Local Prospecting with Search Engine Optimization

Real estate customers love using search engines to find information, whether they're scouting neighborhoods, visiting homes virtually or trying to find the right real estate agent. So for real estate brokers and agents, your position in search engine results ultimately plays a major role in the visibility of your brand.

Search engine optimization is one of the most effective tools for helping prospects find you. Local SEO is a natural extension of your overall SEO efforts. Today, we're going to take a closer look at actionable local prospecting tips to help your real estate business shine online.

How to Attract New Business Through Local SEO

Local SEO shares many similarities with "regular" SEO, which means you won't be starting from scratch to get your local SEO up to speed. In fact, many of the tactics used in both cases look very similar, with a few slight—but important—differences on how local SEO should be approached by real estate agents.

Local Content and Common Keywords

Using the right keywords is one of the most important steps in local SEO, because including targeted keywords in your website content allows you to target prospects who are searching for specific real estate information in your area. Your website and blog content are among your most significant SEO resources, because they allow you to touch on local topics, share your expertise, and integrate local SEO keywords in a natural way.

• Local SEO keywords will often look quite a bit like the keywords you're already using, but with local information attached. Instead of find real estate agents, you might use a phrase like find real estate agents in [your city of business]. Rather than how to sell a home, you might say how to sell a [your city] home.

• Including local keywords in your content is so important because this is how people actually search for homes. Remember that the goal is to make your brand more visible to people who are genuinely in the market for what you have to offer.

Make It Mobile

Including the right keywords is important because it helps people find your brand in a way that's convenient for them, and making your site mobile-friendly is another way to add convenience. Since 91 percent of consumers turn to their phones for research when making a major purchasing decision, making sure your site works well on mobile devices is simply smart business.

• Google's search algorithm now rewards businesses with mobile-friendly sites, so now is the time to get your mobile game up to speed.
• A responsive website scales to fit the size of any screen so that visitors get the same level of quality whether visiting on a desktop computer or their smartphone.
• Mobile-first design puts the primary focus on designing a site that looks great on mobile devices, and still works well on larger screens.

Simply Social

Google also likes to reward websites that maintain an active, engaging social media presence because social media activity is a great way to build trust with your audience. So by all means, get social! In addition to all of the content you share, your social media pages are a great place to post reviews and testimonials from clients. Keep your social media focus on local topics, and be sure to link to your local content.

To view the original article, visit the Delta Media Group blog.