Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plays a significant role in the real estate industry, which has changed dramatically in recent years. According to a 2023 National Association of Realtors report, 100% of home buyers now search for property online. If your real estate website doesn’t appear at the top of search engines, you’ll find it challenging to compete in an already crowded market.
Are You A Real Estate Investor Looking For More Properties To Buy? Be Sure to Check Out Our Guide on SEO For Real Estate Investors.
This guide covers all the essential elements of a successful SEO strategy, including keyword research, on-page and off-page SEO, and technical search engine optimization. By the end of this article, you’ll have everything you need to improve your rankings.
Why Do You Need Real Estate SEO?
Online visibility is everything when seeking potential clients. Most consumers don’t look beyond the second or third page of the results, and many never click past the first page. As such, your business needs to be front and center on search engines if you want to compete.
Better SEO can improve your visibility, get more qualified traffic, and boost your lead generation. Consistently applying good real estate SEO strategies will give you a significant competitive advantage over other real estate agents in your area.
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Increase Local Visibility and Leads
The typical agent works in a specific market, making local visibility an essential aspect of your SEO efforts. Using the right real estate keywords will make you appear higher on results pages for
your given area and can improve your lead generation.
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Competing with Larger Real Estate Portals
National sites like Zillow and Realtor.com have upended real estate marketing, which used to be more local. These massive corporations appear at the top of most search results in every market, but this doesn’t mean that a small real estate company can’t compete.
By focusing on local SEO optimization, you can show local expertise and reassure consumers that you’re highly familiar with your target market.
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Build Long-Term Organic Traffic
While paid advertising can be helpful, it does not provide long-term organic traffic growth. As soon as the campaign ends, you may notice a steep drop-off in traffic as you no longer appear at the top of search engine results.
In contrast, optimizing your SEO strategy provides more organic traffic over the long term, as search engines prioritize sites with strong, relevant content. Appearing at the top of organic search results also encourages website visitors, who will correctly assume that your content is the most relevant to their search terms.
What Is Real Estate SEO?
Real estate SEO is a subset of search engine optimization used by real estate agents, listing sites, and property developers who want to reach their target audience: homeowners and investors. This marketing strategy works by appealing to both search engine algorithms and consumers searching for properties.
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The Importance of Real Estate SEO
The real estate industry is highly competitive, and most consumers now search for property listings online. As such, a solid real estate SEO strategy is essential for getting leads.
If your real estate website is optimized for search engines, you’ll be more visible in relevant searches, which will improve your lead generation. You’ll also be able to compete against other agents who are still using traditional advertising methods rather than focusing on SEO efforts.
A realtor may provide the best service, but if it doesn’t show up high on search results for Google and other search engines, it won’t get traffic to its website. You can beat them to a lead by using SEO tools.
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Key Differences Between Real Estate SEO and Traditional SEO
SEO for real estate works a bit differently than SEO for other industries. Because agents typically have a specific service area, they must prioritize SEO keywords tailored to a local market rather than more generalist keywords.
A Google business listing is a good idea for any company, but potential clients need to know whether an agent covers a specific town, making Google Maps and other local tools critical to attracting clients.
Home shoppers want pictures of properties they might want to view, so image-heavy content is crucial. Strong keywords interspersed with attractive, well-designed photos will attract more potential clients than large blocks of text.
Lastly, agents should prioritize real estate listings containing pictures and specific information about the home. Shoppers will want the most updated information on a listing they want to view, so good technical SEO and regular updates will keep you current on search results.
Keyword Research for Real Estate SEO
Effective keywords are a crucial element in appearing higher on search engines. Ideally, these will closely match what consumers are looking for and sound natural in your website’s copy so that it’s not obvious to the average person that you inserted it for SEO purposes.
To find the magic words, you need to perform research, which will show what people are searching for in your specific market. You can incorporate several types of keywords into your website: local, long-tail, and intent-driven.
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Targeting Local Keywords
Your site should be tailored to the local market as much as possible, so your target keywords should mention your given service area.
To get started, you pair your solutions with your service area, which can be small towns, cities, or counties. Use a variety of different general keywords that are then made specific by a geographic indicator.
When someone has location tracking on their computer or mobile device, search engines will attempt to match their searches to local businesses whenever possible. As such, general keywords can be localized if your real estate website includes explicit identifiers of your service area. It’s important to avoid keyword stuffing here, though.
You’ll also want to fill out your Google Business Profile, which then matches your business to your service area when people search for home listings.
Understanding Searcher Intent for Local Keywords
Search intent, also called user intent, helps guide your research, as it tells you what people expect to see when they click on a given web page. By considering why someone has plugged a given keyword into a search engine, you can understand what kind of problem you are solving for a reader with your content.
There are four types of search intent, which include the following.
