Real Estate SEO (How to Get Leads and Sales from Google)

What is real estate SEO?

Real estate SEO is a powerful tool for professionals in the industry.

By optimizing your website and content with relevant keywords and quality information, you can improve your visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs).

This means more potential clients discover your services when they search for real estate-related topics.

Driving organic traffic through SEO not only brings more visitors to your site but also increases the chances of converting them into leads.

When people find your website through organic search results, they’re more likely to trust your brand, leading to a boost in brand authority in the competitive real estate market.

An effective SEO plan can also help you scale your lead generation and conversion strategy.

The right plan can help you:

• Serve as a strong recruitment tool by showcasing your expertise and services to potential team members
• Position yourself as a trusted authority in your industry and build a strong reputation
• Generate more seller leads by targeting keywords related to selling properties
• Attract interested buyers looking for their dream homes

Let’s dig into some of these benefits further in the next section.

Why SEO is Important in Real Estate

SEO brings real estate prospects and professionals together.

Without an SEO plan, there’s no telling how many leads could slip through your fingers.

In the next subsections, we’ll review why real estate SEO is a win-win strategy for both searchers and real estate agents alike.

Increase brand awareness

Making a name for yourself in the real estate industry is key to standing out among your competitors and grabbing a slice of the market share.

By crafting SEO-driven content and building referral links, you can enhance your visibility and attract aligned leads.

Focusing on topics that matter to buyers and sellers not only showcases your expertise but also boosts your credibility.

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For instance, you might cover buyer-focused topics, such as:

• How the home-buying process and closing process works
• Understanding closing costs by state and municipality
• How appraisals and inspections work
• How to find the right property
• Top home-buying tips

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And you might cover seller-focused topics, such as:

• How the home-selling process and closing process works
• Understanding seller concessions
• How comps and pricing work
• How to stage your property
• Top home-selling tips

If you market to investors, be sure to also create content assets that align with their search intent.

That might be:

• How to find and secure funding for investment properties
• Risks to consider when buying an investment property
• How to find the right investment property
• Top tips for home renovation and staging
• How to flip a property

By creating a knowledge base, help center, and engaging blog posts, you demonstrate to Google and potential clients that you’re a reliable authority in the real estate industry.

Showing up this way demonstrates your care for your target audience. And over time, they’ll reward you with loyalty.

In other words …

Going the extra mile to solve problems and answer questions with your content helps you establish long-lasting relationships built on trust and expertise.

Boost organic traffic and revenue

Real estate SEO not only helps you attract aligned prospects to your website …

With a strategic approach, you can also turn that traffic into revenue.

To set your website up for success, you’ll need to focus your strategy on relevant content and keywords.

Grab your buyer personas and customer data to dig deep into your audience’s top pain points and problems. Input their questions and challenges into a keyword research tool, like Semrush, to uncover which keywords to target.

Focus on the ones with low competition and high search volume so you have the best chance to boost organic traffic quickly (even though SEO is a long game).

For instance, if you researched:

• “How much money do I need for a down payment?”
• “How do I know what kind of house I can afford?”
• “Current foreclosures in Charlotte, NC”
• “First-time home buying tips”

You might learn that the top two inputs have high competition and high search volume. And the bottom two questions have low competition and high search volume. In this case, you’ll want to omit focusing on the top two long-tail phrases — and optimize for the bottom two instead.

Other SEO best practices you’ll need to focus on include:

• Consistently updating your site with fresh, informative content
• Optimizing title tags and alt text
• Optimizing meta descriptions

To turn your website visitors into customers, build in plenty of lead nurturing and conversion calls to action (CTAs) buttons.

Be sure to have a few CTAs inviting them to book a call with you, check out listings, and download helpful resources. (Gate the resources so you can collect their contact information.)

You can also add an AI-powered chatbot to your website to collect lead information and book calls. Pop-ups and banners also provide opportunities to invite prospects to sign up for your email newsletter or take advantage of a special offer.

By creating compelling content that resonates with your audience — and using SEO strategies effectively — you pave the way for more traffic and revenue opportunities.

Let’s continue exploring real estate SEO best practices in the next section.

Real estate SEO best practices

Here are some more ways to use real estate SEO to your advantage:

Prioritize local SEO

Managing your local reputation is pivotal during a time of online reviews and ratings.

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To foster a strong local reputation, address customer feedback promptly, maintain a positive online presence, and actively seek feedback.

Crafting location-based content that resonates with your local audience also showcases your understanding of the community.

It also attracts and engages potential customers in your area.

