Digital technology has proven to be one of the most relevant and timely solutions to today’s demand for information and communications.
Therefore, it’s not surprising to surmise that this, too, becomes an important element in any marketing plan for businesses including real estate.
In the real estate industry, a website needs to be highly visible and the chances of a homebuyer coming across your site and listings are relatively slim considering the stiff competition from other websites that populate the internet.
But with search engine optimisation (SEO), you get the chance to stand out from the pack and rank up the organic search results pages to give you the mileage and traction that your business deserves so you can win more clients and build lasting relationships.
The importance of SEO in the real estate industry
Make no mistake SEO has contributed a lot to the new age of commerce and industries. This has also been bolstered by the need for people to stay connected, informed, and educated in this Coronavirus era that that has since been considered as one of the greatest disruptors in recent history.
SEO has revolutionised the online and digital environment especially in the fields of content development, email, and digital marketing.
Online presence is a must in this day and age especially for the real estate industry. Take note that businesses that have thrived are those that have a strong online presence.
This is because people do not just go out and walk around to find a good property offer, instead they simply just go online to search for properties with a simple click of a button- easily and conveniently.
SEO has been responsible for helping many real estate agents get a lot of traffic into their websites and while it may entail a lot of technical knowledge to manage SEO, it is important to understand and know how it works.
Here’s how good SEO practices can help your real estate website;
Your real estate website needs to be secure, rapidly responsive, and mobile-friendly
Recent studies have shown that 72% of those looking for a house use their smartphones and other mobile devices to research on properties they what to buy, while 44% of all home buyers start by looking for property online.
Real estate agents who want to win the hearts of home buyers and attract them to the sales funnel, must first figure out the main factors that spur interest among people that pushes them to search online.
The majority, if not most home buyers turn to their mobile devices and smartphones to search online, which is why the need for websites need to be both desktop and mobile-friendly.
Images, videos, and landing pages need to be optimised for it to provide your audience with responsive and navigable pages, blogs and articles are comprehensible and easy on the eyes, easy access to navigation links and information, and with corresponding calls to action- all to provide readers with a seamless and comfortable site journey and experience.
Blogs help increase traffic to a website
Of course, blogs need to have compelling content to be able to attract more people to your website. This is true as studies have shown that this is one of the first things that visitors look at, especially posts by blog writers.
This is why it is vital to have good quality content to keep your visitors engaged and make them keep coming back.
SEO can help increase site traffic especially with relevant and useful content ranging from topics such as home renovation, interior decorating tips, how to look for your ideal property, etc.
Optimise keywords and search capabilities for real estate
Since the primary concept of SEO is on keywords the methods behind the process is not just on keywords alone. SEO is a well-rounded approach that considers two important factors that help drive traffic- search volume and intent.
Search volume is the number of people using a keyword for their query activities and intent is about why people are using the search engine with the specific keywords.
A foundation of SEO is keyword research which hinges on the activity of analysing and determining valuable keywords for content and copywriting. The keywords or search terms become the guide for your content development and marketing strategy.
A keyword may consist of a single word but oftentimes it’s made out of several words.
Property images are vital to a real estate website
Homebuyers need to see very good quality images of your property listings, especially if they want to see how the property looks. It can spell the difference between a potential buyer pushing through to close a deal and one who quickly abandons upon seeing poor quality images online.
As with any real estate website, quality pictures are always major contact points of any real estate website.
Studies revealed that listings with high-quality images have sold above list price by 44% of the time, while surveys indicated that 89% of home buyers have found property listing images were decision-making factors in a successful home purchase.
This is why 78% of real estate agencies have been showcasing property images on their website.
Remember that SEO can greatly contribute to showcasing your website online and by focusing on the details provided, you can be sure your webpage is optimised to generate the best results.