Why Won’t Google Analytics Let Me Remove Accounts?

Have you ever tried to remove a Google Analytics account? what a pain in the neck this is, and I really can’t understand why.

The other day I ran up against my account limit of having too many Analytics accounts associated with my Gmail address. Going through my list of domains, I realized that there were lots of old accounts from months and even years ago that I no longer use and wanted to remove.

I had looked once before for an easy way to remove them and never could figure it out. I looked again, and there still is not a way to just dump it, even if YOU are the domain owner, and YOU are the only Admin.  As the administrator (and even owner), you would think that there would be a simple way to just delete the account wouldn’t you? But no, Google doesn’t offer that option.

For accounts which I was the Admin for, I did find a hilarious and efficient way to remove accounts that I’d actually used once before - Create a dummy gmail account - grant access as an admin to it - then sign in and remove the REAL admin access, leaving the dummy account as the Admin.  Quick and easy, and the process is really far easier than doing it the “right way”, which is somewhat different…

Instead, the “right way, is to visit this page and use the “contact us” form to send an e-mail, specifically requesting removal of the account.

Even more inconvenient, a separate contact form iss needed for removal of EACH Analytics account that you want to get rid of.

So I spent the 20+ minutes necessary to fill out multiple forms, looking up each Analytics account number, while filling out my regular communication address in one field, and my Gmail address in another field, where they ask what address is associated with the analytics account.

Surprisingly I got a timely email response within four hours, however it informed me that the request had to come from the administrator e-mail address. It said:

Thank you for your email. I understand you would like to get your
Analytics accounts canceled. I am afraid I could find an account with
account ID: UA- xxxxxxx.

Also, I could not cancel the account UA-xxxxxxx and UA-xxxxxxx as I notice that scott@pdxtc.com is not the administrator of the accounts.

Please send us a confirmation request for the cancellation from the login
email address of the administrator.

Besides the weird grammar, (”…afraid that I COULD find…”) it was a complete waste of time. Why didn’t they just say that in the first place on the contact form? Why not just SAY, that you have to use a Gmail address instead of giving me a second field?

So, I went to my Gmail account, and composed a new email, and copy/pasted the incident number in the subject line as well as Google’s reply in the body.

Then I summarized all of the accounts I wanted to remove, and sent them just one e-mail. Much to their credit, here’s the reply I got back about a day later:

Hello Scott,

Thank you for your email and the confirmation. I understand you want to
cancel a few Analytics accounts- UA-xxxxxxx, UA-xxxxxxx, UA-xxxxxxx,
UA-xxxxxx and UA-xxxxxxx.

I realize you want these accounts out of your list. At your request we have canceled UA- xxxxxxx, UA-xxxxxxx and UA-xxxxxxx as you are the administrator of these accounts.

However, as you are not the administrator of the accounts UA-xxxxxxx and
UA-xxxxxxx I was not able to cancel them. I will need a confirmation from
the administrator of the accounts.

In case you want these accounts to be removed from your list you will need
to contact the administrator of the accounts and ask them to remove your
user access. Once they disable your access these accounts will be out of
your list.

If you have additional questions, please visit our Help Center at
to find answers to many frequently asked questions. Or, try our Learning Center for self-paced lessons that cover the scope of AdWords.

We look forward to providing you with the most effective advertising
available. Sincerely,

(Name removed)
The Google AdWords Team

So while some of my requests were accomplished, because I was the administrator, I’m still stuck with multiple domains in my drop-down list that I would rather not have there at all.

I don’t work for those particular businesses, and some I never worked for, but they just gave me access so I could peek at their stats. I don’t wish to phone these people, and in fact, sending an e-mail to the contact addresses I have for some of them goes unanswered.

Why should I need to “contact the administrator of the accounts and ask them to remove your user access.“?

What the heck am I supposed to do now? Spend even more time to phone the company and try to track down their Web developer? Then HOPE they know what I’m talking about and have access to that old account?

This process seems to have NO REASON for being so protected either, that I can figure out. What exactly is the danger or harm that might come from REMOVING my access to an account? It’s totally ridiculous!

I’m now supposed to jump through hoops, and go through an entire explanation with someone else, in the hopes that they’ll remove my access, just so I can get them off my list?

Screw that…

If I had that much extra time, I’d… ummm, I’d… write a blog post about how stupid the whole process is.