Other ways to prioritize local SEO include:

• Optimizing your website for local SEO with proper meta titles and descriptions
• Keeping your online business information accurate and complete
• Engaging with local social followers and networks
• Optimizing your Google My Business profile
• Implementing a local link building strategy
• Having local directory citations

Prioritizing these aspects of local SEO can have a significant impact on your visibility and success within your target market.

Mobile-first optimization

In a world where most searches take place on smart devices, optimizing for mobile is essential.

Start with a responsive design to optimize your real estate website for mobile devices.

A responsive website adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes, promoting a user-friendly experience across devices.

Having a mobile-friendly site not only improves the user experience — it also impacts search engine rankings. Google prioritizes mobile-friendly sites in its algorithms since they’re user-friendly and cater to most searchers.

To ensure Google indexes and ranks your mobile website, submit your sitemap to Google Search Console.

Be sure to implement other mobile experience best practices, too, such as:

• Having a section above the fold that clearly explains what you do and who you help
• Making sure all website pages and links load quickly and properly
• Optimizing your website copy for readability

Perform a competitor analysis

Stand out from the competition by digging deep into their strategies and finding ways to fill in the gaps.

To perform a competitor analysis …

Identify your top competitors, examine their listings, and dissect their keywords and posting times.

Use tools like Ahrefs, UberSuggest, and Semrush to monitor your competitors’ movements and gain valuable industry insights.

By exploring the market, you can uncover potential customers who might be seeking what your competitors offer — but haven’t connected with them yet.

Analyzing the keywords and content your rivals rank for allows you to spot opportunities to enhance your strategies and bridge any gaps in the market.

Conduct keyword research

Drive organic traffic to your site by matching potential clients’ search queries.

Understanding various keyword types, from broad terms like “homes for sale” to specific phrases, such as “luxury waterfront condos in Miami,” helps align your content with what people are looking for.

Incorporating terms that reflect your specific audience’s search habits is vital to helping them find your real estate offerings. Remember to target keywords with low competition and high search volume.

Tools like Ahrefs offer valuable insights into search volumes, keyword difficulty, and competitor strategies so you can maintain a competitive edge.

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Targeting local keywords tailored to your agency’s area also increases visibility in regional markets. This attracts motivated buyers and sellers searching for real estate services in your area.

Understanding the varying intentions behind keywords, whether for general property information or specific neighborhood listings, allows you to craft content that addresses your audience’s needs.

By focusing on localized keywords like “best real estate agent in Brooklyn” or “family homes in Austin,” you position your agency as a top resource for people seeking property solutions in their neighborhoods.

Incorporate these keywords into your content, listings, and meta tags to enhance visibility in local search results and draw in qualified leads.

TL;DR: By understanding your audience’s language and search habits, you can tailor your keyword strategy to build connections with potential clients interested in your real estate services.

Use proper schema markup

Enhance your real estate website’s visibility and appeal to Google by structuring your site’s code with schema markup.

Schema markup provides clear signals to search engines about your site’s content format, encouraging Google to feature your site in rich snippets or instant answers.

To implement proper schema markup, start by marking up your business listing with essential information, such as your:

• Location and address
• Opening hours
• Contact details
• And other relevant details

Then, take advantage of schema markup for your real estate properties.

Provide specific details about each property, such as price, location, and key features.

This structured markup not only enhances your listings’ visual appeal but also helps Google better comprehend and showcase this information to its users.

By including schema markup on your property pages, you increase the chances of your listings standing out in search results.

Find and fix crawling and indexing issues

Audit and improve your website for potential crawling and indexing issues with a tool like Google Search Console.

Google Search Console can help you identify and resolve issues such as:

• Slow loading speeds
• Missing sitemaps
• Duplicate pages
• Outdated URLs
• Broken links

Resolving these issues quickly is critical to making sure Google can adequately navigate and index your website’s content. A site with too many issues may suffer ranking scores.

Create high-quality content

Once you have a keyword strategy, create a real estate content marketing plan.

Focus on providing valuable and shareable real estate assets, such as blog posts, infographics, videos, and property listings that target your main keywords.

Share these:

• In email marketing campaigns
• In ad campaigns
• On your website
• On social media

When including property images, captivate your customers by using Virtual Staging AI to stage your interiors virtually. Use staged images in your listings, ads, marketing materials, and content assets.

Virtually Rendered with Virtual Staging AI

When publishing your content, make sure you’ve included keyword-optimized titles, structured headings, and meta descriptions to improve search engine visibility.

To give potential clients an inside look at what it’s like to work with you, include high-resolution photos of your real estate agency’s office, team members, and property listings.

Take this tip up a notch by including high-resolution videos, too.

Build relevant authoritative backlinks

Help Google view your site as a trusted, authoritative source by implementing a real estate backlink strategy.

