4 Ways to Improve Your Real Estate Listings with SEO

It’s the first few weeks of the year and temperatures are dropping. The chilly weather and inflation hint at cold forecasts for business–but not for the real estate industry. Property prices are hotter than ever! In December 2021, US median home prices soared to $375,000 with accelerated annual growth of +10.0%. Meanwhile, 13 local markets have reported double-digit annual gains; Austin, Las Vegas, Orlando, and Tampa are a few of them.

Your real estate business can’t overlook this energy. You must brave the competition, establish your real estate brand, and rank higher in local search pages using real estate SEO.

Top Search Engine Optimization Strategies for Real Estate Companies

How do aspiring homeowners and house hunters find you online? The only way is to rank higher in search engine searches with SEO strategies. Here are four amazing SEO techniques to make you stand out.

Time for Real Estate SEO Audit

Before you dive right into a new marketing campaign, start with an SEO audit. Recall your past SEO campaigns and how they went. Consider your website stats, especially your traffic sources, because these are your keys to rank higher online.

Because markets change and trends tend to vary as well, you should do an SEO audit every quarter. You can conduct an SEO audit by yourself or you can ask a professional real estate marketing team to help you out.

SEO audits find out how your website sizes up to the local competition. It also considers any organic traffic and if you’re creating leads from this traffic. Also included in a real estate SEO audit are the following:

• Page structure audits – if your titles, heading and alt tags, meta descriptions, etc. are paying off.
• Site structure edits – consider XML sitemap and redirects
• Website content – Does your content have the correct structure? Are your keywords placed in the right locations? Consider visual content, canonical tags, any duplicate content, etc.
• Website links – Are your inbound and outbound links working? Do you have interlinking site pages? Are there broken site links to fix?
• Website overall usability – Is your website accessible? Is it viewable on mobile devices? Does your site load in just two seconds or faster?

You can use Google tools like Google Analytics to find out your site pages’ loading times. With the Google Search Console, you can find problems that must be corrected right away.

Website Optimization

After an SEO audit, it’s time to optimize your website for desktop searches. This is a critical part of any website overhaul because many potential customers rely on search pages to find homes for sale or rent, adds Marina Turea in this article from Digital Authority Partners.

Be thorough so you won’t overlook any aspect of website optimization. Consider the following:

• Assess keyword research – take time to find the best keywords and phrases to help you rank higher
• Use search optimized site URLs, meta descriptions, and meta titles –  use your best keywords and phrases wisely for maximum local market dominance.
• Optimize your image descriptions – use your keywords and phrases to describe property images, videos, and other site content.
• Correct outbound and inbound links – use high-quality sites relevant to the real estate industry as links.
• Optimize your site content –  create high-quality, relevant, and engaging content to improve user experience

Mobile Device Optimization

As of October 2021, almost 5 billion people use the web. Digital Around the World reported that this is around 62% of the total population. And most of those users prefer to use their mobile phones. Slightly more than 90% go online through their mobile devices.

A real estate company should never overlook these numbers. You must improve your website and optimize it for mobile viewing and use. Customers are more likely to use their smartphones to find local properties and to connect to sellers or buyers. Homebuyers also use the web through their smartphones to view home details and features. They can take advantage of virtual tours, 360-degree views, and other tools that can make home buying easier.

Take note of the following when optimizing your webpage for mobile devices:

• Mobile web page with responsive designs – your desktop website elements must be viewable and usable on smaller screens.
• Easy site navigation and search – your mobile site should be easy to use, with seamless site navigation; searching for items like property listings, price, and areas should be as easy as doing it on the big screen.
• Mobile homepage designs – your website page design should be viewable on mobile. Designs should be seamless from your desktop to your mobile website.

A good online tool to use is the Mobile-Friendly Test which finds out if your website has all the best qualities of an ideal mobile site. After the test, the tool will present any issues that it found, enabling you to correct them ASAP.

Improve Your Google My Business and Site Directories

Google My Business or GMB is your special business page on Google. People who search for your business online through Google search will first land on your GMB listing and then head to your website, social media site, blog, or other related platforms.

You must update your GMB to rank higher in searches and to help your customers find you fast. For real estate developers and agencies, updating and closely managing their GMB can improve their stats on local searches.

Your GMB profile mentions your business name, business address, business phone number, and website. It also posts your hours of operation, photos (your uploaded images or those uploaded by your customers or visitors), and customer reviews. If you have multiple real estate agencies in different locations, you need to create a GMB profile for each.

Aside from your GMB listing, placing your real estate business in relevant directory sites will also help boost your online rankings. Make sure that your business is on Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow, HotPads, Movoto, and Homes.com. And remember: local directories help boost your local presence.

Final Words

Your real estate listing website can rank higher in local search results with the help of SEO. With the right combination of SEO techniques, you can boost your brand, and expand your reach. Try these real estate SEO strategies today.