SEO For Real Estate Agents
When agents set out to create a website, there are some common mistakes oftentimes made. Here are the most frequent I hear real estate agents making:
- They go overboard creating a professionally-designed site based on what they think looks good (not what prospects respond to)
- They just use whatever is low-cost or free (Wix, broker site, WordPress)
- They just build a website for “online marketing” vs. a true “hub” that’ll make all of their marketing work better (KEY)
Only one thing matters: Performance To Achieve Results.
We see websites as a lead generation hub for real estate agents. That means people discovering you that didn't know you before. It would be best to have an online presence to stand out in today’s crowded market. Traditional websites are nothing more than digital business cards.
What Does SEO Stand For in Real Estate?
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, in real estate is optimizing your real estate website to rank higher on Google and other search engines.
In essence, it's the content, website you use, and other ways that will drive traffic to your real estate website.
All of the real estate marketers who keep calling (you know the ones i'm talking about) use SEO to generate the leads they sell to you.
Although it can take 3 -5 months to start ranking on the first page of google, having a website with strong SEO will result in receiving organic leads.
Is SEO Important For Real Estate Agents?
Any sales job requires consistent prospecting through different methods. Additionally, you wont start to feel the pain of a poor pipeline until 90 days AFTER you stopped prospecting.
SEO helps bridge the gap between prospecting, or lack thereof, and having a full pipeline. For example, if you go on a 2 week vacation and stop prospecting, you will feel that pain.
However, if you have a strong SEO plan as part of your marketing strategy, you will continue to receive leads, even without prospecting.
Here is best part about SEO for agents-
$0 in ad spend. All of the leads are organic. Meaning someone searched a phrase ie "Sell My House In Miami" and your site showed up in the results.
They viewed your site, and submitted their information, requesting you reach out to them.
Bingo. No cold calling, expensive ad spend, sending messages on linkedin, or open house required.
How Does SEO Work for Real Estate?
To have a lead generation system from SEO, you will write blog posts that buyers and sellers will be searching. These blogs can be anything and everything about the home buying and selling process. From early stages, ie "getting your home market ready" to later in the process, ie "what are the most common items that show up on a home inspection report".
The idea here is to not only be listed in the search results but also builds credibility.
Now, you can also leverage the blog posts on your site for your real estate agent social media profiles. Posting these on your online profile will aid in building credibility while also directing traffic to your website.
Best Real Estate SEO Keywords For 2023:
Determining the best SEO keywords for real estate starts with determining the audience you are looking to attract. Here are the most searched real estate keywords in 2022, categorized by the audience you are looking to attract.
Top 2023 Real Estate Keywords to Attract Buyers
These keywords are for attracting new buyer clients. These are the most common searches buyers who are about to start the home search are searching:
- First-time homebuyer programs in {city}
- How to qualify for a mortgage in {city}
- How to buy a house in {city}
- Is it a good time to buy a house in {city}
Top 2023 Real Estate Keywords to Attract Sellers
Here are the keywords that potential sellers have been frequently searching in 2022:
- Home Selling Tips in {city}
- Sell My House By Owner in {city}
- Should I sell my house in {city} now
- Should I sell my house in {city} now or wait until 2023
- how much can I sell my house for
Top SEO Keywords For Common Real Estate Search Terms in 2023:
Here are some additional real estate keywords that have received lots of searches in 2023:
- {city} real estate housing market
- Outlook for {city} real estate market in 2022
- real estate market predictions
- {state} real estate market
Additionally, I recommend expanding the topics that those who are traveling to the area or currently live in the area will be searching for. This will allow people to get into your pipeline and see your name consistently.
They may convert to a client in 2 weeks, 2 years, or never... The idea here is that it won't cost you anything extra to have leads that never convert. And who knows, they may even forward your articles to a friend who is moving to the area.
Real Estate SEO Keywords For Agents looking to Attract a Wider Audience:
- 7 Family Activities to do in {city}
- Things to do While Visiting {city}
- {city} Seafood Restaurants
As you see, these search phrases don't have anything to do with buying or selling a home. However, you are establishing yourself as a credible resource for your city.
Additionally, someone may be visiting the area and planning to relocate within the next year.
You are building trust and rapport early on before they are even seriously looking, so when the time comes you are the only agent they think of.
Here are some additional SEO keywords for agents to use in 2022. These keywords are from keyword research conducted across the United States when looking at the search trends from buyers and sellers.
Create a Keyword Content Plan For Real Estate
Before you start to write website content, I recommend coming up with a resemblance of a game plan. This does not need to be fully built out but it should provide some direction on what your first 30 articles be on.
Using the real estate keywords frequently searched, we can create 3 different content types.
- Resources For Buyers
- Resources For Sellers
- Local Information
From here, we can create 10 articles for each category, providing us with a solid SEO keyword foundation.
If you want to expedite results, here is a 30-day challenge to check out. This challenge will walk you step by step with what you need to do on a daily basis, for 30 days, to establish yourself as an authority figure in your market.
Find and Signup For a Website That is Optimized For SEO
Having a website that is optimized for SEO is the main differentiator in receiving leads or not receiving leads.
