Should Real Estate Agents Have a Google Business Profile?
If you’re eligible, yes. A Google Business Profile is free, it puts your name, reviews and contact info in front of people searching Google and Maps for an agent in your area, and you can post to it like a social channel. The catch is eligibility: Google has specific rules for individual professionals and for businesses without a storefront, and agents fall into a gray area that depends on how you work. Read Google’s current guidelines before you create one, set it up honestly, and do the verification yourself.
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▼Why Google Business Profile Matters for Agents
Most agents think of social media as Facebook and Instagram. Google Business Profile doesn’t feel like social media, but it behaves like it: you post updates, people leave reviews, and you answer questions.
The difference is intent. Someone scrolling Facebook isn’t looking for an agent. Someone searching “real estate agent near me” or “realtor in Katy” on Google is. Your profile can show up right there, with your reviews, phone number and a button to your website.
It also works as a reputation page. A buyer who got your name from a friend will often Google you before calling. A complete, active profile with real reviews tells them you’re legit. An empty one, or nothing at all, makes them wonder.
Who’s Eligible: the Nuanced Part
We’re going to keep this general on purpose, because Google’s rules here have specific wording and they change. Read Google’s current “Guidelines for representing your business on Google” before you set anything up.
The questions that matter for agents:
Are you an individual practitioner? Google’s guidelines have a section on individual practitioners, meaning public-facing professionals who have their own client base. Real estate agents can fit that description. The guidelines also cover how practitioners relate to an organization at the same location, such as your brokerage’s office, and what to do when you’re the only public-facing professional at a brand. Read that section closely and see where you fit.
Do you have a location customers visit? If you meet clients at an office during staffed hours, that may be your address. If you mostly meet clients at their homes and at properties, you’re closer to what Google calls a service-area business. Service-area businesses hide their address and list the areas they serve instead.
Is your address real? Google’s guidelines don’t allow virtual offices or mailboxes as a business location. If you work from home, don’t rent a mailbox to get a “real” address. Set up as a service-area business with your address hidden.
What does your brokerage say? Some brokerages have a policy on individual agent profiles, especially about naming and the office address. Ask before you create one. If you’re a broker setting that policy, it belongs in your brokerage social media policy.
If you’re unsure, don’t guess. Profiles that don’t follow the guidelines can be suspended, and getting a suspended profile back is slow and frustrating.
Setting Up Your Profile
Once you’ve confirmed you’re eligible, setup goes roughly like this.
- Start from Google’s Business Profile page while signed into the Google account you want to own it. Use an account you control long-term, not a brokerage email you’ll lose if you switch firms.
- Business name. Use your real-world name as it appears on your signage, business cards and marketing. Google’s guidelines don’t allow stuffing keywords into the name, so “Jane Smith Realtor Best Homes Houston” is out. Check Google’s guidelines for how affiliations can appear in a name.
- Category. “Real estate agent” is the usual primary category.
- Location or service area. Either your staffed office address or, as a service-area business, the cities, counties or ZIP codes you serve, with your address hidden.
- Phone and website. Use a number you answer. Link to your own site or your agent page on the brokerage site.
- Verify. More on this below.
- Finish the profile. Hours, a description, a headshot, a cover photo and a few real photos of you working.
Verification Is Done by the Owner
Google decides how you verify, based on your profile. It might be a video showing your business, a phone or email code, or a postcard. The options can vary from one profile to the next.
Whatever the method, the business owner does it. That’s you. A VA or a service can walk you through it, but they shouldn’t be recording your verification video or entering codes sent to your phone.
When we set up a Google Business Profile for a Freedom client, we handle everything we can, but the client completes the verification. Once you’re verified, you can add a manager to the profile, which lets someone help you post without having your Google password.
Your Description and Your State’s Advertising Rules
Your Google profile is advertising, the same as your Facebook Page or your Instagram bio. Your state’s rules apply.
