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    For estate agencies and property agents

    Estate agency profile versus individual estate agent profile: what does Google allow?

    Google names real estate agents directly among its examples of individual practitioners — a public-facing professional with their own customer base, alongside doctors, dentists, lawyers and financial planners. That makes the agency-versus-agent question a live one for property businesses in a way it isn't for most retail or trade businesses.

    But being named as an example doesn't mean every agent at a branch should run their own profile, and it doesn't create any case for extra profiles to cover neighbourhoods a branch happens to sell in. This guide works through the real structures: single branches, multi-agent branches, solo agents, multi-branch operations, and remote or virtual property businesses.

    Agency profile, agent profile, or both?

    A planning aid, not a ruling — Google decides eligibility and verification case by case.

    1. Does the business operate from a real, staffed branch that customers can visit and that is contactable directly during stated hours?

      Yes: go to the next question ↓
      No: An unstaffed address, a virtual office, or a mailbox used only for correspondence generally doesn't qualify for a profile that shows an address. A genuinely remote business may instead be eligible as a service-area business, but only if staff actually travel to meet customers — a desk-based lettings operation with no customer visits doesn't become service-area just by removing its address.

    2. Are there several public-facing agents working from that branch, each with their own identifiable client base?

      Yes: The branch gets its own profile under the agency's name and category. Any agent who is genuinely public-facing, with their own clients and direct contactability at the branch, may additionally have an individual profile — named only with their own name, not the agency's. There's no basis for a profile per agent specialisation (lettings versus sales, for instance) or per area they happen to cover.
      No: go to the next question ↓

    3. Is there a sole public-facing agent trading under a brand name at that branch?

      Yes: A sole public-facing agent for a branded agency may share one profile named "[Brand]: [Agent name]" rather than running a separate agency profile and a separate agent profile for the same branch.
      No: Where the branch has no individually eligible public-facing agent — for example, a branch staffed by negotiators without their own independent client base — a branch-only profile is the appropriate setup.

    A planning aid based on Google's published guidelines, not a ruling. Google decides eligibility and verification.

    Four branch and agent structures

    Google guideline
    Google's guidelines list insurance and real estate agents among its examples of individual practitioners — public-facing professionals, typically with their own customer base, eligible only if directly contactable at a verified location during stated hours. Several practitioners at one location each get a profile named only with their own name once the organisation has its own profile; a sole public-facing practitioner trading under a brand may share one profile named "[Brand]: [Name]". Google doesn't allow multiple profiles to cover specialisations, and sales associates or lead-generation agents working for a corporation without their own client base aren't eligible.
    Read Google's guidance
    Google guideline
    A service-area business should remove its address if customers aren't served there, gets one profile for the whole area served (up to 20 cities, postcodes or similar areas, with no radius option), and generally suits businesses operating within roughly two hours' drive of their base — though larger areas may suit some. A virtual office can't be used as a service-area base unless it is genuinely staffed during the hours shown.
    Read Google's guidance

    Worked example: a two-branch agency

    Agency and agent profile structure Illustrative example

    A two-branch agency with eligible individual agents at one branch.

    • Riverside Property (agency brand)

      Own profile

      Not itself a profile — each branch is separately verified.

      • Riverside Property — Town Branch

        Own profile

        Main category: Real Estate Agency

        Own address, staff and contactability.

        • Agent: J. Carter

          Only if it qualifies

          Only if genuinely public-facing with own client base, named with agent's own name only.

        • Agent: S. Odole

          Only if it qualifies

          Same test applies individually to each agent.

        • Negotiator (no independent client base)

          No separate profile

          Supporting role, not eligible for its own profile.

      • Riverside Property: A. Whitfield (village branch)

        Own profile

        Main category: Real Estate Agency

        Sole public-facing agent under the brand — one combined profile, not two.

    Own profileOnly if it meets the rulesPart of the main profile

    Services and categories, not duplicate profiles

    An agency branch that handles residential sales, lettings, property management, valuations and some commercial instructions lists all of those as services on its one profile, using the category system to set the most accurate primary category (such as Real Estate Agency) and adding only as many additional categories as genuinely describe the core business. There's no basis for a "lettings" profile and a separate "sales" profile at the same branch — that's the same specialisation problem Google's practitioner rules rule out for individuals, and it applies just as clearly to how a single location represents the different sides of its business.

    Google guideline
    Google recommends using the fewest categories that accurately describe the core business, with the most specific category set as primary.
    Read Google's guidance
    Google guideline
    Services should reflect only what the business actually offers, and the predefined service list varies by category.
    Read Google's guidance

    How GBPly fits an estate agency

    Consistency across branches

    Profile Guard flags unexpected changes to hours, categories or contact details on any branch or agent profile in the group.

    Profile Guard →Multi-location management →

    AI-drafted review replies, human-approved

    Drafts a reply for each new review on a branch or agent profile; a team member checks it before it's posted.

    Review management →

    GBP Expert audit

    A guided review of a branch profile's category, services and completeness against Google's own requirements.

    GBP Expert →

    GBPly works with profiles you already manage. It does not create, verify or decide eligibility for Business Profiles; Google does.

    Estate agent profile questions

    Can every agent at a branch have their own Google Business Profile?
    Only those who are genuinely public-facing with their own identifiable client base and who are directly contactable at the branch during stated hours. Negotiators or support staff without an independent client base generally aren't eligible.
    Can an agent have a profile for each area they sell property in?
    No. A profile represents a real, staffed, contactable location or a legitimate service area — not a marketing footprint. There's no basis for a profile per neighbourhood or specialisation.
    Does a virtual office address qualify a remote agency for a profile?
    Generally no. An address shown on a profile needs permanent fixed signage and genuine staffing; virtual offices and unstaffed addresses don't meet that. A genuinely remote business may instead be eligible as a service-area business, but only if staff actually travel to meet customers.
    What should an individual agent's profile be named?
    Only the agent's own name, unless they're the sole public-facing agent of a branded agency at that branch, in which case the pattern is "[Brand]: [Name]".
    Can one agent's profile cover two branches they work from?
    An individual profile needs to be contactable at a specific verified location during its stated hours, so representing two branches from one agent profile is a poor fit for how the rules work — it's generally more workable to base the individual profile at the branch the agent is primarily associated with.

    Sources and guidance

    Statements tagged Google guideline paraphrase Google's own help pages below. Statements tagged GBPly recommendation are GBPly's editorial opinion, and Illustrative example scenarios describe hypothetical businesses. Google's guidelines change; check the live pages before acting.

    Guidance checked against Google's help pages on 12 October 2026.

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