Agent or brokerage.
Make the distinction clear.
The profile describes a business customers can contact. Decide what the profile represents: the brokerage is the organisation behind a location, while the eligible agent is the individual practitioner, and the two follow different naming and eligibility rules. Then confirm where enquiries actually reach the agent.
Explore the frameworkCorrect the facts. Then improve the hand-off.
Get the practitioner-or-brokerage decision right first. An agent profile named like the brokerage, or a listing address passed off as a business, creates the exact confusion Google's guidelines exist to prevent.
- 01Identify the business
- 02Verify the location
- 03Confirm the service
- 04Test the contact route
Agents and brokerage teams reviewing existing profiles, location facts and direct enquiry routes.
Clear ownershipThis guide owns practitioner and brokerage profile representation. The parent owns the wider buyer/seller search strategy; property listings do not become new business locations.
The wider Real Estate SEO strategy ↗The right identity. The real location. The agent customers reach.
- 01Identify the business
Keep a dated starting point
- 02Verify the location
Match the actual operation
- 03Confirm the service
Show what customers can expect
- 04Test the contact route
Reach the right page and team
- 05Check useful outcomes
Separate actions from outcomes
Record the current profiles before editing
Find every profile that mentions the agent or brokerage and note which are verified and who controls them. Record name, category, address visibility, service areas, hours, phone, website and the linked brokerage site for each. Check for duplicate or orphaned profiles and list any that need investigation before changing anything.
Ask how the business actually runs: does the agent work alone, as one of several agents at a brokerage, or as a team lead? Where do customers meet them, and which phone and website do enquiries reach? These facts decide whether one profile or two are correct.
Decide who the profile represents
Google's guidelines list real estate agents as individual practitioners: public-facing professionals, typically with their own client base. A practitioner should have their own dedicated profile when they work in a public-facing role, can be contacted directly at the verified location during stated hours, and have their own customers. Sales associates or lead-generation agents attached to a corporate operation are not individual practitioners and are not eligible.
Where an agent is the only public-facing practitioner at a branded brokerage location, Google describes a shared profile in the format "[brokerage]: [agent name]", the same pattern used for an agent at a branded insurance office. Where several agents work at one brokerage, the brokerage owns the location profile, and each eligible agent keeps a practitioner profile titled with only the agent's name, not the brokerage's name.
Do not create extra profiles merely for different specialisations or market keywords; a genuinely separate eligible location requires its own assessment, and no agent profile should be created just to repeat the brokerage's categories. Decide per person from the actual arrangement, and do not create profiles for support staff, transaction coordinators or interns.
Check the current individual-practitioner guidance before creating profiles; eligibility follows the real arrangement.
| Working arrangement | Who owns which profile |
|---|---|
| Agent is the only practitioner at a branded brokerage location | Shared profile named "[brokerage]: [agent name]" where eligible |
| Several agents share a brokerage office | Brokerage location profile plus agent profiles named only with the agent's name |
| Agent is a sales associate or lead-generation agent for a corporation | The sales-associate and lead-gen exclusion applies; working under a corporate brokerage alone does not disqualify a genuine agent |
| Support or transaction staff | No profile; they are not the public-facing practitioner |
The profile represents a business, not a listing
A Business Profile requires a business that customers can visit or that travels to them. A single property listing is not a business location, so a home that is for sale cannot be the profile or the address; the profile belongs to the agent or brokerage as the business. That eligibility rule is different from listing content: photos and descriptions of homes the agent genuinely represents can legitimately appear on the profile or website. What is not allowed is presenting the property itself as the business.
An office address must be real: a physical location where the business operates. A rented mailing address, or a virtual office you do not operate from, is not eligible. A shared or co-working space needs clear signage, customer visits during business hours, and the business's own staff on site during those hours to qualify.
Agents who meet customers at listings or cafés and work from home should follow the service-area pattern: hide a residential address and set service areas by the cities, neighbourhoods or other areas actually served. Agents who hold genuine office hours at a staffed brokerage location can show that address. Do not imply a staffed local branch where customers are never received.
Worked example: an agent works from home, meets buyers at properties, and is one of eight agents carrying the same national brand in town. The brand does not operate a customer-visited office at this location, so the agent should not present a storefront address. Deciding the address and operating model is separate from deciding the practitioner question: an eligible agent can hold a practitioner profile while operating as a service-area business, because "who the profile represents" and "which address and coverage model applies" are two different decisions. This is an illustrative decision, not a claim about any real brokerage.