The name field may not have room for your brokerage under Google’s naming guidelines, so the description and your posts have to carry it. Put your full brokerage name in the description, along with anything your state requires. A few examples from our compliance reference:
- Texas (22 TAC §535.155) requires your broker’s name, at least half the size of the largest agent or team contact info. Texas agents also need to make the Information About Brokerage Services form and Consumer Protection Notice available (§§531.18 and 531.20). Linking them from your website, which your profile points to, helps.
- Alabama (Rule 790-X-3-.16) wants the qualifying broker or company name prominently in every post unless it’s in the account name. If your Google name field can’t carry it, put it in each post.
- Georgia and Louisiana call for the firm phone number with the firm name.
The full list is in Real Estate Social Media Advertising Rules by State. As with every channel, our default is to put the brokerage name in every post too, so the disclosure goes with the post wherever Google shows it.
What to Post on Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile posts are short updates with a photo and an optional button. They don’t get the engagement Facebook does, and that’s fine. Their job is to show searchers that you’re active.
Good posts for agents:
- New listings, with your listing photos (if you have the rights) and a link to the listing page
- Open houses, as an event post with the date and time
- Just Sold, celebrating the close without the price unless your client asks and your MLS and state allow it. See Just Sold Posts That Don’t Overshare.
- Market updates for your service area
- Quick tips that answer what buyers and sellers in your area search for
A post a week is a reasonable rhythm. You can reuse what you’re already posting on Facebook and Instagram. Just adjust the wording for someone who found you through a search and doesn’t know you yet.
If you use a scheduling tool, check whether it supports Google Business Profile. Not all of them do. We cover what to look for in How to Choose a Social Media Scheduler as a Real Estate Agent.
Reviews: Ask Every Client, Edit None
Reviews are the part of your profile people read most. A few rules keep you out of trouble.
Ask every client. Right after closing is when they’re happiest. A text with your review link works better than an email.
Don’t pay or reward for reviews. The FTC’s Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule (16 CFR 465, effective October 21, 2024) prohibits reviews bought with incentives conditioned on what they say, and Google’s own policies restrict incentivized reviews. No gift card for five stars.
Don’t write reviews for yourself or ask friends who weren’t clients to post them. That’s a fake review.
Quote reviews exactly when you reuse them. If you turn a Google review into a social graphic, copy it word for word, typos included. The FTC’s endorsement guides (16 CFR 255) cover how you present them.
Reply to reviews yourself. A short thank-you to good reviews and a calm, factual reply to bad ones. Never reveal client details in a reply. These replies are conversations with consumers, so they come from the agent. Freedom doesn’t reply to reviews, comments or messages on a client’s behalf.
Questions and Messages
Your profile may let people ask questions or send messages, depending on what Google offers at the time. Treat them like DMs. They’re leads, and they belong to you, the licensed agent. If you can’t keep up with messages, turn messaging off rather than leaving people unanswered.
Where Google Business Profile Fits in Your Mix
For most agents, the setup we recommend is a Facebook Business Page and an Instagram Business account as the main two, plus one more channel. Google Business Profile is a strong choice for that third channel if you want to show up in local search and you’ll ask for reviews. It’s a weaker choice if you’re not eligible or you’ll never ask for a review.
It’s one of the third-channel options in our done-for-you service. A Freedom VA builds and schedules your posts, you approve every one, and nothing unapproved goes out. We can also set up a Google Business Profile for a fee, with you doing the verification. Packages are on the Social Media Management service page, and the full picture is in Social Media for Real Estate Agents: The Done-for-You Guide.
Set it up by the rules, keep it active and ask every client for a review. That’s most of the work.
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Related Articles
- Social Media for Real Estate Agents: The Done-for-You Guide
- Real Estate Social Media Advertising Rules by State
- How to Choose a Social Media Scheduler as a Real Estate Agent
- Real Estate Testimonial Posts and the FTC Rules
- Facebook Business Page vs Personal Profile for Realtors
- How Often Should Realtors Post on Social Media?
- Just Sold Posts That Don’t Overshare
