Bobby Kerr of LOC8 My Business on Wake Up Wednesday with Peggy DeLano

Transcript cleaned from YouTube's auto-generated captions. Speaker names for audience members (Sherry, Eva, Eve, Annie, Watson) are inferred from context.

[0:00] Peggy DeLano: Good morning everybody. How are you? Wake Up Wednesday. I am in Texas — it has been 100 degrees here. And of course when you're hanging out with Jean Frederick and his wife Susan, the heat goes up because there's always something very exciting going on. But today is especially exciting because I have Mr. Google on. And I have to thank Sherry Harris for introducing us. Sherry, how did you meet Bobby K? This is a great story.

[0:39] Sherry Harris: It's so cool, I'm so happy I met you, Bobby. We were in Cabo — Cabo 2025, I guess, last year — and there was a speaker on, and I'd heard some of what they'd talked about and I really just needed to stand, so I went to get some coffee, and Bobby and another guy, Brendan, came up to me and said, "Do you live in Cape Coral?" And I was like, holding my coffee, I'm like, "Yeah." And they said, "We follow you on social media," which made me so happy. It was the best connection, because Bobby, we've done so much stuff together since then — you've helped my team, you've helped my personal business. You are really great at what you do, and I'm so happy to have made this connection because more people get to learn from you.

[1:35] Bobby Kerr: Lot of fun. Love that.

[1:37] Peggy: I love that story — that people are following you on social media and here you are in another country and they come up to you like you're such a celebrity. So we're going to talk a lot about that. Bobby is going to show you the ways to just get noticed, to get up there. He's going to debunk all the myths out there. Bobby, you're Mr. Google — come on, tell us all about yourself. How did you get started?

[2:22] Bobby: Awesome, I love this — thank you for the time and the opportunity, everybody, and thank you, Peggy. I'm hoping this is going to be more conversational, right, so we can ask questions and dig in, because all the time we do workshops and webinars with a ton of slides and stick to a point. So I'm hoping this gives us the opportunity to really dig deeper on some things.

I'm the Google guy, like you said — I don't even know how that moniker came about, honestly. It came about because over the last decade I've scaled several real estate-based businesses — not just real estate sales, but home inspections, mortgage brokerage, insurance brokerage, real estate sales, and a marketing firm. So kind of all within the real estate ecosystem. And I scaled all of those companies — helped scale them, of course, with great teams — but also on top of that, leveraging the free tool that is Google Business Profile.

Anyone watching this has heard of Google Business Profile, whether it's something we've used or not — everyone knows it's there. It's the world's largest data set of businesses on planet Earth, on the world's biggest platform, which is Google. So when a business — whether it's a real estate agent, a broker owner, a team lead, any industry for that matter — it's a tool that helps make your business more visible online. And for real estate folks watching this, it's pretty crazy — over 93% of all real estate professionals don't leverage either their Google profile or social media in general. So this is a great opportunity to debunk some myths about what it takes to be visible on traditional Google search, on AI Overviews, on Google search powered by Gemini, ChatGPT, all the AI search tools. This is what I've leveraged for my own companies over the years, and now we have the opportunity to share that expertise with other real estate professionals across the country and Canada.

[4:27] Peggy: That is so cool. So where do we begin? Because I know we're all overwhelmed — we're like, "Okay, Google Business Profile, that's not for me, I'm not techy." How do I get started?

[4:44] Bobby: Go to our website, loc8mybusiness.com — that'll be a great place to start, there's a ton of free resources to learn, a lot of video, a lot of informational stuff that's just good to learn. But for people who feel overwhelmed or are just getting started — Google Business Profile has been around for 15, 20 years. It's been used mostly, especially by real estate professionals, as a review-capture tool, which is one of the most important features — everyone knows, "Okay, I need a business profile, it'll display my name, phone number, address, website, and I'll collect some reviews." And that's how people will know if I'm a good business owner or not. But the review piece is just one small component of what it takes to really leverage this tool.

If you literally just search "how do I use Google Business Profile" on an AI search or Google search, you're going to learn a ton. But if you want real estate-specific stuff, go to our website, loc8mybusiness.com, watch a ton of videos, get some free education — because the biggest thing to take away is that this is a living, breathing tool. To put it another way, if you want to be a business that's found online — whether it's Google, AI Overviews powered by Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc. — it all starts with the Google Business Profile. Of course we have websites, of course we've got other citations or platforms where our business is named, like Zillow or Realtor.com or Homes.com or Yelp — these are all platforms required for us to be present as real estate professionals. It's a holistic approach — we need to be everywhere a little bit — but most importantly, the Google Business Profile is the biggest citation or platform on planet Earth for a real estate professional to be found. Unfortunately, most real estate professionals think of it just as a place to collect reviews and have their name and address. But really it's a living, breathing tool that powers our online visibility on Google and all the other AI search tools.

