What is Real Estate SEO?

Search engine optimization is optimizing your real estate website pages for Google and other search engines, so you rank for high-value keywords (phrases your ideal customers type into search engines) and drive traffic to your website.

The criticality of SEO for real estate agents becomes more evident when we consider that the vast majority of prospective home buyers look for properties and realtors online. So, if these prospects cannot find your business online, it means you are losing plenty of valuable leads to your competitors already playing the SEO game.

How Does SEO Work for Real Estate Agents?

The ultimate goal of search engines is to provide the best possible user experiences by delivering high-quality and relevant results to the searchers. For this to be possible, search engines bots scan or crawl different webpages while looking for new and relevant content. The next step is indexing, where the search engines store and organize the information found during the crawling process.

Once the pages are in the index, they are good enough to rank for relevant queries. In the ranking process, an individual must first perform a search. Search engines peruse their index for highly relevant content and then order the content by relevance, hoping to solve the searcher's query.

SEO Benefits for Real Estate Agents

» Traffic and Conversions Generation

Top positions on organic result listings account for most clicks, so ranking on the first page can result in a substantial increase in your website traffic.

But the quality of your keywords matters as much as the quantity when it comes to conversions. Optimizing for broad keywords like "homes for sale" or "real estate" may improve your rankings, but you fail to attract the right people for your business. Targeting local keywords like "3 bedroom apartments in Newbury Park, CA" may not drive millions of visitors to your website, but the visitors who land on your website will be more qualified and more likely to convert.

Also Read: How To Make The Most Of IDX Leads + Increase Conversions

» Increased Brand Awareness

Sites ranking beyond the first page of results rarely get clicks. And because the primary goal of real estate SEO is to push your site to the top of search engine results, it is also an effective tactic for building brand awareness.

A top-ranking website is more popular among searchers. And as more users discover your real estate website, the more chances you have for potential customers to associate with your brand. More people will get in touch often, follow you on social media, share your content, and subscribe to your newsletters.

» Grows Your Domain Authority

Created by the software development company Moz, domain authority is a search engine ranking score that predicts how successful a site is when it comes to ranking in search engines.

Building your domain authority often overlaps with content marketing. Strive to produce better real estate content than your competitors and continually explore your content for link-building opportunities. But remember: one link from an authoritative site is far better than tons of links from spammy sites. As such, we highly recommend you audit your website for bad links and eliminate them as quickly as possible.

Other ways to increase domain authority include improving your internal links to reduce bounce rate, optimizing your website structure and user experience, and increasing your social signals.

» Higher ROI

SEO ranks among the most cost-effective marketing strategies for real estate agents because it targets individuals actively looking for their services online. The cost-savings combined with higher brand visibility for relevant queries will undoubtedly improve your investment return, i.e., ROI.

SEO for Real Estate: Strategies for Real Estate Agents

» Perform a Site Audit

Before formulating an SEO strategy for your real estate business, it is essential to figure out your current position in search engines and identify untapped opportunities. If your website does not rank locally or are not generating any organic traffic, leads, or customers, an SEO audit can help you identify areas where you can make adjustments and improve your online visibility. Key metrics to concentrate on when auditing your website include:

• On-page SEO factors: Titles, meta description, URLs, headings, alt tags
• Content: Keyword and link placement, clarity, flow, brevity, visual elements.
• Links: Internal and external links, broken links
• Site usability: Mobile-friendly, site speed, navigability

» Find the Right Keywords for Your Listings

Keyword research is a critical part of formulating SEO for real estate listings. You need to identify search phrases(keywords) that will drive potential customers to your website and real estate listings.

There are several keyword research tools, but one of the best is Google Keyword Planner. You can use this free tool to see search volumes for your keywords and predictions for their future performance. Google Keyword Planner can also generate keyword ideas from a URL, allowing you to spy on your competitors and steal their keywords.

Once you create a list of relevant keywords, you can then strategically insert the phrases into your listings.

» Craft SEO Friendly Content

Optimizing for both users and search engines is one of the best things you can do for real estate content. You want to create content that answers reader's query but optimized for higher visibility on search engines. The following is a set of practical tips for creating SEO optimized content:

• Use a descriptive and catchy title that includes your target keyword.
• Break each piece of content into several parts to increase readability. Stick to small and logically arranged paragraphs and use different formatting options, including bullet points and bolded text.
• Craft optimized URLs. Remove unnecessary words, include the target keyword for each page, separate words with hyphens, and keep the URLs compelling and relevant.
• Your meta descriptions should offer a summary of your article and be optimized with your target keyword.
• Place your target keyword in your H2 tags (if possible) and in the beginning, middle, and end of your copy.
• Take advantage of the "People also ask section" on Google results to improve your content's relevance

» Leverage Local SEO

46% of Google queries have a local intent and 80% of local searches result in a conversion. That is why you should focus more on local SEO. Think about and find phrases potential buyers in your service area might use when searching for properties. Try including these phrases in your web content to increase your visibility for local searches.

Once you optimize your website for local searches, create a Google My Business(GMB) account and encourage clients to leave reviews on your Google profile to build credibility for your real estate agency.

» Provide Online Tools

Now that you are driving a steady stream of traffic to your website, how do you keep your visitors engaged? Admittedly, real estate is a highly competitive niche, and offering more than one type of content is a surefire way to add depth and interest to your website and gain a competitive edge. But making some of your content interactive is a more powerful method to increase engagement in your website. Online tools, including financial calculators, do this beautifully.

» Invest in High-Quality Photography

Researchers found that 95% of users view the first photo in a listing for about 20 seconds before wandering off to additional information about the house. And believe it or not, homes with professional photos sell for more money. That is why you should add high-quality visuals to your listings to offer a much better sense of the properties and inspire potential buyers to contact you.

But even though images work wonders with visitors, search engine bots cannot process multimedia content. Therefore, it is critical to include file names and alt descriptions relevant to your photos and page content as a part of your real estate SEO strategy.

» Make Your Website More Accessible

ADA website accessibility compliance is a necessity for real estate agents. The goal is to make real estate websites accessible to everyone, regardless of their disability. Some of the ADA website requirements include:

• The website's appearance should not rely on color only.
• Links and buttons should be named clearly.
• Images should contain alt texts so screen readers can read them.
• Video and audio content should have text captions.
• The site pages can be accessed in multiple ways.
• Menu order and presentation should be consistent across the website.
• Any interactive element should not substantially affect a page's layout or readability.

Also Read: 10 Creative Real Estate Marketing Ideas & Trends 2021

Looking for Quality Real Estate SEO for Agents?

Implementing SEO for real estate agents may seem easy; however, it requires time, dedication, and experience. Still, there are numerous metrics to assess, making SEO strategy preparation more daunting. Real estate SEO experts at RealtyTech Inc can take the confusion away and build SEO strategies that will attract more clients and sales. Call us today at 805-413-7888 or message us online for a free consultation.