Google Business Profile for Estate Agents: Settings and Reviews

An estate agency's Google Business Profile is the panel that appears in Google Maps and in local results when a seller looks for an agent nearby. Google ranks these profiles mainly on relevance, distance and popularity, and an agency acts on two of them by keeping its profile accurate and complete and by collecting reviews steadily.

This guide follows Google's help pages, read on 4 November 2026, and builds on our real estate agency SEO and GEO guide.

How Google ranks agencies in Maps

Google sets it out in its help page on local ranking: "Local results are mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity." It adds: "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google."

Google also writes that "Businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results", and that "More reviews and positive ratings can help your business’s local ranking."

Setting up the profile, field by field

Name: the one on your sign

Google's guidelines for representing your business say your name "should reflect your business’s real-world name, as used consistently on your storefront, website, stationery, and as known to customers". No taglines, services, locations or phone numbers, and no Ltd or LLC unless your signage and invoices always show it: Google turns "Re/Max, LLC" into "Re/Max". "Including unnecessary information in your business name isn't permitted, and could result in the suspension of your Business Profile."

A fictional Leeds agency listed as "Linden Lane Estates Leeds Free Valuations" takes that risk. In a chain or franchise, every branch in a country uses the same name, unless it consistently shows another on its storefront, website or stationery.

Category: what the agency is

"The categories you select affect your local ranking on Google," Google writes on its page on managing your business category. Its test: pick categories that complete the statement "This business IS a" rather than "this business HAS a."

• Choose the primary category from the list that appears when you type "real estate"; you can't create your own.
• Add a further category only for a real, separate activity, such as lettings or property management, if the list offers one. Google allows up to 9 more, but asks you to "Use as few categories as possible".
• No category "solely as keywords"; changing a category may mean verifying the profile again.

Address or service area

The service area is set by cities, postcodes or zip codes, up to 20 of them, and should stay within about 2 hours of driving time. A co-working office is accepted only with clear signage, customers received there and staff present during business hours. After a move, do not create a new profile: change the address and verify again.

Hours

List the hours when the agency receives clients. For bank and public holidays, Google offers special hours for up to 6 days in a row; for a closure of 7 days or more, it asks you to mark the business as temporarily closed. It recommends confirming your hours for official holidays, even when they don't change.

Photos and videos

Google's photo tips ask for at least three exterior photos, three interior photos and three team photos, in focus and without heavy filters or AI: "the image should represent reality". For an agency: the office seen from the street, the reception area, the agents. Formats: JPG or PNG, between 10 KB and 5 MB, 720 × 720 px recommended. A low-quality cover photo may be replaced by one submitted by a user.

Posts

Posts come in three types: Updates, Offers and Events. A post with a phone number Google can't verify may be rejected, and "Posts older than 6 months are archived unless a date range is set." Ideas: a new instruction or listing, an open house, a monthly market update.

Questions and answers

Google says its Q&A feature "is available only for select business categories and regions" and that its appearance and functionality might change. In the US, Google is piloting an enhanced Q&A for verified merchants. If the section appears on your profile, answer it. Put the same answers (fees, documents needed, timescales) on your website too.

Description, phone and website

The description is limited to 750 characters, with no links, and should not focus on promotions or prices. The phone number must be "under the direct control of the business", a local number rather than a call centre, never a premium-rate line. The website link goes to the agency's own site, with no redirect to another page.

Reviews: ask every client, then reply

Google provides a review link and QR code (the QR code is generated on a computer) and suggests adding them to thank-you emails. For an agency: after completion or closing, at the key handover, at the end-of-tenancy check-out.

Google wants replies that are short, polite and "conversational, not promotional", not one "thank you" for all. On a negative review: no private information, acknowledge any mistakes, offer to talk by phone or email, sign off with your name or initials.

In BrightLocal's survey published on 11 February 2026 (Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, a panel of 1,002 US adults), 74% only care about reviews written in the last three months and 89% expect business owners to respond. It is an American trend, across all trades.

Agents and negotiators: a profile in their own name?

Google lists real estate agents among "individual practitioners". An agent can have a profile if they are public-facing and "can be contacted directly at the verified location during stated hours".

• In an office with several agents, the agency has its own profile and each agent theirs, titled with the agent's name only.
• When an agent is the only public-facing practitioner at a branded location, Google recommends one shared profile named "[brand/company]: [practitioner name]", for example "Maple Row Realty: Dana Ruiz" for a fictional brokerage in Columbus, Ohio.
• No separate profile per specialism, and "lead generation agents for corporations aren't individual practitioners".

The mistakes that cost you the profile or its reviews

Google's restrictions for fake reviews include no new reviews for a set period, existing reviews unpublished and a public warning on the profile. Its contribution policy also bars pressuring clients to review while on the premises or asking for specific content.

Appeal a suspension through the appeals tool, with evidence attached from the start (business registration, licence, utility bills): "Appeals can only be submitted once." Finally, under the eligibility guidelines, a provider who manages the profile must "Never claim a Business Profile without express consent from the business owner". The profile belongs to the agency, which adds the provider as a manager.

