Google Reviews for Real Estate Agents – How to Get More

Reviews play a vital role in determining your online reputation as a real estate agent. During the early days of marketing, methods including road signs, for sale signs, and even word of mouth were used to increase the popularity of real estate businesses. But nowadays, real estate marketing has evolved and taken a digital look. A critical way of improving your reputation in the real estate market and getting more clients is to have reviews.

Why Are Reviews So Important to a Real Estate Agent?

Before we jump right into how to get Google reviews, let's have a look at why they're important to you as a realtor or real estate business.

Builds Trust

Customer reviews are the first thing people look out for when choosing a real estate agent. You'll be shocked to find out how powerful they are as a tool for building trust between you and potential buyers. 

While self-praising can be effective, there's an invaluable level of trust established when individuals learn how reliable and trustworthy you are directly from the reviews of previous home buyers. 

Getting reviews is important to you as a realtor, especially if you want to improve your business' reputation, help extend your reach farther than your current sphere of influence, and attract more leads and potential customers.

Increases Traffic

According to a study by Dimensional Research, up to 90% of consumers read reviews before dealing with a real estate agent.

Clients will compare you with other agents, and your reviews can be the deciding factor. When people see numerous positive reviews and responses from an agent, it's only natural that they'll want to do business with you, thus increasing the flow of traffic to your business.

More traffic to your website 

If you run a realtor-based website, you definitely want your real estate website to appear on the first page when people search for real estate agents. If you have more people reviewing your real estate business in your region, you’ll rank higher for local searches.  So, if your page generates lots of reviews, you'll notice an increase in the amount of traffic on your site. 

Furthermore, the more traffic you generate, the probability of receiving quality leads is also higher.

We'll be looking at several important sites (including Google) to boost your review generation.

Important Sites You Need to Get Reviews On

1. Google

It’s no doubt that Google ranks #1 among search engines. Most buyers and sellers rely heavily on Google search results for information on homes available for sale, area codes, top realtors in a region, and specific businesses. Not just that, these reviews will also show up on Google Maps when someone is doing a local search on Maps. Google is the number one website to get reviews on.

It's important you rank on Google to ensure you appear on the first page for local searches for real estate agents or brokers.

If you ever want to do Google Ads, your reviews will be of great help as Google Ads determines your site's credibility by taking into account the number of reviews you have.

Later in this article, we'll be discussing how you can get Google reviews for real estate agents, but for now, let's look at other important websites you need to get reviews on.

2. Facebook

With Facebook being a social media giant, you'll find nearly all of your clients are on this platform. While it may not be your primary go-to social media platform for your real estate endeavors, having a Facebook business page with positive reviews has tremendous benefits. 

Also, this social media platform makes it relatively easy to request reviews because of its social aspect. Each review you get is associated with a Facebook profile. Thus, each piece of feedback is more reputable and is easily deemed genuine.

3. Zillow

As a realtor, you've probably come across this site before because Zillow is a notable real estate website. Hence, it's of great importance that you learn how to request reviews on this platform, and it should be your second priority after Google reviews.

Essentially, you're ranked on Zillow based on how many reviews you've had in your city, your recent sales total, and how many active listings you have. When customers search for a real estate agent in a particular region, the website generates a list based on rankings.

If you want to be on the front page of that list, you'll need lots of recent sales or positive online reviews. Concentrate your efforts on getting great customer feedback because it's more attainable. Best Reviews are specific and talk about the products and services without being vague.

4. Realtor.com

Another popular website for real estate agents is realtor.com. Even though it gets less traffic than Zillow, getting reviews on this site is still an excellent idea because people will most likely come across your profile when they search for realtors in their region.

5. Yelp

Despite being a popular search website for potential client research businesses, Yelp remains underutilized for review requests. As a result, it doesn't necessarily take many reviews to achieve the top spot in your entire market on Yelp, which is why getting some customer experience reviews is a brilliant idea. You'll want to have some reviews on this platform because your Google page collects reviews from Yelp as well.

Be sure to conduct some more studies before developing your Yelp review strategy because the website is thorough when it comes to reviews. So, if your page generates too many reviews at once, Yelp may doubt they are genuine and refuse to post them.

Therefore, preventing this means slowly adding reviews to your Yelp page over time. Also, you should avoid sending links to your Yelp profile because the platform may reject reviews made this way. Instead, you should solicit reviews directly from your customers by urging them to give brief feedback about their experience.

