Real estate SEO can hurt as much as help

Guest contributor Delta Media Group says:

Search engine optimization can be pretty confusing stuff.

And while there's no shortage of speakers and trainers looking to help you understand it, there can be a shortage of great info going around.

It's not that SEO professionals aren't knowledgeable on what they do. But search engines are quickly changing, and what you previously thought to be a good SEO practice might now be an action that is getting your website penalized.

Google took large steps over the past 18 months with the Panda and Penguin updates. The former targets low quality websites and "thin" content. The latter targets Web spam factors, like content spinning, keyword stuffing, unnatural links and more.

To add to that, Google is rumored to have released 19 updates of its Panda algorithm, and each has taken separate efforts to punish those websites that previously looked to leverage Google through different tactics the search engine has since deemed "spammy." Penguin is no different; Google has released multiple variants of the update, and even released a new copyright infringement update on August 10.

The tough thing to understand is that Panda and Penguin weren't created to punish webmasters. Google designed them to provide better search results for the people who are searching for topics that matter to them.

In the past, About.com articles written by students unfamiliar with the topic showed as top results when searching Google for "brain tumor." Google programmers and human organic search raters recognized that peope who searched on such a sensitive subject preferred to see results from medical websites and articles written by brain surgeons, experienced doctors and those published in medical journals—sources that likely provide better information, but aren't as concerned with using SEO tactics to rank higher.

That's not much different in the real estate world. Consumers searching for regional real estate markets and homes for sale want information from knowledgeable experts who can help answer their questions and guide them in their real estate search.

As a REALTOR®, you have more knowledge than others do. You can help a customer searching for a home more than a search portal or generic article on a non-real estate website can. Google doesn't necessarily know the value you bring to your consumers, but, with a properly built real estate website maintained with solid search engine optimization implementation, it can.

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