- Navigational Intent: The user wants to find a specific page without typing in the URL. For a realtor, this requires strong brand recognition; otherwise, the user will not know to look for you. An example of this user intent would be if someone saw a billboard for your real estate business and now wants to learn more.
- Informational Intent: The user wants more details about a concept, process, or area. For real estate web pages, this is an excellent opportunity for blog posts that describe more about real estate transactions or city guides for part of your service area.
- Commercial Intent: Your ideal user wants to comparison shop before committing to anything. They may be getting a ballpark estimate of how much houses cost in a given area or comparing different agents.
- Transactional Intent: The user is shopping for a house or a real estate agent right now. They’ve narrowed down the area they’re looking for and just need help finding the right listings.
Long-Tail Keywords in Real Estate
Long-tail keywords are one of the most underutilized SEO tips, but they can be your secret weapon when competing with other agents. These are longer keywords, such as a full sentence, and are usually a question the user wants answered.
Because they are more precise, these keywords will have a lower search volume and may result in less traffic. However, they may result in more qualified leads if you can provide a good solution to the user’s needs.
Tools for Real Estate Keyword Research
There are a variety of tools, both free and paid that you can use to improve your search engine rankings. One of the most user-friendly is the Keyword Planner from Moz, which lets you.
Semrush provides a Keyword Magic Tool that allows you to choose your seed keyword, like “real estate,” and then plug in your URL and country.
The tool will provide you with a list of potential keywords to filter down for even greater specificity, including specific towns and counties.
Google’s Keyword Planner is helpful if you already have a Google Ads account. While it’s meant to help you create good ad campaigns, it can also help you incorporate strong keywords into your website and off-page SEO.
On-Page SEO for Real Estate Websites
On-page SEO refers to optimizing your real estate website to drive traffic. Search engines prefer well-organized websites, which include things like well-written content, title tags, descriptions, headers, and images. The easier you make it for search engine crawlers to find and index your page, the better your rankings will be.
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Optimizing Title Tags and Meta Descriptions
Title tags and descriptions are what search engines will show to users when they search for a specific keyword. The title tag doesn’t necessarily have to be the same as the page’s actual title: it’s the compelling title that users will want to click on when they see the results page.
The description is a very short text snippet explaining what the page is about. It’s usually less than 160 characters, as this is how much search engines show on the results page. Good descriptions are generally between 120 and 150 characters.
Title tags and descriptions are where your keywords shine. You want compelling, keyword-rich tags and descriptions that match user intent as closely as possible.
Example of an Optimized Real Estate Title Tag
Let’s assume you’re selling houses in Baltimore, Maryland. Your keyword is “Baltimore houses for sale.” A title tag and description might be this:
Baltimore, MD Real Estate & Homes for Sale
View [NUMBER] of homes for sale in Baltimore, MD. Browse prices, property details, and open house listings. Contact a Baltimore realtor today!
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Using Headers to Structure Content
Search engine bots prefer pages that are well-organized with a proper header hierarchy. Readers, too, want to quickly find the keywords they want to focus on by reviewing the headers.
You can think of headers as an outline of your page. There should only be one H1 header as the title, which will include the primary keyword you are targeting. H2 headers will also have high-value keywords, while you can use H3 headers to target less “big ticket” keywords that are more specific. H4s will provide even more detailed information for readers.
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Image Optimization
Images both improve SEO and enhance a user’s experience, as house hunters want to see the interior and exterior of the house they’re interested in. You can improve your SEO even more with descriptive file names and alt text with relevant keywords.
For example, the file name may include the house’s address, while the alt text will describe what type of house it is and where it is located.
Best Practices for Compressing Images Without Losing Quality
Your site will likely be heavy on visuals, but you don’t want the page to take forever to load. As such, you can rely on image compression sites that won’t reduce image quality but will improve loading speed. Shortpixel is one of the best online compression tools, but you can also use Microsoft Photo Viewer or Mac Convert.
Content Strategy for Real Estate SEO
Quality content demonstrates your authority and experience while providing practical advice for readers. Tailoring your content to your specific audience and naturally including keywords will help boost your SEO while also encouraging conversions.
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Creating Location-Specific Content
Real estate sites should focus on content specific to particular cities, neighborhoods, and regions, as this is what people are looking for when they search for a realtor. You’ll both capture those local searches and also demonstrate your experience with your service area.
Examples of Location-Specific Blog Topics
Some examples of great localized blog topics include:
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- “Best Neighborhoods in [City] for Families”
- “Top Schools in [City]”
- “Best Cities in [State] for Foodies”
- “Outdoor Activities in [Town] for Adventurers”
- “Most Pet-Friendly Cities in [Region]”
- “LGBT-Friendly Neighborhoods in [City]”
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Writing Evergreen Content for Real Estate
Evergreen content is great for SEO, as it does not need to be updated on a regular basis, freeing up your energy for updating listings and contacting clients. While you should still update these pages with additional information or updated statistics, they will remain relevant for months or even years. Topics like the home-buying process, investment tips, and what to look for when buying a house are great starting points.
