Is Your Online Reputation Preventing You From Getting Clients? Why You Need Google Reviews to Earn New Business
You've probably heard the horror stories. Embarrassing party photos, inflammatory political screeds, an early morning mugshot – for an average professional, having these items pop up when somebody searches their name puts jobs, opportunities, and reputation in jeopardy. For an accountant or engineer, then, the right online presence might be as simple as Facebook and Instagram accounts set to private and an informative, professional LinkedIn page. Real estate agents don't have the same luxury. Playing defense online isn't enough to build the reputation you need, and will cost you leads, clients, and business. Instead, real estate agents need to actively develop a positive online reputation. If consumers search for you online and can't determine that you're a trustworthy, competent agent, they will take their business elsewhere. Even worse, many people look more broadly for local real estate services, with searches such as "real estate agents near me." If you don't appear in those search results, consumers won't know who you are, you won't get new business, and your competition will get ahead. Fortunately, there is a simple, effective way to ensure you have the online reputation necessary to attract new clients: consistently solicit positive reviews to your Google Business Profile. A Google Business Profile Establishes Your Legitimacy Google is clear: Agents who want to attract new clients online need to have an up-to-date Google Business Profile. The Google Business Profile appears to the right of Google search results, and is filled with business information such as contact information, recent listings and deals, business hours, an agent bio, and, crucially, reviews from clients and other connections. When consumers search your name, the Google Business Profile is what tells them how to reach you and whether you have the recommendation of past clients. Think about the last time you looked for a restaurant online: You probably looked at the business's Google Business Profile to learn its hours, peruse the menu, establish the location, and maybe even read customer reviews. You want to provide home buyers and sellers the same courtesy, and ensure that they recognize the real estate expertise you have to offer. Google Reviews Help You Get Found by Real Estate Searchers Having a professional Google Business Profile is great, but on its own is not enough to attract new clients online. Agents must also solicit positive Google reviews in order to become Google verified, appear at the top of real estate search results, and earn new leads. While every agent wishes that consumers searched specifically and only for them, the reality is that people considering buying or selling a home are likely to search first for terms such as "local real estate agents." When people conduct such searches, agents who are verified appear as "Google Screened" at the top of search results. Notice how the three top featured agents all have more than 30 reviews, and ratings at or close to five stars. With the quantity and quality of their ratings, these agents have indicated to Google that they are experienced, well-regarded, and a good match for people ready to business. Some searchers will click on "more real estate agents," and when they do, they'll be served with an even longer listing of agent results. By clicking on an agent, people have access to their Google reviews, ratings, number of years in business, and location. Home buyers and sellers can use these listings to call agents directly, making it essential that agents appear towards the top. There's a hard reality to these listings: Agents without reviews won't become Google screened, and agents who aren't Google screened won't appear at the top of the results and be found by searchers. At minimum, agents need five reviews in order to be Google screened, but in competitive markets, the top listed agents have many more than that. Your online reputation might currently be preventing you from getting new clients, but you can develop the Google Business profile and reviews necessary to establish your real estate bona fides and appear at the top of listings when consumers search for agents. To view the original article, visit the Homesnap blog.

How to Migrate Your Website Hosting Without Affecting SEO
As your real estate website grows, it may be necessary to migrate it at some point. Unfortunately, the process of migrating your website to another host is not easy. It takes a great deal of thought and consideration to migrate your website effectively. For example, suppose you have invested significant time and effort into search engine optimization. In that case, you may be concerned that your efforts would be wasted if you transfer web hosting providers. Migration, while challenging, has the potential to open up new prospects while resolving issues that you were experiencing with your previous hosting platform, if carried out correctly. In today's article, we will focus on how you can migrate your website host without losing SEO value. When it comes to SEO, web hosting is significant since it influences crucial factors such as the speed at which your site loads and up and downtimes. Here are the three main changes involved when migrating your web host and how they affect SEO: Domain change Nameserver change, and Web host change Choose the Right Real Estate Hosting Provider You should not have to worry about your real estate SEO and search engine rankings if you migrate your web hosts the right way. You may want to switch web hosts to receive better service. Your real estate website will be hosted on entirely new servers, which will result in a change in the IP address of your website. If your new web host has a skilled support team, you shouldn't have to be concerned about losing traffic or experiencing substantial downtime during your transition. Before choosing a host, ensure that it meets all of your requirements. You can, for example, look at the following features: Low downtime Server bandwidth Excellent documentation and technical support The technical specifications of the server Changing Nameservers This is perhaps the most straightforward part of the website migration, but it can significantly impact your real estate SEO. If you simply change your nameservers, it is unlikely that you will see any changes in your search engine rankings. Furthermore, you can change your nameservers in minutes. However, using an effective hosting provider to streamline the process is vital. Domain Change If you change your domain name, you should place permanent redirects, also known as 301 redirect, on your website's old pages. This will route your users to the new domain name when visiting the old one. The 301 redirects in web development indicate a permanent move, and 302 redirects let Google know the move is not permanent. These are the commonly used types of redirects. However, a 301 redirect is used for most domain changes since it is a permanent move. Other Factors You Should Consider When Migrating Your Real Estate Website Carefully Choose a Real Estate Server Location Geographical advantage can be crucial in deciding your real estate website SEO. For example, if you were targeting the United States before relocating and using a server in the area, you'll need to find a similar hosting provider in terms of location. You should be familiar with the server on which you will host your real estate website. In addition to impacting your SEO rankings, your server location affects your target audience. Create Backup Make a comprehensive backup of your website before beginning the migration process. You can use plug-ins for effective backup. This step will ensure your return to the old real estate website if something goes wrong. Conclusion Follow these steps carefully to ensure that you don't damage your SEO while migrating your real estate website. Ideally, it should not affect your search engine optimization. However, to avoid confusion, it is advisable to maintain control of the old site for at least five months to ensure that the transition is done properly. Nevertheless, always use web developers to execute the migration effectively. To view the original article, visit the Realtyna blog.

Google Just Announced an Update About 'Helpful Content.' What Should Real Estate Agents Know?
When Google updates its algorithm, the effects ripple through the internet. In September, another Google update went live. Agents who want to succeed online need to know how to adjust to what's being called the "helpful content" update. In short, the helpful content algorithm update is a commitment to serve "people-first" content, and another indication that Google doesn't want its search pages clogged with spam. How can you ensure your online presence is considered helpful? What guidelines are important to follow while building out a real estate agent website, Google Business Profile, and other online content? 1. Stay Focused and On-Topic The first step to creating online content Google considers "helpful" is to stay focused and on-topic. As a real estate agent, being focused means targeting an audience of buyers and sellers with content that is related to real estate. Having an online presence is great, but will be less effective if it's cluttered with information about unrelated pursuits. After all, would a buyer or seller looking for real estate information find much use in an agent's website that was actually filled with cat photos? Of course not. That's why Google ranks content that is focused, on-topic, and relevant to searchers. 2. Show Expertise and Experience Once you've established your topic – in this case, being a real estate agent – Google wants to see that your online content demonstrates expertise and experience. Your expertise is in real estate, and specifically as being an agent in your local market. Make sure your agent website and Google Business Profile reflect your status as a go-to agent in your region. And take pains to explain how you specifically help people in your local region. If you've sold homes in certain neighborhoods or specialize in the west side of town, say so. Let Google know you have a relevant niche. Google also wants to see that you have experience. For an agent, this could mean maintaining a slideshow of current and past listings on your website. And for every agent, having helpful content that demonstrates experience requires a verified Google Business Profile with positive, plentiful reviews from past clients and respected colleagues. 3. Answer Searchers' Queries When Google talks about helpful content, what they're really talking about is: Does this answer the questions people are typing into the search bar? As an agent, you should endeavor for online content that answers searchers' queries. Those questions start simply. Who are real estate agents in my town? What is this agent's business hours? Do they have contact information? Examples of current listings? But some searchers are looking for more than just basic biographical details. They're asking questions about an agent's specific experiences. Who are this agent's past clients? Do they represent both buyers and sellers? What's their experience in my neighborhood? Do they have a marketing plan? Social media? References? A good reputation? Google wants you to preemptively answer those questions. After all, when consumers search for "real estate agents near me," what they're really asking is for Google to show them the best agents possible. The best agents can answer consumer questions on and offline, so have online content that helps address what buyers and sellers are searching for and wondering. 4. Stay Up-to-Date on Other Google Core Updates The "helpful content" update is a big one. But it's not the first Google update, it won't be the last, and it isn't the only update agents should consider. Just this year, Google has released: The "Vicinity Update," in which Google more heavily weights proximity when serving up local search results. This update hyper-focuses search results on local businesses and services consumers are likely to use or hire. The "May 2022 Core Update," in which Google dinged AI-generated content and reshuffled search results pages so that human-written content is more likely to appear at the top. Overall , Google updates in 2022 have advantaged real, live, local agents – particularly those who demonstrate the expertise, experience, and focus to help buyers and sellers accomplish their real estate goals. To view the original article, visit the Homesnap blog.

