Keywords and SEO for Real Estate Simplified

Posted on May 8, 2008
Filed Under Realtor Tools & Tips, SEO Search Optimization | 3 Comments

Keyword phrases aren’t any kind of magic hidden tags. Search engines read your content and they are sophisticated enough to detect spam and other so called tricks of the trade. They are looking for sites whos content is relevant to what people are searching for. So just keep that in mind each time you add a new real estate listing or any content to your web site. Ask yourself, “Am I using regional real estate related words that people may be searching for?”

For example I live in Fairfield CT so I will use “Fairfield CT real estate” as the example search term. The typical headline for a home in my neighborhood might be: “Classic Colonial on Quiet Cul-de-Sac”. This is a nice headline for the real estate section of our local newspaper but for the world wide web we need to be more specific. “Real Estate in Fairfield CT Historic District”. or “Colonial in Fairfield CT Historic District” If we use the second headline we would still need to get the “real estate” term in there. So the first line of the property description could be something like: Fabulous real estate opportunity in Fairfield’s Historic District. Note how I have also worked in the market area search term “historic district”.

Other areas of your web site can be improved in the same way. I often see web sites that offer “personalized service” instead of “personalized real estate services”. Many real estate sites don’t use the phrase “real estate” at all.

There is more to SEO than this of course (META tags: title and desctiption) and what I call a “search engine friendly” web design. Link popularity and so forth but the single most important thing you can do and still need to do even if you have all the other stuff is to have great content that also happens to include the keywords people would use to find you.

Comments

3 Responses to “Keywords and SEO for Real Estate Simplified”

Steve on June 7th, 2008 7:44 pm

Don’t forget that some people like to spell out their state’s name instead of abbreviating when doing a search.
RealEstate on June 16th, 2008 6:07 pm

SEO is so ever changing. One day you can rank well, another day you’re no where to be found. The key is making sure you spend just a little time everyday on SEO… may it be improving backlinks, creating content, or researching SEO techniques, you should always try to do a little something daily.
Michele on July 18th, 2008 10:12 pm

Thank you Darryl for sharing your information with us.

Your advice is true when marketing your real estate website as well. For example, when a member creates an account with our flat fee real estate directory, their listing will get indexed by spiders and bots. In a nutshell, the more descriptive and keyword rich a member’s listing is, the more favorable it appears to search engines.

So my advice to your readers is to carry your advice to other parts of the web as well. For example, if somebody is marketing their real estate blog in a real estate directory, they should make sure to maximize their directory listing with pertinent keywords rather than just put in their contact information.

If your readers can follow this tip, then it is more likely their listing will find its way upward in the search engines ultimately bringing more clients to their site.