Real Estate SEO – Getting Started & First Steps

To begin the three part series of Getting Started with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), this article will cover how to properly set up your real estate agent website and online strategy so you’re ready to begin optimizing.

What is SEO and how can it Benefit my Business? 

Search Engine Optimization is the practice of improving the visibility of your website in the search engine’s natural (organic) results. There are many ways to do this. SEO has two main aspects which are: on site optimization and off site optimization. The main goal of most online marketing is attracting website visitors, but how does a new business compete with the hundreds of local competitors that have already established a client base and reputation? Three words, Search Engine Optimization. Did you know that people generate 4.7 billion searches a day and 20% of those searches are unique – meaning they’ve never been searched before? Once you understand this, it becomes imperative your business becomes as visible as possible in search engines.

Is your Website Ready for Optimization? 

Creating a website is just the beginning of your online marketing and like all journeys there are many paths you can take. However we recommend following these steps to ensure your website is effective as it can be. The first step is to sign up for and install Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Google Analytics lets you know where your traffic is coming from and how visitors are behaving on your website. Google Search Console provides you with information on your website including broken pages, indexed pages, error messages, inbound links and it even allows you to see which terms people are searching for to get to your website.

The next step is to make sure you have a blog set up on your myRealPage website. A well maintained blog can become one of your most effective marketing tools because blogs have a direct effect on your website’s rankings. Placing keywords in the title of your bog post as well as in the body lets search engines like Google understand what the blog post is about. After coming across your keywords a number of times Google begins to understand your website is important for the specified keywords. Including internal and external links is recommended for every post in your real estate blog.

Including nice images is also recommended for every blog post. Aside from looking great, nice images in your blog will increase the likelihood of your blog post being shared through social media. The last step is to ensure you have personal as well as professional social media profiles. We recommend including the big three, which are Facebook and Twitter. It’s also recommended to include complimentary social networks like YouTube, Pinterest or LinkedIn. Complimentary social profiles can help increase your reach through videos of your listings, video blog posts, images of your listings and region. Once you have these profiles set up it’s important to let your visitors know that you are available through social media. You can do this by clearly displaying your chosen social media icons on your website.

4 Easy Things To Boost Results

Looking to incorporate SEO best practices in your real estate marketing efforts? Here are four easy things real estate agents should try to boost results.

Update Old Content

You’d be forgiven for thinking that once you write and publish content on your website, it’s finished. Never to be touched again.

Not true!

Relaunching existing content like blog posts can be a great way to reignite visits and readership. Not every piece of existing content, though – specifically, content that has performed well in the past and that makes use of some keywords you’d like to rank for (e.g., “Toronto housing market forecast”).

Google Analytics can help you find your best-performing blog posts. When you’re ready to update, think about tweaking the content with meaningful updates. So, not just word changes here and there, or a new image, but adding new, up-to-date information that makes the content more interesting and helpful for readers.

You can also add links to new content (things you’ve published in the years since). You can also incorporate headers — HTML tags like <H2> — with keywords, to help organize your posts into sections and boost your potential for ranking. Most website platforms will have this formatting option available in their content editor.

Keep the same URL, but update the title. Adding the timing of the update in brackets (e.g., “Updated September 2021”) to the end of the title is a great way to signal to readers — and to search engines — that this content is current and refreshed.

…And Add New Content

You also need to be spending time writing new content for your real estate website.

Real estate blog content is one of the most effective tools in your toolbelt for proving your expertise to potential clients and generating traffic to your real estate website.

To ensure that the new content you’re writing is SEO-friendly, keep the following in mind:

Word count. Generally speaking, long-form content — over 2,000 words — receives more traffic than short-form content. But it’s about tailoring the length of your content to the subject you’re writing about. A neighbourhood guide probably warrants a higher word count; there’s lots of detail to share! A post about fall events in your area may not need as many words.

Use keywords. Keywords are *key* to SEO. This topic deserves a post of its own, but a few basic best practices for incorporating keywords into your content are to:

Use keywords that you actually have a chance at ranking for (e.g., “Toronto condo real estate agent” versus “real estate agent”)

Not overstuff your content with keywords

Use your keywords in key places, such as your title, description, and header tags

Write for humans. All that being said, make sure you’re writing for humans first — not for search engines. What really matters is that people are finding and reading your content. Plus, Google can tell when your content is filled with too many keywords and not enough useful information.

