The internet has gradually become an immensely huge and diversified place where consumers can access instant information about any topic on various devices, without having to talk to anyone, and in the comfort of their home. As such, in 2018, it’s vital that all real estate professionals and agencies establish and maintain an active online presence as part of their digital marketing strategy.
Consumers are now inclined to searching properties and the real estate information they need through the web. For a real estate agency to be successful, it’s important to make the most out of what the internet has to offer. And regardless of whether you’re dealing with sellers, note buyers, cash buyers, or even rent out to your own tenants, you’ll need SEO to be successful online.
SEO Services for Real Estate Agencies
Search engine optimization (SEO) encompasses all the strategies and processes aimed at increasing the amount of organic traffic (from search engines) to a website. In other words, SEO lures potential customers to your site through your blog or site.
Depending on your website, SEO could be as simple as updating the already published content with well-researched keywords, or as complex as redoing the entire website and engaging in reputation management activities. It will all depend on your current site conditions and your objectives. Keep in mind that search engines such as Google and Bing account for most of the internet’s traffic. If these can’t find your real estate agency website, you’re potentially missing out on countless investment opportunities and eager visitors. SEO serves to make your business visible to the search engines.
Why your Real Estate Agency Should be Investing in SEO
Real estate is quite a lucrative industry, and it’s only natural that it attracts an ever-increasing large number of real estate agencies, agents, and brokers. As mentioned earlier, the internet has emerged as one of the best and reliable sources of information for people selling and buying properties, or those looking for real estate advice and information.
If you’re charged with managing digital marketing for a real estate agency, it’s essential that you work with a properly-designed, responsive website, and promote it using white-hat SEO practices that are ideal for real estate. The cost of investing in Scott Keever real estate SEO services, including hiring an SEO expert, can bring many benefits and even outdo buying search traffic. Below are some of the reasons why you should consider investing in real estate SEO services:
- SEO is a Long-Term Investment
While you can get good traffic from paid advertising such as PPC (pay-per-click ads), it will only get you results as long as you keep paying for it. if the money runs out or you stop feeding it the money, your website stops receiving traffic.
Contrariwise, when you invest in SEO, the traffic will keep on coming years to come, so long as you’re using SEO best practices. In fact, by the time you finish working with a real estate SEO professional, you will have an attractive, healthy website that brings in organic traffic with little effort.
- SEO puts you on the Top SERPs
In 2018 and beyond, one of the largest audience for your real estate agency browses the internet daily. According to the National Association of Realtors, 80% of people looking to purchase a home stated that websites are the most useful source of information.
The search engine results pages (SERPs) are what search engines use to display search results. And for most internet users to find you, you need to be ranked as high as possible on the first page of the SERPs for the relevant keywords.
- SEO helps to Build your Brand in the process
When you rank higher in the SERPs, it gets your brand in front of many more viewers constantly. On the other hand, PPC campaigns will only get you views when you’re paying. As such, SEO caters to your long-term branding, which today means as much as a transaction.
- Real Estate SEO will get you more targeted traffic
With real estate SEO best practices, your website will attract more qualified visitors; visitors who are already interested in your niche, and ones who are more eager to do business with you. PPC might also get you many visitors, but if they are looking for something you currently don’t offer, it will leave you with high bounce rates.
Long-tail keywords can help you optimize for the traffic that’s best qualified for your agency’s interests. For instance, if you use a keyword like “vacant studio apartment”, you will be competing with every real estate agency in the country and their ridiculous budgets. But with long-tail keywords like “vacant studio apartments in Bryn Mount Washington Pittsburgh”, you’ll be dealing with less competition, albeit lesser volume. However, you will probably be the only website in the world that ranks for the phrase on search.
- Real Estate SEO will help you target specific demographics
If your marketing strategy targets specific locations, property models, price ranges, neighborhoods, etc., you should be taking advantage of your niche in your SEO strategy. Just as with the use of long-tail keywords to reduce your online competition, targeting specific demographics can help to improve the qualification of your average visitors.
A person searching for “buy a condo between Cleveland and Pittsburgh” certainly has a more will to buy than the average visitor searching for “condos in Pennsylvania”. This kind of specificity in keyword phrases and demographics are often used by visitors who are closer to a point of purchase, and are therefore more effective.
- It Improves your Social Media Marketing
Setting up and managing new social media accounts can add a key dimension to your digital marketing strategy as a real estate agency. Using social media helps your site get more backlinks (links from other websites to yours) from authoritative sources. This will go a long way in helping your site rank better.
There’s no doubt that SEO is important for any business today, including real estate agencies. It offers an enormous potential for business that want to increase the effectiveness of their marketing efforts. If all this sounds like a complicated process, consider hiring a professional SEO company to ensure a fluid and positive ROI for your SEO campaign.