Tips for Boosting Your SEO

SEO can be a powerful tool for magnifying your local online presence—but only if you’re dedicated to it

By Andrew Conner

The coronavirus pandemic has increased the importance of online lead generation for many real estate agents.

However, the truth is that online marketing strategies like search engine optimization (SEO) have been a huge factor for a while. “I don’t think coronavirus changed SEO or SEO strategy at all,” says Craig Grant, a CRS Certified Instructor and CEO of The Real Estate Technology Institute in Stuart, Florida. “But are consumers more apt now to look at properties virtually? Without a doubt.”

Most agents have experience with online marketing, and SEO is often a term they are familiar with, but they may not be entirely sure how it works and how it can help them. SEO can be a powerful tool for boosting your local online presence, but only if you are committed to it. Here are some tips for getting the most out of SEO.

The right fit

One important aspect of SEO that many agents don’t initially understand is that it takes time. Not only can it take a few months for Google, Bing or other search engines to process a new website, but staying at the top of organic search rankings means continually updating your website with new content.

“You’ve got to seriously weigh your input,” says Alex Camelio, a CRS Certified Instructor and CEO of Agent Inner Circle in Burlington, Vermont. “How much time and energy can you put into this? If you’ve already been developing content but haven’t focused on SEO, that is a great time to do it.”

On the other hand, if you’re approaching SEO from a beginner’s standpoint with no content, it can be an uphill battle if you’re not committed.

“SEO is a continuous, never- ending project for which you’re constantly adding new content—blogging, creating videos, etc.,” says Grant. He recommends agents think about this point before they get involved with SEO. Sometimes it makes sense for agents to use pay-per-click advertising because it produces results instantly and doesn’t require constant content creation. “The downside of pay-per-click is that it’s like a faucet,” he explains. “The second you stop spending money, it shuts off.”

Keywords are king

When it comes to building more business from SEO, original, fresh and engaging content is the key, and the more targeted that content is, the better. Grant points to the long-tail theory of keyword generation, which says that the more local and niche you make your keyword phrase choices, the better chance they will have to succeed. “For most agents, global keyword choices that have too much competition will get you next to nothing,” he says. “That space is owned by big corporations. I advise agents to do keyword research and find low competition keyword phrases that are winnable and match their business model. Then you start creating as much content as possible on your website, social media, blogging, video, etc., around those keyword phrases.”

To find these phrases, Camelio recommends first determining your audience and what you want to say to them. A good way to do this is thinking about your potential customers’ pain points and desires. That is what is on their minds and what they’re going to be searching for. From there, you can use a keyword tool such as SEMrush or moz.com to refine the specific keywords that speak to your audience and the content they find engaging.

Content creation

SEO doesn’t work unless you are continually updating your website with content. Whether you do this yourself or pay someone else to do it, it’s important that the content is meaningful to your audience. “Sometimes people tell me they struggle to come up with content, but there is more than enough material if you pay attention,” says Mark Porter, CRS, Broker at Castle Hills Real Estate in Lewisville, Texas. “Your content should come from the questions buyers and sellers are asking you. Look to your interactions with consumers and what they ask about. Social media is also a good option for sourcing questions. If they’re asking, that means they can’t find the answer on Google.”

Echoing Grant and Camelio’s points about keywords, Porter also emphasizes the importance of using the language your potential customers use: “One critical aspect is listening to the words they use,” he says. “Some REALTORS^® use industry vernacular and don’t speak like humans. When you read people’s questions, make sure your answers use those same words and that those words are a part of the keywords, metatags and descriptions on your content.”

Camelio adds that you can look at your own passions to help make content production easier. Are you a foodie? Document your local dining or takeout experiences with short videos or blog posts. Animal lover? Do a livestream walking your dog through a beautiful local park. He has also seen agents be very successful with “spin-off” websites that focus solely on a topic like local food or nightlife, and that link back to the agent’s main website.

Take a shot

For Porter, video has been an important way to engage potential buyers and sellers and boost his SEO ranking. “Live video is hot for us right now,” says Porter. “When we’re out in the community, we try to show that with fresh, in-the-moment video.” He believes social distancing is driving even more people to his live-streams because they can experience something going on in their community, even if they choose to stay home. As an example, he points to a recent video he did at a socially-distanced “Fun Run.”

Additionally, Porter notes that YouTube is now the second largest search engine on the internet after Google. “The video goes to YouTube, and Google likes YouTube [because they own it], and then we embed the video on our site, in email messages, share it in a Facebook post, use it on Instagram—even if it’s just one video, everyone has their preferred platform and we want to be sure we reach them,” he explains.

Stay on brand

If your brand and content isn’t consistent across your website(s) and social media platforms, it not only can be confusing for potential customers, but it also hurts your SEO ranking. Grant explains that in Google’s case, about half of the ranking score now comes from off-site optimization. “Inbound links, especially from authoritative sites, are getting a lot of weight, so it is wise to add yourself to as many online directories as you can, such as Google My Business, Yelp and Zillow Agents,” he says. “Social media activity is also tied into SEO scores now, as are online reviews and the speed of your response with customers. So it doesn’t matter how great a website you have—if you’re never on social media or have poor ratings online, Google will assume you are not paying attention and you aren’t a great website owner anyway.”

As Porter explained, posting your content across all of your channels will improve your SEO visibility, but it’s not an easy task. He suggests offloading more technical work to freelancers if you can. “You should have unique branding that appears on your website and all of your social media platforms so it’s consistent—from logo to phone number to addresses,” he says. “But you don’t have to be an expert. Once my brand was settled, I thought of my website as the core and having a consistent look on other platforms was the goal. I paid about $50 on Fiverr to have alternate images created for all of my social media sites. That would have taken me weeks to do on my own. And I had it done well in only two days.”

If you’re committed to SEO, you can make it work for you. Climbing the search engine ranks means more consumers will see your site and be more likely to click on it, without any pay-per-click advertising dollars spent. Learn from these tips and, most importantly, stay committed and your efforts could pay long-term dividends.

To connect with Craig Grant, follow him @RETechGuru on Twitter.

Photo: iStock.com/vchal/kool99/borzaya