Optimizing Real Estate Lead Generation through Search

Today, 92% of home buyers use the web during their home buying process. But with 78% of home buyers visiting three or more sites before reaching out, how can real estate professionals ensure their website traffic is generating as many leads as possible? In the Optimizing Real Estate Lead Generation series, we investigate how to generate and convert more leads with less traffic by optimizing your search, engagement, and conversion initiatives.

With over a billion real estate searches starting on Google each year, and with most real estate companies optimizing for highly similar words, knowing and mastering the latest in SEO is the only way to increase traffic and optimize your lead generation.With four easy steps you can generate leads through SEO. Establish local search terms, audit the architecture of your site, optimize all content, and build your company as an authority.

Establishing Local Search Terms

When thinking about search, focus first on organic SEO. 82% of online visitors utilize organic search results while only 18% utilize paid search results. So the best way to optimize for organic home shopper traffic is to align your keyword strategy to match the local neighborhood search terms 69% of online home shoppers are searching for (NAR's 2014 Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers).

If you're unsure which keywords people are searching for, use the Google AdWords Keyword Planner. It can reveal the most commonly used local keywords, as well as the competition level and trend curve of those keywords. While some real estate keywords can cost $30 per click on paid search, Onboard Informatics delivers an enormous stream of standardized local information that can reinforce your organic keyword strategy and drive traffic to your site.

Auditing the Architecture of Your Website

The most basic SEO begins with auditing structure of your pages. How many clicks does it take to get to a subfolder? Does the URL contain at least one of your targeted keywords? Headers, image tags, meta descriptions, files, folders, and URL construction should all contain your relevant keywords. You should also avoid placing rich messaging on images, as Google will not register this messaging.

Optimizing the Content on Your Website

Google now de-ranks sites with unoriginal, duplicate content. In order to rank higher on Google, focus on unique content that utilizes your keywords. In addition to a neighborhood's local charts and graphs, having automated paragraphs describing each neighborhood through consistently updated local content is a great way to have ever-changing unique content that can continuously rank well on Google.

Building Your Company as an Authority

The volume and quality of links to your site is another big factor for Google. Providing accurate, expansive local data can easily generate links from reputable websites, therefore enhancing your credibility to Google. In addition, generating viral content such as Best Places to Live is easy to do using Onboard Informatics' comprehensive datasets, is effective in increasing your Google rank for searches related to your area, and helps increase the volume and quality of links to your domain.

To view the original article, visit the Onboard Informatics blog.