Converting a business profile to a practitioner profile

[joegrape]

Hey Everyone!

I have a real estate client who originally set up her GBP under a business name and at an office address.

She has since closed down that office and moved into the local offices of the broker with which she works. This broker is a national brand.

She is now asking us to help her change the profile address to that of the national broker's local office. Per Colan Neilsen's excellent primer, 99 Problems: Realtor Local SEO Ain’t One, I advised the client she shouldn't do that, and instead set up a practitioner listing.

I'm thinking, though, that we can convert her existing business profile into a practitioner listing by doing the following:

1.) changing the primary category from "real estate agency" to "real estate agent".
2.) set it to a service area business.
3.) change the address to her home.

She will have to re-verify, but we would preserve the existing profile, which has 79 reviews on it.

My question is, do you think this strategy will set off any red flags at Google? We are switching the primary category from a business to a person. And from Google's perspective, the reviews were for her real estate company, not her as a real estate agent. Though in reality, those reviews are for her because she was the sole practitioner at that real estate company.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this.

Richard

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[Kim Kuhlman]

Following. I have a client who has a really big problem with her GBP related to this.

 

[JS Girard]

the review thing is not something google would ever pick up on or care about (Cf. the old LSA tactic of stealing the reviews from a national park). Although it may look odd to propspects if the former business has a different names and the reviews mention that.

Just remember that once you hide the address the rankings will always be centered on the original address, not her home address. It does not matter if the new address has been validated (I have personal eprsonal experience on this point lol). This is probably a good thing, though.

Be also mindful that hiding the address can cause punitive changes to the rankings, and this a complete crapshoot. I've seen pairs of profiles with almost identical conditions where one was affected and the other completely fine.

 

[Stefan Somborac]

joegrape - I think you can make this change without much trouble.

1.) I would add the category "real estate agent", wait a week and then swap them. In my experience, adding categories and swapping the Primary Category is low risk. Removing one category for another makes me nervous.

Wait a week or two between these big edits!

2.) Then, I would change the address to her home address. You'll have to reverify. Just before you do, set the service area and hide the address so it verifies as an SAB.

Of course, seeing as you're citing @Colan Nielsen's post, it makes sense to me to ask him to weigh in on this!

 

[JS Girard]

Follow stefan's advice regarding the categories. I'm lucky enough that in Quebec we don't have those twitchy suspensions when such edits are made, so I always forget about that.

 

[Stefan Somborac]

@JS Girard - Excellent point! I've had the same experience: some countries are more sensitive to suspensions. Similarly, in some countries verifications and reinstatements are easier.