Google My Business For Real Estate: Benefits + How to Set it Up

To stand out as an agent in the real estate industry, you need an incredibly strong online presence. Potential buyers have plenty of choices when choosing an agent, and you’ve got to prove you’re the best in the business. 

Luckily, you don’t need to spend a fortune on paid ads to go up against the real estate giants in your area. Instead, you need to focus on strategic, high-value marketing that helps you reach local buyers and engage with them. 

That’s where Google My Business comes in. This free, easy tool is perfect for boosting brand awareness, connecting with potential buyers, and getting useful insights into your buyer demographics. This guide will show why Google My Business for real estate is so important, and the easy (free!) process of setting up your profile today. 

What is Google My Business For Real Estate?

Google My Business is a tool that allows you to manage and optimize your business profile on Google. Without a Google My Business profile, you have no control over how your business appears on Google Maps and in Google searches. 

With Google My Business, you can add photos, updates, services, business hours, and much more. This helps boost your brand’s visibility and helps you show up in more searches. 

Let’s look at an example. If we search for “real estate agents in California,” Google shows us the top three Google My Business listings:

Google My Business profiles are only available to businesses that have contact with customers, including those with a physical location (real estate agents, restaurants, etc.) and those who provide services in other locations (plumbers, electricians, etc.).   

Why Do Real Estate Agents Need Google My Business?

If you already have a well-optimized website for your business, you might wonder why you need a Google My Business profile for real estate. But there are four key reasons why setting one up today is crucial. 

1. Easily Engage with Buyers

97% of consumers primarily learn about local companies online, and around 15% of Google My Business profiles receive over 100 calls a month. It’s a fantastic way to engage with potential buyers and interact with people looking for local estate agents. 

Within your GMB profile, users can send you direct messages, call you, ask questions, and leave reviews. It’s an important hub of communication that you’re missing out on if you don’t already have a profile. 

2. Highlight Your Business

Like a social media page, your Google My Business profile is another opportunity to showcase your business and attract new clients. Through your dashboard, you can update your business hours, share photos of houses currently for sale, highlight happy client testimonials, and give updates about upcoming events. 

Looking for ways to highlight your business and boost brand awareness? Let us help you land brand mentions in the top publications in the real estate industry!

3. Gain Client Insights

Your GMB profile also gives you valuable insights into audience demographics and local search performance. You’ll get a breakdown of keyword performance, customer queries, and how your posts and updates are performing. 

Having audience insights is essential for your marketing efforts. By better understanding potential buyers’ demographics and search queries, you can gear your marketing and social posts toward them to form better connections. 

4. Local SEO

To become a successful real estate agent, you need to capture local market share. Google My Business for real estate helps you appear in local searches, meaning you’ll reach more potential buyers and get more local leads. 

Of course, this hinges on a well-optimized Google My Business profile for real estate, which we’ll cover in more detail later. 

How to Set Up a Google My Business For Real Estate Profile

Your business probably already has a Google business listing – most companies with a physical address do. To claim that listing, follow these steps:

• Go to google.com/business
• Click “Manage Now”
• Enter your business name and click “Next”
• Choose “Local Store” if you have a physical office
• Enter “Real Estate Agent” for your business category
• Enter your business address
• You should see your business appear as an option to claim

You should now have control over your Google My Business profile and your business listing on Google. From the dashboard, you can link to your website, add important business information, and start publishing posts. 

How to Optimize Your Google My Business Profile

Setting up your Google My Business profile for your real estate business is just the first step. You now need to optimize it to make sure you’re showing up in those top three search results for local queries. 

Here are a few tips to optimize your profile:

• Use your actual business name. Google will penalize you if you add keywords to try and boost SEO. 
• Add a local phone number – this acts as a ranking factor and shows Google that you are a local business. 
• Make sure your hours are correct – you’ll get the option to temporarily change your hours during holidays. 
• Write a compelling description that lets people know you’re a local real estate agent and what you specialize in. Don’t keyword-stuff here – this description is informative for users but doesn’t affect how you rank in searches. 
• Upload high-resolution photos of houses you have for sale or sold houses with happy homeowners. Profiles with photos have a 35% higher click-through rate. 
• Add videos if you have them – these could be welcome videos, how-tos for the buying process, or walk-throughs of current homes for sale. 

Get Reviews From Happy Clients

One of the most critical aspects of your GMB profile is reviews. Your reviews are a direct ranking factor Google uses, so the more positive reviews you have, the better. 

If you have old clients who have already bought their home, reach out and ask them to leave you a five-star review on your new Google profile. These will go a long way in boosting your rankings. 

The key is getting five-star reviews. Frustratingly, even four-star reviews can drag down your average and be the difference between hitting the Google 3-Pack (the businesses listed at the top of searches). 

And it’s not just rankings you should be thinking about; 89% of online users read reviews before choosing a business to work with, and 59% of users choose Google to look at reviews. 

Your potential clients are searching for online reviews, so make sure you have plenty of glowing testimonials from previous home buyers. 

Want To Boost Your Real Estate Brand Visibility?

Google My Business for real estate is invaluable. It’s free to set up, quick to do, and will have almost immediate benefits. 

But creating your GMB profile is just one step toward boosting brand visibility, securing local clients, and becoming a leader in your market. 

At Linkifi, we can help you become an established authority in the real estate game. We’ll get you featured in major publications, helping to boost brand awareness, increase leads, and establish your company as an authority. Get started today!