How Can You Prove You're a Local Real Estate Expert?
It's a question you may ask yourself often: How can I demonstrate to consumers in my market that I'm the best real estate agent in the area? As with most components of real estate, the answer has become more involved and multi-dimensional in recent years. Once, planting yard signs in front lawns and having a witty slogan on a shopping cart may have been enough. Now, with consumers able to access more information than ever, proving yourself as the go-to local agent requires a consistent, digitally savvy reputation management strategy. Fortunately, you can take two clear actions to establish yourself as the most trustworthy real estate agent in your market. 1. Dominate local SEO When it comes to reputation management, real estate agents face a hard reality: If you don't rank at the top of Google search results about local real estate, you will lose credibility and fail to prove your position as the best agent in your market. Imagine it from a consumers point of view: They're in the market to buy or sell a home, see one of your signs or social media posts, and search for you on Google. What they get back is a barren online presence, without any client reviews, a dedicated website, or information about your address, business hours, and current listings. Maybe they can't even find you at all. Who could blame them when they decide to look for another agent? If you were looking for a lawyer or plumber or other service provider, would you hire somebody who didn't come with any recommendations? You might even think they are out of business, if you couldn't find them online. This is why it is crucial for you to have a strong presence on local Google search results. More than ever before, real estate searches start online, and more than ever before, Google is serving real estate searchers locally-focused content. When consumers look for you online, establish the SEO presence necessary to ensure that they are served a strong, informative, persuasive content. To start, create a Google business profile and populate it with your address, phone number, websites, and up-to-date photos. Then, solicit and manage reviews from clients, fellow agents, and your family and friends. This way, when people search for you on Google, they see that you have satisfied customers, impressed colleagues, and a history of superior real estate service. 2. Leverage social media People's media consumption habits have changed dramatically since the advent of social media. As an agent, this gives you an opportunity. Use social media effectively and you can make sure that local consumers know about your listings and your knowledge. Traditionally, social media has been divided into organic and paid efforts. Both have their benefits and can help showcase your local real estate footprint and expertise. Organic posts tend to be good for general observations about the state of the local real estate market. By posting about what's happening in the market, you show people in your community that you have a strong handle on what's going on – which homes are selling, at what price, and how long after being listed. Paid social media posts are also valuable if you want to establish yourself as the leading local real estate expert. Most of your paid social media posts are likely to feature home listings, and we know that agents who buy Facebook ads through Homesnap earn 2.5 times more leads from Facebook than agents without paid social media ads. Those leads come through increased digital reach – people see an ad and know about your foothold in the local real estate market. Whether they become a lead now or later, paid social media helps showcase to consumers that many local buyers are already trusting you with their real estate needs. Proving that you're a local real estate expert is essential to earning new clients, and requires both having the knowledge required to be an expert and the online presence necessary to convince consumers of your abilities. By upgrading to Homesnap Pro+, you can accomplish both of these objectives, and become the local agent who buyers and sellers contact first. To view the original article, visit the Homesnap blog.

3 SEO Real Estate Website Strategies
If you're a real estate agent, broker, or technology company, you know that having a website is essential for your business. It gives you a place to showcase your listings and services and allows potential clients to learn more about you and get in touch with you quickly. However, simply having a website isn't enough – you need to ensure that your site is optimized for search engines to attract more visitors. Yes, search engine optimization is still alive and continues to grow as it evolves in providing answers to people's questions. In this blog post, we will discuss three SEO strategies to help improve your website's positioning in search engines and generate more readers and leads! The first is that the search engine's artificial intelligence will play a prominent role in SEO rankings, especially Google's. Most SEO experts focus on Google because of their search and Chrome web browser market shares. In the United States, Google maintains a 92% market share in search and averages around 63% market share of people using Chrome as a web browser. The other major search engines are Bing and Yahoo, which hold a combined market share of around 10%. A search engine's AI focuses on capturing consumer behavior metrics for ranking factors. This means that click-through rate, time people spend on a page, and other overall website metrics influence how the AI prioritizes content. Therefore, when reevaluating SEO strategy, crafting well-organized and quality, engaging content is critical to success. What is essential to the readers of your content is also crucial to the search engine's AI for ranking. This is where custom content on the property search result pages for neighborhoods and listing detail pages can improve SEO. Guidelines for content creation are included in the E-A-T principle. Google defines E-A-T for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. An approach that is excellent to use in evaluating the quality of content. A few guidelines to use when developing content with E-A-T in mind are: Does the content contain authentic information, reporting, research, or analysis? Is the content written by an expert demonstrating their knowledge about the subject? Is the content written very well, or is it sloppy? Are the facts in the content easily verifiable? Content writers who follow these simple guidelines achieve the desired results to improve search engine rankings. Additionally, as AI continues to drive rankings, it impacts search results. As a result, it is possible that when submitting a search, a page may be #2, and when performing a subsequent search, the same page may be #5. Therefore, AI will adjust its page ranking based on the events at the time of a search. The second SEO strategy is to focus on optimizing your website with structured data. Most people are familiar with the concept of structured data, even if they don't realize it. Structured data is simply information that is organized in a predefined way. This can include things like open houses, homes for sale, and site structure. By adding structured data to your site, you are essentially providing a map for search engines to follow. This makes it easier for them to index your content and display it in search results. In addition, structured data can also help you improve your click-through rate by making your listings more relevant and user-friendly. However, there is a catch. Don't overuse structured data or resort to black-hat methods. Google just takes advantage of specific structured data, which must be implemented correctly for the content's trustworthiness to be confirmed. As you can see, structured data is an integral part of SEO. If you want your site to be successful, make sure you take advantage of this powerful tool. Lastly, one of the benefits of SEO is that it can help improve the accessibility of a site. Optimizing the website for Google search can also help make it more accessible for people with disabilities who use screen readers and other assistive technologies. According to WCAG 2.1, one of the success criteria for accessibility is that "webpages can be parsed unambiguously by software." This means that screen readers and other assistive technologies should be able to interpret the content on a webpage without any ambiguity. However, many websites are not well-optimized for SEO, so it can be difficult or impossible for these technologies to parse. Therefore, improving the SEO of a website can also help to enhance its accessibility. If you implement these three SEO strategies, you will be well on your way to improving your website's ranking in search engines and generating more leads! The last thing you want to do is to ignore or think SEO is not a practical part of a marketing strategy. What other SEO strategies have you used to improve your website's ranking? Please share your tips with us in the comments below! And if you're looking for more help, contact the WAV Group. WAV Group explicitly focuses its SEO strategies on the real estate industry. To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

How Real Estate Agents Can Generate More Leads with YouTube SEO
Let's be honest: This topic is a combination of three constantly evolving fields. The housing market changes by the day. Lead generation can feel inconsistent, even at the best of times. And chasing after SEO keywords is up and down, too. All three components are driven by trends. And they're trends that SEO-savvy real estate agents try their best to keep up with because good marketing leads to better business. However, one constant piece in this formula is how much time the average internet user spends on YouTube. (The average person aged 18+ spends more than 40 minutes a day watching YouTube videos.) So if you can develop a good YouTube SEO strategy, you'll be able to get your video content in front of more viewers than ever. YouTube as a Lead Gen Tool Before diving into the nitty-gritty details of YouTube SEO, it's important to understand why YouTube can be just as beneficial to your business as any other social media platform — say, Facebook for example. According to a 2021 study, YouTube is both the second most popular social media platform (after Facebook) and also the second most visited website on the internet (after Google). And more than 2 billion active users watch more than 1 billion hours of video every day. The takeaway here is that YouTube has become a primary hub for content. Whether the focus is entertainment, news, education, or a sense of community, more people are watching more YouTube content in 2021 than ever before. As a result, it's become a popular destination for advertisers. Marketers spent a little over $4 billion on YouTube ads last year, and YouTube's global ad revenue was around a little shy of $20 billion. It's like that idiom about drops of water in a bucket. Only in this case, the "bucket" is one of the largest bodies of water to ever be discovered by advertisers. YouTube has become a key player in how people connect and share things with each other, and that has developed it into a major lead generator for businesses. It's the kind of lead gen tool that could be used by anyone in any industry — even real estate. A Real Estate Agent's Guide to YouTube SEO There's a good chance that Facebook is already a big platform for your real estate business. From posting video walkthroughs of houses to connecting with people (both homebuyers and fellow agents), it's hard to imagine a world where social media doesn't play some role in your work. But the problem with relying on Facebook videos is that your reach is often limited to your network. And since Facebook doesn't quite have the most consistent search and filter algorithms, it's possible for people to miss out on things unless you are paying for targeted advertising. Targeted ads can be very effective on Facebook, but they come with a price tag. The main trait real estate agents love about SEO-driven advertising is that it's all organic — by targeted specific keywords, you can make sure your content finds the right audience. And the only "expense" on your part is putting in the effort to find the right keywords. YouTube has developed reliable SEO guidelines thanks to its relationship with Google. And that means you can use the video platform to consistently and effectively get your videos to rank well when people search for specific keywords. Of course, it's just like SEO rules on Google. If you want a top spot for a keyword, you'll need to put in some research (to find the keyword) and technical work (to make sure you meet YouTube SEO requirements). But it's the sort of thing that real estate agents can — and should — rely on to get video content in front of as many potential homebuyers as possible. In other words, it'll help you generate more leads. And if you make YouTube SEO a regular part of your lead generation strategies, then YouTube can function as a reliable way to advertise yourself to new groups of prospective homebuyers. Get the Most Out of Video Content Even people familiar with Google's SEO process have to relearn a few things to get results on YouTube. The platform's focus on video content has led to very different trends in what sort of topics people search for, and specifically how they use the search bar. For example, people are much more likely to search for "how-to" videos — tutorial content is consistently the most-watched on YouTube, and that was especially true last year. In 2020, YouTube saw a 50% increase in the number of views for videos with "beginner" in the title. Viewers also have a higher chance of watching something from the suggestions bar instead of going back to YouTube to search for something else. (In fact, 81% of American YouTube users regularly watch videos the algorithm recommends to them.) Contrast that with traditional web activity. How often do you search for something, click a result, and then start browsing that site to read posts about unrelated topics? That sort of thing works on YouTube, but hardly ever translates to Google. People use the two platforms differently, and that applies to the SEO rules to follow if you want viewers to find your videos and start engaging with the content you share. When it comes to real estate, it's unrealistic to think you can upload videos about every single listing you're going to see. Instead, think of YouTube as a platform where you can share other sorts of video content — by becoming a trusted voice on a specific topic, people will be willing to click links to your other social media pages or even your website. Maybe you create how-to videos, introducing first-time homebuyers to different topics that will help them. Or maybe you make monthly updates about the market in your area. And of course, you can still upload videos about listings as they become available, particularly if they are in a busy market that you know will get some traffic online. Regardless of which video format you rely on, YouTube can become a powerful lead generation tool for your business. And by targeting specific keywords, you can use your YouTube channel to guide people to other platforms where you can connect with them directly. To view the original article, visit the Wise Agent blog.