Answer questions. Search engines love content that answers the questions people are searching for. Start Googling keywords related to real estate and your market. Here’s an example of what Google shows for “Toronto condos.” These are questions you can tackle in your content (you can literally put the question in the title!).

Metadata

Metadata is one of the building blocks of good SEO. It’s essentially information that provides information about other information — in other words, it’s a description of an information source.

In search results, metadata is the information that accompanies a result. There’s a meta title (the title of a web page) and a meta description (the short copy describing a web page). Here’s an example of metadata for a Google search result about Toronto condos:

Metadata is important because it’s what convinces users to click on a search result. More clicks = a better ranking in search results = even more clicks.

If you don’t create your own metadata, Google will do it for you by pulling the title of your page and using a snippet of the page content as your meta description.

Most website content editors give you the option to edit your metadata. Take it!

Here are a few best practices for SEO-friendly metadata:

Keep your title under 60 characters. Google won’t show more than this in results. Make sure it includes your keyword (preferably near the beginning), and that it accurately describes the content of your page.

Keep your description under 160 characters. For the same reason as above. Likewise, your meta description should include your keyword and should accurately describe what readers will learn from your content.

Don’t recycle and reuse. Your meta titles and meta descriptions should be unique for each of your website pages. You want to differentiate your content so that searchers can find exactly what they’re looking for when they come across your website in their search results.

Get Yourself a Favicon

Here’s a small (literally) but mighty tip: make sure your real estate website has its own favicon.

“A what?” you may be asking. Take a look at your browser tab right now. See that “mrp” icon on the tab for this page? That’s a favicon.

From Wikipedia: A favicon, also known as a shortcut icon, website icon, tab icon, URL icon, or bookmark icon, is a file containing one or more small icons, associated with a particular website or web page.

Why do favicons matter? Well, a good, highly visible favicon can make a difference when it comes to which search results people choose to click on. That’s because Google displays favicons in mobile search results.

Google offers guidelines to creating favicons. It’s a tiny space to work within, so don’t try to cram too much imagery or text into yours. Keep your favicon easy-to-see, with high-contrast colours and minimal details.

Here are a few strategies to improve the SEO of your realtor website.

Use the right keywords

A key part of SEO is understanding what people are searching for. In the case of real estate, most home buyers and sellers are looking for a realtor in their area. Try using phrasing like “[insert town or region] real estate agent” or “[insert town or region] homes for sale” on several pages of your website. But don’t go overboard; too many keyword phrases look contrived.

Tip: don’t forget about your name as a keyword. Use your full name, alongside words like “realtor” and “real estate agent,” in various areas on your website.

Collect reviews

Testimonials play a huge role in encouraging prospective home buyers and sellers to visit your website, stay on your website and contact you. Having numerous reviews makes you appear trustworthy, and increases your visibility in search results. To get reviews, just ask. Satisfied clients will be happy to oblige.

Tip: make it easy for clients; send them links to several websites where they can leave a review, such as Yelp, Facebook, RankMyAgent, and Google.

Make sure you’re mobile-friendly

More and more Internet users are searching from smartphones and tablets. Your website needs to look good and function well on all devices. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you will not rank as high in Google searches coming from a phone or tablet. Google offers a tool to help you determine whether your website is mobile-friendly or not.

Tip: with responsive websites you don’t to create a separate mobile website. All myRealPage websites are responsive. Your website will work perfectly on any device, with no effort on your part. Read about myRealPage responsive websites here.

Build a Google ‘My Business’ page

Google offers a platform called My Business that local businesses can use to publish and update their information. With My Business, you can share your real estate hours of business, information about your realtor services and collect reviews. Having a My Business page helps improve your position in search results, and gives anyone searching for you the correct information, instantly.

Tip: you need a Google account and a Google+ page to get started. The Google My Business page will take you through the process.

Last Updated on October 23, 2024 by myRealPage