A Step-by-Step Framework for Optimizing Your Google Business Profile as a Real Estate Agent

When a buyer or seller types "real estate agent in [city]" into Google, three results appear before any website. That map pack — those three listings with star ratings and phone numbers — is driven almost entirely by Google Business Profile data, not website SEO alone.

For most real estate agents, GBP represents the fastest path to organic lead generation because it operates on a separate ranking system from traditional web search. A newer agent with a modest website can outrank a 20-year veteran in the map pack simply by having a better-optimized profile.

In our experience working with real estate agents, GBP is almost always the first optimization we address because the payoff window is shorter than broader SEO — typically four to eight weeks to see map pack movement after a full optimization, compared to four to six months for organic page rankings. That timeline varies by market competition and how established the listing already is.

Three factors drive local GBP rankings:

• Relevance — Does your profile match what the searcher is looking for? Category selection and keyword-rich descriptions drive relevance.
• Distance — How close is your listed location or service area to the searcher?
• Prominence — How well-known and trusted is your business? Reviews, citations, and website authority all feed into prominence.

This guide covers each factor in the context of real estate agent profiles specifically. The setup steps for a real estate agent differ from a general business in a few important ways — particularly around category selection and the service-area-only listing type — and those differences matter for your rankings.

GBP category selection is the most consequential setup decision you will make. Google uses your primary category to determine which searches your profile is eligible to appear in. Getting this wrong means you are invisible for your most valuable searches.

Primary Category: Real Estate Agent

If you are an individual agent, your primary category should be Real Estate Agent. This maps directly to searches like "real estate agent near me" and "[city] real estate agent."

Do not use Real Estate Agency as your primary category unless you are representing a brokerage office with multiple agents operating under that location. Google's category definitions matter here. An agent using the wrong category is optimizing for searches their clients are not making.

Secondary Categories Worth Adding

Google allows multiple secondary categories. Relevant additions for most agents include:

• Real Estate Consultant — captures advisory and investment-oriented searches
• Real Estate Appraiser — only if you hold an appraisal license; do not add credentials you do not hold
• Property Management Company — only if you actively manage rentals
• Commercial Real Estate Agency — only if commercial is a meaningful part of your practice

What to Avoid

Adding too many secondary categories dilutes your relevance signal. Stick to categories that genuinely describe services you offer. Adding "Mortgage Broker" or "Home Inspector" categories because you want more traffic — without offering those services — can trigger policy violations and profile suspension reviews.

Review your category selection any time Google adds new options relevant to real estate. Google updates its category list periodically, and new, more specific categories sometimes outperform broader ones for niche agent specializations like luxury residential or new construction.

Real estate agents almost never have clients walk into an office — the work happens at properties, at title companies, and over video calls. This means most agents should operate as a service-area business in GBP rather than a storefront business, even if you have a brokerage address you could list.

Service-Area-Only vs. Storefront Listing

If clients do not come to your physical location, Google's guidelines say you should hide your address and list service areas instead. Many agents keep a brokerage address visible out of habit — but if that address is a shared co-working brokerage where dozens of agents work, having your individual profile show that address adds little local relevance and can create confusion.

If you do have a dedicated office where clients meet you, listing it as your address is appropriate and gives you an anchor point that can help with proximity-based rankings near that location.

How to Set Service Areas

Go to Business Information → Service Areas in your GBP dashboard. Add cities, towns, or counties — not a mileage radius. Here is why this matters: when you list "Austin, TX" as a service area, Google can match your profile to searches that include the word Austin. A 50-mile radius does not contain any keywords; it is just a geographic boundary.

Practical guidelines:

• Add every city or neighborhood where you actively work and have sold or listed homes
• Do not add cities where you have never closed a transaction just to expand coverage — Google's quality evaluators can assess whether your review and citation data support those claimed areas
• Keep service areas to a realistic geographic scope — agents who list 40 cities across three states rarely rank well for any of them

Multi-Office Considerations

If your brokerage has multiple offices and you work out of more than one, see our local SEO hub for guidance on multi-location GBP setups specific to real estate teams.

Google rewards completeness. A profile with every field filled — including attributes, business hours, description, services, photos, and Q&A — consistently outperforms sparse profiles in our experience managing agent campaigns.

