Real estate advertising rules for your website in Georgia

The short answer

In Georgia, when a licensee advertises real estate for sale, rent, lease, or exchange on the internet, the licensee's firm (brokerage) name and the firm's telephone number must appear on every viewable web page of the website — Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.09(5). When you advertise a specific property, the firm's name and phone number must also be in equal or greater size, prominence, and frequency than your own, and the firm's number has to be one that reaches a broker or manager without going through you — r. 520-1-.09(7)(b)–(d). Separately, all advertising by an associate broker, salesperson, or community association manager must be under the direct supervision of their broker and in the name of their firm — r. 520-1-.09(2.1).

The rules are written and enforced by the Georgia Real Estate Commission (public-facing name: Georgia Real Estate Commission & Appraisers Board). The advertising rule is Rule 520-1-.09, last amended by filing of April 7, 2014, effective May 1, 2014, per the rule's own History note.

The requirements, one at a time

1. Firm name and firm phone number on every viewable web page

Citation: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.09(5) (also (5)(a), (5)(b))

The operative language:

"any advertising on the Internet by a licensee of real estate for sale, rent, lease, or exchange shall disclose the name and telephone number of the licensee's firm on every viewable web page of a website except as herein otherwise provided."

Two things people miss. First, it is the firm's phone number, not just the firm's name. Second, it is every viewable page — not a single footer on the homepage of a multi-page site.

The rule builds in two escape valves, both of which are link-outs rather than exemptions:

• (5)(a) — where a format limits the number of characters available (a social post, for example), the licensee may instead provide a direct link to a display that does contain the required disclosure.
• (5)(b) — where a third-party site's terms of use prevent full compliance, the same direct-link approach applies.

Neither of those helps you on your own website, where you control the page and there is no character limit.

Effective: rule last amended eff. May 1, 2014.

2. The firm's name must be at least as prominent as yours — in specific-property advertising

Citation: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.09(7)(b) and (7)(d)

Subsection (7) is triggered by its own opening words: it applies when a licensee is advertising specific real estate for sale, rent, or exchange in any media. Within that scope:

"the name of the firm advertising the real estate for sale, rent, or exchange shall appear in equal or greater size, prominence, and frequency than the name or names of any affiliated licensees or groups of licensees" — (7)(b)

"whether contained in a logo or standing alone, the name of the firm must be in equal or greater size, prominence, and frequency than the name of any affiliated licensee or group of licensees" — (7)(d)

The logo clause matters: burying the brokerage name inside a small graphic does not exempt it from the size and prominence comparison.

Effective: rule last amended eff. May 1, 2014.

3. The firm's phone number has to reach a broker directly

Citation: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.09(7)(c)

"the firm's telephone number shall appear in equal or greater size, prominence, and frequency than the telephone number of any affiliated licensee or groups of licensees, and it must be a number at which the public can reach a broker or a manager of the firm without going through the affiliated licensee(s) listed in the advertisement"

This is the requirement most likely to trip up a personal agent site. A page advertising a specific property with only your cell number on it does not satisfy this, and neither does a "firm" number that routes back to you.

Effective: rule last amended eff. May 1, 2014.

4. Your broker supervises your advertising

Citation: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.09(2.1)

"(2.1) All advertising by associate brokers, salespersons, and community association managers must be under the direct supervision of their broker and in the name of their firm."

Note the scope difference: unlike (5) and (7), this one reaches all advertising by an affiliated licensee, and it is the clearest basis for saying your website has to carry your firm's name and go through your broker.

The rule text says "direct supervision," not a specific written-approval form. GREC's own one-page summary, "Advertising Rules for Real Estate", lists under "All Advertising" that it "Is reviewed and approved by the broker" — that document is GREC-published but is dated 9/12/08 and predates the 2014 amendment, so treat it as the agency's summary rather than the rule.

There is one place the rule does demand things in writing: r. 520-1-.09(8), covering a licensee advertising property the licensee personally owns. That provision requires written notice to the broker and the broker's written consent, including approval of the advertisement itself.

Effective: rule last amended eff. May 1, 2014.

5. License numbers: only one advertising trigger

Citation: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.09(8), item 3

Some states require a licensee's license number on advertising. In Rule 520-1-.09 we found only one such requirement, and it is narrow: it applies when a licensee advertises real estate the licensee personally owns, outside a brokerage engagement. In that case:

"any advertisement must include either (a) the legend 'seller, buyer, landlord, tenant (select the appropriate name) holds a real estate license' or (b) the legend 'Georgia Real Estate License # (insert licensee's six digit number; for example,000001).'"

We found no provision in Rule 520-1-.09 requiring your license number on ordinary advertising or on your own website. Rule 520-1-.10(2) does require six-digit license numbers, but it governs brokerage engagements and offers to purchase, sell, lease, or exchange — transaction documents, not advertising.

Effective: rule last amended eff. May 1, 2014.

