Yes, an SEO company can manage what you may still call your Google My Business listing. One detail to clear up first: Google retired the “Google My Business” name several years ago, and the listing is now called your Google Business Profile. The product is the same, and it remains the free listing that shows your business in Google Search and Google Maps. When you ask an SEO company to manage it, you are asking them to keep that profile accurate, active, and competitive on your behalf.
What ongoing management actually involves
A Google Business Profile is not something you set up once and leave alone. Ongoing management is regular, routine work, and a competent SEO company should handle it as a continuing service rather than a single project. The core tasks include:
Keeping core information accurate. Your business name, address, phone number, website, hours, and service areas need to stay correct, including special hours for holidays. Inconsistent details across the web can weaken local search performance, so this is a foundational job.
Choosing and refining categories. Google lets you select a primary category and additional categories. Picking the most accurate ones, and adjusting them as your services change, affects which searches your profile appears in.
Adding and updating photos. Fresh, accurate images of your location, team, and work help your profile look current and trustworthy.
Publishing posts. Google Business Profile posts let you share offers, events, and updates directly on your listing. An SEO company can plan and publish these on a regular schedule.
Managing the Q&A section. Anyone can ask a question on your profile, and anyone can answer it. Your manager should monitor this section, post accurate answers, and seed common questions so customers see reliable information.
Responding to reviews. Replying to reviews, both positive and negative, in a professional and timely way is part of ongoing management. The SEO company can draft or post these responses, ideally following your tone and approval process.
Reviewing insights. The profile reports how people find and interact with your listing, such as searches, calls, and direction requests. Your manager should review this data and adjust the strategy accordingly.
How to grant access safely
This is the most important practical point: you do not need to hand over your Google account password, and you should not. Google has a built-in way to add other people to your profile with defined permission levels, so the SEO company can do its work while you keep control.
To add someone, open your Business Profile, go to the business profile settings, find the section for people and access, and add the SEO company’s Google account by email. You must have Owner or Primary Owner access yourself to add other users.
Give the SEO company the Manager role, not Owner. A Manager can update business information, create posts, respond to reviews, upload photos, and view insights, which covers everything described above. A Manager cannot add or remove other users or delete the profile. That distinction matters. It means the agency can do its job, but you remain the owner and keep ultimate control of the listing.
A few habits protect you further. Keep yourself listed as the Primary Owner so the profile can never be taken away from you. Turn on two-step verification for your own Google account. Review the list of people with access from time to time and remove anyone who no longer needs it.
When the relationship ends
Plan the handover before you need it. Because you stay the Owner, removing an SEO company’s access is simple: go back to the people and access settings and remove their Manager role. The profile, its reviews, its photos, and its history all stay with you, since the listing belongs to your business and not to the agency.
If an SEO company ever asks to be the sole or primary Owner of your profile, treat that as a warning sign and decline. A reputable provider works comfortably as a Manager and expects you to retain ownership. Set that arrangement up at the start, and an SEO company can manage your Google Business Profile effectively without putting your most important local listing at risk.