Guide
Google Business Profile Checklist for Realtors
Most real estate agents claim their Google Business Profile, fill in the basics, and then let it collect dust. The agents who show up in the map pack every time treat their profile like an ongoing SEO surface, not a one-time setup. This checklist covers both sides: the technical signals Google rewards, and the human-readable trust signals buyers and sellers actually convert on.
1. Foundation, get the basics undeniable
- Verified profile with your legal business name (no keyword stuffing, that gets you suspended).
- Address that matches your license and your Google Ads billing address if you run ads.
- Service area set to the cities and ZIPs you actually close in, not your entire metro.
- Primary category: Real Estate Agent. Secondary categories: Real Estate Consultant, Real Estate Appraiser (only if licensed), Property Management (only if you offer it).
- Hours that reflect when you actually pick up the phone.
2. Description, 650 to 750 characters that rank and convert
- Lead with the city and the buyer or seller intent you serve.
- Weave your primary keyword (real estate agent + city) into the first sentence naturally.
- Name the neighborhoods, price bands, and property types you specialize in.
- Close with a specific proof point: years, transactions, awards, or a niche.
- No emojis, no phone numbers, no links, Google strips them or penalizes them.
3. Services, the most underused ranking lever
- Add 15 to 25 services with unique, keyword-rich descriptions.
- Every service description should include the city or neighborhood plus the buyer or seller intent.
- Split buyer, seller, investor, first-time buyer, luxury, and relocation into separate services.
- Do not duplicate descriptions across services, Google reads each one independently.
4. Posts, the cadence Google actually rewards
- Publish at least 3 SEO posts per week, spaced 2 to 3 days apart.
- Rotate market updates, education, lifestyle, and just-listed or just-sold posts.
- Every post title contains a keyword phrase a buyer would search.
- Skip hashtags, skip emojis, skip 'DM me', those signals hurt local ranking.
- Consistency over 12 weeks beats a one-week burst, every time.
5. Photos, drip them, do not dump them
- Upload 4 to 5 new photos per week, not 40 at once.
- Geotag your city and title photos with what they are ('Kitchen remodel, East Austin').
- Include team, listings, closings, and neighborhood photos, not just properties.
- Refresh your cover and logo every 6 months to signal an active profile.
6. Reviews, the trust signal buyers actually read
- Ask every closed client within 48 hours of closing, that is your highest yes rate.
- Reply to every review, positive and negative, within 24 hours.
- Weave your city and specialty into your replies naturally.
- Aim for a steady drip, 2 to 4 new reviews per month beats 20 in one week.
7. Q&A, own the questions before someone else does
- Seed 5 to 10 buyer and seller questions yourself and answer them.
- Watch for new questions weekly, unanswered ones show up in your listing.
- Answers should read like a helpful agent, not a legal disclaimer.
Why most agents miss this
Reading this list takes 4 minutes. Executing it every week for 12 months is the hard part, and it is the part that decides who owns the map pack in your city. SARA was built so an agent never has to remember to do any of it. SARA handles the description, the services, the posts, and the photo drip on the cadence Google rewards. You upload photos once a month and approve when needed.