Real estate agents face a unique GBP challenge, most represent a brokerage, not a standalone business.
I was reviewing a Google Business Profile for a real estate agent in Scottsdale, AZ last spring. She'd been a licensed agent for 11 years, had a 4.9-star rating, and closed more deals per year than anyone in her brokerage. But when I searched "real estate agent Scottsdale" on Google Maps, her name wasn't in the top 10.
Her competitor with half her experience, a newer office, and fewer reviews was sitting in position 2.
That's the reality of local SEO for real estate agents in 2026. Google doesn't rank the best agent. It ranks the most optimized one. And right now, most agents are leaving the top 3 spots in their market to someone who figured out a handful of things they haven't.
This guide covers exactly what those things are, and how to fix them, including what's changed now that AI Overviews and Google's AI-powered Local Pack pull directly from your profile data. Flento's analysis of 2,000+ US business profiles shows that real estate agents who follow a structured local SEO approach see measurable ranking improvements within 60 to 90 days. No paid ads required.
If you operate in a different niche, our guide to local SEO for home inspector is worth a read.
Businesses in adjacent categories face many of the same ranking challenges, which we cover in local SEO for property management companies.
Real estate is one of the most hyper-local businesses that exists. A buyer in Austin, TX isn't searching for "best real estate agent in America." They're searching for "real estate agent near me" or "homes for sale in Round Rock TX", and they're clicking the first 2 to 3 results they see.
Flento data shows that 78% of local service searches on mobile result in a call or visit within 24 hours. For real estate agents, that means a searcher who finds your Google Business Profile on a Tuesday evening could be your new client by Wednesday morning.
The problem: the Local Pack on Google Maps shows only 3 results. If you're not in those 3, you're invisible for that search, regardless of how good you are at your job.
Here's the other wrinkle. Real estate is intensely competitive in most US markets. In metro areas like Miami FL, Denver CO, and Atlanta GA, there are hundreds of licensed agents competing for the same searches. The agents who dominate Maps don't necessarily have the most listings. They have the most consistently maintained local presence.
The good news? Most of them aren't doing anything complicated. Here's exactly what they are doing.
The same approach carries over to neighboring categories, as our guide to local SEO for mortgage brokers shows.
Your Google Business Profile (GBP) is the single most important asset for local SEO for real estate agents. It's what appears in the Maps Local Pack, in Google's AI Overviews, and in "near me" searches, and it's completely free to optimize.
Choose the Right Primary Category
This is the most common mistake I see in real estate GBP audits. Many agents choose "Real Estate Agency" as their primary category when a more specific option applies, like "Real Estate Agent" (for solo practitioners) or "Real Estate Consultant." Google uses your primary category to decide which searches you're eligible to show up for. If this is wrong, nothing else you optimize will matter for those searches.
💡 Pro Tip: Agents who specialize in a niche, luxury homes, commercial property, first-time buyers, should add secondary categories that reflect that specialization. "Property Management Company," "Commercial Real Estate Agency," or "Mortgage Broker" can open up additional search queries.
Write a Description That Works for AI, Not Just Humans
Your GBP description (up to 750 characters) is now being pulled into Google AI Overviews and used by AI tools to understand what your business does. A vague description like "Helping families find their dream home" doesn't give Google enough to work with.
Instead, write it like this structure: [What you do] + [Where you do it] + [Who you serve] + [Why you're different]. For example: "Licensed real estate agent in Phoenix, AZ specializing in first-time buyers and move-up families across Maricopa County. 11 years of experience, 200+ closed transactions, and a five-star rating from 80+ clients."
Fill Every Section, Completely
Hours, website, phone number, service areas, photos, Q&A. Incomplete profiles consistently rank below complete ones. For real estate agents, service areas are especially important, add every city, neighborhood, and zip code you actively serve.
⚠️ Common Mistake: Using a toll-free number (1-800, 1-888) on your GBP. Google's algorithm favors local area code phone numbers. If your listing shows an 800 number, switch to your direct line.
Action Step: Open your GBP today and score it against Google's "Profile Completeness" meter. Anything under 100% is leaving ranking potential on the table. Use the Google Business Profile optimization checklist to audit every section.
If you want to go deeper, our article on local SEO tools for real estate agents walks through the tools that help agents rank in the neighborhoods they serve.
Getting more Google reviews isn't just good for your reputation. It's one of the highest-weighted ranking signals in local SEO, and real estate agents are in a uniquely advantageous position because every closed deal is a natural, satisfied client who's happy to help.
The key insight most agents miss: review velocity matters more than total count. An agent with 12 reviews from the past 90 days will often outrank one with 80 reviews from 3 years ago. Google interprets recent reviews as a signal that your business is actively serving customers right now.