Are You Findable on Google?
In terms of marketing best practices, real estate agents -- and businesses across any industry, for that matter -- are told they need to build a strong online presence on Google. But what does it mean to have a "strong online presence?" Why does it really matter? Let's demystify the buzzword-y phrase. What is an "online presence on Google"? Simply put, it refers specifically to the ability to be found on Google — both how easy it is to find you, and how often you show up in search results. If it's difficult for consumers to find information about your business on Google — whether it be through organic or paid search results — then you don't have much of an online presence at all. The easier it is to find you on Google — whether searching for your name, your business's name, or something broader like "real estate agents near me" — the stronger your online presence is there. Why it's important to be "findable" on Google If you want to continue to grow your business, you can't hide in the shadows. Visibility is key, and it's accomplished through marketing. In the same way that you put up yard signs and A-frames to draw attention to your listings in the offline world, you need to create similar visibility online so that it's very, very easy for prospects, leads, and clients to find you. With well over 90% of all real estate searches starting online, the best place to achieve that visibility is on Google. It is by far the number-one used search engine in the United States. The others, like Bing and Yahoo, are barely used in comparison and therefore simply aren't worth your time or effort. When it comes down to it, if you aren't on Google when prospects search for you, you're creating friction during their research phase, which could result in a lost potential client. If they don't find you, they'll find a different agent instead. What prospects think if they can't find you Google's large market share and reputation of being the go-to search engine shows that its users have a high level of trust in it. Consumers also trust that Google will serve the most relevant search results high up on the page. The proof is in the numbers. One study looked at users' behavior over billions of search results to understand how they engage with content on Google. What they found was that 28.5% of clicks go to the very first organic result. For just the second result, that number dropped to 15%. The third result's click-through rate was only 11%. By the end of the page — page one, remember! — the result in the tenth position only got a 2.5% click-through rate. It's well-known that users rarely go onto subsequent search result pages. These numbers make it incredibly clear that you need to not only be visible on the first page of search results, but you need to be close to the top to attract attention. Prospects equate you being at the top of the page with you being a credible, trustworthy agent. How to make sure you're easily discovered So how do you get on Google, and specifically as high up on the first page of search results as possible? There are three things to focus on. 1. Get your website to rank high Achieving a high-ranking website is no easy feat. You've probably heard the acronym SEO, which stands for search engine optimization. That refers to the more technical things you do to your website that make it easy for a search engine like Google to understand what topic it covers, where the business is located, and when to show the website as a relevant result in particular search queries (and how high up in the results). There is a lot that goes into SEO, from the way your website is coded to the words you use to describe your business. That's why so many SEO professionals recommend that businesses seek professional help in building and maintaining their website. When it comes to getting your real estate website to rank high on the first page of Google, it is not something you have full control over because of how Google's algorithm decides to rank potential search results. Still, that is not a reason to dismiss having a website. It is very important to have one for visibility. It will still show up in search results, and you can link to it from your digital ads and your Google business profile, which we'll discuss next. 2. Verify and maintain your Google business profile A Google business profile gets top billing on Google, and it's where prospects can learn all about you. It houses your bio and contact information, links to your website, allows you to publish photos and original content, and — importantly — is where your Google reviews and star ratings are displayed. On desktop, the profile appears as a large box in the top-right of search results. On mobile, it's right at the top! Our research shows that you cannot just complete your Google business profile and expect it to always show up on the first page of search results. Google rewards businesses that are active, get reviews regularly, and post content weekly by showing their Google business profile in more search results. A Google business profile is one of the best ways to be "findable" on Google, because it's an endorsement from the search engine itself that you're the best agent for the job. And if a prospect is doing a little sleuthing to see what your reputation is like, they'll see your many five-star Google reviews from happy clients. Studies show that most people trust online reviews as much as personal referrals, so this is key. 3. Buy a well-positioned, relevant ad Finally, we get to paid advertising. Search ads (the ones with all the text and no images) are not where we'll focus because they are more complex and really do require a knowledgeable marketer to successfully execute. We want to talk about Google's new Local Services Ads. They are the new gold standard in making you findable on Google. Here's why: They are prominently displayed above all other content—paid and organic—at the very top of search results on page 1. The ad has a frictionless click-to-call feature that prompts high-intent consumers to get in touch with the agent by phone. That means live, direct phone call leads for agents. Ads pull in your Google rating, so prospects can instantly see you're a well-reviewed, credible agent. Local Services Ads are currently only available to a select few professions, with real estate agents being one of them. Getting into any new advertising vehicle early will net you better results at a fair price. Agents can get vetted through Google and earn the coveted Google Screened badge. It requires a more in-depth screening process, but signals to consumers that the agents who earned it are above their peers — and earns those agents more calls and leads. You might be wondering why Google would want to prominently display an agent's Google business profile or Local Services Ads above other results. Frankly, it's good for their business, too. Google wants to give its users the most relevant search results so that they have a good experience and remain loyal to the search giant. By keeping your business profile updated, you're showing Google that you are still in business and therefore relevant to related search queries. To earn the Google Screened badge for your Local Services Ads, you have to allow the company to run a background check to confirm that you are indeed licensed. The vetting process creates trust with Google, which makes the company happy to promote your business above organic rankings that it cannot verify in the same way. It's clear that Google's users trust the search results it delivers and, more so, trusts the results that appear highest on the page. As such, buyers and sellers who find you at the top of Google and decide to contact you are typically higher-intent leads. Remember: You don't want prospects to have a hard time finding you. A strong online presence makes it easier for leads to reach you, and makes it easier for you to get more business. To view the original article, visit the Homesnap blog.

Google Local Search Results Just Went Through a Huge Update. How Can Agents Rank Higher?
You already know that when people look for a real estate agent, they're seeking a trustworthy professional who demonstrates the real estate knowledge and reputation necessary to help them buy or sell a home quickly and at the right price. You also know that a consumer in Detroit probably won't be happy searching for an agent online but only seeing results for agents in San Diego – people want an agent who lives, works and has specific expertise in their local market. With its most recent search algorithm update, Google is demonstrating an effort to meet consumer demands for relevant, local content. Last month, Google went through its biggest local search algorithm update in five years. This matters for agents: More than 90% of real estate searches start online, and Google is the most popular search engine in the world. When Google makes significant changes to search results, it affects your business. The results Google searchers see are going to be tied more closely than ever before to their location – which means that you should take simple, effective actions to win the local SEO battle. By following Google's local ranking guidelines, you can show Google that you are the leading local real estate option, vault to the top of local search results, and earn more clients and business. What's Changing About Google Local Search? It's been called the "Vicinity Update," and that just about sums up what's changing. Google is more heavily weighting proximity when serving up local search results. Whether people search for a lawyer or accountant or restaurant or real estate agent, they're more likely to see business profiles that are located nearby. Weighing proximity isn't a new method for Google. Distance has always been a consideration for Google local search results, along with: Relevance, which is how well a Google business profile matches the service someone is searching for Prominence, which is how known and respected a Google business profile appears to be Having completed, detailed business information helps Google measure your relevance. Prominence is based on the information Google has about a business, and is especially aided by having numerous, frequent positive Google reviews. With the Vicinity Update, Google is demonstrating that it considers distance to be an important part of a business's relevance and prominence. For real estate, this makes sense – being locally based means that an agent can provide relevant real estate advice. And the more local the agent, the more known and respected they are likely to be in the community where clients want to buy and sell. This community-centric search update is clear when you consider a search for the term "real estate agents near me." The displayed real estate providers all have a high number of positive reviews, a website, business hours, and a local address. Take a look at the map and you'll see that the displayed providers aren't just in the same town or state – they're practically within walking distance! This indicates that Google is trying to eliminate the kind of keyword stuffing or misrepresentation that allowed businesses to rank at the top of local searches far from their actual location. No more games, no more tricks, no more search results that don't directly meet searchers' local, on-the-ground needs – that's the message Google is sending to businesses with this local search update. How Can Agents Adapt to the Vicinity Update? We get it: SEO can be complicated, and Google updates can seem intimidating. How can you be sure that amid these changes, consumers find your services when they search online? The answer isn't convoluted or grandiose. Just follow Google's local search guidelines. Google gives clear, written instructions for improving your local search ranking. It instructs users to create a Google business profile that includes information such as your address, phone number, website, and industry. The profile should also have a verified location, accurate business hours, and up-to-date photos. Most importantly, Google urges businesses to solicit and manage reviews. Again, Google uses these reviews to determine your prominence and relevance and decide whether to feature you as an agent consumers can trust. Solicit reviews from clients, fellow agents, friends, and family – anybody who can speak to your skill, professionalism, and ability should give testimony. Additionally, Google wants you to list a website. SEO doesn't have to be scary. With a Homesnap Pro+ membership, you can make the most of your digital presence, and make the best of this Google Local Search update. To view the original article, visit the Homesnap blog.

