Key Takeaways
- Real estate keywords are an integral component to today’s best website optimization strategies.
- Those investors that can identify and rank for the most valuable real estate keywords online stand a better chance of increasing their brand awareness.
- The most common real estate SEO keywords typed into Google search queries this year could actually help you formulate a strategy for your own website.
What are real estate SEO Keywords? Better yet, what is SEO, and how can it improve a real estate professional’s website performance? Though these questions are relatively simple, the answers are anything but. In fact, if you really want to know how real estate SEO keywords can improve your personal website, it helps to start with a little context. Let me explain.
The internet has revolutionized the way companies do business, and real estate investors are no exception. In fact, the advent of technology has seen to it that today’s investors can make connections with anyone, anywhere in the world. And therein lies the true benefit of doing business online: reach. The internet has single-handedly created a global community from which companies may conduct business with a much wider audience than any other platform has awarded in the past. Let’s face it, you need to use the internet to realize any level of success in today’s investor landscape; there’s no way around it.
It’s worth noting, however, that Google alone has indexed trillions of webpages. For every great piece of content on the web, there are countless others that don’t even deserve to be seen, let alone visited. It is, therefore, safe to assume your own real estate website will have its fair share of competition. While not every site will be in direct competition with your own, it’s naive to assume nobody is competing for the mental bandwidth of your own audience. It’s a sad truth, but a reality, nonetheless: your website will face direct competition from countless like-minded investors.
Fortunately, there’s a trick to help your own website stand out from the rest: search engine optimization (SEO). As its name suggests, SEO offers website owners the opportunity to optimize their pages for a target audience. Perhaps even more specifically, as SEO MOZ is quick to point out, SEO “is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.”
Of course, there isn’t a magic button you can press to automatically optimize your website. Search engine optimization isn’t simply a single task that will increase traffic to your site over night, but rather an all-encompassing strategy consisting of several subsequent strategies working in synergy. Everything from the speed in which your website renders down to the user experience it offers plays an important hand in SEO. As a new investor, I wouldn’t expect you to be able to do all of them by yourself; that’s what professional SEOs are for.
That said, there is one strategy new investors can implement immediately, without the help of a professional: targeted real estate SEO keywords. As it turns out, the actual words on your website can increase the quantity and quality of traffic to your page through organic search results. Of course, not just any words will do; you need to make sure you are using the right real estate words; the ones that are most valuable to your target audience.
What Are Real Estate SEO Keywords You Should Be Targeting?
Are you confident you are using the most effective real estate SEO keywords for your own professional website? If your answer is yes, let me be the first to congratulate you on your miraculous achievement. If you are less than confident, however, let me offer you some assistance. If for nothing else, there is a relatively quick solution. As it turns out, the powers that be (Google AdWords Keyword Planner and a keyword tool from Moz) already know the best real estate SEO keywords for this year. That means you don’t have to spend countless hours testing your own vernacular acumen. Google and Moz have already spent time compiling a list of the most commonly searched real estate keywords of 2017, and they are as follows:
This list represents the most common real estate SEO keywords typed into Google search queries this year. It’s worth noting, however, that as the most common real estate terms, they are going to coincide with some rather fierce competition. It’s safe to assume every real estate company with a web presence is targeting these words in one way or another, and ultimately trying to rank on the first page of Google for them. Inevitably, it’s this same competition that will make it harder for your own site to rank for said keywords, but I digress. While I fully condone trying to rank for the keywords in the list above, it may be better for new investors (without a reputable website authority) to try something slightly different.
Please, by all means, incorporate the list of 2017’s most commonly searched real estate keywords into your content, but don’t be afraid to experiment a little. Google currently places an emphasis on keyword synonyms, and you could find yourself with a valuable synonym with just as much potential and half the competition. For instance, instead of targeting “houses for sale,” try following it with a local search term — houses for sale in San Diego is a great example. A more specific search may not net as many national search queries, but it’ll certainly coincide with much less competition. Of course, it’s a give and take, but in a scenario where the real estate investor doesn’t have a large website authority, it’s better to trade more popular keywords for less competition.
Again, you don’t have to use these exact real estate SEO keywords, but I do want you to view them as a starting point. Take a good look at them and gain a better picture of what people are searching for. Only once you know what your audience wants, can you actually give it to them. Since an average of 673,000 searches for “houses for sale” are occurring each and every month, it’s time you started tailoring some of your content to meet the needs of the majority; those looking for houses that are for sale. Look through the list above and see what other trends you can come up with, and inevitably extrapolate to your own SEO strategy.
Have you ever wondered which real estate SEO keywords to target for your own website? Have you had better luck with a different strategy? Let us know how your latest SEO endeavors ended, and feel free to share what you learned in the comments below.
