Real estate is a competitive business, which is why it isn't enough just to have a real estate website anymore. Your site needs to be optimized to ensure local homebuyers can find you when they search for realtors in your area. Here are 10 tips that'll improve your SEO game and make it easier for your site to be found.
With your realtor license in hand, it's time to establish a beautiful real estate website. It's very rare for a business to excel these days without a modern, professional, and high-performing website.
So, as you work hard to create killer content for each of your web pages and establish an all-important blog, we'd like to share some important SEO tips with you.
These ten tips will pull your newly designed website out from the shadows and into some of the highest ranking slots on Google's search engine results. Ready to be famous?
1. Make Your Real Estate Website Your #1 Priority
In a world where Google dictates everything-SEO, it's important not to skimp on your website.
One of the factors Google considers is site speed.
So, you want a well-designed, modern looking website that also performs well. That means response time must be fast and all your beautiful images and videos can't slow down processing time.
A real estate WordPress website is a great place to start. WordPress is one of the most popular platforms for a reason. They make web design easy, even for someone with no experience.
2. Focus On Your Keywords
Any website or blog will do well to take time and figure out the best keywords for their industry.
Then, those keywords can be organically intertwined into various site pages and the company blog.
However, with a real estate website, it's important to focus your keywords on the local market.
Potential clients are likely to type in hyper-focused search terms, such as "Seattle homes for sale" or "Seattle real estate agent." So, you want to focus on those longtail keywords that are going to pack the most punch.
3. Create a Killer Blog
Think of all the great HGTV shows we tune into every night. The content available for a real estate blog is endless. You can cover everything from staging, to organization tips, to the latest paint trends, to the tiny house movement, and on and on.
Take advantage of such a powerful niche and create a killer blog. In fact, turn your blog into an industry resource. Incorporate an interesting photo or two in every post. And, most importantly, incorporate the proper keywords into each and every article.
4. Guest Post Where Possible
Who better to call themselves an industry expert than you? You're a trained realtor working hard to put people into the homes of their dreams. If you're able to share your knowledge with high-traffic sites that post a lot of realty-related content, those posts are going to get back to you.
Guest post on sites that allow you to incorporate your byline at the bottom of each article or, even better, include a small call-to-action at the bottom of each of your information-packed articles. It's just another way to build your brand as an industry expert.
5. Work On Your Backlinks
Backlinks are important on your company website and in all those guest post blogs. Think of them like the close relative to keywords. Proper keywords throughout your site are meant to make you pop on Google.
Proper backlinks throughout your site and other published materials are meant to draw readers in, link by link. Once they land on your page, they'll be blown away by your expert web design and compelling content.
6. Be a Social Media Butterfly
Guess what you should do every time you create a new blog post? Share it on all your social media platforms! Facebook continues to tout the highest number of users with an estimated two billion per month.
Instagram, however, is hot on Facebook's tail, so you want to establish a business account there, too. And, of course, anyone who's anyone takes to Twitter when they have something to say.
The thing about realtors is that their profession lends itself particularly well to Instagram. An image-based platform is ideal. Think about all those before and after photos. Think about all those post-staging photos that will glisten and gleam, and garner all kinds of Instagram likes.
7. Get Mobile
Does your website perform as quickly and efficiently on your cell phone as your laptop? While Google wants those desktop versions to load fast, it also wants that same site to load on everyone's cell phone.
If you think about it, we do most of our online searching and reading on our cell phones. So, it makes sense that you'd want potential leads and clients to be able to enjoy your website on their cell phones, too.
To see if your site is mobile optimized, start with Google's Mobile-Friendly Test to see if all your pages are performing up to Google's standards.
8. Set up Google My Business
While we're on the subject, let's continue on with the Google gods. Take a look at the Google 3-pack. This incorporates your business data into Google My Business, Google Maps, and Google+.
Have you ever searched for a company and found their information difficult to find? It was probably a bit of a turn-off to have to hunt down a store's phone number or business hours.
On the other hand, when a quick Google search pops up with a store's address, hours of operation, phone number, and link to the address on Google maps, everybody wins.
9. Optimize Your Video Content
Professional video content will make you stand tall above the crowd. And, again, you're in a prime line of work to take advantage of this fact.
Virtual tours are the name of the game in the world of real estate. But, you can also upload open house videos, neighborhood tours, and listing videos i.e. "10 New Houses on The Market Today."
You're well-positioned to churn out video content with ease, given your line of work. So, be sure to optimize that. You can post these videos on your blog, share them on social media and, best of all, upload them to your YouTube channel.
10. Hire a Real Estate SEO Expert
Once the budget allows, it'll be worth your while to hire a contract SEO expert. This is merely a short-term relationship that's going to allow you to clean up your SEO endeavors and run through these SEO tips with you.
Together, you'll be able to see what's working, what's not working, and what needs a little bit more focus. Then, the sky's the limit, as you pull in all kinds of new leads.
Successful SEO Journey
Here at Search Engine Guide, we strive to make SEO mastery possible. Feel free to take advantage of our keyword research and link building tools to boost your company's presence.
When you're ready, you can even advance into the world of search engine marketing to boost your real estate website and become more visible in your local community. It's absolutely possible and we wish you tremendous success along your SEO journey!
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