Gone are the days of relying solely on traditional marketing methods; the peak of digital marketing has reshaped the way properties are bought and sold. According to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) 2022 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 85% of home buyers now start their search online, a significant increase from the 79% recorded in 2019. This shift in consumer behavior underscores the importance of a robust digital marketing strategy focusing on SEO for the real estate industry. And… The rise of real estate marketing agencies.
What Do We Know about Real Estate Marketing?
“Digital marketing is the key to reaching today’s real estate buyers and sellers. If you’re not online, you’re not in the game.”
Mark Ferguson, CEO of Real Estate Marketing Systems
Real estate marketing and SEO is a dynamic duo with great power to revolutionize the property game from top to bottom. So much so that, that supreme blend help real estate professionals embrace the digital shift while optimizing online presence through a bold content strategy.
Imagine a world where buyers and sellers eagerly connect, and there’s only one ultimate key to unlocking a world of possibilities—digital marketing. From online campaigns that entice eager buyers to immersive virtual tours that showcase the finest properties, digital marketing acts as the gatekeeper to prosperity in the world of real estate.
And… What about the MVP of digital marketing – SEO?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be described as the driving force behind digital marketing efforts since it holds the key to unlocking success by helping real estate professionals optimize their websites for relevant keywords, create relevant content, get backlinks, and monitor the results.
However, SEO in real estate is so much more than cleverly chosen keywords (It is also important too). It’s a captivating story of crafting engaging content that resonates with the target audience, weaving compelling narratives that tug at heartstrings, and building valuable relationships.
Need examples to find out more deeply? Keep reading.
How Does SEO Help You Build A Successful Real Estate Business?
As we mentioned above, SEO serves as a magic wand that helps real estate professionals make the most relevant, enticing, and accessible listings while securing top positions on search engines. What about real-time examples?
Zillow, a prominent real estate marketplace, has secured top positions in the Search Engine Results Pages for relevant keywords like “homes for sale,” “apartments for rent,” and “real estate listings” by creating a well-working SEO strategy and attracted a vast stream of traffic to its digital domain.
Another well-known real estate website using SEO to drive traffic, Trulia has embraced top-notch, captivating, and relevant content strategy (which includes mostly blog posts and infographics) around the industry.
As a result of that successful content creation, the brand established trust among the users and created a bold online presence both on social media, networks’ and partners’ websites.
As for one of the most-known real estate brokerages all around the world, Coldwell Banker optimized its official website for keywords like “real estate agents,” “home buying,” and “home selling” and supported that optimization with a successful content strategy – videos and blog posts.
Additionally, the firm created many other websites focusing on specific areas within the industry and benefited from backlinks, and ranked high in the SERPs for relevant keywords.
SEO Tips for the Real Estate Industry
Focus on Link Building
How important securing links from other websites that point to your website is? A lot!
Link building refers to acquiring links – which serve as indicators to search engines- from other websites that indicate your own site and achieving a higher ranking on search engine results pages as a result. So, how can you do this?
Guest blogging is a great and easy way for link building. Via this approach, you can include a link back to your real estate website within your bio. Another useful strategy is real estate social media marketing, in which you can share your website’s content across various social platforms.
While doing so, identifying broken links is also important to strengthen your website’s link profile and boost its overall online presence.
Create a Strong Content Strategy
In the ever-evolving landscape of real estate marketing, engaging content reigns supreme. Content marketing, intertwined with a wisely-built SEO strategy, is actually your magic wand to create ongoing connections with your target audience. Creating compelling blog posts, sharing insightful real estate videos, and providing valuable resources for both buyers and sellers… A well-crafted content strategy, sprinkled with relevant keywords; social shares, inbound links, and interactions sets you as the leader in your niche while encouraging trust with potential clients.
In other words, playing your cards according to Google’s algorithms is a good call. In that way, you can not only optimize your website’s SEO ranking but also extend your reputation as the go-to real estate expert in the digital realm.
Take Advantage of On-Page SEO
Another game-changing insight for boosting your real estate website’s SEO prowess is using the power of on-page SEO.
In basic terms, on-page SEO is a practice that serves as a line to improve web traffic, ultimately generating lead generation for your real estate business. In case you run a local real estate, wielding the influence of local keywords on your website, guide ager property seekers in your area straight to your digital doorstep.
Within on-page SEO practices, creating a consistent URL structure also is a good idea since it serves as a cornerstone, facilitating the comprehension of your web offerings by search engine algorithms. In addition to the consistency of URL, search engines pay attention to the fabric of your website, the network of internal links, and skillfully connecting pages. This arrangement grants search engine crawlers the ability to solve the complex relationships among your domains.
Additionally, optimizing your website content for social media is a plus in terms of on-page SEO. While sharing your website content on social media, it is important to include your target keywords in the titles and descriptions of your posts. This will help potential buyers find your website when they’re searching for properties on social media.
Use Lead Generation Tools and Off-Page SEO
If you’re running a real estate business, you know that generating leads is crucial. Luckily, there are tools available that can help you collect contact information from potential buyers. These tools can be used on your website, social media, and other platforms to ensure your content is top-notch and attracts more people and leads.
Another great approach is to focus on off-page SEO, which involves getting links from other websites to your own. By collaborating with nearby businesses and local home inspectors, you can tap into off-page SEO and showcase your site and lead generation tools.
Perform an SEO Audit on Your Real Estate Website
In the realm of real estate, which is a highly competitive industry, an SEO audit helps you determine locations where your website can be optimized for better search engine rankings and local searches. By handling technical issues (such as broken links, duplicate content, and crawl errors), improving on-page content, and optimizing keywords, it is possible to increase the visibility of search results.
Additionally, an SEO audit highlights user experience improvements, such as website opening speed, responsiveness, and user-friendly navigation. A website that loads fast and is easy to navigate improves user experience and reduces bounce rates.
You have created an impeccable website after checking out inspiring real estate web design examples, what’s next? Monitoring it!
Tracking website traffic, user behavior, and engagement metrics is a red letter since it helps you understand which pages are performing well and which marketing strategies are effective. Today, even though a great number of well-known brands get help from SEO agencies, you can prefer to make it your own.
For your website, there are several real estate marketing tools (some of them are free and some of them not). As one of the free tools, Google Search Console delivers valuable insights into your website’s search visibility, click-through rates, and indexing status, in addition to sending alerts about critical issues. Another Google-sourced tool, Google Analytics tracks the traffic, user manners, and engagement metrics and helps you monitor which pages, strategies, and ads are performing well while the others are not.
As a paid tool (and one of the most known alternatives), Ahrefs provides a thorough suite of SEO features via keyword research, backlink analysis, and competitor analysis. As for SEMrush, which is another popular choice among SEO professionals, works in the same manner.
Content optimization tools like Yoast SEO (which is a free WordPress plugin) offer comprehensive recommendations for on-page elements; from heading style to description, and keywords to images’ titles.
SEO Agencies for Your Real Estate Website
We’ve mentioned actionable SEO strategies you can perform by yourself on your real estate website, however, it is not possible to abnegate that SEO agencies bring a wealth of expertise, experience, resources, and customer services to the table.
Without a doubt, a trustworthy SEO agency goes the extra mile by tailoring their strategies to fit your specific goals and target audience, as if they were crafting a bespoke suit. In addition to optimizing your website’s content, structure, and user experience, SEO agencies specializing in real estate business, build high-quality, authoritative backlinks that are essential for SEO success.
Last but not least, by outsourcing SEO efforts to an agency, you can free up your time and resources to focus on other aspects of your real estate business.
For those interested in working with a worldwide-known agency, here is our list of the best SEO agencies in the USA.