Day: September 13, 2017

Are you struggling to drive more traffic to your real estate website?

If so, you’re not alone. Real estate SEO is a challenging world to navigate. And with so much competition out there, building a high-performance website is more important than ever.

A recent survey states that 95% of home buyers use online websites in their search. If your website doesn’t stand out from the crowd, you’re missing out on valuable opportunities (and sales).

How can you improve the performance of your website? What are some strategies you can use to turn your site into a lead-generating machine?

In this post, we’ll reveal 10 real estate SEO strategies guaranteed to drive more traffic to your site.

How to Double Your Traffic with Real Estate SEO

1. Write SEO-Rich Blogs

One of the best ways to boost real estate SEO is to add a blog to your website.

It’s not enough to write whatever comes to mind that day and slap it on your site. You must create original, well-written content that has value for your customers.

Key components of successful blogs are:

• An attention-grabbing headline
• High-quality content (1,000 words or more)
• Inbound and outbound links
• Photos, videos, and/or GIFs
• No spelling or grammatical errors

What should you blog about? You might start with fun things to do in your locale or unique features of the neighborhoods you represent. Tell newcomers why your city is so great and what they’ll love most about living there.

You should also blog about properties you’re especially keen to sell. Use the property’s address for the keyword and use it in the content, meta description, and photo tags. In addition to the home’s standard description, write a few hundred words about its best features.

2. Optimize Your Site For Mobile Users

There’s nothing wrong with creating a website that looks beautiful on a computer screen. But if your site isn’t optimized for mobile visitors, too, you’re missing out.

Over 52% of users access the internet from their mobile device. For this reason, your site must include responsive design so it works well on all devices.

Mobile users often visit websites looking for quick answers and information. This might include:

• Driving directions
• Price comparisons
• Featured listings
• Office phone number
• Agent reviews
• Research mortgage financing
• Agency email address

With these thoughts in mind, you can create content that’s fast and easy to find on a mobile device.

3. Target Local Keywords

If you want to master real estate SEO, you need to research and use effective keywords.

To start, you must hone in on keywords that people are searching for. You can do this through Google’s free Keyword Tool or by using Google’s “suggested searches” feature at the bottom of the results page.

Many people begin their search with the name of the city followed by “realtor.” Other common search terms include:

• (city) real estate
• (city) homes for sale
• (city) houses for sale
• (city) real estate agent
• (city) real estate listings

Use these keywords throughout your website. For example, if you’re a realtor in Orlando, you could use phrases like:

• Orlando Homes for Sale
• Orlando Realtor Testimonials
• Living in Orlando
• About Your Orlando Realtor
• Best Orlando Real Estate

On your agent or real estate investor website, you should have more than just current listings. You should also feature helpful information for newcomers to the area. This might include information on schools, crime rates, and public transportation.

Another helpful tip is to target local traffic. It’s easier to rank higher for a keyword like “Orlando realtor” than a broader term like “central Florida realtor.”

Once you’ve mastered real estate SEO, you can start to branch out to broader and more competitive keywords.

4. Use Proper Keyword Placement

Keywords are a vital part of real estate SEO. But if you don’t know how to use them, they won’t be as effective.

A common mistake is to “stuff” as many keywords as possible onto each page. This can actually hurt your real estate SEO, as Google can flag your site for keyword stuffing.

Instead, aim for a keyword density of 1-2%. For a 1,000-word post, this means your keyword should appear 10-20 times. Any more than this could not only get you flagged, but it also looks forced and unnatural.

So, where and how should you use keywords? For maximum real estate SEO results, concentrate your keywords in these five areas:

• URL: www.yoursite.com/orlando-real-estate
• Page Titles: Where to Find the Best Orlando Real Estate
• Image Titles: orlando_real_estate.jpeg
• Alt Tags on Photos: Include one or more keywords here.
• Content: Aim for 1-2% keyword density.

Keep in mind that Google is also getting smarter about similar keywords. As an example, Google reads “Orlando homes” and “Orlando houses” as synonymous and will show both in the search results.

5. Plenty of Photos and Videos

You can write thousands of words describing a house, or you can upload high-quality photos to speak for you. The phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” is especially true of real estate websites.

In general, the more photos of the property you upload, the better. A word of caution, though: Better to have a few high-quality photos than 50 low-quality ones. Any photos you include should be clear, sharp, and well-lit.

Another popular trend in real estate is a video tour. Offer prospective buyers a sneak peek through a well-made video tour of the property.

Does this really work? One real estate group reports that listings with videos receive 403% more inquiries than listings with no videos.

Your video tour isn’t limited to the property itself. You could also make videos about local neighborhoods and their best features. Geotag your videos, upload them to YouTube and Google+, and include links back to your website.

You may also want to include brief video interviews with new homeowners. When you hand them the key to their new house, they may happily provide a short testimonial for you to use on your website.

6. Get Your Business Listed in Directories

Real estate agent directories receive an incredible amount of traffic. It’s well worth your effort to get your business listed in them.

A few of the most popular ones are Trulia, Zillow, RedFin, and Homes.com.

Review sites are also an excellent place to generate leads. Make sure you’re listed on sites like Yelp and Google Reviews and check frequently for new entries.

You might also consider following up with clients and asking them to provide a review on one of these sites.

7. Optimize Your Broker’s Bio

Whether you run your own company or you work for a real estate agency, chances are you already have a bio page.

This subpage may not rank highly as a local keyword, but it’s a great place to optimize your name. People will Google your name, so optimize your bio with this in mind.

If possible, include your full name in the page’s title tag and meta description. You might also list your contact information and a link to your personal website if you have one.

8. Embrace Social Media

Google trusts sites that show a lot of social media activity. To maximize your real estate SEO, you need to be active on all major social media outlets.

If you don’t already have one, start by creating a Facebook page for your business. You should also have accounts on Instagram and Google+ and join local community groups.

While Twitter doesn’t directly affect your SEO, it’s one of the best channels for driving new traffic to your site.

Because of its visual nature, Pinterest is a potential gold mine for real estate agents. Pinterest boards rank highly on Google searches, so the more boards your pins show up on, the better. You can also include backlinks to guide viewers to your website.

9. Optimize Your Site Speed

Science confirms that people now have a shorter attention span than a goldfish. This means you only a have a few seconds to capture and keep a visitor’s attention.

Site speed is a critical factor in SEO rankings. Not only does a slow site create a poor user experience, but it makes it difficult for search engine bots to scan your site. This results in lower rankings and less traffic.

One of the easiest ways to improve your site speed is to optimize your images for faster loading. The quicker your site loads, the longer users will linger.

10. Ensure NAP Consistency

Our final real estate SEO tip is NAP consistency.

No, we’re not talking about a midday siesta. NAP refers to the name, address, and phone number of your business.

To improve your real estate SEO ranking, you must ensure that your NAP shows up exactly the same everywhere it’s listed.

Check your business listing on directories and review sites for misspellings and inconsistencies. For example, “Street” is not the same as “St.” Choose one or the other, and make it the same everywhere.

Your phone number should also be consistent, using one of three standard formats:

• 123-456-7890
• (123) 456-7890
• 123.456.7890

Final Thoughts

By utilizing these strategies, you’ll soon be driving more traffic to your real estate website.

Are you interested in more ways to optimize your site? At Real Estate Visionaries, we offer one-on-one consultations to help you build your brand.

We invite you to contact us for more information or to schedule a consultation.