What Every Agent Needs to Know About Their Google Business Profile
Before you make a single edit to your Google Business Profile, you need to understand two critical things. Changes don't happen instantly. When you update information inside the Edit Profile section of your dashboard, Google reviews it, and that process can take anywhere from ten minutes to thirty days, depending on their review queue. And here's the bigger one: you cannot batch multiple edits together in that Edit Profile section. Google needs to verify each change individually before you move to the next one. When you try to make several changes at once, Google gets confused about what to actually verify, and that's when your profile starts having serious problems.
Real Estate Agents Make These Mistakes All The Time
You're probably going to recognize yourself in at least one of these, and honestly, that's okay. Most of these mistakes happen specifically inside the Edit Profile section of your Google Business Profile dashboard, which is exactly why we're talking about it before you go in there.
You stuff your name field with your title, designations, and brokerage name when it should just be your first and last name.
You try to edit from your computer without location services turned on.
You open up the Edit Profile section and make five changes at once, and then wonder why Google is confused about what to verify.
If your profile is tied to a brokerage address, you don't realize you actually have to be physically at that location to make edits in the Edit Profile section. And you change brokerages without updating your profile, leaving clients to find outdated information. These aren't just annoying mistakes. They actually break your profile's ability to rank properly. So let's make sure you don't add yourself to that list.
Before You Do Anything Else: Get Your Ducks in a Row
First, find your Google Business Profile dashboard. Go to google.com/business and sign in. But here's the thing: your profile might be registered under a different email address than the one you use now. If you don't see your profile listed, check what email you're logged into. Try logging in with other email addresses you've used over the years. Your profile might be hiding under an old account.
Once you find your profile and you're inside your dashboard, look at your business information section. Find the address that's listed there. That's your verification address. If your profile is service-based and you used your home address to set it up, that's the address where you need to be physically located with location services on your computer when you go into the Edit Profile section to make changes. If it's tied to a brokerage office, same thing, you have to be there. Write down that address. You're going to need it.
First Things First: What Kind of Profile Do You Have?
Inside your dashboard, go to Edit Profile and then select Location. Look for a toggle that says "Show business address to customers." If that toggle is turned on, your address is displayed and your profile is tied to that physical location. If it's turned off, you've set up as a service-area business without a visible address.
This matters because if your address is showing and it's your brokerage office, you have to physically be at that address with location services on your computer before you make any changes inside the Edit Profile section. If your address is hidden and you're set up as a service-area business, you have more flexibility. Figure out which one you have right now before you go any further. The next post will walk you through making your updates safely, one step at a time.
