When people search online for local real estate agents, they use Google. It’s no wonder: Google is the world’s leading search engine, and consumers are used to searching it to find restaurants, plumbers, directions, and whatever else they need.
If buyers and sellers are using Google to search for agents, how does Google decide which agents to display at the top of search queries like “real estate agents near me?” It’s simple: positive reviews on a verified Google Business Profile.
Google measures the quality and quantity of reviews on agents’ Google Business Profiles to determine what agents belong at the top of Google search results and in front of consumers.
Learn how Homesnap Pro+ helps agents get the reviews they need, and why a verified Google Business Profile and positive, plentiful reviews are the ways to conquer Google and earn new business.
Conquer Google Step 1: Verify Your Google Business Profile
Think of the last time you heard about a new restaurant. Before you went, did you Google it? If the answer is yes, you’re like most consumers who are considering a new product or business service.
The same is true for real estate. Just as you want to check out a restaurant’s hours of operation and menu, home buyers and sellers want to know that you’re a credible professional who is up for the job. Enter the Google Business Profile.
Your Google Business Profile is the information box that appears on the right side of the screen when people search your name online. Your Business Profile includes business details such as contact information, operating hours, address, recent photos of your listings, and reviews of your real estate services and acumen.
Homesnap Pro+ partners with Google to instantly verify your identity and business status. This way, your Google Business Profile verified, completed, and published immediately – without delay and while incorporating all of your Homesnap information.
Without Pro+, verifying your Google Business Profile can take weeks – and cost you valuable time and effort. Get moving, get verified, and give yourself the best Google presence with Homesnap Pro+.
Conquer Google Step 2: Get Positive Reviews
In an ideal world, every consumer in your local market would already have your name in mind by the time they started an online real estate search. But this is the real world: People don’t usually search for a specific agent, instead favoring broad terms like “real estate agents near me.”
If you want to conquer Google, you need to appear at the top of results for broad, general searches for real estate services. Google wants to serve searchers the best results, and only puts the best agents at the top of these results. The way Google determines agents’ worthiness for search display? Reviews.
Just take a look at this generic search for local real estate agents.
The featured agents all have dozens of positive, plentiful reviews on their Google Business Profile, and a nearly perfect average review rating. Agents without reviews aren’t listed, aren’t featured, and aren’t going to be noticed by consumers.
Clearly, getting reviews is integral to winning on Google. But accumulating reviews can be time-consuming – if you aren’t a Homesnap Pro+ member.
Pro+ makes review generation easier with the One-Click Review Tool. The One-Click Review Tool streamlines the otherwise tedious, time-consuming process of identifying contacts, emailing or calling them, checking later to see if they left a review, and following up with them individually if necessary.
Instead, the One-Click Review Tool is linked to your Homesnap account, so you already have access to your digital rolodex. In one click, you can request a review from every relevant contact – friends, family, fellow agents, clients – and move on with your day.
Better still, the One-Click Review Tool keeps track of who has left you a Google review and automatically sends up to three follow-up emails to those that haven’t taken action.
We know that the One-Click Review Tool works. Pro+ agents who use the One-Click Review Tool receive 3X more reviews from satisfied clients and have an average Google review rating of 4.95. Agents who don’t use the One-Click Review Tool average a Google rating of 1.5. They won’t appear on broad Google search results for real estate agents, and will cede ground to their competitors.