How to Use Google My Business to Boost Local Awareness
What is Google My Business? Do you own a business? Are you looking to expand the customer awareness of your business or its online reputation? Do you want your business to be seen on Google? If you said yes to any of these questions, then Google My Business might be just the thing your business needs!

Farewell to Page One: Google Results Go Scrollable
When people go online, they click, download, share, like, post, send, and search. But before, during, and after they take all those actions, people scroll. That's why Google is introducing continuous scrolling for mobile search results. Social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have successfully designed their sites to keep users scrolling through news feeds and content — and now Google wants to provide users search results that have the same addictive, can't-look-away qualities. This development is important for agents. Changes to Google's scrollability affect how people engage with search results and the advertisements and content that populate them. Scrollability may prove quite a shift from traditional SEO, as users won't perceive different pages of search results. Google's emphasis on scrolling is a component of the search engine's broader goal to become more intelligent and user-friendly. Here, agents can learn about the change to scrollable mobile results, the ways it will affect their marketing strategy, and what strategies they can take to continue to earn new leads and clients. Continuous Scrolling: What's Changing? Just about everyone is familiar with the traditional Google experience: You type a query into the search bar and 10 results appear. You scroll to the bottom of the page, and if you haven't found what you're looking for, you click "next" or a page number to access more results. But times are changing. Google results are now much more dynamic, informative, localized, and interactive — and the switch to scrollability is a continuation of this trend. Interactive elements in Google's search results include paid advertisements at the top of the page, "three packs" of local search results that appear at the top of the page, shopping results that highlight specific products, "people also ask" boxes that feature a few related questions, and "featured snippets," in which a blurb from a web page is displayed at the top of the search result page. The move to continuous mobile scrolling represents an effort by Google to help users interact with these elements more seamlessly. With continuous scrolling, Google can intersperse these elements with traditional search results. In addition to standard web links, users can scroll and engage with related questions and blurbs and shopping results, making for a more dynamic experience. Overall, the shift to continuous scrolling is an indication that Google is becoming more intelligent and committed to keeping people viewing search results for longer and engaging with the results more meaningfully. How Should Agents Adjust to Continuous Scrolling? Being "findable" on Google has long been a priority for savvy agents, since more than 90% of real estate searches begin online and because Google is, by a wide margin, the most used search engine in America. The most important change related to continuous scrolling that agents should prepare for is the discontinuation of "page one" results. In the past, landing even on the bottom of the first page of Google search results was valuable, because the vast majority of searchers would not progress beyond page one. Now, more results will load as users scroll, lessening the advantages provided by being the eighth or ninth or tenth search result, but heightening advantages for agents who are "Google screened" via Google's Local Services Ads and appear first in real estate agent related results. Google's Local Services Ads seamlessly facilitate contact from homebuyers and sellers to real estate agents in their market. The most valuable feature of Local Services Ads is that they enable prospective buyers and sellers to call listed agents (via their desktop or mobile device) directly from the ad itself. This makes getting the Google reviews necessary to become screened a must for agents. Without a page one, agents should prioritize being at the top of Google searches, so that people see them before scrolling deeper and deeper into the search results. The best way to rocket to the top of search results is with Google's Local Services Ads Google search results — and digital marketing more broadly — are only getting more complex and holistic. Use Homesnap Concierge to save time and leverage the digital marketing expertise necessary to earn leads from the world's most popular search engine. To view the original article, visit the Homesnap blog.

How to Generate Free Real Estate Business from Google
Google is a powerful search engine tool that helps users locate information online based on keywords. In short, Google uses these keywords to locate sources online and display them for you according to their relevance and popularity to your keywords. With 90.46% of the search engine market share, Google is by far the most popular, and it's no surprise it has claimed the generic term for looking up information online. Instead of saying, "Look it up online," you say, "Google it." There's plenty of opportunity on Google and real estate professionals must take advantage of its influential tools in order to grow their business and gain market share. If you want to find home buyers, you need to go where they are -- online. There's a trade-off between spending time vs. money when deciding between options for solutions. You can either spend more time solving a problem and less money, or you can spend more money and less time. When it comes to generation leads to grow your real estate business, Google also entails this trade-off. Google has two tools to help you reach and engage consumers: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Since SEM entails financing, I will share SEO strategies that generate free real estate business from Google. 1. Generating Real Estate Business with Search Engine Optimization for Google SEO is the "spend more time, save money" strategy and attracts consumers to your website, also known as organic traffic. You can increase the amount of organic to your website by tailoring its content to Google's algorithm. Your traffic will experience a snowball effect when implemented correctly – the more quality traffic you receive, the higher you'll rank on a relevant Search Engine Results List (SERL), and that means even more traffic. In a nutshell, that means including relevant keywords throughout content, consistently updating content, and keeping visitors on your website with valuable information. Below are tactics to enhance your website's SEO and increase organic website traffic: Real Estate Blogging – Each week, do some research and write a 500-word article about the real estate industry, your city, or helpful tips for buyers and sellers. Automated SEO City Reports – These are like real estate blogs but with specific information such as snapshots of homes for sale, featured properties, market data, school reports, cities, counties, and neighborhoods. Since this type of information is highly sought after by prospects, it will attract relevant traffic to your website. Update Pages with Keywords – Review each page and blog article on your website and see if its keyword is included in the title, each header, description, link, paragraph, and image file. Examine this article—can you figure out the keyword? It's important to note, keywords or keyword phrases do not have to match a search exactly. So a keyword phrase like "California Home Sales" would still be included in a search for "Homes for Sale in California." Include Outbound Links – Include a source to support the claim for each fact that you share to increase the credibility of your content. You can also use them to provide third-party tools that a buyer or seller might find useful. Examine this article, how are outbound links incorporated? Remove Broken Links – Broken links cause a poor user experience, hurts your SEO, and lowers your SERL ranking. After you've located broken links, go to your website and either update, remove, or set up a redirect for the link. Increase Backlinks – Backlinks are links on other websites that drive traffic to your website. For example, let's say you have a broker branded website and your own. If you include a link on your broker branded website that directs traffic to your website, that's a backlink. You can increase backlinks to your website by partnering with local community members, bloggers, newspapers, philanthropies, etc. Increase Web Page Load Speed – Your website's speed affects its bounce rate – the rate at which visitors exit your website without any interactions within 30 seconds. A high bounce rate will lower your SERL ranking. To decrease your website's load speed, you can compress images, remove unnecessary HTML/CSS code, unused page elements, etc. The HubSpot Website Grader tool is extremely useful in identify speed detractors in addition to performance, mobile adaptability, and security. Use Formatting with Headers and Bullet Points – Your writing should follow a basic structure that's scannable and easy to digest. Using headers at the beginning of sections, bullet points to separate ideas, and bold to emphasize words are just a few ways you can use formatting to make your writing scannable and reader friendly. Spelling and Grammar – Poor spelling and grammar will hurt your credibility, so double check your work. Grammarly is a free and useful spelling and grammar tool that checks for errors and recommends corrections as you type. You can install into Google Chrome as an extension. Pick a Catchy Title – Catchy titles include buzzwords like "The Top 5…" or "…in 2021" and get people to click on your article. Set Up Google Business – When a consumer begins their search online for an agent or brokerage to work with, their Google search might say, "Real estate agents in San Diego." A map with brokerages will appear that makes it easier to find local business. Setting up your business with Google will add your business to this map – which displays at the top of a local search. Mobile Adaptability – According to a Hitwise's Mobile Search Topics & Themes [US] Report, 60% of all online searches and 48% of real estate/properties industry searches were via mobile device. If your website isn't mobile compatible, Google will penalize your website and rank it lower on its SERL. If your website is mobile adaptive, you will rank higher and provide a good user experience for your website visitors. Now that we've gone over several ways to drive organic traffic to your website to generate free business from Google, let's go over how to convert that traffic. In order to convert organic traffic into leads, you must include lead capture forms and contact forms through out your website. 2. Converting Organic Traffic into Leads A home buyer looking for valuable, relevant content will find a buyer's resource page helpful. By setting up a lead capture form on valuable information like this, you can entice a website visitor to exchange their contact information for your buyer information – converting them into a lead. Additionally, a blog article, city reports, seller's resource page, listings page, and other tools like a home or comparative market analysis should be leveraged to capture and convert website traffic into a lead. In order to increase traffic and conversion rates, you must learn how to analyze data and make decisions based on your understanding of the data. Optimization is usually implemented through A/B testing. To learn more about analyzing website traffic to optimize your website's SEO, check out Google Analytics. When it comes to making important business decisions, you can either spend more time and less money or spend more money and less time. Attracting organic leads to generate free real estate business from Google is considered the former. Although SEO strategies take time to mature, they will generate passive leads that will consistently fill your funnel. To view the original article, visit the TorchX blog.

