Mastering SEO for Real Estate

September 15, 2023

Transform your listings and boost property sales with real estate SEO tips

I get it. The frustration of practicing every new tip for real estate SEO you see on the Internet, and still getting zero results. Unfortunately, Real estate and law firms are two of the most extreamly competitive niches that demand you to level up at each step. Sometimes it can feel like you won’t get anywhere regardless of your time and money because many of the bigger fish in the market. These big players can be spending more money on their marketing strategy or SEO strategy to rank higher on the search engines.

Therefore, if you’re an SEO consultant or practitioner, choosing the real estate field when it’s not your forte is just a waste of time…

And in this article, I won’t list the same old generic SEO advice. You can find that elsewhere.

I will give some of the best and proven tips that would help you up your SEO game forever.

So, come with me on a bumpy ride of SEO for real estate and explore my proven strategies to ace the race.

Focus on lower search volume phrases

If you’re new to real estate SEO, I’m afraid it’s an uphill battle. Because the market is highly saturated with lots of competitors fishing in the sea. However, I’m a firm believer in slow and steady wins the race, and consistency is the key to success.

So, here is a piece of advice; especially if you’re starting out as an SEO for a real estate practitioner or consultant.

Always do SEO for neighborhoods than cities. For example, target keyword like luxury homes in Greenwich Village, Vacation properties in lower Manhattan, and Condos in Chinatown.

That’s because these keywords have low search volume and would help build your local authority to rank you higher in the search engines.

Tip: Avoid using broader terms such as, “home for sale”, “properties for rent”, etc.

Build local authority

If you’re helping someone find the best properties in their area, be their local guide and create posts about the best burgers, best pizza, and ice cream parlors. It helps Google know you’re a local to that area and customers will seek your recommendations for good places. Ultimately, it will also help your website rank higher in the search engines.

This will also help you create helpful content and open room for more collaborative opportunities with other businesses. In return, you might earn some high quality backlinks.

Promote your website on Local.com

If you want your business to flourish, there’s no other way than to create a responsive, SEO-friendly website for your local businesses.

One of the best things to do for Real estate SEO is to promote your business on Local.com.

Just create an account and share complete details about your business for search engines to crawl. When any visitor visits your website, they will receive all of your services listed on the website.

This way, your website traffic is increased which leads to more sales.

Social Media

Half of your customers are on social media, watching posts, videos, and reels of something they want. So, if you want to succeed in the real estate business, make the right use of social media.

You can share quality content, including “How to find the best vacation spot in Los Angeles under $5K”, and “5 things to ask your property dealer before setting a deal.” Anything that adds knowledge and value to your customers’ life is going to work for you.

I have experienced this personally; when people connect with you through your posts, reels, or videos, they are most likely to convert into your raving customers.

Just know that real estate SEO strategy is going to take a lot of patience and time as you’re going to compete against some of the best real estate industry moguls, Zillow, Realtor, and others.

Pro Tip: Make TikTok videos where you do house tours, share tips and tricks, things to look out for, red flags, and things sketchy realtors do, to increase engagement. You can also convert these video topics into short-form blogs and vice versa. Whatever you do, just create quality content and avoid direct selling and cold calling.

Quality Link building

Most digital marketing experts will tell you; Link building is not useful, especially in this age where the market is highly populated.

I disagree.

Link building is an effective tool for real estate SEO, provided that you do it right with quality backlinks that matter.

Always go by the rule of quality over quantity, and you’ll win!

If you’re a new business, I recommend starting with foundational links that are free yet laborious. You can also make use of All-in-one SEO tools like BrightLocal for managing your overall online presence and lead generation from local searches.

Later, move on to “placed” editorials.

No matter what you do, make sure to index and optimize your MLS listings on your domain. Though you’ll find it overwhelming with the massive competition with VIPs like Zillow, RedFin, Realtor, etc, still there’s more traffic than anywhere else.

However, if you don’t have a budget for link building, don’t bother buying low quality links that will waste your time and money only. Instead, manually outreach to high quality sites in your niche and pay them for a link. Also, you can use a PR company for link building if you have something useful to offer.