[7:16] Peggy: Okay, so walk us through what do we do — where do you want to start?

[7:32] Bobby: I didn't know this was going to be a webinar — that's good to know. Let me try to pull up some slides. I'm sure there's already questions.

[7:53] Peggy: I was going to say, I have questions right off the bat.

[7:58] Bobby: Well, let's start there — Eva, I like that mode a little bit better.

[7:58] Eva (EMC Homes team): We started working on this a while back — I'd been in business at least 10 years and had very little Google reviews, so our focus was to try to have better presence and increase our reviews. One of the challenges we came up against was how to search for me — because "EMC Homes" is my company name, and prior to coming to eXp I was always listed as Eva Marie Casoria. When I came to eXp, because "Marie" isn't on my license, I had to become "Eva Casoria." So if you look me up, I never know which is the best way — is it better to use the team name? Tell me what you think.

[8:55] Bobby: Great question to start with. There's a massive thing in online visibility called NAP consistency — name, address, phone, and I always say plus website. When you're inconsistent in your name across different platforms, Google and all AI tools get very confused. So if your name is Eva on Google, but on Zillow it's under your team name, and your website is under a combination of your personal name plus your legal business entity — all of a sudden, to Google and AI search tools, those look like three different businesses. That's a lack of consistency in the NAP.

So what we always teach: make sure your Google profile is completely buttoned up and optimized — name exactly as you want it, phone, website, reviews, photos, posts all optimized — and then make the other platforms and citations fall in line. People and AI search tools are finding you based not so much on your name being searched, but on what your profile is built around — it's more about the content than your name, though of course we want our name findable too, as a layer of social proof. If Sherry gets a referral from Stephen, the first thing Sherry's going to do is Google the person to verify their reputation.

On Google specifically, there's been a massive crackdown on how profiles can be created — you used to be able to stuff keywords and cities into your business name, but Google doesn't allow that anymore, and will often suspend profiles that do it. So it needs to be a legal entity — your legal first and last name, or your LLC/DBA. Google will ask for verification — LLC paperwork, a video verification showing your signage, business cards, website all reading the name of your business. But the consistency has to be there across the board, no matter what the name is. Most agents are now just starting their Google profiles with their own name, because it's hard to argue with someone's legal name and Google tends to approve those. So: consistent first and last name, or your legal entity, across every platform — that avoids the confusion, and avoids what's called AI hallucination, where AI recommends a business but links to a competitor because the name/address/phone/website weren't consistent.

[13:43] Eva: One quick follow-up — are the amount of reviews you have as important as people say?

[13:51] Bobby: They are very important — great question. Review count in and of itself matters less than the frequency at which they keep coming in. Google and AI search tools have a massive recency bias — what have you done for me lately. If you got 100 reviews in 2025 and then only one review a month in 2026, in Google's eyes your business looks dead or dying. So the review count matters a little less than the frequency. The magic number is three to five keyword-rich reviews every single month.

(Bobby shares his screen to walk through a slide on reviews.)

Fresh reviews are much better than old reviews, and keywords inside each review play a massive role. If a review just says "highly recommend" or "great service," Google looks at that and says, "I don't really know if this is a legit review" — there's no context to the place, no geographical anchor, and it could have been coerced or purchased. Never buy reviews fraudulently — Google can tell from IP address patterns and language, and it's the quickest way to get your profile put in "Google jail."

Reviews need to be what I call AI gold — keywords that signal your name and business, your geographical location, and the specific problem you helped solve. As an example: "Felicia Davis with eXp Realty is the best realtor in Grain Valley, Missouri. Felicia helped us sell our home in Eagles Landing in 5 days and above asking price. Communication outstanding, top dollar. Felicia made the process easy. Best realtor in Grain Valley, Missouri. Felicia is the one." That review gives Google three trust anchors right away: the business name, the geographical location, and the company she's associated with — plus the specific neighborhood (Eagles Landing) and outcome (5 days, above asking).

As real estate professionals this is the easiest business to do this in, because a transaction is tied to an address, a neighborhood, a street name in a way a shoe store review never will be. So: mention the name, geographical anchors (city, state, ideally neighborhood or street), the specific problem solved, and add a photo if possible — Google values reviews with photos more.

To answer the original review-count question directly: across all the platforms that matter — Facebook, Google, Zillow, Bing Places, Yelp, Realtor.com, Better Business Bureau, Yellow Pages, MapQuest, FastExpert, and HomeLight — in 2026 it seems to be about 200 total reviews that really anchors the trust signals with Google and AI search tools. But if you're nowhere close to 200, the frequency matters more right now: three to five keyword-rich reviews every single month.

