Google webmaster tool (GWT) owner removal issue

[ennick]

Hi!

I have a new client, the former agency added the client property with the agency account so we had to create a new GA account (as you can’t transfer ownership at the account level) but we also kept access to the former account to keep historical data.

We were granted owner access to the GWT (which is more flexible, you can remove owners and creators) and we now want to remove former agency users. We have 3 adresses.

One was verified with delegation method (no pb for removal), one with meta tag (no pb) and one with Google Analytics. Here it becomes tricky as Google says regarding GA verif method “If this account was verified using a Google Analytics tracking code, you should make sure that the user you want to unverify is no longer an administrator on the Analytics account. Otherwise, removal may not be permanent”.

The thing is that this user has the same email address as the one used to create the agency GA account (no ownership transfer) so I basically can’t remove admin rights. The other possibility, as Google mentions when I try to unlink this user, is “remove the administrator status in Google Analytics or delete the Google Analytics tracking code on the website”. But we don’t want to remove the code as we still want to track data with the former account for historical analysis purposes.

Has anyone ever faced this situation? Do you know how to handle this? Do you think that unlinking the GWT and the GA accounts will unverify the GA method?

Many thanks in advance !

Ennick

[WhiteboardCreations]

Ennick,

It seems you're in a sticky situation. We once looked into exporting GA data for a client whose webmaster "accidentally" deleted 4+yrs of information. In looking to export all of the GA data and importing to a new one we weren't really successful, yet found this http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17891113/how-to-export-complete-google-analytics-historical-data which says unless scripting your own API to Google or using Next Analytics, you can do it, but are still limited to the data you can pull though depending on how much you need/they have.

To your question though, I'm not sure of the exact solution about unlinking the GWT and GA accounts as to what mess that could create. Interested to see what other Moz users have to say!

Hope this was somewhat helpful. -Patrick

[DanDeceuster]

I would just start over. Make a new GA account, install the new tracking code, get added on GWT with this account, then use it moving forward. Then you don't have to remove or delete anyone from the old account. It's just sitting there for historical data purposes. So if you need to go back in time and check anything, sign in to that account. For current stuff, use your new account. Inconvenient, yes, but really the only work around I can think of that doesn't require jumping through Google's hoops to add or remove admins.

[KristinaKledzik]

Hi Ennick,

How long has it been since you set up the new GA account that the former vendor doesn't have access to?

I ask this because I think removing the vendor's access to your GA data is possibly more important than removing their access to your GWT. Yes, you could muck things up through GWT, but that would only be done vindictively, for no other purpose than to hurt you. If the vendor starts working for your competitors, though, continuing to give them access to your data through GA offers an insane amount of details that could potentially be used against you.

I recommend that you shut down the agency GA account. Download the historical data, like Patrick recommends, for reports where you need it, but as you move forward with your new account, you'll probably focus on month over month or year over year comparisons, and eventually you'll rarely use it.

Good luck!

Kristina