7 Proven SEO Tips for Real Estate Agents
You know SEO is vital for helping you get found, but many conversations often go like, “Google this. Website that. Google this and that.” And that’s when you check out of the conversation.
Guess what? There’s good news. There are plenty of simple SEO tweaks that you can tackle right now that will make start turning the needle your way. The best part is you won’t need the help of a mad-SEO scientist to make them happen.
Here are seven proven SEO tips to boost your online presence.
1.) Update Your Contact Information, Everywhere
A silent killer in the SEO conversation is inconsistent listings. This is your information on Yelp, Zillow, Google+ and other platforms. In order to maximize your SEO power, you want to make sure that all of your listings are exact matches.
This is anything from the way you spell your name, to your primary listed phone number, to your email address, to your job title and more.
Here are some examples of common inconsistencies to correct:
- Long-form first name (ex: Jonathan) on one online listing and short-hand (ex: Jon) on another
- Out of date real estate firm associations (RE/MAX vs. Coldwell vs. your independent gig)
- And the out of date email addresses and phone numbers that follow
- Various phone numbers (cell vs. office numbers)
- Website URLs (using your Facebook vs. your agent page vs. your website)
Pro Tip: Centralize Your Own Info
As you’re going through this process, create a centralized document or spreadsheet. List your standardized first name, last name, email, phone number, website URL, etc. here.
It’ll come in handy later, as you see in a moment.
2.) Get Your Contact Information Out, Everywhere
Related Awesomeness:
30 Winning Real Estate Marketing Ideas
With your central information document/spreadsheet in hand, make an effort to put your information on every listing site you possibly can.
Make Life Easier
If you want to greatly speed up the process, I recommend utilizing Moz Local. This amazing service will take a spreadsheet format of your preferred information and spread it across the interwebs like wildfire. It’ll save you a lot of work. It’s worth every bit of the $84/year investment.
3.) Cultivate Reviews
As a real estate agent, reviews are your marketing bread and butter. They’re also a powerful factor when it comes to SEO.
- Note: If you aren’t already, add gathering reviews to your process as an exit item for clients.
Perhaps the biggest place to direct your clients to is Zillow. The agents with reviews on Zillow are more likely to swim to the top of the pile. Also, Zillow is a high-ranking site for real estate related searches, so it’s a strong place to build a presence.
Other places to channel these to are:
- Google+
- Yelp
Pro Tip: Offer Incentives to Get Clients to Go the Limit
Zillow might be a snap, but what about getting your clients to copy those on the other channels above?
It might not seem like a hassle, but it’s unlikely they’ll hit every platform without incentives. The simple solution is to offer them some kind of incentive. It doesn’t have to be substantial—a $20 Starbucks gift card for running the gamut will do the trick.
4.) Mobile Optimize Your Site
If you have a website, it’s mission critical that it’s mobile optimized.
Here are two major reasons to make this a priority:
- Mobile-friendly sites rank higher
- 80% of consumers shop from their phones
Uncertain whether your site is mobile optimized or not? Here’s a cheesy look at the difference:
I’m No Web Developer! What Do I Do?
Fear not. There are plenty of user-friendly, low-cost solutions to help out.
Consider building a website on Squarespace or something of the sort. DIY site builders mostly come mobile optimized out of the box.
Pro Tip: Invest in a Strong Website
Need some help?
Talk to a Website Designer Today
Yes, you can use a DIY, but if you really want to take your digital presence up a notch invest in a strong website design partner.
A professional website built with the soundest design practices can make you stand out.
5.) Produce Quality Blog Content
Your website should be constantly updated with relevant content.
By producing blog posts at a minimum of once per week, you’re positioning yourself as a thought leader. You’re also building your SEO power—as long as you do it right.
How to Make Blogging Work for You
You should be blogging about the questions your prospective buyers and sellers are asking.
- What are their biggest worries?
- What do they ask about the most?
- What are the challenges they need to overcome?
Answer these questions in helpful blog posts.
How to Write a Quality Blog Post
Here are the traits of a high-quality blog post:
- Readability
- Relevant images where necessary
- Make sure these aren’t too big either—anything over 900kb should be avoided
- Length/thoroughness
- The minimum is 400 words
- Good is 800 words
- Incredible is 1,200 words
6.) Add Local Market Pages to Your Site
It’s time to showcase your expertise about the local markets you serve.
By creating pages about the markets you serve, you’ll accomplish two major things:
- Position yourself as an expert in those areas—buyers/sellers want agents who are well-versed in regional locations.
- Boost your SEO ranking for local terms.
Here’s What to Include
For every location you add, give an honest commentary on it. Pretend like you’re Anthony Bordaine writing a recap of the area.
- What’s it known for?
- What are the amenities like in the area?
- What are the local restaurants like?
Keys to Success
Here are some rules to follow about creating these pages:
- Hit the 300 word count as a minimum.
- Include stunning visuals from the area.
- List specific destinations that buyers may be interested in.
- Pull in awards of the area has any. For instance “Money Magazines Top Suburb.”
Be Sure to Promote These as Well
If you spend a good amount of time on these pages, they can also be good information pages for your buyers.
If someone’s exploring, be sure to send these their way.
7.) Guest Blog
Last, but certainly not least, is the power of guest blogging. Guest blogs add authority to your name, website and will send traffic back your way.
This could be as simple as writing a segment for your real estate firm’s website.
The key to guest blogging is to get creative:
- Identify related blogs where you can add expertise.
- Always come into the conversation with a pitch in mind. What would you write about if you had the opportunity? Why would the readers care?
There You Have It!
As you can see, with a little leg work, you can do a lot to start pushing the forces of SEO in your favor.
The sooner you attack this list, the sooner you can begin to let things cultivate. Make these five a priority and make them happen. I promise you’ll love the results.
Does something seem missing in your real estate marketing strategy?
Learn the 5 reasons your efforts might be falling flat and what you can do about it.