Organic visibility is an important part of getting high-quality leads for any real estate business. Here’s a quick guide to help you rank in the local search results on Google and other top search engines.
5 SEO tips for real estate brokers
#1. Optimize your website for local SEO
Effective SEO starts with your real estate website. If you want Google to rank your website for specific keywords in your local area, you need to make sure that you use those keywords in your titles, title tags, meta descriptions, headings and content. It also helps to use them in your image alt tags.
Another way to improve your standing in the local search results is to add location pages to your website. These pages tell Google — and your visitors — the locations you serve. Location pages are especially helpful if you serve locations where you’re not physically located.
In addition to including obvious location-based keywords, like “real estate broker Fort Collins,” broaden your range by using alternative keywords, like “real estate broker Northern Colorado” or “real estate broker Larimer County.”
#2. Claim and maximize your Google My Business listing
Google My Business is a powerful local SEO tool that all local businesses should take advantage of, and that absolutely includes real estate brokers. This is what helps you show up in the Google Maps results — and where prospective clients will go to read your reviews.
Claim your Google My Business listing, and then optimize it as much as possible by writing a unique description, choosing the appropriate business categories, adding images, including links to your website and social profiles and adding your hours.
You can also help to improve the visibility of your Google My Business listings in the Maps rankings by asking for reviews — and responding to them. The higher your star rating and the more reviews you have, the more visible your listing will be.
#3. Make sure you have NAP consistency
While it’s important to have a listing on Google My Business, it shouldn’t be the only place your business is listed online. Your real estate business needs to be listed anywhere and everywhere someone in your area may look for a real estate agent, including Yelp, Top Rated Local®, Thumbtack, Realtor.com, etc.
Having a verified listing is just the first step, though. You also need to make sure that the information you have on each and every one of those listings is accurate and updated, particularly where your name, address and phone numbers (NAP) are concerned.
NAP consistently is not only critical to ensure that prospective clients can reach you when they need to, but it’s also an important part of local SEO. The last thing Google wants is to send a user to a real estate broker with an outdated phone number, which is why they value local businesses with consistent information.
#4. Have a mobile-friendly website
When someone is starting their search for a real estate broker, most of the time, they’ll do so on their smartphone. If your website is only designed for desktop users, you’ll lose more than half of the prospective customers who visit your website.
Having a mobile-friendly website starts with having a responsive real estate website design. Responsive designs are made to reconfigure themselves automatically to provide the best experience on any device, retaining their optimal appearance and functionality.
Of course, having a responsive website isn’t the only thing you need to have a mobile-friendly website. Your website also needs to load quickly and be formatted for mobile users. For example, clickable buttons need to have plenty of space around them so they can easily be clicked with a thumb, which is much less precise than a mouse.
#5. Create content
Optimizing your site and listings will go a long way to helping you rank for local searches, but there’s a lot more to it than that. It’s also critical to create content on a regular basis, both on and off of your real estate website.
On your website, create content in the form of pages and blogs. The content on your website should introduce your real estate business and brokers, highlight your experience, inform visitors about your services, promote your listings and more. Your blog is also the perfect place to give visitors tips and advice about buying and selling a home, put a spotlight on community events and more.
Content should not be limited to your website. By adding content to your Google My Business listing, as well as your social media profiles, can also go a long way to helping you rank higher in local searches.
SEO is incredibly important in every industry, and real estate is no exception. If you need help getting it right, Marketing 360® can help. The Content app has everything you need to track your organic performance over time, and our team of Content Writers can help you maximize your success. See our plans and pricing.