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Leveraging Real Estate Trends
Sharing information about current trends in the industry can provide up-to-date information buyers need. Timely statistics and research, when combined with the right keywords, can perfectly match user intent and lead to more conversions.
Repurposing Content for Real Estate SEO
Repurposing content lets you maximize your SEO without creating new content from scratch. Using Google Analytics, look at low-performing pages, then add new keywords, fix broken links, insert new multimedia or pictures, and include updated information. This drives more traffic and improves keyword targeting, letting you reach a broader audience with less effort.
Technical SEO for Real Estate Websites
Your website’s performance also influences search engine results pages, as Google prefers sites that are fast-loading, optimized for mobile, and have a coherent sitemap.
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Mobile Optimization for Real Estate
Your site should perform well on mobile devices, as many use these to search for listings on the go. A mobile-only site will automatically adjust to any screen resolution and hide search functions unless clicked on.
How to Test and Improve Mobile Performance?
To check your mobile performance, you can use tools like the Website Responsiveness Testing Tool or BrowserStack, which will replicate the mobile experience and give you advice on how to fix any issues.
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Site Speed Optimization
Fast-loading pages will rank higher as they are more user-friendly and can be more easily indexed. To improve your site speed, you can use a Content Delivery Network (CDN), reduce unnecessary CSS or JavaScript, compress images, and enable browser caching for repeat visitors.
Tools for Testing Site Speed
Google’s PageSpeed Insights is one of the most user-friendly ways to test and improve mobile responsiveness. It checks loading speed and responsiveness, then offers actionable suggestions for how to improve..
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Schema Markup for Real Estate Listings
Schema markups are tags that explain what the site is to Google so that they can better match it to a target keyword. This can improve clickthrough rates by showing the right page to the right people.
Link Building Strategies for Real Estate Websites
Link building helps boost referral traffic, crucial to a growth-minded real estate agency. Placing authoritative content on other sites boosts your rankings and improves your brand visibility. Well-researched, informative, and relevant content will intrigue readers, who will recognize you as a leader in the field.
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Local Link Building Opportunities
Leverage your pre-existing relationships to get more backlinks by contacting neighboring businesses, local business directories, and realtor associations in your area.
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Guest Posting on Real Estate Blogs
Guest posting on the right blogs can improve your rankings by providing high-quality backlinks from relevant sites. When seeking these opportunities, consider the relevance of the company, its domain authority, and its monthly site traffic.
Craft helpful and informative content with your target keywords, which should include good backlinks to authoritative websites. Be sure to promote your posts on social media platforms to improve their performance.
How Stellar SEO Can Help Real Estate Companies Achieve Their SEO Goals?
Stellar SEO provides specialized services tailored to the real estate business. We understand the unique needs of realtors and offer a customized approach to improving your rankings. Our services include:
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Custom Link Building
We’ll hunt down relevant and authoritative platforms to help you acquire quality backlinks, using our pre-existing relationships and outreach tactics.
Learn more about our Custom Link-Building Services
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Keyword Research Services
Our team will help you find the perfect real estate SEO keywords for your business, targeting keywords that real clients use. We use advanced tools like Google Search Console and others to hunt for new keyword opportunities, boosting your return on investment.
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On-Page SEO Services for Real Estate Websites
Our specialists will perform an SEO audit on your site to ensure that it is search-friendly, including title tags, descriptions, headers, and URL structures. We’ll optimize these components to improve visibility and enhance user experience. When performing our audits, we use a data-driven approach to fully optimize your page, ensuring long-term success.
Learn more about our On-Page SEO Services
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Content Optimizations
Stellar SEO ensures that both search engines and users are delighted with your page. We will carefully audit and refine your content to improve keyword density and local relevance, addressing user’s needs. With quality content, you’ll improve rankings and get more traffic.
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Technical SEO Services
No technical web knowledge? No problem. Let our professionals take care of the technical SEO. During our SEO audit, we’ll develop a plan to get your site into shape. This includes site speed, mobile performance, and site schema.
Learn more about our Technical SEO Services
Our years of experience in this specialized SEO space help our clients dominate their market through sustainable, long-term growth. We provide a holistic approach to SEO that considers all facets of your online presence.
Conclusion
When implemented carefully, these SEO tips can help you generate more leads and stay competitive in a crowded market. Optimizing your site, focusing on local SEO, researching keywords, and developing authoritative content is essential to staying competitive.
If you’d like personalized advice on getting more mileage out of your SEO efforts, contact Stellar SEO for a free consultation or demo. We look forward to helping you reach the top of your marketplace’s ranks.
