3 Types of Keywords Every Real Estate Professional Should Target (And 3 They Shouldn’t)
Real estate is a highly-competitive market. As such, a solid understanding of search engine optimization is essential. A cornerstone of that understanding is keywords. Nail that down, and everything else should follow naturally.
Do you have a solid understanding of search engine optimization?
If your answer was anything other than “yes,’” then I have some bad news for you. You are very likely behind your competition in that regard. Knowledge of SEO — of how to optimize your website for both search and usability – is at the core of being a successful realtor in 2019.
The good news is that you’ve already got the expertise necessary for the most important part of SEO – keywords. As a realtor, you’re no stranger to trawling through search engines and directories for the perfect listing, or to writing a good listing yourself. Those skills are directly applicable to search engine marketing.
That said, there are a few things you should keep in mind where keywords are concerned – here are a few you should target, and a few you should stay away from.
Local and Hyperlocal
As a realtor, you generally want your keywords to be as specific as possible. You want to connect your services not just with a specific city, but specific neighborhoods in that city. For instance, rather than targeting “houses for sale in Orlando,” or “buy a house in Orlando” you could consider targeting “houses for sale in Rose Isle Orlando” or “buy a house in Rowena Gardens Orlando.”
Focus on markets and neighborhoods in which you have some level of expertise. These could be places where you’ve sold properties in the past, or that you know a great deal about through colleagues. By doing this, you’ll not only attract more people with purchase intent, but you’ll also bring in clients who are interested in your specific markets.
In the same vein as the above, you’ll want to avoid anything that’s too generic or casts too wide a net. Again, if you’re planning to target keywords like ‘real estate’ or ‘realtor,’ add qualifiers. Northeast Orlando real estate agency rather than simply real estate agency or Florida real estate agency.
That actually leads in nicely to our next point.
Long-Tail
Google wants to be all about context and intent. It hasn’t been shy nor secretive about that fact. Every algorithm update over the past several years has been made to help its search engine return results based not just on what a user typed, but what they want to find.
That’s something you need to consider with your SEO efforts as well. And it’s also why short-tail keywords – single words, basically – aren’t necessarily worth your time. Not only are they competitive enough that you probably won’t rank for them, but they also lack context.
Focus on long-tail keywords. On what your audience is looking for. For example…
- Orlando House is a short-tail keyword. It doesn’t give us any context. Is the searcher looking for a photo of a house? To rent a house? For renovations?
- Buy a house in Orlando is a long-tail keyword. While it’s still not quite as localized as we’d like, it gives us a lot more information. We know there’s purchase intent behind the search.
- Best Orlando neighborhoods in which to buy a house in 2019 is even better. It tells us exactly what the searcher is looking for, and the timeframe in which they’ll make a purchase decision.
Now, there’s one word of advice I’ll add – don’t try to target a keyword or keyphrase if you cannot do so with natural language. The copy on your website should first and foremost be written for your users. If you’re sacrificing readability just to stuff more keywords in, you’re doing SEO wrong, and Google will penalize you for it.
Informational
Thus far, we’ve mostly talked about keywords related to real estate purchases. Keywords that target users who are either looking to buy right away or are researching a possible purchase in the immediate future. There’s another keyword group that you should target, however – informational.
As a realtor, people are coming to you for your expertise. Maybe they don’t know the market in their city, or they don’t know what’s involved in buying or selling a house. Maybe they trust you to find better deals than they could on their own time.
Whatever the reason, they look at you as a thought leader of sorts. Informational content and the keywords associated with it emphasizes that leadership. Yes, I’m telling you that you should have a blog. Most business owners should these days, regardless of their industry.
Topics you might write on could include:
- Things to keep in mind when purchasing your first house
- How to effectively host an open house
- Renovating a newly-purchased home
- Unexpected expenses associated with condo ownership
You get the idea. If it’s something that would be of interest to someone buying or selling a home, you can write on it. Just be careful you don’t go too far afield.
For instance, it could be useful to write about red flags to look out for during an open house. You probably shouldn’t write about the ideal color palette for a new home. Branching out is fine – just keep it relevant when you do.
About the Author:
Terry Cane is the COO at SEOHost.net, a reliable and supportive SEO hosting partner.
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