When someone searches your business name, or "property dealer near me", Google often shows a box with a map pin, photos, a phone number and reviews. On a phone it sits near the top. That box comes from a Google Business Profile. It is free, it is run by Google, and for a local property office it is often the first thing a client sees, before your website.
Many brokers have a profile that someone created years ago and nobody looks after. Some have two. Some have none. Here is how to do it properly.
Before you start
Check whether a profile already exists. Search your business name and city on Google Maps. If a profile shows up that you did not create, perhaps made by a former employee or added from public information, claim it using the option on the profile rather than making a new one. Duplicates confuse Google and split your reviews in two.
Settle your exact business name and use it everywhere. It should be your real-world name, the one on your signboard and visiting card. Do not add keywords to it. Say your signboard reads "Nandi Realty". Then "Nandi Realty" is your name on Google. "Nandi Realty Best Property Dealer Whitefield 2BHK 3BHK" breaks Google's guidelines, and profiles that do this can be suspended.
Setting it up
Open Google Business Profile on your phone or computer and follow the steps. The choices that matter:
- Category: pick the closest one Google offers, such as real estate agency or real estate developer, and add secondary categories only if they are true
- Address: if clients visit your office, show it; if you work from home and meet clients at properties, set yourself up as a service-area business, hide the address and list the areas you cover
- Phone: the number that is actually answered during business hours
- Website: your own site, not a portal profile
- Hours: real hours, including Sunday if you do Sunday site visits, as many brokers do
Google will then ask you to verify that the business is real and that you run it. The options vary. Often it is a short video showing your signboard, the inside of your office and something that proves you manage it. Sometimes it is a call, a text or a postcard. Use whatever Google offers and do it honestly. A co-working address that nobody staffs is not what Google considers a real office.
Filling it in properly
A bare profile does little. Fill in everything that is true:
- A short description in plain words. "We help families buy and rent flats in Whitefield, Marathahalli and Brookefield" beats "leading real estate consultants".
- Photos of your actual office, signboard and team, and a few properties you have handled. Real photos, not stock images.
- Your services: resale, rentals, new projects, property management, whatever you really offer.
- Your RERA agent registration number in the description, if you hold one. If you are unsure whether your work needs one, check with your state's RERA authority.
Reviews: ask, never buy
Reviews carry real weight with people choosing a broker. Ask every happy client for one, right after the deal closes or the keys change hands, when they are most pleased. Send the direct review link on WhatsApp so it takes them a minute.
Do not buy reviews, do not write them yourself, and do not offer discounts or gifts in return for them. Google's rules forbid all of this, and fake reviews are usually obvious to readers anyway.
Reply to every review, including the bad ones. A calm, specific reply to a complaint often builds more trust than a row of five stars. The advice in reviews and trust for a PG business applies just as well to a broker's office.
Keep it consistent with everything else
Your business name, address and phone number should match exactly across your Google profile, your website, your portal profiles and directories like Justdial. If your website says "Nandi Realty, 2nd Floor, ITPL Main Road" and your profile says "Nandi Real Estate, Whitefield", Google has to guess whether they are the same business. Make it easy for it.
This consistency is also a large part of ranking for your own business name, which is the first thing any new website should aim for.
What to do this week
- Search your business name on Google Maps and see what shows up
- Claim or create your profile, and strip any keywords out of the business name
- Upload five real photos: signboard, office, team and two properties
- Send the review link to three recent clients who were happy with you
Then search your own name from a friend's phone and look at what a stranger sees. It is often not what you expect. There is more on that first impression in what buyers find when they search your company name.