Fields That Matter Most for Agents

• Business Description (750 characters): Use your primary market, specialty, and years of experience in the first two sentences. Mention two or three city names naturally. Do not keyword-stuff — write for the person reading it first, Google second.
• Services: Add individual services like Buyer Representation, Seller Representation, Relocation Services, and Investment Property Sales. Each service can include a description — use these to incorporate neighborhood names and property types.
• Attributes: Check all accurate attributes (online appointments, veteran-owned, women-owned, etc.). These influence both search and profile impressions.
• Photos: Upload at least 10 photos — exterior of your office or market area, team headshots, sold properties (with client permission), and community photos. Google's internal data consistently shows that profiles with more photos receive more direction requests and calls.

Google Posts: The Most Underused Feature

Google Posts appear directly on your profile and signal to Google that your business is active. For real estate agents, post types that perform well include:

• New listing announcements (with image, price range, and neighborhood name)
• Just-sold announcements (omit identifying details if needed for client privacy)
• Local market updates — "Q3 inventory levels in [City]: what buyers should know"
• Open house announcements with date, time, and neighborhood

Post at least once per week. Posts expire after seven days if you do not mark them as ongoing, so build a simple content calendar. Each post is an opportunity to include neighborhood keywords that reinforce your service area relevance.

Keep fair housing considerations in mind when writing listing posts — avoid descriptive language about buyer demographics or neighborhood composition. When in doubt, describe the property and price, not the people you imagine living there. This is educational guidance, not legal advice; consult your state's real estate commission for advertising rules specific to your license.

Reviews drive two things simultaneously: ranking prominence (Google's third local ranking factor) and conversion rate (whether someone calls you after finding your profile). Most agents treat reviews as a passive outcome of good service. The agents consistently in the Map Pack treat reviews as an active, systematized process.

What Makes a Review Valuable for Local SEO

Not all five-star reviews are equal from a ranking standpoint. Reviews that mention:

• Specific neighborhoods or cities ("our home in Westlake Hills")
• Transaction type ("first-time buyer," "investment property," "estate sale")
• Your name and brokerage

...carry more local relevance signal than a review that says "great agent, highly recommend." You cannot write reviews for clients or coach them on exact wording — that violates Google's policies — but you can ask them to share what made the experience stand out and let their natural language do the work.

How to Ask Without Being Awkward

The best time to ask for a review is within 48 hours of closing, when the experience is fresh and emotions are positive. A simple, direct approach works:

"We just closed — congratulations again. If you have a few minutes, an honest Google review would mean a lot to me and helps other buyers and sellers in [City] find the right agent. Here is the direct link."

Send a direct review link (available in your GBP dashboard under "Get more reviews") so clients do not have to search for your profile. Every additional click loses people.

Responding to Reviews

Respond to every review — positive and negative. For positive reviews, thank the client and mention the city or neighborhood naturally in your response. For negative reviews, respond calmly, acknowledge the concern, and take the conversation offline. How you respond to a one-star review is often what a prospective client reads most carefully.

Industry benchmarks suggest that profiles with consistent, recent reviews outperform profiles with higher average ratings but older or clustered reviews. Recency and cadence matter as much as volume.

GBP is not a set-it-and-forget-it tool. Google allows anyone — including users and competitors — to suggest edits to your profile. If you are not monitoring it, your category, address, or business name could be changed without your knowledge.

Monthly GBP Maintenance Checklist

• Check for suggested edits: Review the "Suggested edits" section in your dashboard and reject any inaccurate changes.
• Review Q&A: Anyone can ask (and answer) questions on your profile. Check the Q&A section and answer unanswered questions yourself. You can also seed useful questions by asking them from a personal account and answering from your business account.
• Update photos: Add new listing or sold photos monthly. Profiles with recently uploaded photos tend to show stronger engagement metrics.
• Check insights: GBP Insights shows how many people viewed your profile, how they found it (direct search vs. discovery), and what actions they took (calls, website clicks, direction requests). A drop in discovery searches often indicates a category or service area issue worth investigating.
• Verify your profile status: Occasionally Google will require re-verification, especially after address or service area changes. An unverified profile loses its rankings.

For agents managing profiles across multiple markets or working as part of a team with several agents under one brokerage GBP, the complexity of maintenance increases. See our related guidance on multi-location GBP management in the real estate agent SEO hub.

GBP optimization is one component of a broader local SEO strategy. Agents who pair a well-maintained profile with consistent local content — neighborhood pages, market reports, and citation building — typically see stronger and more durable map pack rankings than those relying on GBP alone. If you want to see how GBP fits into a complete approach, our page on real estate agent SEO services covers how these elements work together.