6. Team and group names

Citation: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.09(7)(b), (7)(d)

Georgia's real estate rules do not define, register, or separately regulate "teams." The words team and team leader do not appear anywhere in Department 520 of the Georgia administrative code. What the rules do address is a "group of licensees," and only through the prominence requirement above: in specific-property advertising, the firm's name must appear in equal or greater size, prominence, and frequency than the name of any affiliated licensee or group of licensees.

There is a wrinkle worth knowing about, because outdated write-ups still circulate. GREC issued a Notice of Intent in 2021 (hearing October 13, 2021) proposing team definitions and a team advertising rule — the kind that would have forced words like team or group into team names. That proposal does not appear in the current code. Rule 520-1-.02's own History note shows its last amendment effective July 1, 2017, which predates the 2021 hearing, and GREC's Real Estate Law and Rule Changes page lists nothing adopted on teams. Treat the 2021 proposal as not in force.

Effective: prominence rule last amended eff. May 1, 2014; Rule 520-1-.02 last amended eff. July 1, 2017.

7. Outdated information: 30 days, and a conditional safe harbor for vendor-run sites

Citation: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.09(5)(c) and (5)(d)

"(5)(c) Information on a website maintained by a licensee that is outdated shall be updated or removed from the website within thirty (30) days of the information becoming outdated."

"(5)(d) A licensee who provides such timely notice shall not be in violation of this Rule if the third party fails to effect an information change as notified."

The (5)(d) protection is conditional, not automatic. It covers a third party maintaining the site other than the firm or the franchisor's webmaster, and you only get the protection if you actually sent timely written notice — by mail, fax, or electronic means — asking for the update or removal. If you use a website vendor, keep the email.

You may also see a claim that Georgia requires advertising to come down within 10 days of a listing expiring. That figure does not exist anywhere in the current Chapter 520-1. The 30-day rule above is the relevant one.

Effective: rule last amended eff. May 1, 2014.

What this means for a one-page agent site

• Put your brokerage's registered name and the brokerage's phone number on the page, visibly, not only in a contact form. On a single-page site, "every viewable web page" is one page — so there is no ambiguity about where it goes.
• Use a firm number that reaches a broker or manager. If you feature any specific property, your cell number alone is not enough under (7)(c). Listing both your number and the brokerage's is the straightforward fix.
• Do not let your personal branding outweigh the firm name on pages that feature specific properties. Size, prominence, and frequency all count, and a logo does not exempt the name inside it.
• Have your broker look at the page before it goes live. Broker supervision applies to all of your advertising, and many brokerages want to approve wording, headshots, and logo usage themselves.
• If you feature listings, keep them current. Anything outdated comes down or gets corrected within 30 days. If a vendor maintains the site for you, send the change request in writing and keep a copy.
• The state rule is a floor, not a ceiling. Brokerages routinely impose their own advertising policies that are stricter than what GREC requires. Yours governs you too.

What we could not confirm

Being straight about the edges of this:

• Whether a listing-free bio page counts as "advertising" under (5) and (7). Rule 520-1-.09(1)(a) defines advertising in terms of making known real estate for sale, rent, lease, or exchange, and subsections (5) and (7) are triggered by advertising real estate for sale/rent/lease/exchange. By their literal terms, a page with no property on it might sit outside them. We found no current GREC guidance resolving this, and (2.1) still reaches all advertising by an affiliated licensee and requires it be in the firm's name. The defensible reading is to show the brokerage name regardless.
• Domain names. We found no Georgia rule regulating an individual agent's domain name. The trade-name provision, r. 520-1-.09(6), is by its terms directed at a firm using a trade name or a franchisee — not at an individual salesperson's personal branding. That is "no rule found," which is not the same as "anything is permitted."
• The statute behind the rule. Rule 520-1-.09(5) cross-references O.C.G.A. § 43-40-25(b) (unfair trade practices, including misleading advertising). We were not able to read the official statutory text, so nothing on this page rests on it. Every requirement above comes from the administrative rule itself.
• How we read the rule. The Secretary of State's rule page renders through JavaScript, so the quotes above were read from the Secretary of State's official PDF compilation of Department 520 (Georgia Real Estate Commission), checked in August 2026. That compilation carries a "current through" header, but it visibly lags — some 2025 rule changes listed on GREC's own site are missing from it — so we treated the header as a date stamp, not as proof of currency, and cross-checked Rule 520-1-.09 against GREC's adopted rule-changes page, which lists no change to it.

About AgentSiteHQ

AgentSiteHQ builds one-page websites for real estate agents: free to publish with a small badge, or a one-time $297 to own it outright on your own domain, with no monthly fee and no IDX or MLS search. The brokerage name, the firm's phone number, and any other disclosure your broker or state requires are content you add to your own page — the builder does not insert them for you, and using it does not make a site compliant.

This page is general information compiled from Georgia's published administrative code, not legal advice, and it is not a compliance guarantee. Rules change and the details matter — verify the current text of Rule 520-1-.09 at rules.sos.ga.gov, check with the Georgia Real Estate Commission, and confirm with your broker before relying on any of it.