Build New Business with Google My Business
Google My Business is one of the fastest and easiest ways that real estate agents can increase their presence online. That's because unless you are a major advertiser with Google -- or have invested in an ongoing, professional Search Engine Optimization (SEO) program -- most real estate searches typically will not include a local agent website on the first page of the results. Unless, of course, you have a completed and frequently updated Google My Business profile. About five years ago, Google introduced this free way to increase local businesses' presence in search. When someone searches for your name and occupation on Google – such as Jane Smith, real estate agent – Google returns results to include your GMB profile. Best of all, your GMB profile appears at the top right of the search results. It features your contact information, your business hours, photos you have uploaded, a map of your business location, and more. If you are an agent who tried to use GMB several years ago, you may have been challenged by Google, at the time, not allowing multiple businesses to share one physical address. That prevented many real estate agents from completing a GMB profile when trying to list their home office as their primary address. Google has fixed this quirk for real estate agents. Now agents assigned to one office may use that same address for their GMB profile. Make sure you do use the same physical address for all of your online use. Today, Google My Business is also connected to Google Maps, meaning a search result in Google Maps may also display your Google My Business profile. First, you need to create a Google My Business profile. Next, you need to fill out all of the fields in your profile. The more complete it is, the better your chances Google will include your profile in search results. Finally, you need to add images to your profile initially and later add them regularly. These can be photos of your most recent listing, your business location, and even infographics. Google loves to feature GMB profiles that frequently are updated with posts. These updates can include information about your events (e.g., an open house or Zoom meeting available to the community to answer real estate questions) or local community events. You also can post any special offers or a "what's new" update on your business. Google also has made several improvements to GMB to make it even more robust. You can now add to your profile new Health & Safety Attributes. These are specifics related to your business health standards, such as "Appointments required, Masks required, Staff wears masks, Staff gets temperatures checked," and more. New attributes for Online Services allow you to promote your "Online Appointments" within your GMB profile. Now more than ever, it is essential for agents to ramp up online visibility. GMB is one of the best free online services that can help you promote your business and website. GMB also displays buttons that link to your website, directions (to your office), and a Call button to connect the person searching directly to you by phone. GMB also prominently features your reviews on Google and offers an "Ask a question" button – another call-to-action feature that can help you connect with potential buyers and sellers. It's easy to create a Google My Business profile. You will need a Google account, but if you have a Gmail email address or a YouTube account, you already have the access you need. Go to google.com/business to get started. Do make sure you add photos, as they are essential to raising your GMB profile. The Search Engine Journal reports, "Businesses with photos on their listings receive 42% more requests for driving directions on Google Maps and 35% more click-throughs to their websites than businesses without photos." Keep in mind that Google search is the king of internet traffic. As the world's largest search engine, over 3.5 billion searches occur on Google every day. If you want to tap into this massive traffic, you need to leverage your Google My Business Profile. If you have any challenges with your Google My Business profile, reach out to Tech Helpline and an analyst can assist you. To view the original article, visit the Tech Helpline blog.

Tips for Setting Up Google My Business for Real Estate
As a real estate agent, one of your most important challenges is to distinguish yourself as an expert in your area. That starts with knowing your real estate market and community inside and out. Your local knowledge is a foundation on which you build a successful career. To make the most of what you know, you need to stand out to prospects as an authoritative voice from the start – before you even meet them. Digital marketing delivers on this goal by ensuring you are highly visible for searches relevant to your business. That includes lucrative "near me" searches, as in "real estate agents near me."

How to Get Search Engines to Come Crawling Back
In this article for Delta Media Group's real estate industry publication, Real Estate Marketing and Technology Magazine, Aaron Geh discusses how SEO helps your real estate website attract more traffic and better quality leads. Whether searching for a sales associate or going on a house hunt, most people start their search online. Search engine results are a huge potential source of traffic for your real estate website, which leads to fierce competition for the top positions in search rankings. That's where search engine optimization (SEO) enters the picture. SEO is one of the most powerful tools for growing your real estate firm online, but SEO's complexity means that not everyone understands it. Let's look at these SEO tips to help your business attract more traffic and better quality leads.

Website SEO Tips
Bondilyn Jolly, VP of Marketing at Elevate, interviews CJ Hays of Agent Reputation on his top tips for driving amazing SEO on Google. If you are looking for your website "to be found" on Google searches, tune into this discussion on tactical blogging, original content, IDX indelibility, reviews and more. CJ packs TONS of great tips into 14 minutes, so be ready to hit the "replay" button! Want MORE great website SEO tips? Download Elevate's FREE "Website SEO Guide" at: TryElevate.com/websiteseoguide/

Answering Your Questions About SEO and Your Real Estate Website
I have spent over 20 years helping a wide variety of companies grow their businesses on the Internet. Here are two of the most frequently asked questions I receive and their answers: What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? Why does SEO need to be approached differently within the real estate industry? What Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? First, let me define what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is from my perspective. SEO techniques are used on and off websites to make a site more appealing to search engines. The more search engines like a website, the more they visit to index its pages. The result of SEO work done correctly--search engines push your website higher in search results for specific key phrases associated with your products and/services. Traffic generated from SEO is called "organic traffic." SEO in the Early Days Over the years, SEO has evolved, but I'd argue the core fundamentals have not changed that much. Early on in the infancy stage of SEO, it was the Wild West (late 1990s). Many people resorted to keyword stuffing or paying link farms to create thousands of links back to a site. While this process resulted in short term gains for these companies, any advancement made was quickly replaced with penalties once search engines caught on to their spammy techniques. Even during these Wild West days, savvy developers and online marketers understood it was all about designing sites for the end user. Eventually, search engines started publishing best practices, many of which still apply today. SEO Best Practices You need to build a site that is easy to use and navigate. The website needs to be technically sound. It needs to perform well speed-wise. The website needs designing with the end-user in mind, not the search engines. It needs to have unique and engaging content. You need to research high authority 'complementary' sites and obtain links back to your site. It needs to be trustworthy Add on-page optimization and internal linking throughout your website to help search engines better understand what the site is about and to navigate it easier. This last point is evolving a bit as the search engines are becoming smarter and don't need as much assistance. There are different approaches to SEO if you are a B2B or B2C company, but at the end of the day, the goals for any SEO campaign should be to increase traffic and leads/sales. Why Is SEO for the Real Estate Industry Approached Differently? Within most other industries, whether you are B2B or B2C, you are dealing with information that does not change often. For example, if you are a carpet cleaning company, your services will not change much over time. Or if you have an online store, products are added or discontinued over time, but generally speaking, your offerings stay pretty consistent. The consistency in these two examples allows the marketer to focus more intently on specific products and/or services, building out valuable content and links over time around the core services or products. The most significant difference with a real estate website is the lack of consistency with the products: homes, buildings, land, etc. Each property has a unique SKU number, so to speak, so it makes things even more challenging; the properties are only online until they sell. In major markets, we are talking thousands of property listings turning over quickly. Instead of trying to optimize each listing individually, many marketers in the real estate industry will focus on areas--states, counties, cities, neighborhoods, school districts, subdivisions, etc. For example, if you are a real estate firm in Sarasota, Fla., you may create a landing page with listings for Sarasota. And from that page, you'll drill down and create additional pages for neighborhoods within Sarasota. Consequently, you would use SEO tactics on all of those pages. This process is a fairly common practice within the real estate industry. The downside to this approach is that you will be missing out on visitors searching for a specific home for sale. Surprisingly, we have found that single address property searches equate to a significant amount of monthly traffic. Some of our clients see nearly 50 percent of their traffic originating from single address property search--i.e., 123 Main Street, Sarasota. Moreover, when it comes to recruiting and retaining, a firm with real estate listings displayed on the first page of Google has a distinct advantage over local competitors who cannot. To stay ahead of the curve, you should review your current website from two different aspects. 1. Technical Aspect of SEO The technical aspects of SEO (the how and why behind search engines crawling and indexing a site) are even more important with real estate sites than other industries because of the sheer amount of data processed daily. Clear paths for search engines need to be created to crawl from page-to-page, gathering pertinent information throughout your site. I have found that many real estate websites struggle in this area. To determine if your site has technical issues, look at how many pages you have indexed in Google (example: type site: www.hpw.com into Google search). Based on the number of listings and other content throughout your site, if the number of indexed pages seems low, there may be underlying issues. 2. Content Aspect of SEO Within the real estate industry, content is essential given the industry's competitive nature and some of the previously mentioned challenges. Blogging is a popular way to grow your site's visibility in search engines. As a rule of thumb, blogs should support the site's overall SEO strategy. However, in many cases, blogs are the only area where SEO is leveraged. For example, if your website is not ranking for the markets you serve, a blog may be your only avenue to publish optimized content for better visibility. Unless you are willing to invest significantly in time and money to make an impact, this option may not be ideal for you. Some companies do it and are successful, but having a better understanding of the website's shortfalls and correcting them will save you time and money in the long run. Taking a Look at the Competition I also wanted to touch on the industry's competitive nature and attempt to set proper expectations if you are a local firm engaging in SEO. The real estate industry is competitive, REALLY competitive. You have portals led by Zillow, corporate franchises, and then all of the local firms all competing for the number one position within the search results. The more competitive the market is in general (e.g., Dallas or San Francisco), the bigger the hill is to climb because there are even more online competitors. Realistically speaking, most local firms are not going to outrank the portals or even corporate franchises for phrases like "Dallas real estate," for example. These sites have an enormous amount of content because they have a national presence and all of the listings and associated content to go along with it. That is a big deal and one that is tough to beat. It's not impossible to outrank bigger players because many of our clients do. The clients that do tend to be very large and have spent years investing in SEO and content strategies. A realistic approach is to focus on less competitive phrases and ensure that your listing shows up on the first page of results. Less competitive phrases revolve around neighborhoods, subdivisions, and school districts. If you are successful and climb to the top for these phrases, it generally produces better quality traffic and leads. Also, visitors using these types of search phrases have narrowed their focus and are a bit more qualified. With SEO, Patience Is a Virtue... Really! A word to the wise: SEO is a long-term play, meaning don't expect immediate results. My rule of thumb is that if you don't at least stick it out for a year, look to invest your marketing dollars elsewhere. We are fortunate that we can move the needle fairly quickly for most of our clients. However, we run into some cases where it takes a bit longer, and that requires patience. Many factors determine SEO success. Every market and every company is different even though we are all in the real estate industry. So be patient and look at it as a long term investment. If It Sounds Too Good to Be True, It Probably Is Be cautious of companies making wild guarantees like: "We will get your site to the first position in Google for 'real estate.'" This sounds great to someone that is not too familiar with SEO, but realistically, most have no shot. When communicating with a potential partner, you need to feel like you can trust them, know what they are doing, and have your best interest at heart. If it doesn't seem logical or feel realistic, you should probably be concerned. Finally, just because a company claims "to do" SEO, be highly skeptical, especially in the real estate space. It's vital to understand precisely how these companies "do" SEO, and what success looks like based on data they have collected over time. Remember, SEO is about increasing traffic and leads. If they cannot provide you data on how they have helped other firms–run! It's also essential to understand the retention rate for the clients they currently serve. If they cannot retain clients, they are not providing value. So do your homework. Aaron Geh is a featured content contributor for Delta Media Group's industry magazine, Real Estate Marketing & Technology. Sign up today to receive your free subscription to Real Estate Marketing & Technology. To view the original article, visit the Delta Media Group blog.

