One of the strongest tools you can wield as a real estate agent is your Google My Business (GMB). This digital more-than-just-a-business-card can significantly increase your visibility and provide the most up-to-date information about your business. If you want to be well-shown across Google’s search results as well as Google maps, you’ll definitely want to follow this step by step guide.

If you are a real estate agent that owns their own business or you belong to a brokerage, you are able to claim and optimize your Google My Business profile. By following the steps below, in less than two hours you’ll have a GMB profile that will be featured in a box on both mobile and desktop results of your name as well as related SEO terms such as “real estate agent near me”. You’ll also be featured on Google Maps as a local result of these searches as well!

Step One: Check The Status Of Your Current GMB Profile

Google your name and see if anything comes up. If you already have a GMB profile, the featured box will appear. If you made a profile from before and it’s outdated that’s okay! It’s far more important to work off the current profile you have rather than creating a second one as having two profiles will cause confusion among both existing and prospective clients.

Step Two: Claim Or Create Your GMB Profile

If you already have a GMB profile, look for a link that says “Own this business?”. Google occasionally changes this wording so it might not be those exact words. You will want to click on that link and proceed from there on completing your profile.

If you do not have an existing GMB profile, you will need to go to business.google.com and create your profile from there. Whether you’re starting from scratch or building from an old profile, it’s important to put in an email that is not your personal email address. As this will be an account that will likely be shared with your team, you will want to put an email address that you will feel comfortable sharing with employees.

Step Three: Follow Google’s Prompts

Google will prompt you for basic business information such as your name, address and phone number. In order to make your profile as strong as it can be, make sure you include the terms “Real Estate Agent” or “Realtor” following your name. This will ensure that the GMB algorithm puts you in front of people who are looking for your services.

There will come a point where Google will ask you to choose a categories that define and describe your business. Do not be tempted to click on as many as you can think of, pick ones that are directly related to your business. Two good examples are “real estate consultant” and “real estate agent”.

Step Four: Verify Your GMB Profile

Once you have completed populating your profile, Google will send a postcard to the address you listed on your GMB profile. This postcard is important as it has a unique verification code where you will be able to finally verify your business. Sometimes, Google allows you to verify through a text, call, email or Google Search Console. These options may or may not be available depending on Google’s updates. Be prepared to wait a couple of weeks before your business information is fully visible and verified.

Step Five: Optimize Your Profile

While you are waiting for your GMB profile to be fully verified, this is the perfect time to provide as much information to Google about your business so that you can present it in the best way possible to searchers. Some examples of important business information you can provide are the services you provide (think “Home Valuation Support” or “Buyer’s Consultation”) as well as business hours. Make sure your business hours are up to date as this will increase searcher trust of your GMB profile. Another great way to optimize your profile and garner trust is by adding photos and videos related to your business. These photos should be high quality and not stock photos. The more photos and videos you put of your work the more likely searchers will click through to your website. Finally, if you are claiming an existing profile, it’s possible you may already have reviews on your profile. If that’s the case, reply to each and every review you get. This demonstrates that you are easily accessible, you care about feedback and that you are always looking to improve.

These five steps are a great starter guide to maximizing your GMB profile. If you want to learn more about additional tools that you can use as a real estate agent to amplify your GMB profile, please reach out to us here. We’d love to provide a deeper dive on claiming and optimizing your Google My Business profile.