Approachable SEO for Local Real Estate

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Imagine your ideal customer is ready to buy their next home. They're not 100% sure where they want to live and aren't familiar with the area. 

So, they head online, like so many of us do, and start researching. 

They want to learn about the neighborhoods, greater community, and lifestyle in addition to finding their perfect home. Next, imagine a potential seller goes online to find a reputable agent who specializes in their area to sell their home. 

Now, ask yourself honestly - what's the likelihood that they would find you and all that you offer - online? 

So in today's episode & blog, we're going to cover exactly how to get your ideal customer to find you online by leveraging local SEO for real estate. 

We'll be covering:

• Why you should focus on SEO for your real estate website

• How to select a niche

• Getting started with keyword research for REALTORS

• Creating content for your SEO strategy

• How to promote your content

• Continuously focusing on your website's SEO for long-term results

So, be sure to tune in to the podcast in addition to reading this blog! 

Why SEO for Real Estate?

The beauty of the online world we live in means you have access to endless information at your fingertips.

This access to info can be incredibly empowering for a consumer. People can now research products, services, companies, and even their REALTOR online.

For many who are looking to buy and sell, they'll find their next agent online. They might turn to one of the search sites like Zillow and be connected with an agent from there. 

But we all know how costly it is to buy leads from the search sites and the amount of time and energy it takes to make a sale. What if, instead of paying money for leads, you switched your strategy? By investing in your online marketing and an SEO strategy for real estate, you could reap the benefits for years to come!  

Focusing on Real Estate Content

Now, the type of online marketing I'm talking about is centered around creating content. 

Content can be in the form of informative videos, blog posts, or even pages on your website. When you create content, you're creating an opportunity for people to find you and start forming a relationship. By sharing your expertise, you're also positioning yourself as the local agent they can trust. 

The good news? People aren't starting their real estate journeys solely on the real estate search sites like Realtor.com and Zillow. They're heading to Google to find out more information. They might be typing in the search bar "buying a home in XYZ area" or "best places to live in XYZ area."

How beneficial would it be if you came up with the answer to your next home buyer or seller's Google search? 

Not only would you be able to provide local insight and a taste of your expertise, but you'd also be able to nurture that relationship in a non-salesy way. 

Because it's not a sales tactic. It's smart marketing. 

When you create content of value online, it continues to work for you in the future. 

You could have created a page on your real estate site two years ago addressing a topic that's important to buyers and sellers and be connected with somebody today. It's a short and long-term strategy. 

Short-term, it helps you grow your brand, show up on social, and you can even use the content as a resource for your current customers. Long-term, you can start generating leads while you are focusing on other tasks. Content that you create today has the potential to continuously drive traffic to your site and leads for your business. Learn more about lead generation capture strategies for your site here. 

How to Create an SEO Strategy for Real Estate 

SEO can seem like an overwhelming topic! However, this post and podcast episode are all about "approachable" SEO strategies, which you don't need to be techy to do and can be surprisingly successful! 

SEO simply means search engine optimization or positioning your website to be found online. You can easily do this by following these 5 steps: 

1. Select a Niche 

You can't position your website to market to everyone and anybody. You need to be specific to start attracting your ideal customer.

SEO is based on keywords, or what people type into the Google search bar, so your niche needs to be something that people are also searching for information about. We'll dive into keywords in the next step, but I want you to start thinking like your customer. 

For example, if you want to focus on millennial homebuyers in your local area, you'll need to think of the questions they might be having and actively searching for. 

SEO for real estate works best when it is location-specific. So, narrowing in on a community or neighborhood can be a savvy strategy. If you choose a larger area, such as the city you live in, this can often be more competitive and harder to rank for (the position you fall on the Google search results page). 

If you're unsure how to narrow down your topics or niche marketing efforts, brainstorm what you're already passionate about or have had success with. Your knowledge or motivation to learn more is crucial for the success of your SEO strategy. You want to be able to provide value, and that comes from simply knowing what you're talking about! 

Also, consider how competitive a niche is and any opportunities in the market. If a market is very saturated with agents, online marketing might be as well. So, keep your mind open to new communities and areas with growing popularity. 

2) Research Real Estate Keywords or Topics

If the term "keywords" sounds intimidating, I want you to think of keywords as topics. 

Keywords are the central point in your SEO strategy for real estate. Keywords signal to Google what your content or website is about, they're how people will find you online, and they're what people are actively searching for on Google. 

If the goal of your website is to attract potential buyers and sellers through SEO, then we need keywords. Keywords can be shorter such as "Orlando Real Estate" or a longer phrase like "Relocating to Orlando from Canada." 

Once you've narrowed down your topic, carefully consider what your customer's challenges or questions are. To help you with this, download my free Marketing Plan template to get to the core of your customer's needs. 

We want to figure out their pain points, what questions they're wondering, what objections they have, and what information they need. You can take this research and turn it into content or website pages on your site. 