How to Improve Your Reputation on Google
Imagine you're on the lookout for a new pair of shoes. You search high and low and monitor sales and discounts, but nothing seems to catch your eye. Then, you see an ad for a nice pair of Adidas, and suddenly your search is over. Since Adidas is a household brand, the company doesn't have to do much more than remind you of its existence to convince you to make a purchase. That's about as favorable a reputation a brand can get, and it should be your goal, too.

10 Things Google Loves About Your Website
There's no doubt about it: you don't just want Google to like your real estate website, you want Google to LOVE it. Why? When Google loves your website, you get a higher ranking in search results for real estate businesses and topics in your area. Most prospects don't look past the first few links on the first page of results, so a higher search ranking ultimately means more leads and more business. Fortunately, this love story doesn't have to be complicated.

How to Get More Reviews and Boost Your Google Reputation
No doubt you've used online reviews to make shopping and dining choices before. Consumers similarly beeline to the internet when they start thinking about buying or selling, so agents should always be thinking about how to get more reviews. An impressive 86% of consumers read online reviews before choosing a business, and 91% trust online reviews as much as referrals from friends. A recent J.D. Power study found that first-time buyers and sellers actually valued reputation — read: online reviews — more than the referrals they got.

The Online Real Estate SEO Maze Simplified
SEO as practiced by most real estate professionals for their website hasn't really evolved much. There is still a lot of emphasis on keywords and key phrases, how much repetition, and where to place them. Then there's the inbound linking and internal linking stuff you have to weave into your content. Let's face it--there's just a whole lot of stuff to try to weave into a page about how to price a home for sale, and getting it all in there usually results in something your website visitors don't want to read. Is there a better way to deal with real estate SEO? Put a simple-to-follow, step-by-step plan into place that won't drive you crazy and should improve your results.

Resources for Your Real Estate SEO Toolbox
Real estate remains, at heart, a local business. Even though it's crucial to be seen as a neighborhood expert, the majority of your customers still find you on the web, not in the town newspaper. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)—is the art of creating a website packed with useful content that shows up high in search results. To lay a strong foundation in SEO, you'll need to choose and learn the right tools. Here are a few of our favorites:

Google Flags Websites that Are Not HTTPS as Not Secure
It's for your clients. It's for your security. It's for Google. Our team heard "rumblings" as early as two years ago from Google strongly "advocating" website owners move to HTTPS encryption to make the Internet secure and protect the privacy of your users. If you have not yet acquired an SSL certificate, you may have already noticed Google has flagged your website as "Not Secure" in Chrome.

Google My Business Benefits for Real Estate Agents
SEO is a powerful marketing tool for real estate businesses, but it takes time and expertise to implement a solid SEO strategy. Whether you've already got a plan in place, or you're just getting started with your marketing, there is one quick, easy way to increase the visibility of your brand on Google without spending a dime. Google My Business is a free set of tools that makes your business easier to find on Google and helps promote your brand. Let's take a closer look at the benefits of Google My Business, and how to make them work for your real estate business.

Why Google Reviews Are Crucial for Real Estate Agents
Great Google reviews aren't just a nice-to-have — they're essential to converting prospects into clients. With 92 percent of buyers starting their home search online, prospects are going to be looking for Google reviews that verify you're a quality real estate agent. To build that trust, you want your smiling face to appear at the top of their Google search results. And, you want to greet them with a great Google business profile, high Google rating and plenty of excellent reviews from past clients. Here are four reasons why Google reviews are crucial for real estate agents:

How to Use 'Google My Business' for Real Estate
Google is the king of search engines. It processes over 9 billion searches every day—roughly 104,000 searches per second. With most buyers and sellers using the Internet at some point during their transaction, Google is a good place to start. Make sure your business is easy to find by verifying it in Google My Business. What is Google My Business? Google My Business is Google's way of helping you manage your business's information in search results and Google Maps. Among other things, this free tool allows you to verify and edit your business information in Google's search results. Verified businesses show up in a special box in search results. It looks like this:

How to Build Your Real Estate Company's Website Authority in 90 Days
There's no question that your real estate company has what it takes to flourish. Selling buyers the right home is certainly important, but it's pivotal to have a website that gains traction as well. Besides word of mouth, search engines are where people get their real estate leads and trusted sources from. Your website needs maximum visibility so you can get the clients you deserve. One of the best ways to gain a website's credibility is by building your website's authority score in search engines. It may seem like a daunting task initially, but within 90 days you can boost your authority score, and get more traffic towards your site. Here is how it's done:

Real Estate SEO: How to Boost Your Organic Ranking on Google
The main goal of investing in a real estate website is to get more leads and close more deals. Sure, it can help improve your online image. It can give you a chance to show off local knowledge and industry achievements. It can also be a platform to extend your inventory, and to include that of other trusted REALTORS© in the region. But its main goal, the most important one, is helping your business grow. That is why you need to optimize your website for search engines.

Real Estate Branding – NO, Not for Agents!
Check out the next ten or so products you use regularly that are famous brands. How many are someone's name? No, I don't mean Wendy's or Burger King, as they're not real people. Sure, there are a few clothing designers marketing under their names, but they also create their products. You're a real estate agent, and you do not create any real estate, so your real estate branding shouldn't be about your name.

An Easy Intro to SEO for Your Real Estate Website
Buzzwords abound in the world of web design and digital marketing. And, chances are, if you’ve talked to even one person who has anything to do with “digital,” you’ve heard the acronym “SEO.” SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it’s a pretty integral part of any digital marketing strategy, particularly for real estate agents. Because it’s one thing to build a website and it’s quite another to make sure the right people find it at the right time.

How Many Leads Should I Be Getting from My Digital Marketing?
Are you spending too much on your SEO and PPC ad campaigns? To help you determine if you're getting enough leads to justify your budget, we're offering industry benchmarks that you can compare against your current cost-per-lead and lead closing rates. Measuring Your Cost-per-Lead The numbers below are courtesy of Delta Media Group, a website and marketing solutions provider. The data comes from a sampling of their current marketing clients. Here, a 'lead' is considered an online user who engages with a website in a meaningful way (e.g., signing up for listing email alerts, requesting a showing). To compare your cost-per-lead to the number below, divide what you spend on each marketing method by the number of leads you receive from that method on a monthly basis. Put mathematically, that's: So how does digital marketing spend compare? Take a look at the numbers below to find out: Search Engine Optimization: $8-15 per lead Pay-per-Click advertising: $8-35 per lead PPC advertising in luxury markets: up to $90 per lead If your results are higher than the numbers above, you may want to tweak your current campaigns. Are your PPC ads stale? Do you need to target different keywords? Are your SEO practices up-to-date with the latest search engine algorithms?

Getting on Google: Online Search Strategies for Real Estate Agents and Brokers
Do you have an online search strategy? A recent poll of our readers found over 75% of real estate professionals don't have a strategy for getting found by their customers online, through the most popular search engines... and for those who said they did, most were using methods the search engines stopped using to rank search results over a decade ago. If you fall in either camp, keep reading so you can learn some simple, effective strategies to get on Google—and stay there. Why is a online search strategy important? Back in 1982, if a past customer wanted to find your contact information, chances are they used the Yellow or White Pages to get your information (unless you were faithfully sending out past client communications via mail or they had your business card on file). Today, when a customer wants to find you, they go online and search for you. In fact, the first thing most referred customers do is go online to research you before contacting you. A recent study by Google found the majority of real estate consumers research their agents extensively before working with them. And you already know what they think when they can't easily find us, or if what they find makes us look unprofessional or lacking in competence. Those online search results our customers and referrals see are the first impressions they have of us. That first impression either works to our advantage or it works against us. And this is why we want to make it easy for people searching to find us, and for that first impression to convey trust and confidence.

Ready, Set, Keyword: Writing Effective Content for SEO (6/29)
Wednesday, June 29, 2016 at 10:00 AM PDT Last week we learned that leveraging your Communities Served pages increases leads from your preferred areas by improving the visibility of your site on search engines. Join us for this week's Power Hour to hear how one agent tripled her team's business by customizing the content on her Market Leader website. Learn how to identify which topics buyers and sellers are researching, select highly effective keywords to drive qualified leads in your market and get first page rankings on Google and other search engines. Customize your website to maximize lead generation Choosing effective keywords to improve rankings SEO: 1st Page Ranking Factors and Best Practices Register now!

