Are Your Listing Descriptions Designed to Capture?

We’re living in an industry where indexable MLS listings – those that are visible to the search engines – are becoming frequently more common. So I feel that it’s important to bring up the value of optimizing personal listings to maximize on this opportunity. I was recently looking at the details of a real estate agent's personal listing and noticed the description contained a lot of abbreviations and agent jargon and thought that it was a shame that she had not written a better description for the prospective homebuyer and the search engines.

The description listed the bedrooms in an abbreviated format and ran abbreviations together so it wasn’t easy to read, and even though the search engines are very good at picking up on words, the details were pretty much an undecipherable jumble. Maybe agents don’t realize the value of an indexable IDX or how using a technology that allows listings to be indexed can bring search engine traffic… and, therefore, transactions! Even if you don’t use an indexable real estate technology as an individual, writing a meticulous detail page will help you to market your clients’ homes to the utmost advantage on the Internet.

You don’t need to be an editorial superstar to do this. Just assess the home and describe it as generously as possible. This doesn’t mean you have to lie about the condition of the home if it’s not great – pictures will betray you – but you should do your best to point out the good qualities. Think like an investor. Use keywords that you know will capture their attention. If the home is a wreck, use keywords like fixer-upper, investment property or investment opportunity. Is the home a super deal? Try keywords like affordable and bargain priced. Finally, although your client might cringe… cheap is a fantastic keyword that gets a lot of traffic and it’s all about selling the home, right?

If you’re fortunate enough to secure an upscale listing, use keywords that have the best chance of capturing consumer search engine traffic. Does the home have a view of a mountain range? Name the range in the listing details – yes, people actually search using these kinds of keywords, and I have the Google Analytics to prove it over and over again. Is the pool custom? Describe it in detail, down to the mosaic artwork and fountain addition. Stainless steel appliances? You’d better list that! Any green features? Use brand names. Peel it like an onion. The most unusual search term that I’ve seen a homebuyer use to find one of our agent sites was “brushed nickel faucets.” This is the power of the long tail keyword advantage. That was actually very important to the consumer and we offered the IDX that captured that homebuyer simply because our pages are search engine optimized.

So, the takeaway is to start thinking like a homebuyer instead of a real estate agent. Be conscious of how the buyer thinks and definitely roll with the times. Affordable is relative to the market and the area where the home is, so don’t be afraid to use it as a keyword. Short Sales and Foreclosures are the flavor of the market, so keep that in mind when writing the details. If a homebuyer has been looking for some time, the fact that your listing does not fall under this category may be very attractive. So expand on that using a very detailed, keyword and synonym-rich description. Successful listing agents are given more opportunities to continue being successful.

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