What the law says about fake reviews

United Kingdom. Since 6 April 2025, paragraph 13 of Schedule 20 to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 lists among the practices "in all circumstances considered unfair" "Submitting, or commissioning another person to submit or write" a fake consumer review, or "a consumer review that conceals the fact it has been incentivised". Commissioning "includes incentivising by any means", so paying for reviews is covered. Under section 182, the CMA itself can impose a penalty of up to £300,000 or, if higher, 10% of the trader's turnover.

The same paragraph covers an agency that shows reviews on its own website. Publishing them "in a misleading way" is banned, for example hiding negative reviews while showing positive ones, or giving positive ones greater prominence. The publisher must also take "reasonable and proportionate steps" to prevent and remove fake reviews, and the CMA's short guide asks for a published policy that clearly prohibits them.

United States. The FTC's Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials (16 CFR Part 465), in effect since 21 October 2024, bars a business from writing, creating or selling fake reviews, and from buying reviews it knew or should have known were fake. It also bans incentives "conditioned expressly or by implication on" a review expressing a particular sentiment, positive or negative. On its own website, a business may not imply that the reviews shown are most or all of those submitted while it suppresses some for their rating or negative sentiment. The FTC adds that the rule "authorizes courts to impose civil penalties for knowing violations".

Your profile feeds AI answers

For AI Overviews and AI Mode, Google Search Central advises checking that your Business Profile information is up to date. According to Gemini's help page, the assistant can use Google Maps to "Get addresses, descriptions, websites, ratings, and opening hours for a place". A mistake in the profile can end up in an answer.

Google also compiles profiles from sources including "crawled web content (e.g., information from a business’ official website)". Keep the same name, address, phone number and hours there. Our article on how to get your agency recommended by ChatGPT and Perplexity covers the rest.

Steps to take this week

1. Check that the profile belongs to a Google Account owned by the agency.
2. Restore the name on your sign, with no town or service.
3. Review the primary category and remove categories with no real activity.
4. Check the address, the map pin and the service area.
5. Enter special hours for Christmas and New Year, plus Boxing Day in the UK or Thanksgiving in the US.
6. Add nine photos: office front, interior, team.
7. Create the review link or QR code and send it to every client after a sale, a let or a key handover, with nothing in return and no filtering.
8. Reply to pending reviews, negative ones first.
9. Open the Performance report: according to Google's help, "Searches" lists "The search terms people used to find your business."
10. Look for duplicates in Maps and suggest a merge there; reviews are combined, but replies may be lost.

An example agency

Linden Lane Estates, a fictional four-person agency in Leeds, has keywords in its profile name, an old profile from before its move still online, no team photos, and four of its eleven reviews unanswered.

In one week, it restores the name on its sign, requests a merge of the two profiles, adds nine photos and its Christmas hours, replies to the four reviews and adds its QR code to the message sent after each completion. No ranking is guaranteed, but its profile no longer risks suspension over its name.

What Cleemo offers

With Cleemo's real estate software and AI agents, each agency has its own AI assistant, isolated from the others. It finds information in the agency's files, reads its documents and prepares a listing or a draft reply. Nothing goes out without approval, and its actions are logged. Cleemo App brings sales, property management and CRM together, usable without AI; Cleemo AI adds the assistant, or works around the agency's current software, depending on its access. The AI employees page describes each role.

Frequently asked questions

How do I create a Google Business Profile for my estate agency?

Signed in to a Google Account, search for the agency's name and town on Google: claim the profile if it exists, add it if not. Then verify it with a method Google offers (phone or text, email, live video call, postcard). Photos only show once the profile is verified.

Which category should a real estate agency choose?

The one that says what the agency is, taken from Google's list. Add few further categories, and only for real activities: Google allows up to 9 more and rules out categories used solely as keywords.

Can a self-employed agent have their own Business Profile?

Yes, if they are public-facing and can be reached directly during their stated hours. With no office open to the public, they create a service-area profile: address hidden, service area set, one profile only. A virtual office address can't be used.

Can I get a negative Google review removed?

Only if it breaks Google's policies, such as spam or profanity: Google "doesn’t get involved in conflict between businesses and customers". Otherwise, reply briefly and politely, and sign; the reviewer can still change the review after reading your reply.

Can I offer a gift in exchange for a Google review?

No. Google treats an incentive for a review as fake engagement, "strictly prohibited", and can block new reviews on the profile. In the UK, a review that hides its incentive is a banned practice under the DMCC Act 2024; in the US, the FTC rule bans incentives tied to a particular sentiment.

How long does a change take to show?

Google reviews each edit first. It gives up to 48 hours for a service area, 24 to 48 hours for a photo, and usually up to 10 minutes, sometimes up to 30 days, for a reply to a review. A postcard verification code usually arrives within 14 days.

👉 See how Cleemo's AI agents work for your agency