46 Tips to Attract More Leads Using Real Estate SEO Best Practices
A website without visitors is like a rock concert with no audience: sad and pointless. There are a number of ways to get traffic to your website, and SEO is one of the most important. Even basic SEO, if done correctly, can sometimes have a big impact on your bottom line. And since it's not that difficult to follow a few simple rules and guidelines, and to avoid some no-no's, SEO should be on every agent's and property website owner's to-do list. How Do You Do SEO on an Agent Website? This guide will take you through each step required to properly optimize your website and benefit from at least a fraction of the huge amount of traffic that search engines can send your way. There are four main steps in SEO: Identify optimum keywords Enhance your pages so they can attract search engine traffic (also called on-page optimization) Website promotion (also called off-page optimization or link building) Measuring and tracking your results 1. Find the Best Keywords for You Think of the audience you are targeting: people in your area that are interested in buying or selling homes, which means that your keywords should be specific to real estate in your area and relevant to your listings. Here are some examples, assuming that you are a real estate agent in Santa Ynez Valley: Santa Ynez Valley real estate Santa Ynez Valley homes for sale Santa Ynez real estate agent Santa Ynez single-family homes Santa Ynez homes for rent Santa Ynez land for sale homes for sale in Santa Ynez ca houses for sale in Santa Ynez Of course, if you have other types of listings, you should target them accordingly with keywords like: "your location beach homes," "your location condos," "your location coops," "your location luxury homes," "your location multi-family homes," "your location vacant land," etc.

So They Guaranteed First Page Results, Eh?
Over the past couple of years, the term SEO has become quite popular. SEO, which stands for Search Engine Optimization, is essential to reach your target audience on search networks. Why consider SEO, you ask? Because it's a platform which guarantees control and results. Sounds great! Right? Hold on to that thought. SEO is rampant right now; as a result, we see many self-proclaimed "SEO gurus." And it's common to read the following phrases on their website: We Guarantee #1 ranking on Google We're a Google PARTNER We offer FREE SEO trials for a week Lowest price in the market for SEO We are experts in GOOGLE ALGORITHMS Sound familiar?

Ultra-Local Real Estate Leads, Branding, Presence and SEO
Do you realize that the game for ultra-local real estate leads leans heavily in favor of YOU over Trulia, Zillow, Realtor.com and the rest? Did you know that you can beat them out in the competition for top SEO placement for some of the highest-return keywords? We work with brokers, agents and companies around the US to drive stronger real estate leads and online marketing. The discussion we have daily with clients is all about owning the ultra-local marketing strategy over the broad blanket strategy. Bottom line is, if you are serious about being a leader in your market, you have to lead out in the ultra-local marketing game. Since real estate leads and the marketing competition is all focused ultra-local, you know that if you can refine your marketing strategy around identifying, being recognized as the source for and being the source for sharing local information, you'll find increased lead quantity and quality. If you are looking to own your market locally, and you are committed to doing it online, here are some keys you can't miss: 1. Social is a Key Direct and Indirect Real Estate Lead Driver Social media is this thing that we have all been talking about for years, but a big question remains for many real estate professionals on how to really leverage social in a way that drives ROI. When social media is leveraged with a strong ultra-local lean, it becomes a powerful source of interaction and connection for locals that are in your sphere of influence. For example, if you have 200 Facebook friends and you can share a bit of information or experience about the local market, you are likely to get some response, likes, or engagement (think of each like as exposure to 100-200 more people, since each person's like will be automatically be shared with all of their Facebook friends).

How to Generate More Real Estate Leads
Consumers now have many options for exploring real estate listings online. To compete in this market and acquire new leads, it's critical to have an effective lead acquisition and nurturing strategy. In this article, we'll review methods for acquiring new real estate leads to help you grow your business. Some of these methods are simple while others will require more planning and follow-through, but they can all help you acquire more leads. We'll talk about best practices for nurturing your leads in a future article. Website Optimization Does your website need an overhaul? An optimized website will engage buyers and sellers and convert more of your visitors to leads. Website optimizations will generally fall into two categories: aesthetics and content. Website Aesthetics Consumers form an opinion about your website in a fraction of a second. The following key points can make a dramatic improvement in how well your site engages consumers: Professional, uncluttered look and feel Quick loading time Friendly user experience with simple navigation Ask your family, friends and colleagues for their honest assessment and make adjustments if needed. Your business depends on it!

The Best Worst Sales Call I Ever Received
Here's the scene: I'm driving home in my car after showing houses, and my phone rings. It's an out-of-state number, not atypical since I regularly get calls from home owners wanting to move to the Phoenix area. So I answer my phone and it's a sales call. Ugh. I'm almost never rude to sales representatives calling because I've done my fair share of cold calls, mostly when I worked in commercial real estate. I listened to his sales pitch. He's trying to sell me the number one spot on Bing.com for "new homes in Chandler AZ." I ask several questions and being polite I ask if I can call him back. He says, "No, I can't take incoming calls," and he's really pushing the "I can get you the top spot on Bing for $99." I end up hanging up after a while. Thank goodness this sales representative called me because it gave me keywords for my next blog post. I've been writing more articles about Chandler, Ariz. My office is in Chandler and I'm active with the Chandler Chamber of Commerce (which is the third largest Chamber in Arizona). I often struggle to find new article ideas, so this was a great help. Here's what I did: 1. I Googled "new homes in chandler AZ" to see who was on page one of Google's results. They were all big companies, mostly home builders. So my initial thought was, I can't beat out these big websites with a blog post. 2. "No Video?!?" I noticed there were no YouTube posts that popped up. Google loves to add YouTube videos to the first page of its results. Google owns YouTube, and if there are applicable videos (they have to include the keywords), they will be front-and-center in Google's search results.

Make Google Happy by Tackling Local SEO
Search engine optimization is complicated and tedious. The last thing you want to hear is that you need to do more of it. But the fact is, local search is vital to your success as a real estate agent. According to the National Association of REALTORS®'s recent Digital House Hunt study, "69 percent of home shoppers who take action on a real estate brand website begin their research with a local term, i.e. 'Houston homes for sale,' on a search engine." In other words, around seven out of 10 buyer leads that come from your website started with local search. Let's assume all real estate websites in your target area generated 1,000 leads last month. Of these 1,000 leads, 690 came from local searches. This breakdown from Search Engine Watch illustrates how a company's search ranking affects traffic: If your company ends up in the very first spot in someone's search results, you end up with 33 percent of the web traffic. The company beneath you gets around 18 percent of the traffic. The people in position no. 3 get 11 percent, and those who rank fourth tend to get 8 percent. Based on our hypothetical scenario of 1,000 leads, if you don't rank in the top four positions, you potentially miss out on 483 local-search leads — nearly half of all potential website leads in your area. Do I have your attention now?

How to Use Google Alerts to Monitor Your Listings Online
Real estate agents invest in a lot of tools that promise to catapult their listings to the top of search results. But how close do your single property websites, virtual tours, IDX listing detail pages, etc. actually get to the top? One way to find out is to set up Google Alerts for each of your active listings. Here's how. Using Google Alerts to Measure SEO You can track anything on Google Alerts--a name, a phrase. When you set an alert up, you're able to monitor, via email or RSS feed, each new online mention of that name or phrase. For monitoring listings, this will be the property address. Try setting up alerts for variations of the address--street, city, state; street and city; street and zip code, etc. Do this as soon as you get a listing--that way, you can see where alerts originate from first. If your broker or MLS syndicates to one of the big portals, their property details page will likely be the first alert you'll receive. Part of that depends on how fast listing data is transmitted. The other part depends on the SEO of those pages. Web pages with poor SEO will take longer to show up--sometimes days or even weeks--or may not show up at all. Let's imagine that you're paying for, say, a virtual tour solution and you're wondering if it's a good investment. Set up a Google alert to measure how long it takes for you to receive a notification of the tour's web or YouTube address. If you receive an alert soon after setting up and publishing a virtual tour, it's safe to say the SEO is good. If it takes longer than a day or two, that's a signal to evaluate whether or not you're getting a good ROI from that solution. When available, use the solution's onboard analytics to deepen your inquiry.

Google Trends in Real Estate Digital Marketing
What is Google Trends? Even many digital marketers aren't too familiar with Google Trends. Google Trends, formerly "Google Insights for Search," allows users to see the latest and hottest topics that people are currently searching for. Additionally, and more importantly for the advertiser, Google provides access to historical search data collected since 2004! Google Trends is a free tool for any user available at http://www.google.com/trends/. At the moment of writing this article, the Google Trends homepage shows me that the Galaxy S5 and The Voice are "Trending Now" and what states search for LeBron James the most. While that may be interesting to some, how does this help the advertiser? In a recent Google Partner discussion from February 12, 2014, Google showcased some of Google Trends' "cool little features," with more forthcoming. We can see that information presented by Google Trends may be amusing or "cool," but does Google Trends have any use for the advertiser or real estate digital marketing analyst? It certainly does! Application for The Real Estate Agent The most beneficial feature for the advertiser is the Search Term Comparison Tool, in which one can see the interest over time in a search term. Let's explore how this is useful for the real estate agent and digital marketing analyst using a sample search term of "Atlanta Homes for Sale."