Once you've thought about your customer, head over to Google and searching for some of your ideas. Make a note of what comes up. If there's lots of information, it might be compeitive and difficult for your site to be found. If there's absolutely no information, it might be a signal people aren't actively Googling your keywords or phrases. We'll actually look at data for this later, but this is a good place to start. 

Let's look at a real-life example. 

If you want to focus on real estate in Orlando, FL, where I live, we need to be more specific and niche. Because if you type "homes for sale in Orlando," you'll see sites such as Realtor/Zillow that come up. Those are really difficult to compete with! 

However, if you were more specific and decided you wanted to focus on waterfront homes in Orlando, you'd find that "lakefront neighborhoods in Orlando" has far fewer results. However, don't just assume!

Use a tool such as the Google Keyword Planner or Moz to see how popular a keyword phrase is. I like the free version of Moz to do keyword research. You're looking for keywords with low competition and a decent number of searches a month. 

Focusing on Neighborhoods 
I'm a big fan of focusing on smaller communities or even neighborhoods for your local SEO strategy. This can also perfectly align with any real estate farming you are doing. 

For example, if you want to be the go-to REALTOR in a specific neighborhood, you need to start creating real estate-related topics around that community! You can create a neighborhood profile on your site, do another piece just about amenities, write a blog on home values this year, and include tips for sellers in that specific area. 

You get the idea! You continue to create content around the topic or keywords you're focused on. Which leads me to our next step. 

3. Create Real Estate Content

Content is the cornerstone of your SEO strategy, and you need to be consistent with it. 

So, choose a form of content that comes naturally to you. If you love to be on camera, film videos, If you have time to write, choose a blog format. Learn all about blogging for real estate here. Whatever you choose, set a goal for producing content and stick with it! 

However, it's essential that you always include written content to go with it. Google can't watch your videos, so you'll need to have information that contains your keywords so Google knows what your video is about. 

While traffic to your website is great, what we want to do is generate leads. So, ensure you are implementing a lead capture strategy to go with all of the content you produce. Back to the waterfront example, you could include a lead capture technique to download "Your 10 Tips for Buying Lakefront in Orlando" guide. As you can see, lead capture for content works best if it's also other content. 

I'd recommend you read or listen to my podcast "The 10 Elements of a Successful Lead Capture" to learn more about how to generate leads. 

4. Promote Your Website & Content

I like to use the example that creating a website is like building a house in the middle of nowhere. You need to build the roads, put up the directional signs, and give people directions to get there! 

The first step is to share your website to begin with! We want to start driving traffic to your keywords. You can do this by sharing the URL on Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and even Instagram. 

I highly recommend Facebook marketing for this step, and you might even consider Pinterest. I have an entire episode on Pinterest marketing for real estate you can check out here. 

The goal is to get as many eyes on it as possible, so Google starts recognizing that this is content that people find value in. Google considers how people engage with your content, including how much time they spend on it, how many other sites link to it, and if people visit multiple pages on your site. 

Now, this is an "approachable take on SEO for real estate." So, all I want you to concern yourself with is creating quality content. If you create quality content that your ideal home buyer or seller is looking for, there is no reason to get overwhelmed with SEO hacks. 

If you'd like to learn more about sharing your content on social, take a look at one of my most popular posts - "What to Share on Instagram & Social Media for REALTORS." 

An added benefit to focusing on your SEO strategy is that it naturally helps your social media strategy as well! You'll have consistent content to share and talk about. 

You can also get a lot of miles out of your website content. Don't share it once and forget about it. If you've invested time to create quality content, continue to promote it. 

You can share it more than once on social, email it directly to customers, include in your email signature, add to your Instagram Bio, use the content in an email campaign, or even repurpose in to a print piece. 

Make your real estate marketing work for you! Just because you created something to help your SEO strategy doesn't mean it can't do 10x more work for you. And once you've nailed that down, it will be natural to continue implementing these techniques in your real estate marketing. You'll simply, rinse & repeat - 

5. Rinse & Repeat

Consistency will be the key to your success. So, keep working at it! Continue to produce content on your website that's focused on your keywords. Over time you will see results! 

Can you imagine if you had created content geared towards sellers every week last year? What could that have done for your business?

Every week you would have had social media content talking about selling in your target market, and sellers could now be finding you on their own online. 

By focusing on an SEO strategy, you are investing in yourself and creating multiple opportunities for you to be found online. 

This strategy works and can be very attainable! 

I know this from personal, professional experience. You might even be reading this, thanks to my own keywords in this post!

I've been working on SEO for real estate since 2014. And in that time, techniques have changed, but the importance of creating quality content has not changed. 

Start forming connections with people you haven't met yet. Be seen as the local expert, and start generating leads without paying for them! 

If you're on the fence about implementing a local SEO strategy, think about this - you're creating a road map for your ideal customer to find you online. So, why not invest in yourself and give it a try? 

UP NEXT:

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I’m Heather Colby, host of the “Ideas for Real Estate Podcast.”

If you like what you read here today, I’d encourage you to take a listen to the episodes. :