One of the simplest ways to do so is by reaching out to credible real estate websites and bloggers for backlink opportunities.

Look for sites that align with your brand values and have a high domain authority score. This is key to avoiding low-quality and spammy backlinks — and getting authoritative and relevant backlinks for SEO benefits.

Next, read their guest-posting guidelines and submit a relevant and professional pitch.

After they approve your pitch, read their style guide and content brief. Then, produce a professional and unique guest article for each site.

If you’re not confident in your writing skills, consider hiring a real estate content writer for support. Their subject-matter expertise and writing experience can help you land more do-follow links.

Rinse and repeat this process.

Over time, these high-quality do-follow links can enhance your real estate website’s credibility and authority.

Monitor relevant KPIs

Set key performance indicators and metrics to track based on your business goals and SEO strategy.

For instance, you might prioritize:

• More positive interactions with your Google My Business profile
• Improved click-through rates
• Higher Google rankings
• Higher conversion rates
• More organic traffic

Use these KPIs to continuously track and refine your SEO efforts.

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Real estate SEO FAQs

And in case you still have questions or need a real estate SEO refresher…

What is SEO in real estate?

SEO in real estate means optimizing a real estate website to improve its visibility and ranking on search engine results pages.

By strategically implementing SEO techniques, such as keyword optimization, content creation, backlink building, and local SEO strategies, real estate professionals can attract more organic traffic to their websites.

This visibility helps real estate agent professionals reach a broader audience of potential buyers and sellers searching for properties or real estate services online.

How much is real estate SEO?

Real estate SEO costs vary depending on factors such as:

• How competitive your specific target market is
• The SEO provider’s experience and expertise
• The service scope

Generally, real estate SEO services can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars per month. Some companies offer one-time SEO audits or consultations for a fixed fee, while ongoing SEO services typically involve monthly retainers.

Investing in real estate SEO is essential for boosting your online visibility, attracting more qualified leads, and staying competitive, even if that means investing in SEO tools and doing the manual labor yourself.

If you’re inexperienced with SEO, collaborating with a reputable provider who understands the real estate industry can help you maximize your approach.

Does SEO work for realtors?

SEO can be highly effective for realtors.

With the right strategy, SEO can help you improve your online visibility, attract more qualified leads, and outshine competitors in search engine rankings.

By optimizing your real estate website with relevant keywords, valuable content, and local SEO strategies …

You can enhance your online presence and reach potential clients actively searching for properties or real estate services.

How do I optimize SEO for real estate?

Optimizing SEO for real estate involves incorporating relevant keywords throughout your website content, metadata, and property listings to increase visibility in search engine results.

Focus on creating high-quality, informative content, such as:

• Property descriptions
• Area guides
• Blog posts

Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or Seemrush to identify popular real estate keywords and tailor your content to match user search intent.

Be sure to also optimize your website’s technical aspects, such as:

• Mobile responsiveness
• Schema markup
• Site speed

By consistently updating and refining your SEO strategies, you can attract more organic traffic and connect with potential real estate clients.

Put your real estate SEO strategy to work

Buyers, sellers, and investors alike trust Google for quick search results.

That’s why it’s imperative to do your due diligence to show up in the SERPs whenever possible.

To create a real estate SEO strategy for your specific real estate business, start by outlining your goals and long-term vision.

For instance …

Do you want to turn your website into a conversion powerhouse? Do you want to become the most authoritative real estate agent for luxury waterfront properties in Tampa, Florida?

Use your long-term vision to determine your SEO approach.

For instance, if you want to build more authority, consider scaling your backlink strategy.

To convert more website visitors, consider scaling your bottom-of-the-funnel SEO content and testing website CTAs. You might also double down on your lead magnet approach by including more gated content on your site. But no matter what your end goal is, there are still best practices that apply to virtually any real estate business.

The ones we covered in this guide include:

• Find and fix crawling and indexing issues
• Build relevant, authoritative backlinks
• Perform a competitor analysis
• Use proper schema markup
• Create high-quality content
• Conduct keyword research
• Mobile-first optimization
• Monitor relevant KPIs
• Prioritize local SEO

Continue fine-tuning your SEO approach as you discover what works best.

You might also consider user behavior software to provide insights into your website's SEO performance. Behavioral analytics can help you uncover which areas of your site attract and convert customers — and which ones deter them.

For instance, you might learn that your knowledge base has high bounce rates. Or that your listings page gets more views than any other page. Apply behavioral insights to tailor your website to your audience’s preferences and ideal experience.

Don’t forget to include Virtual Staging AI in your SEO strategy, too. Try it for free today.

Here’s to your success!