifications, choose Chain, then Start, fill out the form, and select Submit. If that tab is missing, Google says you likely do not have enough eligible profiles yet.
- Watch the inbox. Google reviews the account, may ask for more detail, and emails you when the chain status changes. New listings added later that nobody else owns can be covered once the account or the group owner is verified. Video verification can still be required, with an authorized person at the office.
Count only eligible profiles toward ten. Duplicates, suspended listings, and disabled listings do not count. Service-area businesses are outside this route. An account that already has a verified chain should not start a second one; Google points organizations at a business group so management is shared. Only an owner or authorized representative may verify. Accounts that stop maintaining listings can be de-verified, and abuse of the chain path can get it revoked. For a single office, use the method Google offers on that listing. Our single-office setup guide covers that path.
Name, address, and phone control
Google's representation guidelines are the NAP rules. The profile name is the name on the storefront, the website, and the stationery, as patients already know it. Extra words in the name, including a city, are not allowed and can lead to suspension. For a chain in one country, every location uses that same name and the same primary category when the offices deliver the same services. A location may use a different name only when the sign, site, and stationery consistently show that different name. A format name such as a distinct sub-brand can differ from the parent, as long as every office of that format uses it the same way.
Address lines are the real street address patients visit. Suite or floor numbers belong there. A PO box, a mailbox, or a virtual office does not qualify. Do not create a second profile for the same door, in this account or another. The phone should connect to that office, stay under the business's control, and preferably be a local number rather than a central switchboard. The website field should represent that office, not a redirect to an unrelated page. Our location page guide is the matching page on the site. How those pages and profiles stay aligned for AI search is in AI search for multi-location dental groups.
Keep one internal row per office: legal brand string, profile name string, street address, phone, primary category, location-page URL, group name, and the Google accounts with access. When any cell changes, the profile, the location page, and the citation listings change in the same pass. That row is your control. It is not a patient list, and it does not belong in a contact form.
One UTM pattern for every office
Google does not require campaign parameters on a Business Profile website link. Analytics does explain how to read them. The URL builder article says to set utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign together. Values are case sensitive, so google and Google become two sources. Parameters can sit in any order. They are separated from the path by ? and from each other by &.
A group pattern that stays stable:
https://example.com/locations/north-park?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gbp&utm_content=north-park
- •utm_source=google on every office. One spelling.
- •utm_medium=organic so these clicks are not mixed with paid search.
- •utm_campaign=gbp for the profile website field. Posts or ads get their own campaign values.
- •utm_content is the only piece that changes: the office slug, lowercase, matching the location-page path.
Read the result under Acquisition, then Traffic acquisition, as session source, medium, and campaign. Google notes that these parameters are omitted from the landing page and page path dimensions and show up on page location instead. Do not invent a second pattern per region. For the phone side of the same question, use tracking calls and leads from the profile. Paid budgets and per-office call attribution for the same offices are in DSO Google Ads budgets and call attribution.
Review operations
Google's review tips and the Maps contribution policy set the boundary. You may ask people who had a real visit to leave a review, using a Google link or a QR code, with no incentive. You may not pay, discount, or give away care in exchange for a review, a rewrite, or removal of a negative one. You may not ask only happy patients, pressure someone while they are still in the chair, assign staff a review quota, or tell them which sentences to request.
A workable split for a group:
- •One link per office, generated for that listing, printed the same way at checkout. The ask is identical at every location.
- •One weekly reader at the brand or region who opens new reviews for every office. Local staff can draft the reply so it sounds like that office.
- •Public replies stay short. Do not argue, do not add a promotion, and do not state private details. If the issue needs a conversation, invite the person to call the office. Flag reviews that break Google's content policies instead of trying to bury them. See replying to negative reviews.
Profile managers can reply. They cannot change who has access. Put reply duty on a manager or owner who will still have access next month, and store the reply log in your own notes, not in a patient chart pasted into Google.
Red flags
- •A single shared Gmail is the only way into the listings.
- •A vendor is the sole owner, or the business cannot name an owner on its own accounts.
- •The sheet was uploaded and everyone assumed the chain was verified.
- •Unrelated practices were combined so the account would cross ten profiles.
- •Offices were omitted from the sheet, or service-area listings were included in the chain request.
- •The city or a keyword sits in the profile name, or each office picked a different primary category for the same services.
- •UTM values change capitalization or campaign name by region, so Analytics splits one effort into many rows.
- •Review asks include a gift, a discount, a quota, or a script. Replies confirm clinical details.
Governance checklist
Tick these for the brand you are governing. The ticks stay in this browser only. Nothing is sent to DDS Web Solutions.
Group profile checklist
12 items
After an acquisition, the same roles and the same listing should move with the office. The sequence is in post-acquisition marketing transition. Comparing outside firms is a separate job: how to choose a DSO dental marketing company.
FAQ
Does uploading the location spreadsheet verify the chain?
No. Google says the upload does not send a verification request. After the sheet is in Business Profile Manager and errors are fixed, an owner submits the form under Verifications, then Chain, then Start. Eligible listings can appear on Search and Maps after that request succeeds.
Can a marketing firm bulk-verify several unrelated dental clients together?
No. Google's bulk route is for ten or more profiles of the same business. The help page says agencies with more than one business in one account cannot bulk verify. Each group needs its own account structure, and the sheet must reflect that business's real size.
Should the agency be the owner of the profiles?
Google's third-party policy says the business keeps ownership or co-ownership. If a partner creates a listing, the business should be made the owner and the partner a manager. If the listing already exists, the business invites the partner as a manager. Passwords are not shared. When the relationship ends, the partner has 7 business days to remove its access.
Will UTM tags change what patients see on the profile?
Patients still open the office page. The extra parameters are for Analytics. Google says to set utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign together, and that the values are case sensitive. Session source, medium, and campaign then show in the Traffic acquisition report. This is a measurement habit, not a Business Profile requirement.
Can we offer a small gift for a Google review at each office?
No. Google forbids incentives such as payment, discounts, or free services in exchange for a review, a revision, or removal of a negative review. It also forbids asking only for positive reviews, pressuring people on site, and telling staff to collect a set number of reviews or to include specific wording.
Sources
Google help pages opened November 6, 2026 and returned HTTP 200. Wording changes, so confirm the live page. This is marketing operations guidance, not legal advice. DDS Web Solutions has offices in Sacramento and San Mateo. Our team has been building websites since 2014 and has served 100+ practices. SmileTrak is the analytics platform included with client work. ToothRank is a curated directory for DDS clients and is not a public listings site. Smyly is a consult preview and is separate from profile governance.
- •Google Business Profile Help: Manage your Business Profile owners and managers
- •Google Business Profile Help: Manage business group owners and managers
- •Google Business Profile Help: Third-party policies
- •Google Business Profile Help: Create and manage business groups
- •Google Business Profile Help: Bulk location management overview
- •Google Business Profile Help: Verify Business Profiles in bulk
- •Google Business Profile Help: Guidelines for representing your business on Google
- •Google Business Profile Help: Tips to get more reviews
- •Maps User Contributed Content Policy: Prohibited and restricted content
- •Google Analytics Help: Collect campaign data with custom URLs