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The Importance of SEO for Your Real Estate Website

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The Importance of SEO for Your Real Estate Website

 

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for real estate: how important is it really for your website?

If you are a real estate agent, you are likely aware that having your own website is necessary. But you may not know that optimizing your website for search engines is a necessary element of a successful real estate website.

SEO is important, and elements like correct keywords and backlinks can boost traffic and transform your success online.

Curious to learn more? Below we explain why SEO matters for your real estate and website and a few strategies you can consider using.

Real Estate: Why SEO Is Important

The buying process has completely transformed in recent years into one that can take place completely online. Users can compare products and buy what they want from the comfort of their own bed.

And real estate is the perfect industry for digitization. Why would people spend hours walking through homes and comparing them when they could learn all they need to know online?

For this reason, you need to have a strong online presence. Your real estate business should have your listings and descriptions about your properties available to view.

But building your online presence is about more than just uploading relevant content. You must implement certain strategies to make your website more visible to users and more friendly to the search engines that will display it.

All search engines organize content on websites for certain keywords and relevant topics. When someone makes a search, they will display the most relevant results first.

Therefore, you need to optimize your website so you have a higher chance of ranking first and being seen by more people. This is known as SEO.

Still not convinced? Consider this statistic.

97% of people use the internet to gather information during their home search, according to research from the National Association of Realtors.

This means that almost every single person who is looking for a home will ultimately turn to websites to find what they are looking for. And if your website does not rank high, they probably will not find you.

Using SEO Concepts for Real Estate

Now you understand the importance of SEO for your real estate website. You may be curious about which SEO elements you should use.

Below we will explain a few of the most important SEO concepts and how you can apply them to your real estate website.

High-Quality Images & Displays

One of the most important elements of any real estate website is the images that you use. The images on your website often will be the first impression for most users.

If they like the property and are impressed by the pictures, your website visitors may stop by for a showing or contact you. But if they do not represent the property well, you will not attract any buyers.

For the best photos, it is a good idea to go to professionals like Hommati. They can use the lighting within the house to create the most flattering pictures that display the home’s natural beauty.

You will also want to consider more high-tech options for showing properties. Many people want to experience what it would be like to walk through the house themselves. With 3D tours, you can give your website visitors a more personal feel of a property.

Proper Keyword Usage

Another important step in your SEO optimization is narrowing down what you are optimizing for. Essentially, the keywords you use on your website will target certain users.

With a real estate website, your general audience is people who are looking for homes. But how can you narrow down an audience with keywords?

For instance, say you want your website to come up when people search 4-bedroom colonial homes. “4-bedroom” and “colonial” will be keywords that you want to use throughout the relevant listings to attract buyers who search these terms.

However, keyword optimization is not that simple. You have to keep in mind a few factors to determine the keywords you use throughout your site.

First, consider search volume.

How many people are looking for a keyword? You may have listed an 8-bedroom property, but it is unlikely that a large number of people will be searching this keyword. You may want to use other features of the house as keywords, like the style or location.

Next, consider the competition.

Keywords with higher search volume will make them more competitive, which makes it harder for you to get noticed. The best way to optimize your keyword usage is to find a balance between high search volume and low competition.

And lastly, focus on quality over quantity. Do not overstuff keywords into your web content. Including a few keywords on pages is enough to help your rankings.

Too many keywords can signal to search engines that you are not producing quality content. Always take time to strategically select just a few keywords without overdoing it on keyword density.

Use On-Page Optimization

With your listing images and keywords ready to go, you can begin implementing the keywords into your site’s content, including onto the images.

Each page on your website should target a few central terms, as well as a “core” term that is unique to that page.

Say that you have a page listing all homes under $300,000. “Homes under $300,000" could be your core keyword for that page. But the page can also target a few general keywords that you use throughout your site, like “affordable homes” or “family homes.”

Below are a few of the on-page elements you will want to use when you optimize your real estate website SEO.

Header Titles and Tags

The most important place to put a page’s core keyword is in the page’s title tag. The title tag will have the most impact on ranking your keyword.

Understand that the title tag is not the primary title of your page. A page’s title or headline is usually your H1. But the title tag is what you see at the top of your browser when you have a tab open for the page.

Typically, the length of a title tag should be about 50 to 60 keywords. You will want to include your core keyword here while keeping your language natural.

Consider how clickable your title tag is. This often will be what searchers see when your website pages show up. Is it interesting enough to generate a clickthrough?

Blog Posts

The content on your website is naturally very important. Aside from your listings, you want to provide value to the people who view your website.

One of the best ways to do this is through blog posts. Create unique and engaging content that will give the readers a reason to stay on your site.

Consistently posting great content will help your SEO because it will show search engines that you are an authority for real estate. The more trustworthy you seem to search engines, the higher you will rank for related searches.

Alt Attributes

Including beautiful images on your website is a great way to boost your SEO, but you can take it one step further by marking up your images.

Using alt attributes will help search engines perceive the content on your page and thus direct traffic from image search to your website.

An alt attribute is an HTML element that describes an image if a user cannot view it. Since search engines cannot “view” images, these descriptions help them to understand what is in images and how they can sort these images within the search engine’s content.

Backlinks & External Links

After you have incorporated numerous on-page SEO tactics into your site, you will want to think about how you can generate traffic from off-site sources.

Here is where backlinks come in handy. Backlinks are links to your website from another website.

Say that a real estate magazine’s website mentions a property you sell and links to your website. This is a backlink.

Backlinks are extremely relevant for boosting your SEO because they signal to search engines that your content is valuable.

If someone else took the time to include your content within their website, search engines will interpret that you have authority over the subject.

You can earn backlinks in a few ways.

Natural links will be given to you without any action on your part. For instance, if you were featured on a website without asking to be featured, this is a natural link.

But one of the most popular ways to earn backlinks is through working for them. You can generate backlinks by collaborating with other websites or even paying to appear on certain pages.

To build backlinks, it is a good idea to guest blog for other websites. Guest blogging is a mutually beneficial interaction: it spreads the word about your website and helps someone else add valuable content to their own page.

Optimize Your Real Estate Website

Regardless of your industry, SEO is important. But for real estate agents, the stakes are even higher. The internet is now the primary search tool for people who want a home.

With the proper SEO strategies, you can generate traction with search engines. Get started with high-quality images.

Contact the Hommati team to learn more!