Categories, hours and coverage describe what the agent does
Choose the fewest categories that describe the core business from the current list, preferring the most specific accurate option, and do not add categories as keywords for every town or property type served. Real estate agents typically serve a metro or set of neighbourhoods; represent that genuinely rather than implying statewide reach.
Stated hours should be real customer-facing hours. An agent who works by appointment and has no open-door hours should check whether hours apply at all, per Google's guidance on appointment-only businesses. Use special hours for holidays and closures rather than leaving stale weekday hours.
The phone number must connect to the agent or the brokerage desk the agent actually works from and be under the business's control. What Google disallows is a number or URL that refers callers to a different business or that business's landing page; a tracking number the brokerage controls and that still lands the caller with the agent is not such a referral. Test it: the caller should reach someone who can discuss this agent's listings and availability, not a third-party lead service.
Where the area served is broader than one city, the linked website should explain the same coverage the profile claims, so a buyer in a neighbouring town is not promised a local agent who never works there.
Real proof and careful review handling
Show the agent's genuine work: office, team, listings the agent actually represents and closed transactions the agent is entitled to share. Never present another agent's listings as the agent's own, and obtain permission before using client-photo or property imagery. Explain what each photo depicts without implying an exclusive relationship where the listing is shared.
Ask clients for honest feedback about genuine experiences. Google's policies prohibit offering incentives, such as payment, discounts or free goods, in exchange for posting any review, regardless of the rating, and prohibit discouraging negative reviews or selectively soliciting positive ones. A gift card for a five-star review is out of bounds, and so is inviting only happy sellers to leave feedback. Replies must protect client privacy: addresses, sale prices and personal details belong in a private conversation, not a public reply.
Worked example: an agent shares an office with a team but the team leader owns the brokerage profile, and the agent profile currently repeats the brokerage name and adds three town names. Under the practitioner rules only the agent's name belongs in the title, and towns belong in a service area or coverage section, not the name. This is an illustrative correction path, not a claim about any specific agent.
A profile is only the beginning.
Connect the information customers discover to the work your business actually provides.
Keep identity and address decisions separate. Make sure the phone and website reach the actual agent.
Calls · Listing views · Appointment requestsConnect profile activity to viable enquiries
Suitable work
- Calls
- Appointment requests
- Enquiries within actual coverage
What to investigate
- Profile interactions
- Listing views
- Direction requests
Apply the measurement method
Keep a dated list of corrections and re-check each public profile after edits; an edit being submitted is not the same as it being visible.
Where your systems allow, compare profile interactions with calls, listing views and appointment requests, and record how many enquiries are outside the coverage the agent actually serves. A direction request is a signal, not a client.
Use Search Console to see which queries bring the agent's or brokerage's pages exposure and which pages own each task, then improve those pages. Revisit the profiles whenever the agent moves offices, changes brokerages or changes coverage, and resolve duplicate records rather than layering new ones on top.
Before you make
the change.
Can the profile be for a house we are selling?
No. A profile represents a business customers can visit or that travels to them; a property listing is not a business location. The profile belongs to the agent or brokerage.
Should the agent and the brokerage each have a profile?
It depends on the arrangement. A solo practitioner at a branded location typically shares a "[brand]: [practitioner]" profile. Where several agents share an office, the brokerage holds the location profile and eligible agents hold practitioner profiles titled with only their names.
Our agent works from home. What address should the profile show?
If customers are not received at that address, hide it and set accurate service areas by the cities or neighbourhoods the agent actually serves. A rented mailbox or virtual office is not an eligible address.
One focused resource.
A wider search strategy.
Sources & further reading
Official guidance supporting the implementation details. Examples in this guide are illustrative, not measured keyword volumes or client results.
Google: guidelines for representing your business ↗Google: service-area and hybrid businesses ↗Google: tips to improve local ranking ↗Google: tips to get more reviews ↗Google: prohibited and restricted content ↗Google: add or claim your Business Profile ↗Search Console: performance report overview ↗
Need the wider
Real Estate SEO strategy?
LocalCatalyst connects research, local presence and your website through Organic Search Management. Start with your services, market and the obstacle to better enquiries.