SAB Crack Down? Revisiting Real Estate Agent Profiles

[ForwardMotion]

Well, it's been a while since I asked about add a GBP for a Realtor and it seems a lot has changed over the last couple months, so I'm needing to revisit this and get some feedback. I work with a lot of Realtors and I was having very few issues with adding a GBP for a Realtor using their home address and hiding it. Here lately I have had multiple Realtors I have tried to add that get suspended immediately when using their home address and hiding it. Google then wants proof that this is in fact the office address, but there is not way to prove this as the Realtor's license is held at the office and all their information has the actual office address. So, what is everyone doing now to add a Realtor as a sole practitioner using the home address so they don't get filtered out when using the office address? Also, I have always put the GBP title as Real Estate Company | Real Estate Agent, but now I am being told over and over to only use the Realtors name and nothing else. I know that is what the guidelines say, but it is very confusing why this is and why you wouldn't put the company name or the service they offer for clarification. I know this has been visited many times, but it seems things are changing faster than one can keep up on them. I would like to know what everyone else is doing now for adding a Realtor? Home or office address? Hidden or not hidden? GBP title, just Realtor name or add the company name? I have spent months on two or three different GBP's for Realtors trying to get them reinstated. One was just reinstated for no clear reason, but now I have another one that has is going on two months and no matter what I do Google refuses to reinstate it. I have been instructed to scrap the listing and start over for this agent, but want to know what to do before I go through all of this again.

Thank you for any direction you can offer!

 

[ElizabethRule]

There is certainly something going on with Google lately when it comes to reinstatements. I am not sure if they are cracking down or what, but they are pretty strict when it comes to the proof they need to validate where a business is located. Unfortunately realtors with a lack of proof at their home addresses are caught in the cross fire in this case.

Even as an SAB, Google will make any listing validate with traditional proof like business license, insurance, utility bills etc. Recommend to your clients they find a way to get one or more of these registered legal documents to their home address. Anything to prove they are registered in some way to their home address. That is really the best way to safeguard in the cases of suspensions. On top of that provide photos of real world proof like business cards, home signs with their name, promotional signs etc. If you have enough proof they are actually realtors in the real world, you can maybe get away with less proof of address (harder to get). See if they can set up BBBs as well, this will provide further proof of existence.

As for the business name, when verifying a listing or trying to get it reinstated I would recommend not adding additional keywords if they dont appear in the realtors "brand" in the real world (i.e not on their business card, website, signs etc). After the listing is verified and doing fine, you can test adding keywords back, though I don't often see Google take action on keyword stuffed business names always take caution.

 

[ForwardMotion]

There is certainly something going on with Google lately when it comes to reinstatements. I am not sure if they are cracking down or what, but they are pretty strict when it comes to the proof they need to validate where a business is located. Unfortunately realtors with a lack of proof at their home addresses are caught in the cross fire in this case.

Even as an SAB, Google will make any listing validate with traditional proof like business license, insurance, utility bills etc. Recommend to your clients they find a way to get one or more of these registered legal documents to their home address. Anything to prove they are registered in some way to their home address. That is really the best way to safeguard in the cases of suspensions. On top of that provide photos of real world proof like business cards, home signs with their name, promotional signs etc. If you have enough proof they are actually realtors in the real world, you can maybe get away with less proof of address (harder to get). See if they can set up BBBs as well, this will provide further proof of existence.

As for the business name, when verifying a listing or trying to get it reinstated I would recommend not adding additional keywords if they dont appear in the realtors "brand" in the real world (i.e not on their business card, website, signs etc). After the listing is verified and doing fine, you can test adding keywords back, though I don't often see Google take action on keyword stuffed business names always take caution.

Thank you Elizabeth. I've totally scrapped two Realtor listings here lately and started over. here are a couple things I have found so far that have worked. After going back and forth with Google multiple times, I finally decided to remove both listings and start over. One of the listings was a couple months ago and after removing it, I waited 2+ weeks before trying to re add it. When I did that, it seemed the old listing had been fully removed. So I re-added the Realtors listing and then we had to go through the postcard again, but this time it worked and the listing is now up and working fine. As far as the second one, I am still dealing with it, but feel that maybe I'm making some headway. After 2 to 3 months of back and fourth with Google and getting nowhere, I decided to remove this listing too. Here's what I learned from this one. I only waited a couple days before trying to add it back and I immediately had the same issues, so I removed it again. This time I decided to wait 2+ weeks again before trying like the last one. Here is what I found... This time it let me add everything and then wanted me to do the Business Video verification, but like so many others, it didn't work. After many tries and it getting stuck at 99% upload trying shorter videos, etc..., I decided to contact support and tell them the issue. Well, they have now added the live business verification option, so that is what we will be trying. Now I'm waiting for my client to get back with me on this to set-up a time to do this. As soon as we can get this completed to see if this works, I will let everyone know.

It is definitely getting a lot harder to add SAB's, but I'm not giving up. I deal with a lot of SAB's and Google needs to get this figured out. It is not fair to penalize a business just because they don't have an actual location. I am seeing SAB's more and more, so Google needs to find a solution and make the guidelines clear so it's an even playing field for all. Especially when Google is so dominate and people's livelihoods depend on this.

I will be continuing the good fight!

 

[ElizabethRule]

Ugh Google does not make it easy! Especially coupled with the 99% upload issue (which Google knows is a major issue) it is REALLY not easy getting verified these days. You are following all the correct steps, I hope it goes well with the live verification. I have not heard of the live verification option being given much recently, but in the past I have had good experiences with it in terms of getting listings verified.

Do keep up updated!! Good luck.