As aforementioned, the main focus of this article is to address how you can get Google reviews as a realtor. So let's jump right in!

How to Generate Google Reviews for Realtors

The first step to getting Google reviews for real estate agents is creating a Google business profile. 

Ask for reviews from the get-go

It's best to start requesting reviews as soon as you've claimed and validated your account. Even if you don’t have your GMB set up yet, you can still request your customers to send you a testimonial that can be used for your website & social channels to build that trust which is even more crucial at the beginning.

Once you have a GMB, Facebook, or any of the above review platforms setup, you can reach out to the customers through formal channels like email or informal channels like Whatsapp (if there was already prior communication) and send them a link where you’d like them to leave a review. The key here is to make it as easy for customers to leave a review as possible.

Responding to All Reviews

According to a 2022 research by Bright Local, customers need at least ten reviews to build trust. Besides generating reviews right from the start that'll create early impressions, it's also advisable you focus on replying to reviews, and frequently seeking new reviews. 

It's been observed that, by a significant percentage, businesses that reply to customer reviews are more trustworthy than businesses that don't. This statistic was shared by Google, indicating that it favors profiles that respond to online reviews.

Adopting an Easy Customer Review Process

Another great way for real estate agents to gain more Google reviews is to ensure the process for customers to drop reviews isn't too demanding, as clients are likely to review under easy conditions.

Using Reputation Management Software

Consider reputation management software tools if you want to improve your Google reviews, particularly when dealing with large teams, brokerages, or property managers.

These tools are packed with helpful integrations to help you collect and share customer reviews. These software tools include:

1. Brightlocal
2. Fivestars
3. Rea satisfied

Making Follow-ups Personal

If you're emailing several people, you're likely using a template. However, emailing clients one by one is super effective. The aim is to jog their memory about specific details that will help them write a genuine, keyword-rich Google review.

Using Reviews to Generate Reviews

Getting more reviews also necessitates displaying the best of your current set of reviews in the appropriate locations. Showing off your reviews on social media and business and real estate agent websites is a surefire way to invite more clients who'll leave reviews in the future. 

However, it's best to show a negative review and how you tackled the complaint alongside a positive review. That way, prospects will consider your reviews real when you add more Google reviews. 

Turning Reputation Management Into a System

Carrying out a regular audit on your reputation management can be a powerful addition to your marketing arsenal. Here are some things to keep an eye on: 

1. How many review stars do you have?
2. When was your last review?
3. What are your total reviews?
4. Do you have negative reviews you need to address?

By regularly asking yourself these questions, you can keep track of your progress while also looking for new ways to improve.

How to Request Feedback

Set Expectations From the Get-Go

You should set the expectation at the outset of every transaction that you'll ask your clients for a review at the end of the sale. Inquire if there's anything you can do to ensure a wonderful experience for them.

Also, remind them you'd like to earn their five-star review, and it'd be super helpful if they let you know if your service isn't up to par, so you can be of better service next time.

Ask For a Review After Solving a Problem

Another excellent opportunity to make a review request is after resolving a real estate transaction issue. Show your clients how delightful it was to help them resolve their issues while also mentioning that you'd appreciate the great feedback.

Give Rewards

A contest is another fantastic way to request reviews, especially if you're just getting started and need to get some reviews quickly. For example, you could draw up a contest in which if a customer leaves a review within seven days, they'll be entered into a lottery to win a reward.

Make Use of Your Email Signature

It's good practice to include a reduced version of your Google review and Zillow review URLs in your email signature. You can also use Bit.ly to shorten your links. Your client will be reminded to give a review every time they see your email.

Ask for reviews from past clients - add it to your script in emails, while meeting clients, or in any form of communication.

As mentioned before, the easier it is for your client to submit reviews, the more likely it is that they'll do so.

Conclusion

Considering how helpful reviews are to you as an agent, you must have a clear idea of how to increase the number of reviews you get and also review sites where you can generate more Google reviews.

Furthermore, reviews are important for growing your reputation as a realtor, which in turn generates real estate leads. So, you mustn't take reputation management lightly if you're looking to rise above the competition and become a successful real estate agent. 

Hopefully, you've learned how to generate more Google reviews so you can get your leads to trust you more.