The Flento RISE System for Real Estate Reviews
I use a framework called the Flento RISE System with real estate clients, Reviews, Info consistency, Signals, Engagement. The Review layer works like this:
A real estate agent in Columbus, OH implemented this approach after closing 6 homes in a quarter and received 5 new reviews in a 3-week window. Her Maps ranking moved from position 7 to position 4 in that market.
📊 Flento Data: Businesses that respond to 100% of their reviews within 24 hours see an average of 18% more profile views than those who don't respond. For real estate agents, profile views translate directly to inquiry calls.
Action Step: Set up automated review request sequences triggered after client milestones using Flento's Google Review Management Software, without cold or generic follow-ups.
NAP stands for Name, Address, Phone number, and for real estate agents, this is where local rankings quietly go wrong.
Every time your business information appears differently across directories, "Kevin Reed Real Estate" in one place, "Kevin Reed Realty" in another, "Kevin Reed, REALTOR" in a third, Google's confidence in your listing decreases. That eroded confidence directly impacts your Maps ranking.
Real estate agents face an extra complication here. Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia, Homes.com, and dozens of other industry directories often auto-populate agent profiles from MLS data, sometimes with outdated phone numbers, old brokerage addresses, or name variations you didn't choose. These create citation errors without you ever touching them.
Run the Flento NAP Lock
Before optimizing anything else, run what I call the Flento NAP Lock, a verification sweep of your exact business name, address, and phone number across your top 20 directories. The goal is perfect character-level consistency:
Industry-specific directories to check first: Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia, Homes.com, Yelp, Facebook, Google, Bing Places, Apple Maps, and your state's real estate board directory if applicable.
🔥 Quick Win: Even fixing 3 to 5 citation errors in high-authority directories like Yelp or Facebook can produce a noticeable ranking improvement within 30 to 45 days. I've seen it happen consistently.
Action Step: Use Flento's Business Listing Management Software to audit and sync your NAP data across 50+ directories in one place, including real estate-specific directories. Learn more about NAP consistency and why it matters.
Your GBP and your website work together. Google cross-references the information in your GBP with your website to validate your business, and well-optimized real estate websites reinforce your local ranking signals significantly.
Embed a Google Map on Your Contact Page
This is a simple, often overlooked step. Embedding a Google Map on your website's contact page creates a direct link between your website and your GBP, strengthening Google's association between the two properties.
Use Local Keywords Naturally in Your Page Titles and Headers
"Licensed Real Estate Agent in Houston, TX | Jane Chen Realty" is dramatically more effective as a page title than "Jane Chen, Your Real Estate Partner." Include your city and state in your H1 heading, your meta description, and naturally in the first paragraph of your about page and homepage.
Schema Markup for Local Businesses
Local business schema markup is a piece of code that tells Google exactly what your business is, where it's located, what your hours are, and what services you offer. Most website builders (Squarespace, Wix, WordPress with Yoast) make this manageable without touching code. For real estate agents, using LocalBusiness or RealEstateAgent schema tells Google to treat you as a hyper-local result, which is exactly what you want.
Action Step: Check whether your website has local schema markup using Google's Rich Results Test (free). If it's missing, add it, or ask your web developer to add it. It's a one-time setup that pays dividends for months.
Here's something every top-ranking real estate agent in competitive markets has figured out: ranking for neighborhood-level keywords is often easier than ranking for city-wide terms, and the leads are higher quality.
Someone searching "real estate agent in Buckhead Atlanta" is further along in their buying journey than someone searching "Atlanta real estate agent." They know the neighborhood they want. They're ready to talk.
Build Neighborhood Guides
Create one page per neighborhood or submarket you specialize in. Each page should include:
A real estate agent in Seattle, WA built 12 neighborhood guide pages over 6 months, targeting areas like Capitol Hill, Ballard, and Fremont. Within 4 months of publication, 8 of those pages were generating organic search traffic. Three of her last five closed buyers came directly from a neighborhood search.
Interlink Your Pages
Neighborhood pages, blog posts, and your listings page should all link to each other with descriptive anchor text, not "click here." A visitor reading your Capitol Hill guide should see a natural link to your "Homes for Sale in Capitol Hill" listings page and your general Seattle market update post. This internal link structure does two things: it keeps visitors on your site longer, and it helps Google understand which pages are your most important local pages.
Post to Your GBP Weekly
GBP Posts are one of the most underused features in real estate. Post about:
Agents who post at least once per week consistently signal active listing management to Google, one of the engagement signals that feeds local rankings.
Action Step: Identify your top 3 target neighborhoods. Create or update one dedicated page for each using the page structure above as a template.
Reviews and citations tell Google your business exists and is trustworthy. Local backlinks tell Google you're a recognized part of the community, and for real estate agents, this is easier to build than in almost any other industry.