Best Website for Real Estate SEO
Having quality content is one thing but few people understand the importance of having a site that is optimized for SEO. With so many website builders, it can be somewhat daunting to decide which site to use for implementing your SEO plan.
What Should You look for in a site?
You could spend hours writing an article, yet an article on a different site that may even be outdated ranks higher than yours.
Why is that?
Google and other search engine rankings depend on various factors, outside of just your piece of content. Some of these rankings include load times, pages optimized for mobile, etc. They want their viewers to see a QUALITY site.
Although your content might be better, Google would see a site that loads faster a better experience for their user. Here are some other factors Google takes into consideration:
- Is it optimized for all viewing devices & for user experience (desktop, mobile devices, smartphone, and tablets)?
- Does it convert visitors to leads with real estate industry-leading best practices?
- Does it load fast so users can navigate the site?
- Is the site laid out in a way that makes it easy to read and opt-in?
The Two Best Sites for Real Estate SEO
I have tried them all.
From Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, etc I have tried all of the sites available. From these tests, I have determined the top sites to use for real estate agent SEO.
These sites each offer something different and it comes down to what your goals are. Alternatively, you could use both, as I do.
Best Site For Realtor SEO Option One: Ghost
Ghost.io is the site you are actually reading this on. Ghost makes it incredibly easy to get started. Setup takes about 7 minutes and you can start publishing content immediately.
Who Should Use a Ghost site?
Ghost is set up to be an amazing content marketing platform and earn you email subscribers. If you scroll to the bottom, you will see a spot to subscribe to the newsletter. The conversation rates beat every platform out there.
Now, while they are subscribing to your content, it doesn't mean they want to buy or sell a house... Rather, they enjoy your content and would like to see more of it.
That said, the best way to use Ghost is for writing content about your city. As mentioned above, this would be content about things to do, restaurants, vacation guides, etc.
Best Site For Realtor SEO Option Two: Carrot
On the other hand, carrot is the perfect site for generating leads. These leads are sellers and buyers in your area wanting to speak with you... now.
The content on a carrot site would be more geared towards "Buying a House" and "Selling a House" with each page being individually optimized for on-page SEO.
In other words, what people are searching in the early stages of selling or buying. The content on a Carrot helps you build credibility as an agent by answering the most common questions.
The best part is all of the posts are set up like landing pages. This means that no matter what blog post they are looking at, there is a form for them to input their information.
Most traditional sites require the user to navigate to the home page in order to input their information. This friction causes many users to exit your site, without becoming a lead.
Try Carrot Free For 30 Days
What if I don't want to write Articles?
The most common excuse I hear is you don't want to write the articles. Luckily there are a few options available to you.
Option 1: Carrot Includes pre-written articles
Funny enough, I have never written an article on my Carrot site. I use all of their pre-written content and let it do its thing. As you can see, I have received some amazing results.
Option 2: Pay Someone to Write Articles For You
For the content on my ghost site (not this one), I will occasionally pay someone to write the content for me. I will usually do this for articles that require more research, ie "Top Restaurants In {city}".
Paying someone is relatively inexpensive, usually around $50. Here is who I use to handle some of my article writing ($30).
Option 3: Use an Online Writing Assistant
There are a few platforms out there that will help you write with AI. You will open up the program and start writing the content. At any time, you can push a button and the AI will write your next few sentences (or paragraph) for you.
It's amazing to see this work as it will also use the same tone you are writing in. Additionally, it will pull factual information from the internet, acting as a research assistant.
There are a few options to choose from and I personally use Jasper. You can use this link to try it free for 7 days.
Tools For Real Estate Agent Website SEO
Here are some of the best free SEO tools I currently use that help with ranking your website for real estate faster.
Google Search Console (free)
Google Search Console will provide you with the tools and reports that help you measure your real estate website search traffic and performance, fix issues, conduct a seo audit, and make your site shine in Google Search results.
Airtable (free)
I use Airtable for content management. I am the type of person who randomly gets ideas throughout the day. I have a board in airtable where I organize my ideas, drafts, and content I have posted.
Google My Business (free)
Once your agent website is live, be sure to add it on Google My Business. This will aid in boosting your local SEO, allowing people to discover you when searching for "real estate agents in {city}".
Motion (free trial)
Motion will automatically schedule events on your calendar and works great for recurring tasks, such as writing a blog. My goal is to write 3 pieces of content every week. I have that setup (with my other goals) and motion then places those 3 events onto my calendar. Here is a free 7-day free trial for you to test it out.
Squoosh (free)
Squoosh is a recommended program by google for optimizing website photos. Website load times are considered heavily when Google decides where exactly to rank your page. One of the most common ways websites get slowed down is through photos. You can upload your image to Squoosh and it will reformat it to reduce the size and bandwidth it takes up.
Conclusion
Implementing an SEO strategy for real estate agents will allow you to transform your real estate business. The ability to have consistent, organic leads, is by far the best marketing out there.
As previously mentioned, it will take 3 -5 months before your real estate agent site starts to rank but when it does... You will be incredibly thankful you stuck with it.