“So how do I get show up on Google and other search engines?”, you ask. The strategies, tactics and practices to get found on search engines is called Search Engine Optimization (commonly referred to as SEO). Unfortunately, there’s a lot of misinformation on SEO. The most commonly circulated myth about SEO is if you choose the right keywords, create blog posts including those keywords, and share it on social media that you will, in time, get higher placements on the online search engines.

The truth behind getting Google and other search engines to find you is far more complicated. Google has at least two hundred “signals” which indicate potential relevance to a specific search. And while content is an important signal, so are things like location, mobile experience, and authority. Google doesn’t make all of the signals known to prevent people from manipulating search results.

With so many signals, and the technical nature of implementing them, it’s not realistic for the typical agent or broker to get ranked on Google for top keywords or to dominate the first page of search results… unless you use a special strategy that can leverage other websites, social media, and your exclusive content.

A realistic SEO strategy for real estate professionals is one that will, in order of importance, get:

Let’s take a look at how we can achieve each of these objectives using simple methods, tools, and technologies.

Try this: take a second to google yourself. There’s a good chance the person searching for you will type in your name and possibly your company name, or location… or even terms like “real estate”, “realtor”, or “realty”. So you’ll want to replicate these searches because that’s what they are going to do.

The search results you see create the first impression of your online identity (also called your online reputation). As the person searching starts to click on each of the search results, they begin to make interpretations of what they see, and make judgements on your competence, ability, and trustworthiness.

As you examine each search result, ask yourself “does this information build confidence with the reader?” If a past client referred a friend to you, and that friend Googled you, what impression would that person have of you? Would they think you’re a professional who understands the market? Would they consider you someone who could market their home to potential buyers to get above average asking prices? Would they consider you someone who has strong negotiation skills to get them a good deal? Or are there gaps in what’s represented between your online reputation and offline one?

How can you get more search results to convey confidence to show up when someone searches for you online? Here’s a list of low-cost and free tools that won’t take you all day to setup:

There are two parts to market your listings to get on Google and other search engines. The first is to create a property landing page on your website. The second is to get visitors (or traffic) to that property landing page.

A property landing page is a webpage containing information about the property. What’s important about the property landing page is making sure it has the right Search Engine Optimization mechanics on it. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the process of complying with certain technical details so search engines can better understand what a webpage or website is about and determine the site’s relevance on the topic. Having a page or site with relevance and authority will rank higher than those that don’t. Authority and relevance determine the order in which those search results will display.

What SEO mechanics do you need to have in place? While going into complete detail on SEO mechanics is the beyond the scope of this post, here are some specific steps you can take:

Neighborhood Searches for Search Engines

When you want to get pages on your website to show up in online searches, WHAT people are searching for plays an important role. The keywords, or search terms, is the technical name given to the words or phrases people enter into a search engine. This is the WHAT being searched for. When we optimize for a property’s address, the property address is the “keyword” or phrase. Another example is “houses for sale”.

While getting individual properties on the first page of search results is great, it’s almost impossible for most agents and firms to rank for a keyword phrase as broad as “houses for sale”. But it is possible to get pages ranked for local searches with less competition. An example might be a specific neighborhood, subdivision, or area of town. Examples of local keyword phrases in my area are “French Place Austin” and “East Austin Homes for Sale”.

People searching for specific neighborhoods indicate an interest in the location and may be interested in buying or selling. Getting a page on your site to show up for a specific neighborhood search also establishes your expertise in that market.

If you want to get a page to rank for a local area or neighborhood, you can use the same SEO mechanics listed earlier in this post… but rather than using the property address, you would use the local area name as the keyword.

A great way to do research on a keyword or phrase is to use Google’s Keyword Planner, which is included in Google Adwords. The Keyword Planner is free to use and only requires that you setup a Google Account. You don’t have to run ads through he platform to use or benefit from it.

The images below are taken from the Google Adwords’ Keyword Planner and show the monthly search results for the search term “french place austin” for searches occurring specifically in the Austin area (not nationally or globally). While there are only 40 searches, the term is not highly competitive and is a page our firm can get placement for.

If you wan to use the Keyword Planner tool, the process below outlines how you can find and research keywords to rank for  neighborhood searches.

After setting up a Google Account (you probably already have one), you can access the Keyword Planner (if it’s your first time using Google Adwords, you may be required to go through a setup process). Select the “Search for new keywords using a phrase, website or category” option.

In the “Enter one or more of the following:” text box, you can enter the keywords you want to research. Since we want to get found on searches for local neighborhoods, we’ll enter a specific part of town, followed by the words “real estate”. In the targeting section, you’ll want to specify the local area where you live. This will keep the opportunities more relevant and give a more realistic expectation of local traffic.

The query returns a chart showing the volume of searches for all the ideas for search terms in addition to the one we entered (“east austin real estate”). We can see “east austin real estate” has about 40 monthly searches and medium competition.

Another easy way to get search term or keyword ideas is to go directly to Google, search the term and scroll to the very bottom to see if there any related searches suggested. If they make sense, we might want to add content to our neighborhood page to address the topics related to our search.

In the example below, we might consider adding information about the east austin real estate market or info about east austin condos to supplement our neighborhood information page. In doing so, we’ll make the page more relevant to searchers and search engines.

Search Strategies for Real Estate Conclusion

Using these strategies, you can address multiple goals at the same time. You’re able to get found when past clients, referrals, and people in your sphere search for you online. You can get your product (your real estate listings) in front of the people who matter most… your sellers and serious buyers. And you can begin to own local searches to get more exposure in your neighborhood farm area.

If this is all new to you, start with getting yourself found online, and then move on to getting your listings online. The last step is to start adding neighborhood information webpages on your site. There’s always room for ongoing improvement to better dominate searches for you, your listings, and your local areas.

If you Google yourself at least once a month, you will see the changes take place and gather ideas to make improvements to the information available. Also, take a look at your listing pages on your website to how many of the SEO mechanics mentioned in this article are covered. With time, you’ll show up on more search results, get your listing found by more people, and dominate farms areas online.