Realtor SEO Guide

Seach engine optimization for realtors and real estate agencies can be quite a challenge, and is one of the most competitive areas. Realtors, unlike some other industries, are often fighting to sell the exact same product. Only one of them can sell a specific house, condo or piece of land.

Beyond the competition, there are other aspects of real estate SEO that make it an adventure. One of these things is location, location, location. It's not uncommon for someone looking for property to search for the particular town they want to live in, no matter how small. Whether it's because of scenery, school district, or family, people looking for real estate can be very particular. This increases the number of search terms realtors would like to rank for dramatically.

While another industry, automotive for example, may get away with targeting a single metro area, realtors cannot always do this. Let's say I live and work near Philadelphia, and I want a new car. I'll likely search for something like "philadelphia new car dealer" since I'm so close to the city. However, if I'm looking for a new home, I may not want to live within the city, so I may search for "pottstown real estate" since it's outside Philadelphia. If I'm a realtor working in the area, I need to target those searching for Philadelphia, Pottstown, Royersford, Horsham, Richboro, Langhorne, North Wales, Norristown, King of Prussia, Radnor, Chester, Drexel Hill...the list goes on and on. I'll also need to target a county name since some use these to search a region. That's easy for Philadelphia (since it's Philadelphia county) but you wouldn't be so lucky in Austin or Jacksonville, for example.

This explosion of potential keyphrases affects all aspects of a realtor's search marketing efforts. No one wants to sound "spammy", so a massive list on a site's homepage isn't typically desirable. Additional pages can be utilized to help targeting. This forces a more complex internal linking strategy, and will likely increase time and effort into off-site link building.

And all this only focuses on residential. If you also sell commercial property you need to consider other phrases, like "warehouse" or "office space" along with area terms.

Find a trusted realtor SEO consultant is very important. Always ask for references, and make an effort to speak to them directly. Don't rely on message boards that can be overrun by scammers and spammers. Meet your prospective search marketer in person, come armed with questions, and ask about timeframes and performance expectations.