Why SEO is so important in real estate marketing.
SEO is a key component of any successful real estate marketing strategy. Still, many agents aren’t willing to spend the required time to learn about SEO and how it works. This is one way that businesses find themselves falling behind in online searches. If you’re not using SEO as part of your marketing yet, here are some tips to help you get started.
What does SEO mean?
SEO is search engine optimization. It refers to the process of increasing the traffic that your website receives from search engines such as Google. It also serves to improve the quality of that traffic and generate organic results that are not influenced by ads.
SEO is a term that many real estate agents are familiar with, but they don’t know how it works. Google and other search engines use crawlers to gather data from the internet in order to create an index. This index is then matched against an algorithm that matches data to queries sent through the search engine. The algorithms are based on domain-level keyword usage, page-level link features, offline use and mention of the brand, as well as the quantity of domain links and content relevance. For your site to rank higher, you need to predict what your ideal client is searching for and include that in your site’s content.
When should you start SEO?
SEO has many benefits for your business, but it’s complex and requires practice. Fortunately you can passively reap the benefits of SEO once you have built it. This is in contrast to other marketing strategies such as relying on referrals or running paid ad campaigns that will continue to cost money and time no matter how many times you invest.
Investing in SEO is similar to investing in a high-yield stock: you will see the benefits of SEO once you have put in the effort (and money) upfront. This ROI will increase over time, growing in value. You will eventually be able to generate leads consistently without the need to pay for them, lowering your marketing costs and increasing your profit margins.
How and When to Build Your SEO
Your SEO results will improve if you get started as soon as possible. These are some tips to help you get started with keyword and content strategies that will be useful for you in the future.
Conduct market research. You should do your research to discover the keywords and phrases that your ideal client searches for when it comes down to real estate. Depending on what type of client you are working with, common phrases may vary. One realtor might use phrases such as “luxury apartments for sale in Boston” and “Boston condos for rent”, while another realtor might prefer phrases like “first home sale in Boston” and “co-ops for sale in Boston”.
Use tools that help to determine keywords and phrases. Keyword Planners from Google and other sources can help you determine who your target market is.
After you have identified keywords and phrases, create a strategy for using them on your website. Your content should be created with these terms in mind, but they should be used sparingly to ensure that your content is easy to understand. By posting several blogs to your website each month – or even every week – you can include these phrases and keywords. Your content will be packed with valuable information, and keywords and phrases that will help improve your SEO.
Use hyperlinks. Outbound links to trusted sources such as redfin.com and washingtonpost.com will improve your SEO, as will inbound links from other pages of your website. To prioritize SEO and make it easier for users to navigate your site, you should incorporate both inbound and outbound links into your blogs.
Focus on creating a pleasant user experience with quick loading times. Beyond choosing the right words to include on your site, making sure your site is easy to navigate, uncluttered, and fast will improve your SEO.
Be thoughtful about the content you create – good content is likely to be shared. Relevant content that is current and helpful answers questions that your ideal client might have, and increases the chances that they’ll share it with other potential clients.
Optimize URLs, image descriptions and snippets for SEO that takes your business to the next level.
Follow the guidelines. These techniques – like trying to increase results by repeating phrases and keyword stuffing – will likely harm your results more than they will help you. So, stick to the best practices for SEO.
Work with an Expert
SEO might seem like an involved and confusing process, but real estate agents are expected to be experts at buying and selling property, not SEO. Fortunately, SEO experts are able to take the time and effort needed to properly use SEO on your website, so that you don’t have to. Working with a professional is a great idea. Partnering with RE Digital, an agency that specializes in helping agents market their properties, allows you to focus on real estate and let an expert take care of your SEO..
If you’re not already using SEO to get the most out of your site, now is the time to start. Reach out to RE Digital, we’d love to help.