Sources that work well for agents:
⚠️ Common Mistake: Chasing dozens of low-quality, unrelated backlinks from link farms or paid link networks. A handful of genuinely local, relevant links outperforms a large volume of generic ones, and the wrong kind can actively hurt you.
Action Step: List 5 local organizations you already have a relationship with, your kid's school, a local nonprofit, your Chamber of Commerce, and ask about sponsorship or membership listing opportunities this month.
The steps above work. The challenge for real estate agents is time, you're showing properties, writing offers, managing transactions, and nurturing leads. Monitoring your GBP, chasing reviews, auditing citations, and scheduling content doesn't fit into that schedule.
Flento was built for exactly this situation. Here's what it handles automatically:
Real estate agents on Flento typically spend less than 30 minutes per week on local SEO maintenance, and see results that would otherwise take an agency months to deliver.
Try Flento free →
✅ Done? See how Flento automates the review, listing, and tracking steps for real estate agents → Try Flento free
Q: How long does it take for local SEO to work for real estate agents? A: Most agents who implement the full approach above, GBP optimization, citation cleanup, and consistent review collection, see measurable ranking improvement in 60 to 90 days. Competitive markets like New York City or Los Angeles may take longer. Smaller markets like Boise, ID or Raleigh, NC often move faster. Local SEO compounds over time, so the earlier you start, the larger the advantage builds.
Q: What is local SEO for realtors and how is it different from regular SEO? A: Local SEO for realtors focuses specifically on ranking in Google Maps and localized search results, like "real estate agent near me" or "[neighborhood] homes for sale", rather than competing for broad national keywords. It weighs signals like your Google Business Profile, reviews, and NAP consistency far more heavily than traditional website SEO does, which is why an agent with a modest website can still outrank one with a much larger site if their local signals are stronger.
Q: Do US real estate agents need a separate Google Business Profile if they work under a brokerage? A: Yes, if you have a distinct client-facing presence. If you have your own website, run your own marketing, and clients hire you specifically, you should have your own GBP as an individual agent, in addition to any brokerage-level listing. The two should have different business names and can coexist on Google. Just ensure your NAP data is consistent with the name clients actually know you by.
Q: Does Zillow help my Google Maps ranking? A: Zillow contributes as a citation, your presence there with consistent NAP data reinforces your local footprint. But Zillow's own internal ranking algorithm is completely separate from Google's. Optimizing your GBP directly is what moves your Google Maps position. Zillow helps Google understand your business is legitimate and established.
Q: What keywords should US real estate agents target for local SEO? A: Start with "[Your City] real estate agent" and "[Your City] homes for sale." Then go narrower: neighborhood-level terms like "[Neighborhood Name] real estate" and "[City] [home type] homes" (e.g., "Austin TX luxury homes for sale"). Long-tail, neighborhood-specific keywords are less competitive and often bring higher-intent buyers.
Q: Is it against Google's rules for a real estate agent to ask clients for reviews? A: No, Google explicitly allows businesses to ask customers for reviews. You should not offer incentives (discounts, gifts) in exchange for reviews, and you shouldn't ask for reviews only from clients you think will leave 5 stars. Both practices violate Google's review policies. Beyond that, asking naturally after a positive closing experience is completely acceptable and encouraged.
Q: How many Google reviews does a real estate agent need to rank in the Local Pack? A: There's no fixed number, it depends on your market. In smaller markets, agents with 15 to 20 reviews can rank in the top 3. In major metros like Chicago IL or Dallas TX, you may need 50+ recent reviews to compete. More important than the total number is recency and response rate. For a deeper look, see our guide on how many reviews you need to rank.
Q: What's the difference between local SEO and running Google Ads for real estate? A: Google Ads puts you at the top of search results immediately, but only while you're paying. Local SEO builds a ranking position that generates leads without per-click costs. Most agents see higher trust signals from organic Maps results than from ads, and the cost-per-lead tends to be lower over a 12-month window. Many top-performing agents use both: ads for immediate pipeline, local SEO for sustainable long-term growth. For more on this distinction, see what local SEO is.
Every week your Google Business Profile sits half-optimized is another week buyers in your market are calling a competitor instead of you. Not because that agent is better, but because they showed up in the search results and you didn't.
The steps in this guide aren't complicated. A complete GBP, consistent NAP data, a steady stream of recent reviews, neighborhood-level content, a website that reinforces your local presence, and a handful of genuinely local backlinks, these are the fundamentals that move Maps rankings for real estate agents in markets across the US, from Phoenix AZ to Nashville TN to Portland OR.
Most agents reading this have the client relationships to generate reviews, the market knowledge to write neighborhood content, and the time to spend 30 minutes per week on maintenance. What they're missing is a system.
That's exactly what Flento provides. Start for free and see where you stand in your market today.
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