How are you setting up Realtor's GBP?

[ForwardMotion]

I'm curious to know how people are setting up Realtor's GBP? I have setup quite a few sole practitioners, mainly Realtors and Mortgage loan officers. I have set them all up like so:

Company Name | Realtor/Mortgage LO Name

Per threads on the support forum here and previous questions I have asked I have set all of them up under their home address and then hid it making it a Service Area Business. I was told that was best practice and it also keeps the agents from competing with the office listing and address. I have done this for multiple sole practitioners with no problem. That is until this week.

I have a client that I set-up this same way, but Google has suspended the listing. I have requested re-instatement and have gone back and forth with Google, but all they keep telling me is that this listing goes against Google's guidelines and they will not re-instate the GBP. I have no clue why this is as it is just like all the rest I have set-up. I have put in service areas. I have shown clearly to Google that this real estate agent is a licensed agent with the state and also her page on the companies website.

So a few questions I have for everyone regarding this.

1. If you have set-up a sole practitioner (Realtor or Mortgage Loan Officer) how are you doing it?
2. I have started to see quite a few Realtor GBP listings with just the name of the Realtor followed by Realtor (ex: Jane Doe, Realtor). I have also noticed that a lot of them are still using the main office address. Is this best practice or should I be fine the way I have been doing it?
3. I have been doing training classes for Realtors on setting up their GBP and I want to make sure I am teaching them the correct way to do this so that Google will verify and not suspend. I would like to hear from any Google experts on how should I be listing these to prevent suspension?

It's hard to know what is the correct thing to do when all Google will reply with is that it goes against their guidelines, but will not specify the issue at hand. They are not clear in their guidelines and customer support is horrible. I have asked multiple times what we have done that has gone against their guidelines, but they only reply with the same canned answer. How are we to every follow a standard to make Google a better place for all if they can't even give a clear concise answer?

I would sure love to know what others are finding and did things change this week at Google? Also, what can I do to get this clients listing out of suspension when Google will not clarify anything for me.

Thanks for any input you can provide!

 

[ElizabethRule]

I think you're doing everything right. Google will never tell why a listing is suspended, which is annoying I 1000% agree.

1. I do it the same way for realtors, setting it up at the home address and I use similar naming conventions.
   
   
2. You should I be fine the way I have been doing it, using their home address is best practice. In fact, Google is ok with a realtor having two listings, one at their home and one at their office. I always recommend using their home to avoid filtering/competition issues like you mention.
   
   
3. You are following best practice, which this guide confirms Real Estate SEO | Looking for Real Estate SEO Experts? | Sterling Sky Dreamteam™

This suspension seems like a one off case as you are doing everything right. My recommendation is to post this on the GBP Community Forum so a PE can look into it in more detail. Feel free to post there and DM me the link and I will take a look.

It could be the "Realtor/Mortgage LO Name" in the name, maybe Google thinks it's keyword stuffing. In which case you need to provide proof to Google that what is on the listing is the business name used in real life (on business cards, on home for sale signage, logo on website ect).

 

[JS Girard]

The trick to get a realtor registered at home reinstated is to get it reinstated at the "official" office address and then moving it back to the home address, which you then hide. It's more hassle, but less than arguing with Support!

If the office address is for the right area and there aren't too many colleagues hiding their address registered there, you can just use it and hide it. A shown address cannot filter a hidden one.

 

[keyserholiday]

The trick to get a realtor registered at home reinstated is to get it reinstated at the "official" office address and then moving it back to the home address, which you then hide. It's more hassle, but less than arguing with Support!

If the office address is for the right area and there aren't too many colleagues hiding their address registered there, you can just use it and hide it. A shown address cannot filter a hidden one.

This could lead to suspension or require the business profile to get suspended. This is not an advisable tactic.

 

[JS Girard]

This could lead to suspension or require the business profile to get suspended. This is not an advisable tactic.

In my experience, Google will NOT reinstate without explicit proof of business address, which I've never seen happen with a realtor home address. But then fully independent realtors are extremely rare in Quebec anyway...

 

[keyserholiday]

In my experience, Google will NOT reinstate without explicit proof of business address, which I've never seen happen with a realtor home address. But then fully independent realtors are extremely rare in Quebec anyway...

Realtors are a duress category because of the high dollar amount in the industry. They typically get suspended when they create a new business profile. If they do get set up at the office and move, that typically triggers a suspension.

 

[JS Girard]

Realtors are a duress category because of the high dollar amount in the industry. They typically get suspended when they create a new business profile. If they do get set up at the office and move, that typically triggers a suspension.

That's not what happened. What we did was reinstate the profile at the office. The original creation was at the home address years ago. We weren't even actually planning to move it back since the client explicitly told us that was okay, but then two months later he changed his mind. It's not like we were moving it immediately after reinstatement!

 

[keyserholiday]

That's not what happened. What we did was reinstate the profile at the office. The original creation was at the home address years ago. We weren't even actually planning to move it back since the client explicitly told us that was okay, but then two months later he changed his mind. It's not like we were moving it immediately after reinstatement!

Google is cracking down on abuse. If you are doing a lot of moving locations from point A to point B, you risk an account-level suspension. All of the business profiles will get suspended. It's a pain to deal with as you have to apply for reinstatement one at a time. Google does perform integrity checks on accounts from time to time, when they catch a user breaking the guidelines, they hit them with an account-level suspension.

 

[ForwardMotion]

Google is cracking down on abuse. If you are doing a lot of moving locations from point A to point B, you risk an account-level suspension. All of the business profiles will get suspended. It's a pain to deal with as you have to apply for reinstatement one at a time. Google does perform integrity checks on accounts from time to time, when they catch a user breaking the guidelines, they hit them with an account-level suspension.

Are you saying that Realtors need to be set up with just their name and then they need to be set up under the office address only? There are so many mixed messages out there that it is so confusing. Most have said to set a Realtor up like so, Company Name | Realtor Name and then set them up under their home address and hide it. This is how I have done it for a while now with no issue, but all of a sudden one of my clients has had her listing suspended. I have changed her listing to being just under her name and Google is still denying reinstatement. Is the only way to get this Realtor listing reinstated to put her under the office address and only use her name? If so, how do you not compete with the office and get filtered out? Google really needs to come up with a solid standard practice for sole practitioners, especially when there are many at one office. I see different titles all over the place with keyword stuffing and hidden addresses. The hoops we have to jump through for suspended accounts is insane.