Caio Barros of Google posted in the help forums in November that there was “a problem” in Google Search Console’s user interface where “Full Users” see their status as “Delegated Owners” within the Search Console settings ownership verification section. A few months later, Caio Barros confirmed that the problem has been resolved.
The Issue
The problem was that when you went to the ownership verification section in your Search Console settings, your status was listed as “Delegated Owner.” However, you would be unable to see the “Users and Permissions” option on your account. That means you were most likely a Full User rather than a Delegated Owner, but Search Console didn’t show you as such.
Now Resolved
This problem has been resolved, as Caio Barros stated yesterday, “this problem should be fixed now.” “If you are a Full user but don’t have ownership (i.e., you don’t have permission to add and remove users), you’ll see a message like this,” he said, referring to the fact that you are “not a verified owner,” Caio stated that the new message is extremely clear and unambiguous.
If you truly are the owner and want to delegate ownership to another user, you can now go directly into Search Console’s user management settings and set the user permission to “Owner.” The user will then be able to see their ownership verification as a delegated owner. “They are not a verified owner yet, but they can manage users and permissions,” Caio explained.
Why we care
If you’ve been having trouble with this perplexing permission issue in Google Search Console in recent months, you can now go back in and adjust those settings. If not, continue with your regular daily SEO tasks.
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