In an increasingly digital world, having an effective SEO strategy can make all the difference for real estate agents.
Consumers are increasingly turning to the Internet when deciding which real estate business to work with, which means that it's essential for any real estate company with an eye on success to ensure they have a digital presence that attracts buyers and sellers. Though it may sound dramatic, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that your company's future depends on its digital credentials.
Happily, this is something that's within your control. In this post, we'll guide you through some need-to-know information about SEO for estate agents, including what it is, why it's important, and how to do it correctly.
Understanding Real Estate SEO Basics
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It's the act of making improvements to your website so that search engines — most notably Google — can index and rank your website. The better the SEO, the more likely it is that your site will rank towards the top of the results page, resulting in more visitors and ultimately more business.
Key elements of an effective SEO strategy for agents
Good SEO depends on a variety of elements. To get the best results, it's essential that an SEO strategy includes the following:
- On-Page SEO: Optimising the website (think: keywords).
- Off-Page SEO: Building your presence around the web (think: Google My Business page).
- Technical SEO: Under the hood factors that impact ranking (think: load speed).
- Local SEO: Engineering SEO to rank with local customers (think: local content).
Keyword Research and Strategy
The success of your SEO will depend, in part, on how well you can tailor your website's copywriting to rank against relevant keywords. The key word there is ‘relevant'; they have to be in line with what your potential customers will search for online.
There are online tools that can help you identify the leading real estate keywords. You'll want to periodically conduct keyword research to stay up-to-date with both digital and real estate trends.
Optimising Your Website
SEO for real estate company websites is largely the same as any other website, just tailored to the real estate industry (for example: relevant keywords). Some on-page SEO tactics include including high-quality images, adding internal and external links, including headers and title tags, and schema markup.
The user experience will also impact your SEO ranking, so make sure your site is easy to navigate and has fast loading times. In this day and age, people are more likely to use their smartphones to visit your website, so providing a seamless mobile experience is key.
Content Creation and Marketing
Google loves to show its users quality content. You can enhance your SEO by creating compelling, SEO-friendly content that offers real value to your users. This could involve having optimised listing pages, SEO-enhanced property descriptions that include keywords, images, and internal and external links, and maintaining a regular blog.
Local SEO for Real Estate
General SEO is good for national businesses, but local businesses have to focus on local SEO. After all, you're trying to reach local audiences. You can give your website's SEO a local nudge by including local keywords in your copywriting (for example: choosing family homes in Birmingham rather than just family homes). Maintaining your Google My Business page with your correct address and opening hours will also help.
Link Building and Authority
Earning backlinks from other websites is a highly effective SEO strategy that can quickly push you to the top of the results page. Backlinks are essentially links to your website from other websites around the web. Google views them as a badge of recommendation and will reward your site.
You can get backlinks on other sites by writing guest blog posts, posting shareable content that gets reposted elsewhere, and building relationships with other webmasters.
Measuring Success
Once your SEO efforts are in full swing, you'll want to monitor the effectiveness of the strategy and make adjustments as and when required. Google Analytics is a handy tool that can reveal page views, bounce rate, and other useful pieces of information. If something isn't working, then tweak it, and see if it makes an improvement.
Future Trends and Best Practices
Real estate SEO rarely stands still for too long. As such, you should view improving your SEO credentials as an ongoing process. Some of the real estate SEO trends we anticipate to see improve in the coming year include voice search optimisation and augmented reality experiences.
It's also important to stay up-to-date with general industry shifts, as well as search engine algorithm updates. The best approach is to partner with a digital marketing agency.
Conclusion
The bottom line on real estate SEO? It's essential. While it can seem like an uphill task, it's a journey well worth taking because of the potential for future success. Once your SEO is in full swing, you should notice more clicks and more customers. If you need some help mastering your SEO, don't hesitate to get in touch with Distribute Digital, the SEO agency Midlands businesses rely on for great results.
Visit distributedigital.co.uk