In November, Google’s Caio Barros posted a notice in the help forums that there was “a problem” in Google Search Console’s user interface where “Full Users” see their status as “Delegated Owners” within the settings ownership verification section of Search Console. Well, Caio Barros confirmed this is now fixed, a couple months later.
The issue. The issue was that when you went to the ownership verification section in your Search Console settings, you would see your status as “Delegated Owner.” But you would not be able to see the “Users and Permissions” option on your account. That means you were likely a Full User and not a Delegated Owner, but Search Console didn’t show that.
Now resolved. This issue is now resolved, Caio Barros wrote yesterday “this issue should be fixed now.” He said “if you are a Full user but don’t have ownership (i.e., don’t have permission to add and remove users), you’ll see a message like this,” which says you are “not a verified owner.” Caio said this new message makes it super clear and unambiguous.
Now, if you really are an owner and wish to delegate ownership to another user, you can now go directly into the user management settings in Search Console and set the user permission to “Owner.” Then the user will see their ownership verification as delegated owner. They are still not a verified owner, but can manage users and permissions,” Caio explained.
Why we care. If you were running into this confusing permission issue in Google Search Console over the past few months, you can now go back in and adjust those settings. If not, then carry on with your normal daily SEO tasks.
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About The Author
Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry’s personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here.