Many agencies set up their Google Business Profile once, add the branch address and move on to the property portals. That treats the profile as a directory entry. For a vendor or landlord comparing three local agents, it is often the first thing they read: opening hours, reviews, the branch location and whether anyone replies. This guide covers what to set up, what to leave alone and how to check the result, branch by branch.
What a vendor or landlord checks before calling an agent
The portals show properties. The Google profile shows the agency. A vendor choosing who to invite for a valuation has little else locally to compare than reviews, opening hours and the branch address, so that is where the profile does its work. This is a view, not a measured result, but it changes priorities: effort goes into trust signals and accurate branch data, not into duplicating listings that already live on the portals.
Set up each branch correctly, step by step
- One profile per branch. Each profile needs a staffed address customers can visit during the hours shown. Don’t create profiles for virtual offices or staff homes.
- Use the real trading name. Use the name on the shopfront and the signage. Adding a town or the words Sales and Lettings when they are not part of the name breaches Google’s guidelines on business names.
- Choose categories carefully. Pick the primary category that matches the main activity, then add secondary categories for lettings or property management only where the branch really offers them. Check the exact names in your own dashboard.
- Set regular and special hours. Add bank holiday hours ahead of time, and mention viewings by appointment in the description if they happen outside opening hours.
- Add service areas honestly. List only the areas where you really carry out valuations, and keep them consistent with the website.
- Use a branch number and a branch page. Link to the page for that branch where the website has one, not to the homepage.
- Write a factual description. Say what the branch sells and lets, which areas it covers and how to book a valuation. Leave out promises and claims you can’t prove.
For the wider picture across the UK, see our complete guide to optimising your Google Business Profile in London and the UK.
Reviews: ask every client and reply to every review
Google doesn’t allow incentives for reviews or asking selectively for positive ones. The compliant routine is simple: send the same review link to every client at the same point, for example when a sale completes or a tenancy starts. The point of the routine is that no one chooses who is asked.
Replies matter because vendors and landlords read them. Thank the client, name the branch or the area, and keep out the property address, the price and any personal detail, which also keeps you on the right side of UK GDPR. For a critical review, reply politely and offer to talk by phone. AVI, inside LocalEdge Lite, drafts review replies that you read and edit before they go out.
Photos and posts that fit how agencies work
Use photos of the shopfront, the interior, the team and the local area. A prospective vendor wants to see who will visit their home, and a stock image tells them nothing. Keep property photos on the portals, where they belong.
- Update bank holiday hours as a post as well as in the hours section.
- Post local content, such as a street or village the branch covers, rather than repeating listings.
- Refresh the team and shopfront photos when staff or signage change.
- Remove outdated posts and offers once the date has passed.
- Keep a small, regular rhythm. LocalEdge Lite includes 4 posts and 4 photos a month, which is enough to keep a branch profile current.
Check the result across your catchment
Visibility depends on where the searcher stands. Google says local results are based on relevance, distance and prominence, and it doesn’t publish the weight of each. A single check from the branch postcode therefore tells you little about the streets where your vendors live.
Run the same scan on the same grid each time. With LocalEdge Solo and its heatmap you can scan up to 21×21 points and 5 keywords per scan, for example estate agents plus your town and letting agents plus your town. Compare areas, not just the overall colour, and log each change you make to the profile with its date. For a first look at the profile itself, the LocalEdge scan for profiles is a quick starting point.
Managing several branches
Consistency is the hard part for groups and franchises. Keep a sheet with one row per branch: the person responsible, the date of the last hours check and the categories in use. The fleet dashboard and white-label reports in LocalEdge for agencies help repeat that review across branches without starting from scratch each time.
The aim is a profile that answers a vendor’s questions in under a minute. To see where yours stands, get your free GBP Score with LocalEdge Lite: no card is needed, and you can come back to repeat it after each change.
