Are you a real estate agent looking to get more leads? These 7 tip on SEO for real estate agents will help you show up on Google searches, increase traffic and boost your sales.
Let 2018 be your year!
As you might already know, every SEO strategy begins with selecting the keywords you want to rank for. Once you do this, you need to create pages for all of those keywords.
But how you distribute the keyword on the pages is very important. For instance, if your keyword phrase is ‘Best Homes in West Baltimore’, here is where it must appear:
Embedding a Google Map on your site will make it easier on Google to find out where your agency is located. In addition, it will help Google verify your address and confirm that your business is valid.
Real estate sites that are built with WordPress can also use various plugins for this purpose, such as the Local SEO for WordPress plugin by Yoast.
It gives Google all the info it needs to rank you in searches including your agency’s name, location, and working hours.
In addition, the plugin covers technical things and optimizes your local SEO for one or multiple locations, all with the purpose to increase your chances to rank higher on Google.
If keywords are the basis of SEO for real estate agents, then link building is its most significant part. Here is how to handle internal linking in real estate SEO.
Deep linking
In every article you write, try to add links to at least five other blog posts or pages on your site. This enables visitors to find additional info quickly and easily. In addition, it allows search engines to ‘see’ your older posts.
When it comes to internal linking, the rule of thumb is – the deeper you link, the better. When writing new articles, try to link to your oldest posts. On the other hand, avoid linking to the contact page and home page.
Consistency
Don’t forget about keywords when linking internally. If the post you’re linking to is about ‘Best Homes in West Baltimore’, then the anchor text (the clickable text in a hyperlink) should be ‘Best Homes in West Baltimore’ in all posts linking to that article.
Such consistency will give Google the opportunity to determine what your site is about. If you suddenly change the anchor to something like ‘Lexington Houses’, then Google will get confused.
Statistics say that almost 85% of people trust online reviews as much as friends. In order to boost your SEO efforts and get more clients, you need reviews in more than one place online. Here is what you can use:
Real estate listing and agency-specific websites
These sites make it easier for users to find the best real estate agency. In addition to hosting a database of real estate listings, they also connect users with realtors and partner agents. Try to get listed on sites like:
Google reviews
In order for your Google places page to rank high, you need as many Google reviews as possible. The longer these reviews are, the better (more than 300 words).
Yelp reviews
Since Yelp pages usually rank quite high in search results, getting a good review there is gold. But people don’t have a habit to just visit Yelp and write reviews, so you’ll need to make it happen for yourself.
How? Contact clients and see if they’re happy with your services. Then, ask them for a positive review. Note: make sure they leave their comment directly on Yelp because you might end up receiving a beautiful but useless email.
Reviews on your site
Why should you send a potential customer to third-party review sites hoping that he will come back? Offer positive reviews right on your site to help him make a decision about using your services.
Google likes sites that have very active social media pages. And having in mind that Facebook remains the most used social media platform, you simply need to have a page there (if possible with lots of likes).
Make sure that the info section on your Facebook page is filled so that Google can compare it to info about your business everywhere else online. Note: make sure all info has the same format everywhere and don’t forget to add your website’s URL.
Even though Tweets don’t get indexed by Google, the largest search engine likes popular websites. So, being popular on Twitter will help you attract more traffic and rank higher.
Here’s the thing – Pinterest attracts more traffic to sites than other social media platforms. No wonder Pinterest boards appear so high in searches. Since this trend is expected to continue, you need to add your pins to as many boards as possible.
The more pins you add, the easier it will be for people to find you. Moreover, pins build backlinks, getting Google to your site and helping it rank you higher.
YouTube
People love watching videos and Google ranks videos very high. And since there’s a lack of local content on this platform, it’s very easy to get ranked on page #1 by posting real estate-related videos about your region or neighborhood. To additionally boost your chances:
A backlink is created when other websites link to your site.
In some cases, having high-quality content on your site can be enough. If people like what you write, they’ll link to it. However, since there’s no guarantee that this will happen, there are some tactics you can try in order to get natural backlinks.
Use your broker’s free site
Fill in any pages, bios, or directories that your broker offers, making sure that the info there matches the info on your website. Google likes when the info it sees on various places online has the same format. This is especially true for your name, address, and phone.
Ask local sites to link to your website
To accomplish this, you need to invest in relationships with local bloggers or reporters.
Think about how you can collaborate with them. For instance, you can share and link to their content and ask them to do the same for you later, or offer to write free expert pieces for their publications.
You can also consider local non-profit organizations, industry publications, or even websites run by fellow realtors.
According to the research conducted by The National Association of Realtors, “Real estate-related searches on mobile devices grew 120% percent year-over-year from 2011 to 2012”.
In addition to this, Google likes mobile-friendly websites and awards them with higher rankings.
The best option is having a responsive-design site, i.e. a site that automatically adjusts the content layout to the available screen. Google likes these sites because there is no duplicate content and it can easily understand them.
Finally, your website load speed is also very important. Sites that take longer than 3 seconds to load are very likely to lose potential customers.
The site architecture can have a great impact on the loading speed. Look for possible content bloat or over-sized images and see what you can reduce, compress, or resize in order to speed up your site’s load speed.
The following tools will help you measure your site speed:
As you go through the tips on SEO for real estate agents in the article, bear in mind that every SEO strategy takes time. Results won’t come overnight but if you’re patience will pay off.
Some of the suggested techniques do require a considerable knowledge of SEO, so it might be wise to consult a professional to help you start implementing your strategy.
Think Big SEO - X Ways To Embrace/Use Seasonal Content Marketing Content creators constantly strive…
Starting a business is a challenging endeavor even when each step is taken correctly. That…
The legal industry is a competitive one and as such, law firms sharing a single…
It can be difficult to ensure that one specific dental office gains the most visibility…
Search engine optimization is not always a straight-forward, easy process, especially for business professionals who…
Search engine optimization is not an easy process to perfect, especially due to the fact…