A Can question

Can an SEO company manage my Google My Business?

3 min read Cites 4 sources

Yes. The listing you may know as Google My Business is what Google’s help pages now call your Google Business Profile, and an SEO company can manage it for you without taking it over. The routine work, such as keeping details accurate, choosing categories, adding photos, publishing posts, replying to reviews, and reading the performance data, can all be done from a manager role on your profile while you remain the owner. The parts that need care are the role you give the company, the rules that can get a profile suspended, and the rules on reviews.

Give the company a manager role, not ownership

Google’s explanation of Business Profile roles separates owners from managers. As an owner, “you have full control over the profile. You can add or remove users, manage profile info, and even delete the profile.” It adds that “a Business Profile can have multiple owners but only one primary owner.” Managers “have mostly the same access to the profile as owners. The only exception is they can’t add or remove users or remove the profile.”

That exception is the reason to use it. A manager can do the day-to-day work, but cannot remove you or delete the listing. Keep yourself as the primary owner, add the company’s own Google account as a manager, and you never need to share your password.

What the ongoing work covers

Managing a profile is regular work rather than a one-time setup. It includes:

  • Keeping the business name, address or service area, phone number, website, and hours correct, including holiday hours.
  • Choosing a primary category and any additional categories that match what the business actually does.
  • Adding current photos of the premises, the team, and the work.
  • Publishing posts about offers, events, and updates.
  • Replying to reviews, positive and negative, in line with your tone and approval process.
  • Reviewing the profile’s performance data on calls, direction requests, and searches.

Ask the company to tell you what it changes and when, so the profile’s history stays clear to you.

The rules that can get a profile suspended

Google’s guidelines for representing your business set the rules anyone managing a profile has to follow. Three of them deserve particular attention.

The name has to be the real one. The guidelines say “your name should reflect your business’s real-world name, as used consistently on your storefront, website, stationery, and as known to customers”, and that “including unnecessary information in your business name isn’t permitted, and could result in the suspension of your Business Profile.”

The address has to be real. The guidelines state that “P.O. boxes or mailboxes located at remote locations aren’t acceptable.” A business without a storefront can use a service area instead.

One location gets one profile. The guidelines say: “Do not create more than one page for each location of your business, either in a single account or multiple accounts.”

If a profile is suspended, Google’s page on suspended or disabled profiles explains that “we may suspend or disable Business Profiles that don’t follow our guidelines”, and that an owner who believes the profile should be reinstated can submit an appeal. These rules are worth agreeing with the company at the start, before any change is made.

The rules on reviews

A company can help you ask customers for reviews and can draft replies. It cannot buy reviews or offer rewards for them. Google’s policy for content on Maps prohibits offering incentives in exchange for reviews, and it also prohibits businesses that “discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers.” In practice, that means asking every customer the same way, not only the ones you expect to be happy.

When the relationship ends

Because you remain the owner, ending the arrangement is simple: remove the company’s manager role. The profile, its reviews, photos, and history stay with your business. If a company ever asks to become the primary owner of your profile, decline. Everything it needs to do can be done as a manager.

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