Google My Business is a tool (similar to a website) that helps people find your real estate business whenever they search for real estate services in your area.
Whenever a person does a Google search for a professional in their area (i.e. “real estate agents in [your local area]”), if the business has a Google My Business page, the search results would bring those businesses near the top of the search results page.
When used correctly, it can significantly boost your real estate business’ visibility and draw many more leads and prospects your way.
And the best part? It’s free and only takes a few minutes to set up.
SETTING UP YOUR GOOGLE MY BUSINESS PROFILE
STEP 1: GO TO BUSINESS.GOOGLE.COM AND CLICK ON “MANAGE NOW.”
STEP 2: ADD THE NAME OF YOUR AGENCY
Use your exact business name as it shows up in the real world. (business cards, website, etc.)
STEP 3: CHOOSE THE ADDRESS THAT WILL SHOW UP WHEN CUSTOMERS ARE LOOKING FOR YOUR BUSINESS
Similar to step 2, enter an address that is consistent across the board.
STEP 4: CHECK TO CONFIRM THAT YOU DO SERVE CUSTOMERS OUTSIDE OF THIS LOCATION
There are 2 reasons it’s important to set up your profile to serve customers outside of your address location:
- As a real estate agent, you serve a number of local areas, not just the suburb you operate in
- Being set up to serve customers outside of your office address gives you the opportunity to rank for searches outside of your city address.
There is one caveat to note. If individual agents also set up a google my business profile, they’ll be competing with the agencies in the rankings. Whether or not you decide to do this is at the discretion of each agency principal.
STEP 5: ADD THE AREAS YOU SERVE.
There is no limit on how many suburbs or postcodes you want to add to your areas served list, so you can be as hyperlocal as you’d like.
STEP 6: CHOOSE THE CATEGORY THAT FITS YOUR BUSINESS BEST.
If you are a real estate office, enter ‘real estate agency’ and if you are an individual agent, enter ‘real estate agent’.
STEP 7: ENTER THE CONTACT DETAILS YOU WANT TO SHOW CUSTOMERS.
For the phone number, it’s best to enter a local number that’s the same as that which can be found on your site. A single number used everywhere is a positive signal to Google that demonstrates consistency.
Enter your current website URL linking to your trusty real estate website.
STEP 8: FINISH AND VERIFY YOUR BUSINESS.
Google will automatically set up a page for you if you don’t already have one.
There may be an option to verify your business by phone or email, but more commonly a code will be physically mailed to you within a week. Once you receive it, login in to the web address you receive with the code to verify your page.
STEP 9: DELETE ANY DUPLICATE PAGES
If you happen to have duplicate Google My Business pages, (maybe you changed your name or set up a page, but never finished) delete all of them.
As a general rule of thumb, Google does not want to see duplicate content.
If your business has multiple locations, it’s ok to have multiple Google My Business real estate pages for each location.
STEP 10: ADD PHOTOS TO YOUR GOOGLE MY BUSINESS REAL ESTATE PAGE.
From your Google My Business Dashboard under “photos,” you can upload your logo’s image, a cover photo to showcase the personality of your business, a video if desired and photos of your business’ interior and exterior.
When it comes to your logo, the smallest size you can use is 250 x 250 pixels, but keep in mind that bigger photos will look better. This photo will show up in search engine results pages, so make this look the best you can.
STEP 11: WORDSMITH YOUR BUSINESS DESCRIPTION.
Not only should you go into detail about your business here, but your description should be SEO optimized (pay attention to keywords) to further help with overall visibility and traffic.
A business description of 250-400 words is ideal, but don’t cut and paste your website. Even though it’s your website, it’s still duplicate content.
STEP 12: GIVE PEOPLE A REASON TO VISIT YOUR GOOGLE MY BUSINESS PAGE
Make sure that you post content on your page (you can re-use your blog content) and respond to any comments.
You can also encourage activity on your page by liking and commenting on other local business pages. They are likely to reciprocate and Google rewards ‘active’ those pages.
Properly setting up your Google My Business page and optimizing it with the tips above is a free and easy way to generate more quality leads and ultimately increase your bottom line.
While it’s not a ‘set and forget’ activity, it is a low effort high ROI activity your agency can reap the benefits of.
