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SEO for Real Estate Agencies 101: What Matters and What Doesn’t

By Adriana Tica | June 25, 2018

I don’t have to tell you how fierce the competition in the real estate business is. You already know that. And I bet you’re always looking for ways to grow your market share.

Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here, right?

Much like real estate, SEO is an industry surrounded by myths. Ask 10 SEO experts the same question and you’ll likely end up with 10 different answers, mostly related to the advantages of reselling service for agencies.

Why?

Because it’s not an exact science. And with hundreds of Google algorithm changes every year, things are moving pretty fast.

I won't claim I have all the answers. But there are a few things that I tested heavily and found to work every time for real estate agencies.

  1. Blog Often

If you don’t have a company blog, you’re missing out on a huge amount of organic traffic and leads. For our clients, we have managed to build real communities around their blog.

But you don’t have to take my word for it.

A study by HubSpot says that companies that blog more than 16 times per month get 3.5 times more traffic than those who only blog 0-4 times every month.

Image via HubSpot

I know what you’re going to say: “I don’t care about traffic, I want clients.”

You’re right!

Traffic is a vanity metric and not a goal in itself.

But blogging done right (read: by the right SEO writers) is a lead generating powerhouse.

Image via HubSpot

Blogging frequently can get you 4.5X more leads than your competitors get.

And don’t worry – I know 16+ blog posts per month seems excessive. The amount of posts a real estate company needs depends a lot on how the competition in the area is doing and what you are up against.

Most likely, you will need way fewer posts.

However, what is more important than the number of posts is their quality. Talking about your local community and offering vital tips for home buyers and sellers should be your main goal.

Remember: your blog is not there to advertise how awesome your team is. You’ve got your web pages for that. Your blog is there to help you build trust and turn you into a thought leader in your industry and area.

So don’t be afraid to show your expertise!

  1. Get Local. Really Local

Remember what I said above about content that is truly valuable? Well, you should also make sure it’s relevant to your audience.

Anyone who wants to buy a home in a certain area will look for a local real estate agent. Someone who knows the ins and outs of the neighborhood.

So talk about it in your blog. Talk about the best schools, the best restaurants, the best parks and so on. Show readers that you are in touch with every aspect of your community. You will, simultaneously, show Google why you matter in that area.

Similarly, when you offer tips about negotiating the price of a house or selling faster, don’t be too generic. Talk about tips that are specific to your location.

  1. Be on Google

There is something that I like to call the ‘Google Trio for Local Businesses’.

  • Google My Business
  • Google Maps
  • Google+

You need a profile for each of them. When you create those profiles, triple-check the information! You need to make sure it’s consistent across all your online assets – from your website to your Facebook profile and your Google listing.

For Google, the most important thing is the contact info. You want to make sure that people can easily click on your phone number or website when they get your listing in SERPs.

  1. Other Places to List Your Business

Aside from great, valuable content, the best thing for the SEO of a real estate agency’s website are links. You want as many of those leading to your website as possible.

So stay active on social media – choose a couple of platforms. You don’t need to be everywhere. You only need to be where your audience is.

So what if Instagram is trendy? If it’s not right for your business, stick to the platforms that are, to the platforms where your crowd is.

Other places to claim your business include:

  • Yelp
  • Thumbtack
  • Manta
  • Angie’s List
  • Better Business Bureau
  • Yellow Pages
  • Kudzu
  • Merchant Circle
  • CitySquares
  • White Pages
  • Craigslist

And, of course, your agency shouldn’t be missing from:

  • Zillow
  • Trulia
  • com
  • Zoocasa
  • RedFin

Conclusion

The hunt for better SEO sometimes makes us forget the essential: Google is not the enemy. They are not changing the algorithm just to mess with you.

Quite the opposite.

Just as you should, they want to offer their users the best experience. They want to help them get relevant results quickly.

Do the same.

Forget about keywords for a while and think about what your clients need to learn. What you have to teach them. Write that. Write naturally and be genuinely helpful.

If human readers love your content, so will Google bots.

Adriana Tica is a Realty Biz News contributor and an expert marketer and copywriter, with more than 10 years in the field. She is the CEO of Idunn, a digital marketing agency that helps clients (especially real estate agencies) all over the world with copywriting, social media marketing and marketing strategy. Follow her blog here.

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