[21:17] Annie: So I have a question, Bobby, on that — how are you telling your clients to create this word-rich review?

[21:28] Bobby: Great question, Annie. We provide review templates for the agents we work with every day across the country and Canada. It's pretty simple when you think about it — you don't want to steer someone by telling them exactly what to say and have them copy-paste it, that would be unethical. But you can give them guardrails. Something like: "Thanks so much for partnering with us for your transaction at 123 Main Street — we had a phenomenal time working with you. If you could please leave a review for our business..." I always start with some marketing psychology: "Can you help me out?" That triggers something — human beings are, for the most part, pretty good people, and when someone we know, like, and trust asks us for a favor, we're more willing to go above and beyond.

So in the ask, I lead with "Can you help me out? I'm on a mission to get to 50 Google five-star reviews in 2026," and then: it's really helpful if you mention me by name (or the business name as it appears on the Google profile), the city/state/neighborhood or street where we partnered, a specific problem I helped you solve, and a photograph if you can add one. Give them the guardrails — not the exact script — and Google (and AI tools) will reward and recognize you in search queries when those specifics show up.

[24:16] Eve Holder (Eve Holder Homes): A couple of questions. If my business is Eve Holder Homes and people give me reviews, they talk about "Eve" rather than "Eve Holder Homes" — is that an issue? And second — Google keeps adding new places to focus on; it used to just be your profile, Realtor.com, and Zillow, and now there's like seven. Are we diluting effort by chasing all these new platforms, or is Google seeing all of this and rewarding it? Where do we start?

[25:50] Bobby: A lot to unpack — great questions. Yes, Google is watching all of this in real time, and AI search tools are watching in real time too. On the first part: if your business name IS your name — Eve Holder Homes, and reviews mention "Eve" or "Eve Holder" — you're fine, it's interchangeable, though the closer the review keywords match the exact business name on Google, the better. Where people get in trouble is when there's zero consistency at all — like if your name is Eve Holder but your business is called something completely unrelated like "Dolphins Realty."

This has to be systematized, not something you haphazardly text people about two weeks after closing when they're worried about unpacking boxes and enrolling kids in school — that review never gets left. The best practice: capture the review at the closing table, when the client is most excited. I always teach having something like a laminated card or an acrylic block with a QR code that goes straight to your Google review link — sit it on the closing table, take a photo together, and ask them to add that photo to the review, along with your name, the business name, the city/street, and the problem you solved. Google reads images too, whether on Google Images or Google Maps — consistent photos, posts, and reviews all signal a living, breathing, thriving business.

On the second part — yes, Google is watching all of it, and when Google pays attention to something, every other AI tool follows suit. You can connect your social profiles to your Google profile, which helps. But specifically on the platforms you mentioned: Google Business Profile is always going to be king — the gold standard, the foundation everything else should follow. Bing Places is Microsoft's version of Google Business Profile — Bing will never compete with Google as a search engine, but here's the trick: once your Google Business Profile is optimized, go to bingplaces.com and instead of creating a new account, use the "sync with your Google Business Profile" button. Microsoft recognizes how powerful the Google profile is, so they let you bring your data over. And here's the kicker most people don't understand: Microsoft and OpenAI have a massive partnership (something like a $500 million investment) — Bing is feeding ChatGPT. So if you're not on Bing Places, you're missing an opportunity to show up in ChatGPT results. It's not automatic, but it's one of the places you have to be.

Bottom line: build the Google Business Profile foundation first, then template every other platform off of it exactly — character for character on name, address, phone, and website — so Google and AI tools don't see what looks like ten different businesses.

[32:34] Eve: If we're hyper-local and we're also leaving reviews for other businesses directly in our hyper-local area, does that also push us up higher?

[32:41] Bobby: No, it will not directly — but your responses to your OWN reviews are a ranking factor and trust signal. Respond within 24 hours, echoing the same sentiments and geographic/name keywords. We respond to our own reviews in third person — not "thanks for working with me," but "thanks so much for partnering with LOC8 My Business Real Estate Marketing Agency in Cape Coral, Florida." You leaving reviews for other local businesses doesn't help your own profile directly, since that's tied to your personal Gmail, not your business profile — but if you proactively review local businesses and then ask them to review you back, that can help, as long as it's genuine and not review-swapping with businesses you've never actually used.

For agents who don't close three to five deals a month: go to your referral partners and ask for a "character review" instead. It removes the friction of asking someone who's never bought or sold a house with you — you're not asking "would you leave me a review," which feels weird, you're asking "would you mind leaving me a character review, telling the rest of the world how ethical, responsible, communicative, and professional I am." Same idea, less icky framing — and you can offer one back to them too.

[43:57] Watson: (compliments the session and asks about screenshotting/sharing the slides.)