Improve Your SEO IQ
If you are like most real estate professionals, you have probably invested a substantial amount of time and money on your website. You've spent time making sure you are best represented, picked out just the right functionalities, purchased the perfect domain and revised the copy to best communicate who you are and what you do. But unless potential clients can find your site when conducting a search online, that investment is pretty useless. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, gets a lot of buzz in the realm of online marketing. More people visit sites via a search engine – Google or Yahoo or the like – than type in a specific web address, often even if they already know what site they want to visit. In fact, real estate related searches on Google have grown 253% over the past four years! Whether a potential lead is broadly searching for real estate, or specifically for an agent or company, you want your website to be at the top of the list of search results. On a results page, the top item usually gets the most clicks. Search engines zealously guard the algorithms they use to generate search results, and those algorithms are constantly updated, so there is no guaranteed method for sending your website to the top of the results heap. But there are ways to enhance your site's SEO. Here are some recognized methods for improving your search engine optimization: Embed Links Linking back to your website on sites outside of your website enriches your company's site to a search bot, so inbound links can boost your SEO. A few ideas: Comment on other site's blogs with links to your own site. Link exchange with other bloggers. Add a link to pertinent sites on your blog, and ask those sites to reciprocate by adding your link to their blogs. Include links in your social media posts.

What’s the Deal With Landing Pages?
As a real estate agent, home buyers are coming to you as the end-all-be-all source of information on a specific area. Okay, not exactly, but what if you served as a person with endless knowledge of a city, county, region or state? First-time home buyers and buyers from out-of-state are carefully planning the best neighborhood to find a home that will suit their lifestyle, personality, budget and future goals. It's your job to provide them with enough useful information so they can rest easy knowing they've made the correct decision. This is where landing pages can benefit you, the real estate agent, greatly. Landing pages or community pages give potential leads the ins and outs of a community. This can include the average cost of living, annual events, walkability score, community amenities, job market conditions, proximity to major metropolitan areas, parks and recreation information, and more. Why should I have landing pages? Not only do landing pages show that you are the expert, they help to improve search engine rankings. Landing pages allow you to create keyword-focused content that can easily be linked to other pieces of content on your page, such as blog posts. Landing pages allow you to capture leads with compelling copy, which should be supplemented with a call-to-action and an option for visitors to offer you some personal information regarding their home search.

ActiveRain Has Moved: Why You Should Care
Blogging is a real estate strategy that started around 2004 and picked up steam in 2006. Rather than agents purchasing blog frameworks and having custom blog sites built, many choose to join real estate specific blog networks like ActiveRain. ActiveRain was aligned for a short time with MOVE, operators of Realtor.com, which led to a lawsuit. After that, the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Market Leader. When Trulia completed the acquisition for Market Leader, ActiveRain came along with it. Today, Trulia announced that ActiveRain is now being rolled under the Trulia domain name as a subdomain – activerain.trulia.com. This is good news for a variety of reasons. First, one of the benefits of blogging is search engine optimization. It is very difficult for agents to get good SEO that allows consumers to visit their website. ActiveRain helps with that. You will find that a post on ActiveRain is often ranked higher than the same post on an agent’s website or blog. That is the benefit of being a blog of blogs – all of the agents in the ActiveRain network help each other out by blogging under the same network. Combining the excellent SEO of ActiveRain with the SEO power of Trulia will benefit both sites.

5 Easy Ways You Can Improve Your SEO
For those of you who are taking on the role of creating and managing your website and the content on it, there are a few important things you must think about. For instance, what is the goal of your website? How is the user experience on your website? How are people getting to your website? If you have ever searched for something online, then you know how a search engine works for a user. You type something that you want more information about into the search engine, and then a list of likely candidates populates in the results. More often than not, you find yourself clicking on the first few sites. It's pretty valuable real estate to have (pun intended). In this article, you will learn five easy ways you can improve your SEO, start moving up the ranks, and dominate your local real estate search. Sign Up For Webmaster Tools There are some great and, better yet, FREE webmaster tools available on the Internet. These webmaster tools are created to help you gain information about the performance of your site. I suggest Google's Webmaster Tool. It will tell you if there are any crawl errors, if your site is up to speed, how often outside sources are linking to your site, and how your site performs in search (and so much more).

Getting Started with SEO: 3 Questions to Ask
Meta tags, backlinks, keywords, friendly URLs. With terms like these, it's no wonder newcomers can be intimidated by Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Thankfully, making your website SEO friendly is a lot easier than it sounds. Not sure where to begin? Ask yourself these three easy questions to start improving your search engine rankings. 1. What are consumers in my area searching for? Before you can optimize your site for search engines, you have to know what real estate consumers are looking for. Studies show that the most frequent search terms are "[City name] homes for sale" and "[City name] real estate" and, on a listing level, the property address (123 Main St, for example). This can vary, though. Maybe people in your area prefer to add a state abbreviation to their search--e.g., Boston MA real estate. By using the Google Keywords Tool, you can find out exactly what terms are being used. Just type "[City] real estate" in the Word or Phrase box and Google will show you how often that term and related ones are being searched for.

The Value of Mobile-optimized Single Property Websites
This post comes to us from the Sign Rider Store blog: More leads and less time on market. As agents, you leverage various tools and strategies to accomplish these objectives, though picking the right tools can often be a challenge. So what should you be doing to remain current and competitive? You may have heard the term "single property website," but you're not exactly sure how this solution differs from traditional IDX and listing services. We'll describe why single property websites are receiving more attention than ever before, and how you can easily include them as part of your marketing initiatives. As the name implies, a single property website features one property that is not linked to others, creating a sense of exclusivity. Depending on the solution, your property may even have its own top-level domain name. This alone will impress your seller. Here are some added benefits. SEO - Each single property website allows you to link buyers back to your personal or brokerage website. Inbound links and increased traffic positively impact SEO.

5 Things You Can Do to Improve Your Search Engine Rankings Right Now!
It can be difficult to know where to start with SEO. But, higher rankings almost always translate into more business, it's important to start somewhere! Here are five things you can start working on to improve your rankings. 1. Optimize Your Title Tags, but Do It Strategically. The title tag of a page is the single most important on-site factor in getting that page to rank well for your targeted keywords. So, your keywords need to be in the title tags of your site. One thing to keep in mind when optimizing your title tags, though, is that you only want each keyword to appear in one title tag (and taking it further, only be targeted on one page.) If, for example, your main keyword is "Pittsburgh real estate agent," you only want to optimize one page's title tag for that phrase. Having many pages on your site with the same keyword causes internal competition. Instead, you want to concentrate your targeting of a keyword to a single page. 2. Create Landing Pages for Neighborhoods and Towns One concept that isn't necessarily intuitive when first learning about SEO is that you want different pages to rank for different keywords. A common assumption is that Google will always display your homepage in search results. But, you can only target a few keywords per page so you should try to group keywords logically into multiple landing pages.

Pump Up Your Sales with New Twists
Have you noticed that business today is facing a bit of a challenge? With costs of doing business changing, today's large and small businesses are overwhelmed, overloaded and stressed to find new ways to save money, time and streamline. If you are struggling to figure out what to do and are looking to pump up your real estate sales, here are a few key activities that can help you take action: Amp up your attitude Change opens the door to look for more creative solutions, so focus on how to enthusiastically embrace new innovative approaches to what appear to be obstacles. Begin with identifying the possible positive outcomes that spur creativity. Every change reveals new opportunities that would ordinarily be lost in the mundane and routine! Investigate options When markets get tough, the tough go back to basics, get creative and become intensely focused in every aspect of how their business functions to discover new ways to deliver their products and services. When sales stall--redesign, rework and reignite new processes in how you deliver those services and the experience of your customers to pump up and refresh your service model. Look at how strategic partnerships can expand your service options. Change is a great motivator to turn up the heat and initiate new relationships and pursue new solutions. See: Mike White on how to create strategic partnerships that pay

SEO Gold VS. Keyword Spam
Years ago, it was common practice to cram as many keywords into a website as humanly possible. The more keywords resulted in a higher ranking on search engines. The problem with this was that many top ranked websites had little to no valuable content for the web user. As a result, these websites would seldom get return traffic. So, the search engine that was meant to put the most valuable websites on the top of the results page was failing to do its job. Well, not anymore! These days search engines are smarter and better at sifting through the keyword dense junk to find the truly valuable content. Now if you want to rank high you have to cater to the web user, NOT the search engines. Because what the search engines do, really, is cater to web users. So if YOU cater to web users and the search engines cater to web users, then it would only make sense that your website would rank higher. How to avoid keyword spam Having keywords on your website is not a bad thing, actually it's a very important part of good SEO, but those keywords are meaningless without good quality original content to back them up! There's no formula for how many keywords you should have or what the limit is. Instead of focusing on quantity, focus on quality.

10 Simple Ways to Boost your Real Estate Website Ranking
Guest contributor Properties Online says: Optimize your search engine website ranking results with these 10 straightforward tips: 1. Start with an overall online marketing strategy. Consistency is key across all your online branding and communications. Links from your website to your blog to your Facebook page and beyond are important connectors. Beginning with a blueprint that covers the where, how and why is of instant benefit. 2. Keyword like you mean it. This cannot be stressed enough. The three to five keywords you choose for your website must be utilized across all web mediums. Don't overdo it and water down your site. Focus on two keywords per web page, max, and stay on top of your keywords through analytics to make sure they're working for you. The web is not stagnant, and you can't be either. 3. Use Google to your full advantage. Claim your office on Google Places. Create (and use!) a Google+ page. Install Google Analytics, review the data and make the necessary changes to your website to better your results and conversions. It's all free. 4. Web users are visual. Smart use of photos and videos will go a long way. Make you're your branded YouTube channel directs viewers back to your website, and make good use of tags and descriptions. Videos and photos should be uploaded to your computer under relevant file names that include your keywords and descriptive words. When uploading photos to your website, be sure to use keywords in the ALT tags and descriptions. Go one step further and upload your photos to photo sharing websites, and be sure they're keyworded, tagged, well described and include a link back to your real estate website.