The opportunity for real estate companies to dominate online is becoming increasingly more competitive each and every day. If you are focused on a real estate SEO strategy for your company, then you should know it’s a full-time job in and of itself.
Recently, I wrote an article on SEO mistakes and promised I’d be back with tips on how to have success with a real estate SEO strategy.
But before we begin, it’s important for you to know my results to better understand where I am coming from. Right now, I generate over 30,000 people a month to my real estate website with a domain age of 13 months, and 19,000 of those visits are from organic search traffic.
Here is a quick Google search on a new listing that just hit the market in my local area of Raleigh, North Carolina (14 hours previously it was listed):
There’s only so much room on the first page, and when you consider Zillow, Trulia, realtor.com, Movoto, Redfin, Estately and other national websites are competing for that space, you have an uphill battle.
In this article, we are going to go over tips for you to compete online with the big boys.
Hyper-local content
One of the ways in which you can start having early success with an SEO strategy is to write hyper-local content that consumers are focused on. It’s a lot easier to rank when you don’t have as much competition, this is a big reason hyper-local content works so well.
Put yourself in the consumer’s shoes, what is it that consumers want?
As an example: Within six months of writing a hyper-local article on living in Raleigh, North Carolina, we brought in $20,000 GCI, and a great deal of leads. Consumers wanted local information on moving to Raleigh, and we provided it for them.
This is just one example of how a hyper-local blog article is able to generate new business.
Consumers want neighborhood information:
- What are the best schools, neighborhoods?
- Where are the best spots for families to live?
- What new construction communities should they look at?
All of these are hyper-local topics you can write about and consumers will find you. Once they find you, and read through the information you provide, you will become the local real estate expert in their mind.
Keep in mind your content is a demonstration of your work ethic, so consumers are likely going to be forming an impression of you right off the bat.
User experience
If your site doesn’t offer a great user experience than why should anyone use it? Be honest with yourself, would you use your own website to find a home or would you go to one of the national websites instead?
The experience a user has on your website is going to be a direct correlation as to whether you will have success with an SEO strategy.
If you simplify things for consumers, they are going to continue to return to your website.
Some of the ways you can do this is to organize everything into popular searches. For instance, a lot of consumers will want to search homes for sale by a particular school district.
You can accommodate them with one or two clicks by setting up a page on your website that allows them to search by school. This is a reason for consumers to continue coming back to your website; you made it easy for them to find what they are looking for.
Once you have people on your website, you need to create such a great experience that they will remember you and continue coming back.
Work ethic and patience
Two of the things you can control are your work ethic and having the patience to let your strategy play itself out.
Depending on your level of experience with SEO, you should give yourself at least 12 months before you expect any type of consistent results. You probably won’t see any results at all in the first six months, and you’ll start wondering if your strategy is working.
Only you know the amount of effort you put in, and if it’s enough, the consumers and Google will reward you. On a typical week, I spend anywhere from 40-50 hours working on my real estate website — whether it’s creating content or a better user experience.
It wasn’t until a year after my website launched that I truly started to see consistent results. Patience is the hardest part for me.
Final thoughts on real estate SEO
At first you are going to be competing online versus local real estate companies. Study your competition, and be better than it. After you dominate the local real estate websites, you will start looking at how to compete against the larger national websites.
It’s your job to highlight some of the features that make searching on a local website in the consumer’s best interest.
These national companies have SEO people on staff, who are being paid big bucks. You have to find ways to beat them, and this is likely going to be from using a hyper-local strategy.
Give people a reason to keep coming back to use your website, and they will. Be honest with yourself, would you use your own website or would you use one of the national websites?
Once you gain enough domain authority, you will see yourself right up there with the national websites. Just remember, it takes a lot of work and patience.
Ryan Fitzgerald is owner and Realtor at Raleigh Realty. Connect with him onLinkedIn and Facebook.