[44:46] Bobby: Absolutely, share it — your logo on it will promote your name too.

[44:48] Watson: When it's a long versus short review, does that make a big difference?

[45:05] Bobby: It doesn't need to be a book — as long as the main anchors are there (name, geographic area, problem solved), it naturally ends up being a paragraph. A massive review doesn't necessarily help more — it might even read as AI-generated, and Google seems to value what looks and sounds human. Long or short doesn't matter as much as hitting those trust anchors, plus a photo if possible.

[46:12] Watson: You mentioned it's not great to write the review FOR your client — but if they say "I don't know what to write, can you give me something to start from" — is that okay?

[46:24] Bobby: If you're comfortable with it, that's fine — but usually just giving them the guardrails ("please mention these things") lets them fill in the gaps in their own words. I caution against sending exact copy-paste verbiage, since that feels off to the client.

[47:18] Watson: What about adding video instead of a photo to a review?

[47:26] Bobby: Honestly I'm not 100% sure off the top of my head whether Google Business Profile reviews accept video versus just photos — I believe photo is the safe bet, but they may be interchangeable. Either way, a photo or video with the client accomplishes the same trust-signal goal.

[48:10–48:56] Watson: (Shares a personal note about a friend, Annie, and asks about leaving her a review; also asks about pairing character reviews with closing attorneys.)

[48:56] Bobby: If you're closing somewhere physical — a title or attorney's office — that's a perfect opportunity, since the attorney has been part of the transaction with you. A laminated card with a QR code to your review link works well there too.

[50:06] Peggy: Does anybody else have a question? This is amazing, Bobby, thank you.

[50:06] Bobby: A couple more things, if I can share quickly. In this AI, agentic age, what starts to win isn't just being visible everywhere — it's having non-commoditized content. Everything you post, on any platform, has to be hyper-local and specific to your business and market, not generic.

(Bobby references a slide from Google's Director of Search, Danny Sullivan, from a talk earlier in the year: Google actively suppresses commoditized content — content that looks the same as what's on 30 other agents' profiles.)

On the Google Business Profile "services" section, most agents just use Google's default suggested buttons — "buyer's agent," "residential real estate" — which is commoditized. But if you scroll down, there's a "custom services" option that lets you write something hyper-specific, like "Northwest Corridor commute expert in Blue Springs, Missouri" or "pre-approval guidance for first-time veteran buyers in Jackson County, Missouri" instead of generic categories.

Same logic applies to posts — nobody cares about "the market's hot, call me" or generic spring cleaning tips. A non-commoditized post looks like: "Here's my take on why homes in Blue Springs, Missouri are selling 12% faster in the last 30 days — I analyzed five recent sales along the Northwest Woods Chapel Road corridor," paired with a branded photo of yourself with the actual street sign in the background. Google Business Profile is powered by Google Maps — the same database behind the Street View cars that have mapped nearly every square inch of the planet — so a photo of you at a real local landmark or street sign is a genuine geographic trust signal.

On offers: real estate agents can't legally say "$1,000 off your closing," but you can turn a service into an offer — e.g., "Free relocation intelligence report: Blue Springs, Missouri — a comprehensive guide covering school ratings, commute times, tax comparisons, and neighborhoods." Any content you publish has to be original to you; Google and AI tools do not want content they can find on a thousand other profiles. That includes the many $100/month third-party services that "post for you" — those posts are usually identical across thousands of other agents' profiles, and Google suppresses that too. Before posting anything or partnering with a company to post on your behalf, ask: is this commoditized, or original?

Photos matter the same way — Google reads photos. If you hate being photographed, take pictures of your business card in front of local landmarks, neighborhood signs, and street signs, wearing branded gear. Take pictures with clients whenever possible — those are the most valuable. All of it reinforces that you're doing business exactly where and how your profile says you are.

[59:36] Bobby (closing): You can reach me by scanning a QR code that goes straight to my calendar — 30 free minutes to talk through your current online visibility. Everything we talked about today is organic — not paid ads. That's what wins long-term: building the foundation across every platform and staying consistent. You can also go to loc8mybusiness.com, where there are call-to-action buttons to schedule time with me. And if anyone found value today, I'd genuinely appreciate a Google review — scan the code, mention some of the keywords we talked about today, and if you can, add a screenshot of this session to the review.

[1:01:12] Peggy: Bobby, this was fantastic, thank you so much. We'd love to have you back.

[1:01:27] Bobby: Thank you so much — this is such a great community, I appreciate you bringing value every week. (Mentions being in Dallas for "Dallas Build" that week and offers tickets to anyone who wants to attend in person.)

[1:02:17–1:02:58] (Closing goodbyes between Peggy, Bobby, and attendees.)