Finding sites for writing guest posts for link building

This will blow your mind as not many people know this formula for finding sites that accept guest posts.

All you need is Google. Type in the following text to get your desired results, and pitch them for guest posting:

“Write for us” + Real Estate
“Submit a guest post” + Real Estate
“Contribute to” + Real Estate

Voila!

Pro tip: Make sure to provide quality content and you might end up getting paid gigs and sponsorships. Also, always do easy fixes on your website like deleting duplicate content, fixing broken links, and other errors on a daily.

Leverage Google My Business

According to Moz, Google Maps and GMB work in sync. And one of the leading ranking factors of Google Maps and the local pack is GMB or Google My Business listings.

Google My Business allows your customers or Google search engines to know where your business is located. For example, if your real estate business is located in New Jersey, you can rank for the keywords with the word New Jersey in it.

Google My Business gives your business the exposure it needs, that too, for free. You can even connect with your customers across Google searches and Google Maps.

Therefore, Google My Business doesn’t guarantee you 100% local search engine rankings, but it gives you better chances for ranking.

And for real estate businesses, a well-optimized Google My Business profile allows you to appear in the map result, which makes it more feasible for your customers to find you physically.

Pro lead generation tip: Make an independent Google My Business account and join groups for people looking for housing. Post your MLS listings and enjoy the free leads.

Make YouTube Videos (Video Marketing)

For local SEO in real estate marketing, a video marketing strategy is the best. Because it provides your potential leads with a unique experience that leads to high engagement.

According to a recent study, around 75% of home sellers are more likely to list with agents who use videos.

And around 50% of home buyers use Youtube videos as a main source of video research.

Therefore, YouTube is a popular medium where real estate professionals leverage their skills and knowledge to share it with their followers.

Because let’s be honest, your ulterior motive should never be ranked higher in the search engines. Search engines rely on quality content. Thus, try using long tail keywords and focus on the Google My Business profile. Also, make YouTube videos where you talk about your local market showcasing some of the best highlights of your city.

FAQs

What is SEO in real estate?

Unlike Google ads, SEO for real estate is a way to optimize your website and online presence in a way you would like your customers to reach you.

For real estate, on page SEO and Off page SEO, are important. On page SEO includes the content on your website, social media platforms, and mobile apps. Off page SEO strategy involves taking action outside of your website that includes link building, sponsorships or partnerships, acquiring citations, etc.

Does SEO work for real estate?

Regardless of any niche, SEO, if properly planned and done, works wonders for any business. However, the Real estate industry is a saturated market where you need to put in more effort to increase awareness and gain more traffic.

How can I improve my SEO in real estate?

Doing SEO for real estate is a challenging job because you’re fighting against some of the biggest Real estate marketing giants.

Therefore, the only key to ace this market is by creating quality content that resonates with your audience. The content should not only be limited to rental and sales of a property but tips and tricks and other valuable stuff about your local area would add so much value to your business.

How much does real estate SEO cost?

The cost of SEO for real estate depends on a number of factors. Most importantly, the business size and the reputation of your appointed SEO agency. For startups, the average cost of SEO is around $500 to $2500 monthly and for enterprise businesses, real estate SEO can cost over $2000 – $5000 monthly.

Is SEO good for Realtors?

Yes! SEO is great for realtors because it’s an amazing way to increase your website visibility and gain more traffic and customers on the buyers and listing end. By implementing proper keyword research and website optimization, you can rest assured that your pages rank higher in the search engines.

What does the term SEO stand for?

The term SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.

Final Thoughts

SEO for the real estate industry is something as essential as water is to humans. Without doing proper Real Estate SEO keywords, your chance to flourish in an already saturated market is zero. Besides, you should always focus on your content.

Nowadays, blog content is not enough, you need to up your game with video content in terms of engaging ads and general YouTube or TikTok videos to increase brand awareness and engagement.

Nonetheless, investing your time and money in a Real estate space is baffling and sometimes tiring, but with resilience, quality, and consistency, you’ll overtake the competition within a few months.

Final advice: I suggest sponsoring some local events for around $100 to $250 to help you with quality backlinks and SEO. Use Meetup for sponsorship opportunities for a lower cost.