Latest / The Local Marketing Podcast with Fexingo: Small Business, Google Maps, and Local SEO / How a Local Landlord Uses Google Maps for Tenant Leads
Transcript
- Lucas: You know that moment when you're scrolling Google Maps looking for a coffee shop, and you see an attribute that says 'outdoor seating' and you immediately click? Luna: All the time. It's the difference between walking in and walking past. Lucas: Right. So imagine you're a landlord with a vacant apartment. You want renters to find you — and trust you — before they even call. That's exactly what a small landlord in Austin did. He owns a four-unit building near the University of Texas, and he told me he was tired of paying Zillow and Apartments.com hundreds of dollars per lease just to get leads that were mostly tire-kickers. Luna: I bet that adds up fast. A couple hundred per unit per year? Lucas: Easily. So he turned his Google Business Profile into his primary lead generation tool. And not just by having a listing — by actively managing it the way a restaurant or a salon would. He added attributes like 'on-site laundry,' 'pet-friendly,' 'garage parking.' He posted photos of the actual units, not stock images. Luna: Did he have to jump through hoops to get those attributes? I know Google can be finicky about what categories show what. Lucas: It's not always straightforward. His primary category is 'apartment building.' Under that, Google surfaces about a dozen relevant attributes. He checked 'pet allowed,' 'furnished,' 'gated entrance.' Things that matter to a student renter. Then he also filled out the 'from the business' section — wrote a short description that mentions walkability to campus and the bus line. Luna: And the Q&A section — I feel like that's underused by most landlords. Lucas: Massively. He seeded it with five common questions. 'What's the utility setup?' 'Is there a parking permit needed?' 'Are sublets allowed?' He answered them himself, but it means when a prospective tenant visits the profile, they see helpful answers immediately. And because Google indexes those Q&As, the profile shows up for long-tail searches like 'furnished apartment near UT Austin pet friendly.' Luna: That's clever. It's basically keyword optimization without stuffing. Lucas: If these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used, consider supporting the show at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's what keeps this ad-free and focused on tactics that actually work. Luna: Yeah, no ads means we get to dive straight into the weeds. Lucas: So back to the landlord — he also uses Google Posts. Every time a unit becomes available, he creates a post with the rent, move-in date, and three photos. He schedules it to go live on a Thursday afternoon. That's when he sees the most engagement. Luna: Does he track calls from the profile? Google Business Profile Insights gives you that data. Lucas: He does. Over six months, he got 47 calls and 22 direction requests. Of those, he signed three leases directly attributed to the profile. That's a 100 percent return compared to what he would have spent on listing sites. Luna: Three leases in six months — for a four-unit building, that's significant. Lucas: It's three out of maybe five total turnovers. So more than half his tenancy came from Google Maps. And the key was that he responded to every review — positive and negative. One bad review from a past tenant about noise, he replied acknowledging the issue and noting he'd added soundproofing in the new units. That turned a negative into a trust signal. Luna: So he's building a reputation layer right on the map. That's something listing sites can't replicate. Lucas: Exactly. Zillow shows you the price and the floor plan, but it doesn't show you the landlord's responsiveness or the building's actual vibe. Google Maps, with reviews and Q&A, does that. And it's free. Luna: What about the 'virtual tour' feature? Did he use that? Lucas: He did a simple video walkthrough — just his iPhone, about 90 seconds, showing the living room, kitchen, and bedroom. He uploaded it to the profile under 'videos.' Google now surfaces video thumbnails in the local finder. He said that single video got over 300 views in the first month. Luna: That's the kind of thing that makes a listing feel real, not just a PDF. Lucas: Right. And he made sure his business hours were set to 'appointment only' with a note: 'Text or call for same-day showing.' That way, Google Maps shows the 'call' button prominently, and he gets a direct lead instead of someone just showing up. Luna: So does he think this approach could work for bigger apartment complexes too? Lucas: I think so, but it scales differently. A 200-unit building might need multiple profiles for different phases or buildings. Google's guidelines say one profile per physical location. So if you have a campus with multiple buildings, you might need separate listings. But for a small landlord, this is almost perfect. Luna: One thing I wonder about — what about lease terms? Can you put those in a Google Post without violating policy? Lucas: Great question. Google Posts can't include pricing that's misleading, but a simple 'one-bedroom, $1,200 per month, available August 1' is fine. He includes the lease term in the description — '12-month lease preferred, month to month available.' That's transparent and helpful. Luna: I also think the 'attributes' play is underrated. Things like 'wheelchair accessible' or 'EV charging station' — those can be deciding factors. Lucas: Absolutely. He added 'bike storage' because he's near campus, and that got him featured in a Google Maps 'nearby' result for bike-friendly apartments. It's a niche, but it works. Luna: So the takeaway for any local business — not just landlords — is to treat your Google Business Profile like a living website, not a static listing. Lucas: Exactly. Update photos monthly, respond to every review, seed the Q&A, post weekly. Google rewards recency. The landlord said his profile views doubled after he started posting consistently. Luna: And he's not spending a dime on ads. Lucas: Not a dime. His only cost is maybe 30 minutes a week. For a small business owner, that's a better ROI than almost any paid channel. Luna: I'm curious — did he track the source of his leads before Google Maps? Like, was he using a separate phone number? Lucas: He had a Google Voice number for the apartment, so he could see which calls came from the listing. He also used a UTM parameter in the website link on his profile — though most of his leads came via phone, not the website. Luna: Smart. So he had attribution locked down. Lucas: Yeah. And he told me the quality of leads from Google Maps was higher. People who called had already read the Q&A, seen the photos, and checked the location. They were pre-screened, basically. Luna: That's the dream — fewer tire-kickers, more serious inquiries. Lucas: Exactly. So if you're a landlord or any local business owner, I'd say start with the basics: claim your profile, fill out every field, add attributes, and commit to one Google Post per week. The data will tell you if it's working. Luna: And for anyone listening who's thinking, 'I don't have time for that' — remember, this landlord spends half an hour a week and replaced a $400 monthly ad spend. Lucas: It's a classic leverage play. Small effort, outsized return. Alright, that's it for this episode. Next time we'll look at how a local car wash uses Google Maps to upsell memberships. Luna: Looking forward to it. See you then.