How to Invite Someone to Google Analytics

Giving someone access to your Google Analytics is a straightforward task, but understanding the different permission levels is essential for keeping your data secure. This tutorial provides a step-by-step guide on how to add a new user, explains exactly what each permission level means, and covers best practices for managing your team’s access.

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Accessing Your Google Analytics Admin Settings

Everything related to user management happens in the Admin section of your Google Analytics account. This is the central hub where you control settings, link accounts, create filters, and, most importantly for this guide, manage who can see and interact with your data.

Here’s how to get there:

1. Log in to your Google Analytics account.
2. In the bottom-left corner of the screen, click on the gear icon labeled Admin.

Once you’re in the Admin panel, you'll see a screen organized into two columns: Account and Property. This structure is fundamental to understanding how Google Analytics organizes your data and, by extension, how user permissions are applied.

Understanding Google Analytics Structure: Account and Property

Before you add a user, you need to decide where to add them. Adding a user at the Account level gives them far more access than adding them at the Property level. Getting this wrong can lead to sharing more data than you intended.

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What is the 'Account' Level?

The "Account" is the highest organizational level in Google Analytics. Think of it as a huge filing cabinet that holds all your company’s data. If your business owns multiple websites, you might have them all organized as separate "Properties" inside this one "Account."

• When to grant Account-level access: Giving someone access here means they will automatically have access to every single Property within that Account. This is ideal for a company's head of marketing, a system administrator, or anyone who needs a complete bird's-eye view of all digital assets. Grant this level of access sparingly.

What is the 'Property' Level?

The "Property" represents a single website or application. Using our filing cabinet analogy, if the Account is the whole cabinet, a Property is a single drawer inside it dedicated to one specific website (e.g., yourcompany.com). A Property contains all the data tracking and reports associated with that site.

• When to grant Property-level access: This is the most common and practical level for granting access. It allows a user to see data for one specific website without giving them access to others you might own. This is perfect for a brand manager who only works on one site, a freelance analyst helping with a specific project, or an agency managing marketing for a single brand within your portfolio.

How to Add a New User to Google Analytics (Step-by-Step)

The process for inviting a user is nearly identical whether you're at the Account or Property level. The only difference is where you start.

Step 1: Navigate to Access Management

First, go to the Admin panel by clicking the gear icon. Then, decide on the level of access you want to provide.

• For Account-level access: In the Account column, click on "Account Access Management."
• For Property-level access: In the Property column, click on "Property Access Management."

For most situations, granting permissions at the Property level is the safest and most common choice.

Step 2: Add the New User's Email Address

Once you’re in the Access Management screen, you’ll see a list of current users. To add a new one, follow these steps:

1. In the top right corner, click the blue + button and select "Add users."
2. In the pop-up window, enter the email address of the person you want to invite. Important: They must have a Google account associated with this email address to accept the invitation.
3. You can add multiple emails at once if they will all share the same permission level.

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Step 3: Assign Roles and Permissions

This is the most critical step. Below the email field, you will see a list of "Standard roles" you can assign. You must carefully choose the level of permission that fits the user's need-to-know access.

We’ll dive deep into exactly what each of these roles means in the next section.

Step 4: Send the Invitation

1. Optionally, keep the "Notify new users by email" box checked. This sends an automatic email letting a user know that they've been granted access.
2. Click the Add button in the top right.

That's it! The user will now appear in your list and can access your Google Analytics property (or account) according to the permissions you assigned.

Choosing the Right Permissions: What Do The Roles Mean?

Granting blanket administrator access to everyone is a common mistake that can compromise your data security. Understanding the differences between each role is key to following the principle of least privilege - giving users only the access they absolutely need to do their jobs.

Administrator

The Administrator role provides complete and total control. Users with this permission can do anything and everything.

• What they can do: Add and remove other users (including other Administrators), change user permissions, delete the entire property or account, link Google Ads and Google Search Console accounts, create goals, and configure all settings.
• Who needs it: Only one or two highly trusted individuals, typically the business owner or the primary manager of the digital marketing infrastructure. Never give this to external agencies or temporary contractors.

Editor

The Editor role is very powerful but with one crucial limitation: they cannot manage users.

• What they can do: Almost everything an Administrator can do, such as create and edit custom reports, set up goals, create filters, and adjust property settings. They cannot, however, add new users, delete users, or change anyone's permission levels.
• Who needs it: Senior team members, marketing managers, or web developers who need to implement tracking or configure GA4 settings but don't need to control user access. This is a much safer alternative to the Administrator role for daily tasks.

Analyst

The Analyst role is designed for team members who need to work with the data but shouldn’t be changing core settings.

• What they can do: View all data and settings, and most importantly, they can create, edit, and share their own custom assets like reports in Explorations or Segments. They can collaborate on shared assets too. However, they can’t change any admin-level settings like goals or filters.
• Who needs it: This is a great role for most marketing team members who need to dig into the data, build reports for their specific campaigns, and share insights without the risk of them accidentally changing an important setting.

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Viewer

The Viewer role is the most restrictive permission level. It is, quite literally, view-only access.

• What they can do: See all reports and data and manipulate basic settings within a report (like changing date ranges or adding secondary dimensions). They cannot create or share assets, see other users' shared assets, or change any settings.
• Who needs it: This is perfect for clients, company executives, or junior staff who only need to see topline performance metrics and don’t need to do deep analysis or make any changes.

Managing and Removing User Access

It's good practice to regularly audit who has access to your analytics. When an employee leaves the company or your contract with an agency ends, you should remove their access immediately.

To see, edit, or remove users:

1. Navigate to Admin → Account/Property Access Management.
2. You’ll see the full list of everyone with access.
3. To change permissions: Click on a user’s name. From the side panel, you can check or uncheck different roles to adjust their access level.
4. To remove access entirely: Click the three vertical dots on the far right of the user's row, and select "Remove access." This will immediately revoke their ability to see any of your data.

Best Practices for Granting Google Analytics Access

Keep these simple rules in mind to keep your account secure and manageable:

• Employ the Principle of Least Privilege: Always grant the minimum level of access possible. If someone only needs to see report data, give them Viewer access, not Administrator access "just to be safe."
• Use Professional Email Addresses: Whenever possible, grant access to company email addresses (you@yourcompany.com) instead of personal Gmails (yourname123@gmail.com). This makes it much easier to manage offboarding when someone leaves your team.
• Stick to the Property-Level When Possible: Unless someone truly needs access to every site you own, add them at the individual Property level. This contains their access and prevents accidental data sharing.
• Conduct Regular Audits: Set a recurring reminder in your calendar (once a quarter is great) to peek at your user list. You might be surprised to find old employees or agencies who still have access long after they’ve moved on.

Final Thoughts

You now know how to confidently invite new users to Google Analytics, choose the correct roles for your team, and manage permissions over time. By following these steps and best practices, you can collaborate effectively while keeping firm control over your business-critical data.

While sharing access to Google Analytics is a great way to collaborate, it often leads to even more questions and report requests. We built Graphed because we wanted to empower every team member, even non-analysts, to get answers from their data directly. By connecting sources like Google Analytics, we turn hours of manual report-building into simple, 30-second conversations. Your entire team can build their own dashboards and get instant insights using plain English, freeing up your analytics experts to focus on strategy instead of pulling numbers.